Dhule lynching occurred despite slew of measures

Mumbai: A day after five persons were lynched in Dhule on suspicions that they were ‘child-lifters’, it has emerged that the lynching happened despite the district police having taken a slew of measures over the past 15 days to pre-empt such an emergency, said Dhule police officers. As part of its efforts to prevent any mob attack, acting on social media messages related to ‘child-lifters’, a police unit had been sending counter-rumour messages via social media including Wha-tsApp. The police had also deputed 20-odd beat constables to apprise gram panchayat and other village officials on the need to quell such rumours.

Dhule’s superintendent of police, M. Ramkumar said, “The beat constables had especially met gram panchayat members and police patils to make them aware about the threats emanating from misleading social media messages. We had issued adverts in newspapers and local television channels to spread awareness too.” The rumour of child-lifters being active was rife despite no such recent incidents, according to him. The public had been asked to approach the police to verify rumours.

The police has so far arrested 23 locals for their alleged role in the lynching and is looking for a few more. “Those arrested do not have a criminal past,” SP Ramkumar said.

There is no full-fledged police station at the tribal-dominated Rainpada village of Dhule and a group of 20 beat constables are tasked with covering up to four villages including this one. Asked if the lack of manpower delayed the police action, another police officer said, “No, we had rushed to the spot the moment we got the information about the mob.”