Days after the brutal lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand, a 24-year-old youth was lynched to death in West Bengal. The victim identified as Sanaul Sheikh was accused of bike theft. A mob lynched him instead of having him arrested, in Malda district, 326 kms from Kolkotta.
The video that went viral shows three sturdy men brutally assaulting Sanaul, who is seen both bleeding and pleading. The video shows the assailants hitting the him in his private parts as he groans in pain. The two minute video also shows a civic volunteer thrashing the boy. Sanaul was later rescued by the local police. The police took him to the Bedrabad primary healthcare centre, where he was given first aid and taken back to the police station, where his condition further worsened and was rushed back to the healthcare centre, from where he was taken to Malda Medical College (MMC) and then Sanaul was brought to Kolkata’s SSKM hospital where he breathed his last.
Speaking to eNewsroom, his mother Safira Bibi said, “I want the culprits to be punished. The killing was a planned one. He was picked up from our home by two men. Later a boy came to inform us that Sanaul was being assaulted by men near Baishnabnagar bazaar. When we reached the spot he had already been rescued by police and was in the police station after having got the first aid. However, later in the day, I was called by the police saying that my son was not well and we needed to take him to Malda Medical College.” “On reaching the hospital the police made me sign a blank paper saying that they needed my signature to get my son admitted at Malda Medical College. In the healthcare care centre I saw my son lying naked. His eyes and ears had been punctured and he had server bruise in his genital. He was bleeding both from his ear and head.”
She added that the police also gave her Rs 2000 to pay the ambulance driver. On reaching MMC she was referred to Kolkata’s SSKM hospital, where the Sanaul breathed his last. On being asked about his son being accused of bike theft she said, “If he had stolen the bike, then where is the bike that was recovered, and even if he guilty of stealing then he should have been handed over to the police and not assaulted by the mob. He was also beaten by the police in the police station. I lost my husband recently and now my eldest son.”
Superintendent of Police, Malda,told eNewsroom, “We have arrested two of the accused so far. We are hopeful of arresting the remaining accused, who have been identified by us with the help of the viral video.”
