After coming under sharp criticism over rising cases of mob lynching of suspected child lifters, DGP, OP Singh said that National Security Act (NSA) would be invoked against rumour mongers and accused of such crimes.
Singh claimed that 82 persons involved in spreading rumours about child theft and spreading violence have been arrested in separate cases across the state. But so far, none of them have been booked under the NSA.
Political leaders have already expressed their concern on the rise in lynching and violence against suspected child lifters in UP.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was the first to raise the issue through her tweeter account, mentioning how the law enforcing agencies had failed to check attacks on innocent people.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav have also expressed concern over the rise in instances of mob violence and called for stern action against the perpetrators.
‘’Mob lynching in UP is now taking its toll and innocent females were being targeted. People are terrified by such incidents, the state government should take stern action against such culprits,’’ they said in separate statements.
Sources said that the decision by the state government to impose NSA in such cases was taken in response to concerns of the opposition parties.
It may be mentioned that reports of attacks on innocent people by terming them child lifters have been pouring in regularly. A Health department team was attacked by a violent mob of around 150 people in Fatehpur district on Wednesday on the suspicion that the government officials were child lifters.
Ten people, including two cops, were injured when a group of locals pelted stones at them in Khesahan village in Ghazipur.
On Tuesday in Sambhal, a 40-year-old man escorting his seven-year-old ailing nephew was lynched by a mob on the suspicion of being a child lifter.
The same day, six persons were arrested for thrashing a 50-year-old man in Kanpur Dehat. Billu of Raigarh in Chhattisgarh, was begging when Swarooppur villagers mistook him for a child lifter and beat him up.
In the neighbouring Kanpur City, a mob beat up two beggars in Bhim Nagar, suspecting them to be child lifters. Police rescued them and they were being treated at a nearby hospital.
On Sunday, a 50-year-old woman was brutally manhandled in Etah on suspicion of being a child lifter.
With a sudden rise in the number of such incidents, several district police chiefs have issued advisories to people to not pay heed to rumours and desist from taking law in their hands.
The DGP asked people to not become a partner in this crime.
“Today I want to draw your attention towards a serious issue. Anti-social elements are spreading rumours about child theft in different parts of the state, which has led to violence. In the probe into the incidents of violence, there is an angle of child theft.
“My appeal to you is do not believe in the rumours or take the law in your own hands and be a partner in the violence,” Singh said in a video, tweeted by UP Police.
“If you come to know about any such incident, immediately inform on Dial-100 number,” he said.