Agartala.

Viral rumors on the social network regarding child lifting claimed two innocent lives in the city. Frenzied people would not pay heed to any word or voice of reason.

Horrific cases of mob lynching were reported as so-called child lifters were sighted in some areas of the city. Mob killed one and two are severely injured.

In another case, a man who wanted to spread awareness against fake news which had gone viral on social media was also lynched to death.

These shocking cases of mob lynching were reported from north-eastern parts of the country with Tripura witnessing two such incidents in a single day.

The first incident took place in west Tripura whereas the second incident happened in south Tripura. The similarity in both the lynching cases was ‘child lifting’. The rumours of them being child lifters had gone viral on social media which fuelled the mob frenzy.

The victims who were lynched in west Tripura were vendors from Uttar Pradesh against whom the rumours went viral. More than 1,000 people lynched them, one of them died on the spot and the other two are grievously injured and were admitted to a district hospital. They were mercilessly beaten up till one of them succumbed to injuries.

Another incident which was reported from south Tripura involved a driver, who went to a location to spread awareness about fake news that child lifters are on a prowl in the city.

This news had gone viral through social media platforms like WhatsApp. Things took turn for the worse as a mob of nearly 1000 people lynched him to death as they blamed him of being a child lifter himself.

In the wake of increasing cases of mob lynching due to rumour mongering on social media and viral hate messages, the government has suspended usage of internet services in the state. The current situation in Tripura is tense as mob frenzy is on the rise.