AMETHI: A labourer was lynched to death, while eight others were injured in an attack by a mob, which suspected them of being child lifters. The incident took place in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi district on Sunday evening.
A video shot by an eyewitness shows a severely injured man, covered in dust, writhing on the ground. A group of people surround him and shout at him. Another video shows four policemen carrying a man away by his hands and legs from a paddy field.
According to reports, a group of labourers from Pratapgarh had finished their work and stopped by at a liquor shop for some drinks. Outside the shop, they got into an argument with another person, who was drunk.
Amethi, Superintendent of Police, Khyati Garg, said: "The labourers thrashed the man till he died. They were trying to shove the body into their vehicle when a villager saw them from a distance and assumed they were kidnapping a child."
Soon a mob descended on the spot and started beating them up. The injured have been admitted to a hospital and the deceased man's body has been sent for post-mortem.
Child lifting rumours have been leading to mob violence in Uttar Pradesh since the past one month.
The police said they have been meeting village heads and making public announcements to guard against the rumours that could escalate into mob killings.
At least 12 cases of mob assault on people accused of kidnapping have been reported from Bulandshahr district in the last one month, the police said.
In Ghaziabad last week, a video of the woman being thrashed by the mob was circulated on social media. She was taking her grandson for shopping when she was mistaken for a child kidnapper.
In Sambhal, a man was lynched when he was taking his nephew to a doctor. His brother was seriously injured in the attack.