Mob lynches 1, injures 3 on child kidnapping rumours in India
NEW DELHI — Police in southern India have arrested nearly three dozen people for participating in the lynching of a young engineer and wounding three men, including a Qatari national, after rumours that the victims were members of a gang of child kidnappers.
Police said Sunday that the victims were travelling in a car through a village in Karnataka’s Bidar district when a mob armed with sticks and stones attacked them on Friday night.
The villagers were infuriated after the men tried to hand over some chocolates to village kids, said police officer Chandrashekhar, who uses only one name.
The kids panicked, attracting local villagers who started beating them, the officer said. The men gave them a slip but locals had already clicked their pictures and a video and circulated them through WhatsApp to alert neighbouring villages that four child abductors were trying to escape, he said.