A day after the Supreme Court said lynchings are unacceptable and reminded the state governments of their obligation to prevent mob violence and such incidents, the Union home ministry on Thursday shot off an advisory asking states and UTs to take measures to prevent incidents of mob lynching fueled by rumours of child lifting circulating on social media.
The MHA has urged them to keep a watch for early detection of such rumours and initiate effective measures for countering them. “The States and UTs have been asked to direct District Administrations to identify vulnerable areas and conduct community outreach programmes for creating awareness and building confidence,” said the home ministry. It also stressed that complaints of child abduction or kidnapping should be properly investigated to instil confidence among the affected persons.
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In April, Onanapalle village on the outskirts of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh witnessed an incident where the villagers thrashed a suspected child trafficker resulting in his death after a WhatsApp message was circulated spreading fear about some 200 criminals from "north India" entering the state to pick up children. This isn’t the first incident of lynching and mob violence. In the last few months, many such incidents have happened in Tripura, Odisha, Karnataka and West Bengal. Child trafficking rumours spread to the north east through WhatsApp prompting law enforcement and cyber cell departments at the Centre and state to clamp down on rumour mongering. The cyber cell divisions of the Centre and states have also got on to social media platforms to dispel the rumours and keep a watch on suspects to track down the offenders.