ASSAM
Two persons from Guwahati, Nilotpal Das and Abhijit Nath, were killed by a mob at Panjuri Kacharigaon under Dokmoka police station in central Assam’s Karbi Anglong district due to rumours regarding them being child lifters. Several people from the Karbi community are experiencing intolerance after this incident.
The New Leam Staff
The incident that took place in Karbi Anglong district, Assam symbolises the socio-political and cultural decline of our mind-set. The shocking incident in which two youths from Assam were lynched as rumours of child trafficking was circulating on social media against them. The parents of one of the youths requested a local newspaper in Assamese to publish their plea of not spreading inter-communal violence and ensuring that the culprits be duly punished.
In the appeal composed in Assamese language, the parents pleaded the government to maintain law and order in the state and ensure that the culprits are caught and punished appropriately.
The two youths Abhijeet Nath and Nitopal Das who were beaten to death by a mob because of a suspicion that people had regarding them being child lifters. In a video which went viral on social media , Nitopal Das is seen appealing to the crowd to not kill him and stating that he was a resident of Assam and the suspicion was baseless.
Both the youths died in the same moment after the crowd refused to let them go. Numerous reports that appeared in social media and indigenous news bulletins shared that several members of the Karbi tribe in Karbi Analong district were being targeted after the lynching case.
The police have claimed that the recent lynching occurred due to “fake news” circulate in social media regarding a group of kidnappers in Assam. They have been operating so as to ensure that the same does not occur again
Bhupendra Terang, 18, was arrested under the IT Act on Sunday for posting false information on Facebook regarding child kidnappers. Several arrests were done for spreading misinformation in various districts. Post several attacks on Karbis, the Coordination Committee of the Tribal Organisations of Assam (CCOTOA), urged people not to target the Karbi.
Aditya Khakhlari, the chief convener of CCOTOA stated “The entire Karbi community should not be blamed or targeted because of the incident. It was barbaric and unfortunate. But targeting the entire Karbi community to avenge the killings will be equally unfortunate. This may lead to more social unrest. We appeal to everyone to show restraint.”
It is paradoxical that we do not know how to make the most of social media websites and in several cases we have seen I being wrongly used. The lynching of the two youth is shameful for the nation as it symbolises our collective immaturity and decline. Violence cannot be an answer to any kind of injustice. The greatness of the guardians is also commendable as they refused to give a communal colour to the lunching in spite of the loss.
