5 men killed in Maharashtra, two migrant women lynched in Tamil Nadu over child lifting rumors

The incidents comes in the backdrop a spate of similar such incidents in several parts of the country when people were either attacked or lynched on suspicion that they were child abductors.

Mumbai/TamilNadu : In still more incidents of lynchings based on WhatsApp rumors, five men were killed in Rainpada village of Maharashtra’s Dhule district on Sunday after the villagers suspected them of being child traffickers. According to the Dhule police, rumors were being spread in the area through WhatsApp that child traffickers had come to the area.

The incident took place around 12:30 pm on Sunday when a mob attacked the five men who had come to the village begging for money and shelter. Dhule Superintendent of Police, M Ramkumar said, “The victims, who belonged to Solapur village, had come here to beg. They were locked up and beaten on suspicion of being child traffickers.”

So far, 15 villagers have been detained in connection with the incident. Videos of villagers brutally beating the motionless, bleeding bodies of the five individuals have also surfaced.

Minister of State for Home (Rural) Deepak Kesarkar has said, “We condemn this horrific incident. A probe has been ordered and a there will be a check on these fake WhatsApp, social media rumors. We will get to the root of this incident.”

Several senior-level officials have reached the village to carry out the investigation.

Meanwhile in Chennai in yet another incident of attack on migrant laborers, two persons were thrashed by locals here on Sunday on suspicion that they were trying to abduct a child, police said.

However, the duo was rescued and admitted to a hospital, they said.

“The child’s mother happen to be the laborers’ previous house owner and when she had gone to a nearby shop last night; the two men were seen by some local men patting the child,” a police official told PTI.

The two men who sustained injuries were rescued by police and admitted at the Government Stanley Medical College hospital where they are now recuperating.

On April 28, a Hindi speaking man was clubbed to death by a group of villagers in Vellore district, who suspected him to be a child trafficker.