Lynching upsurge: At least 18 people killed in 8 states since May 23

From Tripura to Telangana, several states across the country witnessed mob attacks in the last few months over one reason or the other

The incidents of mob lynching have become rampant across the country in the past few months, with most attacks happening over 'child-lifting' rumours.

According to a Hindustan Times report, since May 20, 14 people have been killed in the country due to several fake media videos and messages containing similar themes of outsiders stealing children. 

The latest incident of mob violence occurred in Maharashtra's Dhule district on Sunday. Five men were lynched by a mob over suspicion that they were part of a gang of "child lifters".

The lynching of two men in Assam over the similar rumour had rocked the state, prompting Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to personally monitor the progress of the investigation.

In the aftermath of the incident, social organisations, media houses and student communities joined hands in the state to create awareness on the responsible use of networking websites.    

Lynching incidents across the country in recent times:

Maharashtra 

On Sunday, five people were lynched by a mob in Dhule district over suspicion that they were part of a gang of 'child lifters'.

The incident, according to police, happened when the five of them arrived in the tribal-dominated Rainpada hamlet and apparently tried to speak to a girl child. 

" When one of them apparently tried to speak to a girl child, the villagers, who had gathered for the weekly Sunday market, pounced on them," the police said.

An official at the Pimpalner police station said that the five people died after being assaulted.

Tripura

A man hired by the Tripura Information and Culture department to spread awareness against rumour-mongering was killed in a mob attack on the suspicion of being child-lifters on Thursday.

On the same day, one mobile vendor from Uttar Pradesh was lynched and four others including a policeman were seriously injured when a mob attacked them suspecting them to be child lifters.

In Sipahijala district on Wednesday, an unidentified woman was lynched and another injured when she along with four men was moving in a vehicle in the district.

Gujarat 

A 40-year-old woman was beaten to death by a mob in Ahmedabad on the suspicion of being a child-lifter.

Anasiben Marwadi, who was related to the deceased and who was with her, said in her complaint that they belong to a community which earns living by begging, and had come to Ahmedabad from Pali district of Rajasthan some time ago.

"When four of us were travelling in an auto, some men came on motorbikes and intercepted us at Juna Vadaj. They accused us of being child-lifters. More locals joined them and overturned the auto. They then punched and kicked us," Anansiben alleged in her complaint.

Jharkhand

Two Muslim men were allegedly lynched by a group of enraged villagers on suspicion of cattle theft in Jharkhand's Godda district on June 14.

According to a report, the two were among five men caught with stolen cattles in a village. While three of them managed to escape, two men Sirabuddin Ansari (35) and Murtaza Ansari (30) were thrashed to death by enraged villagers.

In March last year, a Jharkhand court had convicted a local BJP worker and 10 others for lynching a Muslim trader in June 2017. The convicts had beaten a 55-year-old man to death in Ramgarh district on suspicion of carrying beef in his van.

West Bengal

On June 13, a man was allegedly lynched by an enraged mob on suspicion of being a child lifter, at Bulbulchandi in Malda district.

The 35-year-old man was tied to a post and thrashed by the mob over his alleged involvement in kidnapping of children for organ harvesting, a police officer told news agencies.

Assam

Two men were lynched in Assam on June 9 on suspicion of being 'child lifters'. 

Nilotpal Das (29) and his friend Abhijeet Nath (30), returning from a picnic spot, were pulled out of their car and lynched by villagers in Assam's Karbi Anglong district.

In a video of the incident circulated on social media, the two men can be heard begging for their lives and trying to explain to the livid crowd that they were innocent but to no avail.

After the police reached the spot, the two seriously injured men were rushed to a hospital but they died on the way.

Uttar Pradesh

On June 18, two muslim men were brutally thrashed by a mob over alleged rumours of cow slaughter at Bajhera Khurd village in Hapur.

One of the victim, identified as Qasim, died in the attack while the other got critically injured.

Qasim's brother Mohammed Nadeem said his brother was "brutally killed by BJP goons as he belonged to the Muslim community" and dragged like dead animal in presence of police.

Telangana

Two men were beaten to death by a group of villagers in in separate incidents in Telangana on May 22. 

Police said both the victims were attacked by villagers on suspicion of being thieves.

With agency inputs