Mangaluru, Jul 6: A WhatsApp rumour about child-lifters that triggered widespread mob frenzy across the country, this time instigated a group of people in coastal Karnataka to attack a 35-year-old man who was travelling in an auto-rickshaw with his own child.
The incident took place at Ujire in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada district on Thursday, July 5. The victim has been identified as Khalid, whose 2-year-old daughter was sitting on his lap and crying for unknown reasons.
According to sources, two local men, who noticed a stranger (Khalid) carrying a child, chased the auto-rickshaw, intercepted it and asked him to alight.
The men, who suspected Khalid to be a child abductor, asked him from where he kidnapped the little girl. Khalid, who was not aware of the WhatsApp rumours, thought that the men were mentally challenged and asked them not to trouble him.
However, the duo snatched the child from his hand and started assaulting him. Soon, the clash attracted more local residents, who were not ready to miss an opportunity to thrash the stranger, who happened to be a Muslim.
Even though Khalid repeatedly told that it was his own child, the mob continued to thrash him until the jurisdictional Ujire police arrived at the scene and took him to police station. The unsatisfied crowd followed the police till the station arguing that he was indeed a child abductor, and explaining how they rescued an innocent child.
After reaching the station, the police contacted the child’s mother Sameena, who confirmed that Khalid was child’s father. Within seconds the locals disappeared from the station. The police registered an FIR. But, no one was arrested so far.
Across Indian dozens of innocent people have been beaten to death in past few months by the suspicious mobs thanks to the social media rumours about child-lifters.
Comments
Add new comment