Mob justice enacted in front of camera once again earned infamy for Bihar when villagers, some 30 kilometres away from Patna, mercilessly beat up a Dalit woman, accusing her of being a “witch”.

The elaborately shot video footage — flashed across TV news channels — showed a middle aged woman, Lalpari Devi, being tied to a tree while an elderly man pulling her by her hair and thrashing her like a beast. Thereafter, the woman’s hair was sheared, her face smeared with limestone and then she was paraded while tied to a rope and people kept beating her with a broom. Surprisingly, women too joined the crowd in beating her.

The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon and the video footage were aired on Friday morning. The place was Dumaria village, some five kilometres away from Maner police station in Patna district. The police, however, reached the spot half-an-hour late and rescued the woman from the crowd and arrested one person — Ram Ayodhya Rai — accused of cutting the woman’s hair.

Police said that two TV news stringers — from Aaj Tak and a local channel PTN — informed them about the incident but only after they had shot everything elaborately for about half-an-hour. “Police rushed to the spot immediately and rescued the woman. It’s sad that the stringers did not inform the police on time”, said Danapur ASP, Nishant Tiwary.

Tiwary said that six persons have been arrested and produced in the court. “Chargesheet will be filed soon and the case will go for speedy trial. Nobody will be spared”, he told The Indian Express.

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