Lynching of ‘child-lifters’ continue

Bengaluru: On Thursday, police arrested 14 people, including two minors and four women, who were part of a mob that lynched a 26 year old man, under the suspicion that he was a child-kidnapper. On Wednesday, a mob had assaulted and beaten Kaluram, a native of Rajasthan, who they believed to be a child-thief. The incident was triggered by rumours being circulated on social media that a gang of child-kidnappers were present in the State.

Eight men were arrested in the case- Ambu (26), Vasanth Kumar (32), Gopi (18), Balan (30), Nanda (20), Tirumalesh (28) and Rajesh (18). Four women were also arrested- Anusha (30), Susheela (37), Indira (37) and Vani (41)- along with two minors.

Later on Thursday, two women who were loitering around the railway track near Pottery Road, were also mistakenly attacked by the public. The mob had not only assaulted the women, but also damaged a Hoysala vehicles that reached the spot. Though the women could not be identified, it was confirmed that they were rescued and rushed to a hospital.

Such incidents have also occurred in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh where the public was panicked by WhatsApp messages about child-lifting gangs that “smash skulls to devour brains”. Three cases of lynching were reported from Vikarabad, Nizamabad and Yadadri districts where three people were lynched in the past four days and four others were brutally assaulted.