A 30-year-old electrician was beaten up by a mob that branded him a child kidnapper in West Burdwan’s Hirapur on Saturday night, hours after police launched a campaign to create awareness against lynching and days after the Bengal Assembly passed a bill to check such incidents.

The mob not only beat up Sheikh Bappa, a resident of East Burdwan, but also threw stones at police when they came to rescue him. The police have arrested the youth after a complaint by some locals. One person has been held over the lynching bid.

Bappa was standing near a ground where children were playing football. Some locals asked what he was doing there. “Bappa told them he is an electrician and had come for work,” said a police officer.

But the people did not believe him, tied him to a tree and thrashed him. “They accused Bappa of being a kidnapper,” said a police source.

Dinhata assault

A mentally challenged youth was beaten up in Cooch Behar’s Dinhata on Saturday by locals who suspected him to be a child kidnapper, police said.