Messages of “child lifters” continued to do the rounds of social media, resulting in a spate of mob attacks in the city for the third consecutive day on Friday.
On Friday afternoon, three women from Hoodi, who work as housekeepers, became victims of the rumour-mongering as a mob that suspected them of abducting children surrounded them at Vijayanagara Gutte, near Whitefield. The three women were eventually rescued by the police.
Since the brutal lynching of a 26-year-old construction labourer from Rajasthan at Pension Mohalla in Chamarajpet on Wednesday, several incidents of attacks by the public have kept the police on their toes. Shortly after, three persons were similarly thrashed by a mob in two cases. Between 7 p.m. on Thursday and 1 a.m. on Friday, the police were called in to rescue 12 people, including the three women, who were targeted by mobs at Pulakeshinagar, Shivajinagar, and Bharathinagar police station limits.
Unable to control the spread of the fear psychosis, the police in many areas have been approaching residents and distributing pamphlets reiterating that these messages are fake.
“All the messages are fake and no case of any gang that abducts children has been registered in Bengaluru. I would request people to stop sending these videos and messages as this is leading to innocent people being targeted,” said T. Suneel Kumar, Police Commissioner, at a press conference on Friday.
In all, since the first incident at Chamarajpet, five cases have been filed in the city, while 16 people have been rescued from mobs, he said. The police had even received a communication from the Director-Generals of Police in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where five people were reportedly attacked after the same rumours went viral on social media. The videos being circulated in Karnataka are believed to have originated from there, said the police.
The police said they would book cases against anyone found to be circulating these messages. In Chamarajpet, the police have detained at least three people and are verifying their role in the lynching, based on the videos of the incident. Over 40 people are believed to have attacked the labourer, Kaluram, and the police said more arrests would be made. “Locals know who was involved in the attack, and we will be taking action against anyone found to be harbouring the accused,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Ravi D. Chennannavar.
The rumours have swirled even in Bengaluru Rural, where the police have stepped up their patrols to thwart any possible attack.
Those forwarding fake messages will be booked: Police Commissioner
The police are relying on old-fashioned legwork to curtail the spread of electronic messages that have unleashed a wave of mob attacks in the city.
In the Chamarajpet incident the police have filed a case against “unknown” persons who circulated fake graphic videos of a “gang of child lifters who killed children”. These messages have been spreading on the social messaging platform WhatsApp.
Mr. Suneel Kumar said cases would be filed against those who were forwarding these messages, and this would serve as a deterrent.
Mr. Chennannavar said teams had been formed to “reverse investigate” the chain of forwards.
“We will find out who sent the messages to the accused in the lynching and will try to trace the message till the origin,” he said. In many areas, the police have been countering the “online nuisance” through offline meetings and announcements through their Hoysala patrolling vehicles.
N. Vijayashankar, a city-based cyberlaw specialist, said tracing the origin of such messages was “tedious, but not impossible”.
“It is the same technique used to detect the origins of virus. Indian laws make it possible to get assistance from WhatsApp and while the message may be encrypted, the phone numbers of those sending the messages will be available,” he said.
However, on the larger issue of curbing the spread of rumours online, Mr. Vijayashankar said the government or laws could do little.
“A lot of people who use the Internet tend to believe everything that they read there. There needs to be awareness on scrutinising these messages, while the police should counter these messages online too,” he said.
