Child-lifting rumours: Social media is exposing existing administrative lacunae
Mob attacks over child-lifting
rumours continue to spread across the country as five people were
lynched in north Maharashtra despite police intervention. The victims
were visiting a Dhule village when they were attacked on suspicion of
being child lifters. In fact, rumours about child-lifting have been
flying thick and fast in the tribal districts of Dhule and Nandurbar in
recent days, both through social media and word of mouth. But the rural,
tribal setting of these latest lynchings is irrelevant.
For, one person was attacked in Tripura’s Dhalai district
on Sunday itself, while two men from Bihar were severely beaten up in
Chennai on Saturday night, again over child-lifting rumours. In Tripura,
it will be recalled that a person hired by the state government to
counter rumours of child-lifting was himself lynched a few days ago.
What explains this seeming madness? Social media is definitely playing a
part here. True, there were child-lifting rumours even before
smartphones and platforms like WhatsApp became ubiquitous. But these
have greatly extended the reach and speed of rumours.
And while the authorities should take all necessary
measures to counter these false stories circulating on social media, the
reality is that administrative deficiencies are to blame for these
lynchings in the first place. Social media rumours are only exposing the
chinks in our law and order mechanism. For, had there been adequate and
better policing, quick action against rumour mongers and fast
prosecution of culprits in cases of lynchings, social media rumours
wouldn’t have been able to create such a frenzy. The bottom line is law
and order in this country does not pose enough of a deterrent. And this
encourages vigilantism. It is these systemic administrative deficiencies
that need to be addressed.
