‘Kidnapping suspect beaten up in Lahore’

Mob claimed child did not belong to woman as their complexion did not match

LAHORE: A woman was beaten up in Shalimar area on Sunday night over suspicion that a child accompanying her had been kidnapped by her, the police said.

A statement submitted to the police by the family said that the difference in complexion of the woman and the child had led them to suspect that she was not his mother. It said that when she could not explain her relationship with the child they started beating her. However, it said, once a crowd gathered they locked her and the child inside the house fearing that she might get killed.

The Shalimar SHO said the woman and her child might have entered the house with the intention of theft. He said both parties had submitted in writing that they did not seek to prosecute so no action would be taken.

Police statistics show that this was the 26th incident of someone suspected to be a kidnapper being beaten up by citizens on their own.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2016.