In another mob attack in Bengal, a man dies after being beaten up on suspicion of theft in Bhangar

In the wake of back-to-back lynchings in West Bengal, another incident of mob attack was reported on July 7. A middle-aged man died after being beaten up by a mob for theft in Kolkata’s Bhangar area.

The victim is identified as Azgar Molla of Phulbari area. His family members recovered the body after it lay at the spot, which is 500 metres from Bhangar police station, for about an hour.

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According to police, the exact cause of death will be ascertained only after the post-mortem. The person appeared to be drunk. The alleged incident took place in the early hours of Sunday after the theft in Bhangar Bazar. Bhangar, located in South 24 Parganas, is a hotbed of political violence and was recently brought under the control of Kolkata Police to curb outbreaks of violence.

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Cases of mob violence in which people lost their lives for theft were reported from Kolkata, Bidhannagar, Jhargram and Hugli. In all cases, the victims were poor and were tortured for theft. In other cases of flogging in Chopra in Uttar Dinajpur and Fulbari in Jalpaiguri, women were allegedly targeted for “extramarital affairs”.

The West Bengal Assembly had passed the West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill in 2019 after a series of similar lynching cases. The bill has stricter provisions, including death penalty for those involved in mob attacks. However, the then Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar raised certain questions and the fate of the bill has been in limbo since then.

The mob incident has sparked a political spat between opposition parties and the ruling Trinamool Congress party.