In the summer of 2018, the entire nation was gripped by hysteria created by child-lifting rumours on social media. The rumour mongering was so intense and strong had it claimed the lives of many people across India.
After a brief lull, the rumours of child-lifting have reared its ugly head again – this time in Gwalior.
CLAIM
A few pictures that show three badly wounded men is being circulated on WhatsApp with users claiming that the they are child lifters who had kidnapped children and were operating on them to take out their kidney.
It further claims that the incident took place in Agra near a place called Transport Nagar.
These pictures are accompanied by two videos, of which one has found its way to Facebook.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim is completely false and misleading. Neither did the incident take place in Agra nor did the three men kidnap any children.
The incident took place in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh on 7 August when a self-proclaimed godman who goes by the name of ‘Sakhi Baba’ was beaten up by a mob along with two of his disciples on suspicion of child-lifting.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Though the message along with the pictures claimed that the incident took place in Agra, on watching the video we noticed that the number plate of a motorcycle read ‘MP 07’ which is the registration number of Gwalior.
Our suspicion was confirmed after we saw another sign board that read ‘Holy Angel Convent School’ which too, is in Gwalior.
The Quint then got in touch with IG, Gwalior Zone, Raja Babu Singh who checked the video and confirmed that the incident took place in Gwalior’s Shankerpur area, when Sakhi Baba, dressed up as a woman, along with his two disciples, was going towards Gwalior city.
According to Singh, he was beaten up by a mob on suspicion of child-lifting and thrashed brutally. However, they were saved after two constables intervened and they called more police from a nearby police station to save the men.
“The allegations of child-lifting rumours are completely false.”Raja Babu Singh, IG, Gwalior Zone
We also came across a news report published by a Hindi daily ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ which further supported what the police said.
The daily quoted Sakhi Baba as saying, “We were walking, coming from a temple when two men on a bike looked at me and said that they have seen me in a video. After that they started hitting me and when Deepak and Rinku (his disciples) intervened, they beat them too.”
GWALIOR POLICE ISSUES ADVISORY
Gwalior police has issued an advisory urging people to not believe these rumours on social media and take law in their hands. The police has appealed to the citizens to alert the police if anyone is spreading such rumours on social media.
The advisory further says that the police will take action against all people involved in a case of mob violence based on such rumours.
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