Tamil Nadu: Mob Of 200 Lynches To Death 65-Yr-Old Woman Mistaking Her For A Child Trafficker

A 65-year-old woman died after she and her family members were attacked by a mob in Tiruvannamalai district, Tamil Nadu. The mob had mistaken the family to be a group of child traffickers.

The family from Chennai was visiting their Kula deivam or the family temple after a long time. It is reported that a mob of about 200 people who mistook the family to be a group of child traffickers began beating the family. During the violence, 65-year old Rukmini died on the spot and four other family members – 34-year old Chandrasekaran, 34-year old Mohan Kumar and 51-year-old Venkatesan along with their driver Gajendran, who were with her in the car were severely injured. Reportedly, the mob also toppled the vehicle. It is also reported that the mob kept beating the family with sticks even when the family kept saying that they were not child traffickers.

The News Minute spoke to Superintendent of Police, R Ponni, who said, “The group had crossed the Athimoor village near Polur, via Jamunamarathur, when they stopped near an old lady’s house to ask for directions to the temple. None of them had visited the village in a long time and two of them were from Malaysia. When they stopped to ask for directions, they gave chocolates to two children playing near the road. The old lady, on seeing this, alerted the villages saying that they were child traffickers. Within no time, hundreds of villagers gathered and started questioning the group.”

She further added, “The senior officers from Thiruvannamalai arrived at the scene almost immediately. However, we couldn’t stop the lynching as there were too many of them.”

There are few videos which were recorded of the whole incident. Ponni said, “We have received the videos using which we have traced the culprits. We will be remanding 23 people for this incident.”

According to Ponni, the villagers were highly paranoid after seeing a lot videos of child trafficking on WhatsApp.

The injured family members have been shifted to Vellore Medical College (VMC) Hospital at Adukkamparai from the Government hospital at Tiruvannamalai were they admitted initially.

The Logical Indian contacted Tiruvannamalai Police Station who confirmed that the woman was killed by the mob and the injured relatives are being treated at the VMC Hospital.

The Logical Indian take

A 65-year-old woman lost her life because a mob “suspected” her to be a child trafficker. There are two things which are to be noted in this case. First, mob mentality. The mob was so overcome with rage that they continued to beat the family, including the old woman even after they kept pleading their innocence. It is pertinent to understand that nobody can take the law into their own hands. Even if the family were child traffickers, it for the law to decide their punishment.

The second point of consideration is that the villagers’ suspicion and paranoia were based solely on the WhatsApp forwards they received on child trafficking. Messages which have the potential to incite violence or may cause a general sense of paranoia should not be forwarded, considering different people react differently to information.