Woman suspected to be child lifter, beaten up in West Bengal

A woman was Saturday beaten up by tea garden workers on the suspicion of being a child- lifter, while two children accompanying her suffered injuries during clashes between police and the mob in West Bengal's Alipurduar district.

The scuffle took place at Majher Dabri tea estate, when police came to the rescue of the woman and the children, a police officer said.

The tea garden workers suspected the woman to be a child-lifter on seeing her move suspiciously in the area with the children, and attacked her with sharp weapons, he said.

"We had to resort to lathicharge and fire eight rounds of tear gas to disperse the mob," an officer at Alipurduar police station said.

The woman and the children have been admitted to the Alipurduar district hospital and their condition is stated to be stable.

"We have launched an investigation to ascertain the identities of the victims and the build up to the attack," the police officer said.