The Uttar Pradesh police said they are working to nab those spreading child-lifting rumours on social media even as four fresh incidents of mob attacks came in from different parts of the state on Thursday.
Director general of police (DGP) OP Singh said a circular has been issued to all district police chiefs to take stern action against those involved in spreading rumours and attacking people.
Inspector general (IG) of police, law and order, Praveen Kumar said the police’s social media cell was trying to stop circulation of “fake videos and messages”, which could trigger such rumours.
However, he said, it seems to be an “arbitrary trend” that such videos and messages suddenly started emerging.
Kumar said it is very difficult to identify the origin of fake videos when they are being circulated arbitrarily.
Meanwhile, four fresh incidents of mob attacks on people on the suspicion of being child -lifters were reported from Rae Bareli, Sambhal, Bahraich and Kanpur on Thursday, the police said.
The police have so far registered 36 first information reports (FIRs) in as many as 50 such incidents, arrested 106 people and decided to invoke the National Security Act against people who spread rumours about child lifting.
{{/usCountry}}The police have so far registered 36 first information reports (FIRs) in as many as 50 such incidents, arrested 106 people and decided to invoke the National Security Act against people who spread rumours about child lifting.
{{/usCountry}}On August 27, a 40-year-old man taking his nephew to a doctor in Sambhal district was lynched after a group of people mistook him for a kidnapper. A day later, 10 people, including two police personnel, were injured after a group of people in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur district pelted stones at them following child abduction rumours.
The IG said the police are taking help of around 300,000 digital volunteers in different localities and villages of 75 districts across the state to stop circulation of child-lifting rumours.
“At district level, hotspots have been identified where such incidents had happened or where it could happen and police patrolling has been intensified there,” he said.
A senior official of UP police’s social media cell said on the condition anonymity that similar rumours of child-lifting and mob attacks were reported in Karnataka, Tamil Naidu and Maharashtra during the same period in 2018. He said over 20 people were killed and dozens injured in such incidents reported in 2018.