DADU, Dec 2: Several villagers critically injured a 100-year-old woman while stoning her and beating her with clubs and sticks in Shahpat village, Sehwan Sharif Taluka, on the wee hours of Sunday.

The villagers handed over the old woman to the Sehwan police claiming that she had entered the house of a villager, Pir Bux Rind, and was trying to eat his newly-born baby.

They further told police that when Rind’s wife started yelling, her husband and several villagers came running and started stoning and beating the woman as a result of which she fell unconscious.

Sub-inspector Ghulam Sarwar Zardari handcuffed the old woman and locked her up in the police station.

When this correspondent contacted the Sehwan Sharif police, the duty officer, ASI Abdul Qadir, said that when he had asked her name and address all she kept saying was that she was innocent and a dervish.

People kept visiting the police station where they pelted stones at the already critically injured woman. Blood was oozing from the body of the woman and her clothes were in tatters. The police remained a silent spectator to all this.

A citizen of Sehwan Sharif, Niaz, told this correspondent that the woman was mentally retarded.