Social media holds up black' mirror to frenzied mobs

The recent killing of a man by a crazed mob has left city police with a huge challenge. The attack, which took place in broad daylight, was caused by a trigger as minute as a fake Whatsapp message. Social media exists in a state of anarchy and law-enforcers simply don't have the power to prevent these incidents. It's time for more regulation and awareness among the public, who need to be sensitised to the dangers of social media, report Shweta Singh and Mujahid Deputy

He was an innocent 26 –year- old, who had arrived in the city a few weeks earlier from Rajasthan in search of a job. But on May 23 he was mistaken for a child-lifter and beaten to death by a mob in the heart of Bengaluru. Disturbingly, Kaluram paid with his life for a crime he had not committed as mob fury unfurled merely based on fake social media messages of a child-lifter being spotted in the area.

The young man’s murder sent shockwaves across Karnataka and neighbouring states and exposed the dangers of social media as the investigation established he was lynched based on a false WhatsApp message doing the rounds.

A day after the incident , Deputy Commissioner of Police, west division, Ravi D Channannavar, appealed to the people not to go by rumours and check the genuinness of  messages forwarded to them.   

But despite such  alerts to fake news, on May 26, three burqa-clad women from Whitefield were mistaken for childlifters but were saved in the nick of time by the city police as a frenzied mob prepared to attack them.

Despite the police’s efforts, the rumours appeared to take on a life of their  own and spread way past the city . So much so that in the past week, districts like Kolar, Tumakuru, Vijayapura and Kalaburagi have seen more  mob assaults on individuals from other states , who were in Karnataka in search of a jobs. They were brutally thrashed by the locals, although not one child-lifting case was reported in their midst. 

Besides the districts, the lynching spree spread to Tamil Nadu and Telangana where  a transgender was battered to death in Hyderabad on May 28 by a mob merely on  suspicion that he was a child-lifter.

What is disturbing is the changing face of mob attacks in recent times with people not hesitating to take law into their hands or to treat innocent people from other states as criminals without even checking their antecedents 

Ask DCP West, Ravi D Channannavara about the police’s responsibility in such situations and he says it is not only its duty but the  collective duty of every citizen to prevent such incidents. “We as people need to understand that social media is nothing but a double edge weapon and be very cautious when we receive a message. Rather than blindly believing it, people must check its authenticity,” he stresses.

Another senior police officer throws up his hands in a helpless gesture to argue that it is not humanly possible to  keep a tab on what is posted on all social media sites. “We need a proper mechanism to keep a tab on them. It’s important to take cognizance of the message  and inform the nearest police station if it is found  to be mischievous and not take law into our own hands,” he emphasises.

Jumping to the defence of the police, one police officer  notes that even the Bengaluru police’s Twitter handle and Facebook page carried warnings against  fake messages and advised people to report them immediately to the police. 

When mobs rampage

May 28, 2018
A mob lynched a transgender woman while three others seriously injured in Hyderabad city by a crowd that linked them to a child exploitation ring.
May 22, 2018
Two people were lynched in separate incidents in Nizamabad and Yadadri districts of Telangana, after locals suspected them to be child kidnappers following rumours on WhatsApp.
May 19, 2018
Three people were lynched in separate incidents in Andhra Pradesh under suspicion of being child-lifters. 
May 9, 2018
A 65-year-old woman and four others suspecting them to be child traffickers in Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. Police arrested 23. 

No dearth of mischief mongers, don’t fall for their tricks

WhatsApp may keep you connected with your family and friends  round -the -clock, but it can also be deadly with misinformation, disinformation, rumours and false messages going viral on it in the blink of an eye.

While some of the messages circulated on WhatsApp are fake, real killings follow as people turn criminals on believing them. For the police it is a harrowing time when  people are lynched in the city  and it lost no time in warning the public against believing everything they hear.   

But shamefully, more mob fury followed in the following two days in Cottonpet, Pulakeshinagar, Whitefield and Vidyaranyapura, where men and women were beaten up merely on suspicion of being child- lifters.

Says Additional Commissioner of Police (East) Seemanth Kumar Singh, “There are mischief- mongers who want to create tension by spreading fake information and many people fall into their trap. People need to understand that social media is not a credible source of news and cross-check the information before passing it on to others. The city police is monitoring  social media platforms seriously and  keeping an eye on WhatsApp groups where fake messages are shared indiscriminately.” .

Unfortunately, this is not Bengaluru’s first experience with rumours causing tension among its people. In 2012, thousands of panic-stricken people from the northeast left the city after rumours of violence against them spread like  wildfire.