india

Updated: Sep 18, 2019 10:15 IST

A man was lynched by a mob in Tripura for allegedly stealing a mobile phone, a headphone and one bicycle on Tuesday, the police later arrested three people for their alleged involvement in the crime.

The incident occurred at Kumarghat’s Sukantapalli area in Unakoti district. The victim has been identified as Kishan Debnath, a resident of Sukantapalli. Police quoted villagers to allege Kishan’s involvement in some other theft cases as well that took place earlier.

Tuesday’s lynching was sparked by overnight theft of a mobile phone, headphone and a bicycle from the two houses owned by Dilip Das (50) and Sukesh Das (55). A search next day for the alleged thief by the family members and other residents of the village ended at Ratiabari, a neighbouring village, located at a distance of two and a half kilometres, police said.

“The villagers brought Kishan to Sukantapalli and started beating him. On getting information, we rescued Debnath and admitted him to a local hospital where he died,” said officer-in-charge of Kumarghat Police Station Pradyot Datta.

The police, later on Tuesday, arrested Dilip Das, Sukhesh Das and Rajan Sutradhar on Kishan’s mother’s complaint. Dilip and Sukhesh are prime suspects in the lynching case as the theft occurred in their houses, added police.

A suspected cattle lifter was beaten to death by a mob at Noarampara in Dhalai district of the state, 147 kilometres from Agartala, in July this year.

Rajasthan, Manipur and West Bengal have framed anti-lynching laws to provide for stricter punishment to culprits. The Supreme Court had asked the Centre to make a separate law on lynching.

The judgment authored by Chief Justice Misra for the Bench, also comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud, had said that such law should be effective enough to instill a sense of fear in the perpetrators.