A total of 10 people have been killed in India's Maharashtra alone in the past one-and-a-half-months after rumours spread on social media that they were child traffickers.
The latest incident happened on Sunday (1) when five people were lynched by a mob in Dhule district. Incidents of lynching have also been reported from Aurangabad, Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nashik, Beed, Parbhani, Nanded, Latur, Gondia and Chandrapur districts, reported news agency PTI.
In all these cases, mob set upon strangers fearing they may either be child traffickers or were roaming around the locality with the intention of committing theft, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Bipin Bihari told PTI.
"We are witnessing such kind of incidents for the last one-and-a-half months. Apart from ten deaths, 18 persons were injured in these attacks, including, in some cases, the policemen who tried to save victims from the mob," he said.
More than 60 people have been arrested in these cases.
The police has also issued advisory urging people not to believe rumours circulating on social media platforms.
“We are trying to counter the misinformation by aggressive campaigning on social media, WhatsApp and local TV channels,” M. Ramkumar, the superintendent of police in Dhule, was quoted as saying by The Washington Post.
"We want to convey the message that all rumors are false and they should not fall prey to them,” Ramkumar said.
