Ranchi: Furious kin of a Gumla youth, who died in November while fleeing from police, lynched the parents and elder sister of his underage girlfriend on Sunday.
Around 12.30pm, parents of the teenaged girl - Tahlu Ram, 65, and Lakhpati Devi, 60 - and her sister Runi Kumari, 19, were fatally attacked with sticks when they were working in their farm in Khatgaon village in Palkot thana area of Gumla district, 115km from Ranchi.
The mob did not spare the underage girl whose ill-fated love for Nandlal Kerketta had led to his untimely death at age 23 on November 25. The girl, whose age is said to be either 14 or 17, as well as her younger sister, were badly injured and are now being treated at Gumla Sadar Hospital.
Sunday's trigger was an altercation between the dead youth's family and the girl's parents, though the exact cause was not known.
Gumla SP Anshuman Kumar told this paper that "some seven-eight" persons had been detained by evening based on the statements of the two hospitalised sisters.
However, Khatgaon villagers also attacked with stones and sharp-edged weapons the police who were rounding up detainees for Palkot thana. Though some three policemen were injured, Khatgaon is tense but under control with addition forces deployed, the Gumla SP added.
Khatgaon had been simmering ever since Nandlal, a tribal Christian, jumped to his death in a well while allegedly running away from the police who were questioning him over his affair with this underage Sarna tribal girl. Though the girl had eloped and was staying at Nandlal's home, her parents had called up the police, alleging the youth had abducted their daughter.
After his death, Nandlal's relatives blocked NH-23 alleging he was treated badly by the police and driven to suicide ( Blockade ire at cops over body, The Telegraph, Nov. 27). They also blamed the girl's family for this death.
Former Kolebira MLA Niel Tirkey, who had played a crucial role in getting the November 26 highway blockade lifted, said he had come to know that at least three peace committee meetings were held in Khatgaon village after Nandlal's death, but police apparently shunned them. He implied that rural mistrust over the role of the police in Nandlal's death had continued.
