The victim succumbed to injuries at the hospital (Representative Image) | Photo Credit: BCCL

Key Highlights Locals in Jalpaiguri assaulted her on suspicion of being a child lifter The victim succumbed to injuries at a local hospital A video of the brutal assault is going viral on social media

Kolkata: A transgender who was mercilessly thrashed by a mob in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal on Monday has succumbed to injuries at a local hospital today. Appaling visuals of the attack are doing rounds on social media. A preliminary investigation by police suggests that residents of Nagrakata suspected the victim to be a child-lifter.

Accounts by eye-witnesses indicate that locals chased the victim to the railway tracks after they presumed that she was a child lifter. They then smashed her head with stones and berated her. Videos of the assault recorded by dozens of bystanders show young boys kicking and beating her. She can be seen covered in blood even as no one bothers to get her medical attention.

Police officials were alerted about the assault and arrived at the scene. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she later succumbed to her injuries. Several reports suggest that delay by law enforcement agencies to respond led to the death of the transgender. Sub-divisional police officer Debashish Chakraborty condemned the attack and claimed that no instance of child lifting had been reported from the district. He further added that people got carried away after hearing rumours about the victim which led to the fatal assault. Six people have been arrested so far and further investigation is underway, added SDPO Chakraborty.

Over the past couple of months, several instances of victims being lynched on the suspicion of being child-lifters have come to light from various parts of the district. One of the most recent incidents had come to light from Jalpaiguri district where a woman was beaten up by tea-garden workers on the suspicion of being a child-lifter. The victim suffered severe injuries during the assault on her at Majher Dabri tea estate in Alipurduar district. A police official familiar with the matter said that she was attacked with sharp weapons.

States such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are even considering a law to deter such incidents of mob lynching where individuals are beaten, sometimes to death, over suspicion of committing a crime. In several of these cases, the victims were suspected to be child-lifters after rumours reportedly spread on WhatsApp described 'vagrant-looking' people roaming the streets in search of children to abduct. Such cases have been reported from Telangana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu among other states. Recently, the Uttar Pradesh Law Commission submitted a draft Bill to the Chief Minister, urging him to write anti-lynching legislation into law.