TimesView People need to be careful about what they are going to believe. A society, which depends only on social media for information, can be dangerous for itself. KOLKATA: Three incidents of near-lynching, two of them in the heart of south Kolkata, apparently triggered by childlifting rumours, kept cops from Kasba police station on their toes since Friday night. They launched a special awareness drive on Saturday, urging residents not to take the law in their hands.By evening, Lalbazar directed all the police stations, especially those bordering South 24 Parganas, like Bansdroni , Haridevpur, Thakurpukur and Panchasayer, to carry out drives against mob justice. Junior officers have been told to co-ordinate with clubs and the elders.The first incident took place around 10.20pm on Friday near Laskarhat Khalpar area close to Tagore Park under the Kasba police station, where the locals suspected a mentally disturbed woman, Monica Mondal (31), of being a kidnapper. Apparently convinced, a mob, consisting of scores of men and women, attacked the resident of Kasba’s Rajdanga Shanti Pally. “Mondal had gone towards the canal to fetch her son. She lives with her elder brother and would leave the house at all hours,” a witness said. “The woman had reached the canal, barely 100m from Bypass, when she was accosted by over 50 people from the local slums. They demanded to know why she was roaming in the area. Frightened, she fumbled with her reply. The men attacked her with bamboo sticks and spades and hit her in the face.”Cops from the Kasba police station said a couple of residents rescued her. “They pushed her into the local Trinamool office and locked the door even as they alerted the police. But by the time a team from the Kasba police station arrived, the mob had managed to break the party office lock. “We resorted to lathicharge and rescued the woman. We hospitalized her as she had suffered injuries on her face. A case under IPC sections 341, 323 and 34 has been registered against unidentified people,” said an officer.The police pointed out that the second incident was linked to the first. “Two Laskarhat residents, aged between 25 and 30, and one of them identified as Gouranga, were returning after having a few drinks when they noticed a commotion. Gouranga had earlier received a WhatsApp forward about kidney rackets. Mistaking the commotion, which was actually the mob rage against the mentally disturbed woman, for a supposed row caused by a kidney gang, the two drunk men dived into the canal, apparently to save their kidneys,” said an officer. “The crowd thought they were the ‘woman kidnapper’s’ aides and pelted them with stones. Our officer, Pinaki Ojha, rescued them.”The third incident was reported from Bediadanga on Saturday. “Three men, claiming to be fakirs, were seeking alms when they were accosted and pushed around by a mob, who accused them of being kidnappers. Our patrolling team rescued the three,” said an officer.The Kasba police has launched a drive against mob justice. “We have hired an auto and going around in areas, like Laskarhat, behind Acropolis Mall and Basti 91, telling people not to pay heed to rumours. We are distributing leaflets. We are reaching out to schools to help us spread the word that not all forwards received on a mobile can be treated as the gospel truth,” a cop said.

Stay updated with all the Kolkata Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.