The Nashik Rural police have revealed that the three video clips showing two men on motorcycles picking up a boy, women putting on burqas while walking on a road and a boy telling reporters that he was kidnapped from Buldhana were manipulated by miscreants in order to create panic, the Indian Express reported on Thursday.
The three videos had created panic in Maharashtra, prompting agitated citizens to behave in a mob-like manner that resulted in the deaths of nine people and the injuries of 10 in the past month in the state.
Various versions of this video forwarded on WhatsApp have captions claiming that the incident took place in India. However, the original video is part of a campaign by an NGO in Karachi in 2016 to raise awareness about missing children.
Investigators are probing at least two more videos that were circulated widely across Maharashtra.
More than 20 people have been lynched over the last two months across the country on suspicion of child lifting, the latest being the killing of five men in Maharashtra's Dhule district. The Centre on Thursday asked the states and Union territories (UTs) to check incidents of mob lynching fuelled by rumours of child lifting on social media.
Five members of a nomadic community were killed by a mob at the remote Rainpada village in Dhule on July 1. The attack was reportedly triggered by a rumour about a child-lifting gang being active in the area.
According to police, in the last one and a half months, 14 incidents of mob attacks fuelled by rumours were reported in the state, in which ten people were killed.
The Centre has asked the states and the Union Territories (UT) to take measures to prevent incidents of mob lynching fueled by rumours of child lifting.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has urged them (the states and the UTs) to keep a watch for early detection of such rumours and initiate effective action in the connection.
The states and the UT's have also been asked to direct District Administrations to identify vulnerable areas and conduct community outreach programmes for creating awareness and building confidence.
It was also stressed that complaints of child abduction or kidnapping should be properly investigated to instill confidence among the affected persons.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday asked owners of instant messaging app WhatsApp to work closely with the IT Ministry and remain "accountable, responsible and vigilant" towards ensuring that nobody misuses their platform.
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