Madurai
A 55-year-old woman, said to be mentally disturbed, was assaulted by a mob at Solangkurini on the city outskirts suspecting her to be a child lifter on Sunday midnight.
The mob also smashed the windscreen and other glass panes of a police vehicle after a police team attempted to rescue the victim.
Upon being alerted, the Woman Inspector of Police (Crime Against Women), Sumathi, and her driver went to the spot.
The Inspector asked the villagers, who were around 200 in numbers, to hand over the woman to her for investigation.
“However, they dragged her away from me and tried to question me, looking at my name badge. I tried to explain to them that the police would conduct a proper enquiry and they should not harm the woman,” she said.
After much struggle, the Inspector and her two team members put the victim on the police vehicle and tried to move. As the villagers blocked the way, the driver drove the vehicle through a muddy road and took another road to reach Kuthirakuthi to proceed to the police station.
However, a few villagers who had reached the spot attacked the vehicle with logs and smashed the windscreen.
The woman was taken to the police station safely. The bundle of clothes the woman had some wornout currency notes of ₹10 and some coins.
The police have registered a case of unlawful assembly, assault, using abusive language, prevention of Government Officer from discharging her duties, criminal intimidation and under the provisions of Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act,, 1992.
The Judicial Magistrate Court directed the police to admit the victim, said to be hearing impaired, to the Government Rajaji Hospital for medical examination.