Bengaluru: The Bengaluru police on Thursday arrested at least nine people in connection with the public lynching of a 26-year-old man, suspected to be a child trafficker, in the Chamrajpet area of the city.
The arrests come a day after a video of a mob beating up and dragging the lifeless body of a man in a busy city area, who they said was a kidnapper, surfaced on social media.
The victim has been identified by police as Kaluram from Rajasthan.
The incident, which happened in broad daylight and in one of the busiest parts of Bengaluru, brought to the fore the rising problem of vigilantism. Many cases of mob lynching have surfaced across the country, mostly related to cow smuggling or slaughtering. The lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in 2015 on suspicion of having beef, brought the issue to the limelight. Since then, several other cases of mob-justice have been reported from across the country.
A 35-year-old Dalit ragpicker, Mukesh Vaniya, was beaten to death in Shapar Town in Gujarat, allegedly because he was caught stealing scrap from a factory, the Press Trust of India reported on Monday.
“False rumours lead to the ending of someone’s life. People taking the law into their hands is unlawful. Public are warned that stringent action will be taken if they act against the law. Public are requested to inform us if they find such suspects,” the city police said on its official Twitter handle on Thursday.
The first video shows Kaluram’s hands tied up and people kicking and beating him up on a pedestrian walkway, while he pleads with those attacking him. The second video shows several youngsters, most of them minors, dragging the lifeless body of the victim on a main road while women and other residents follow, hurling abuses and using rods and other items to beat up the man. Some members of the public are even seen egging on a youngster beating up the victim with a cricket bat.
The police, in a statement on Thursday, said that the victim was beaten up by locals using sticks and other items, causing grievous injuries on the Kaluram.
The victim succumbed to injuries after he was taken to Victoria Hospital. The police are probing the incident.