Mumbai: The Congress has accused the police and administration of inaction over Sunday lynching incident in Dhule. A group of labourers who had come in search of work to Sakhri taluka in Dhule were lynched after a rumour circulated about child kidnappers having come to the village. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan has condemned this inhuman act of violence.
“This is a shocking and absolutely inhuman incident to have occurred, unfortunately, in Maharashtra. Such incidents have been reported from various parts of India. Instead of taking preventive measures, the police and state administration seem to be silent spectators,” said Chavan. He severely criticised the inefficiency of the Devendra Fadnavis government. “In Maharashtra, it seems there is jungle raj and not rule of the law. The government has failed to maintain law and order,” accused Chavan.
He said the cyber police had failed in their vigilance, as rumour-mongering and false messages about child-snatching gangs have gone viral. There have been increasing incidents of attacks on poor people in the state being set upon by mobs, he observed. Recently, a similar incident was reported in Aurangabad. “The state seems to be a mute spectator, which has resulted in an increasing number of cases where groups of people are falsely accused of kidnapping children and become victims of mob violence,” said Chavan. He narrated a similar incident in Jalgaon, wherein a BJP legislator had taken along a mob to beat up some strangers merely on the suspicion that they were child snatchers. “However, no action has been taken against this legislattor and ever since, such incidents have been increasing,” he said.
In fact, reports stated the mobs which lynched the labourers also attacked the police team which had reached the spot to control them. Congress has blamed Fadnavis for not controlling his home ministry, leading to a rise in such incidents.