Before she could explain herself, residents allegedly caught hold of her and began assaulting her. She was even punched in the face
The woman (in yellow) who was assaulted. Pics/By Special Arrangement
A woman in her thirties was brutally assaulted by an angry mob in Malwani after being mistaken for a child kidnapper, a mid-day report stated. The incident occurred in the Malwani Church locality when the woman, a resident of Charkop, went to meet a close friend to extend New Year greetings. Her friend’s mobile phone was switched off and the house she was trying to locate was found locked.
While trying to locate the house, this woman inadvertently entered a nearby slum pocket, where her presence immediately aroused suspicion among locals. Within minutes, a rumour spread that she was a ‘child lifter’.
Before she could explain herself, residents allegedly caught hold of her and began assaulting her. She was even punched in the face.
A senior inspector has been cited in the report, urging the public not to take the law into their hands, inform the police and most importantly, never believe in rumours.
The latter needs to be strictly adhered to, as this incident itself shows that rumours can be extremely dangerous and can spark a riot, assaults, attacks in which the target can lose their life. Moreover, a rumour may seem small at first, but it is magnified when there is a crowd. Wrong information, panic, fear and that fear transformed into ire and anger can have significant consequences for the target.
Now pour petrol into this mix — which is social media — and you have a catastrophe of enormous proportions. This is precisely the reason why police tell people not to spread rumours via Internet or believe in social media rumours whenever there is an incident or the city is tense for whatever reason. They know exactly the inferno that may erupt.
As we move into New Year we say: retain your sense of humour, and lose your sense of rumour.
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