New Delhi, Jul 6 (DC): Concerned over incidents of mob lynching mostly fuelled by rumours of child-lifting, the home ministry on Thursday directed states and Union Territories (UTs) to put an end to such incidents by putting in place adequate preventive measures. In the last few months more than 20 people have been killed by a mob in separate incidents with the latest being reported from Maharashtra’s Dhule district where five tribals were lynched on suspicion of being child-lifters.

In its advisory the ministry has asked the states to ensure that a proper watch is kept so that such rumours of child-lifting can be detected at the earliest so that proper measures can be initiated to counter them.

“All states and UTs have been asked to keep a watch on social media from where such rumours normally originate resulting in incidents of mob lynching. We have directed that states to specially identify and keep a watch on the vulnerable areas so that community awareness programmes can be conducted as a confidence building exercise and such incidents can be prevented in future,” a senior ministry official said.

States have been specifically directed to initiate thorough investigations into cases of child kidnapping and keep the concerned families or communities informed about them.