With rumours about a child-liftting gang floating on social media, mobs continue to attack unknown persons in Odisha.
Seven youths from Tamil Nadu were beaten up near Gate Bazar in Berhampur on Saturday night by a mob which suspected them of being child-lifters. The attackers became suspicious after the youths could not answer questions related to their identity. The police came to their rescue and admitted them to a hospital.
In the early hours of Sunday, residents of Kusadhipa village in Ganjam district thrashed a member of a gang of thieves suspecting him to be a child-lifter. Five of his accomplices managed to escape. The police rescued the injured youth and admitted him to Khallikote hospital.
Another youth from Andhra Pradesh was manhandled after he was suspected of being a child-lifter at Vijaynagar village under the Gania police station limits in Nayagarh district. He was handed over to police on Sunday.
All these incidents happened due to a video-clip and rumours floating on social media claiming that a gang of child-lifters had entered Odisha.
On May 20 and 21, four persons, including a juvenile, were mercilessly beaten up in separate incidents by mobs misled by the rumour.
Odisha Director-General of Police (DGP) R.P. Sharma on Sunday appealed to the citizens to refrain from spreading rumours and stop attacking innocents suspecting them to be child lifters.
