Sinister WhatsApp messages about 'child-lifters' are now targeting specific individuals

The role of edited videos forwarded on WhatsApp in the multiple lynchings that have taken place in many states, has already been widely reported. The perpetrators of such sinister campaigns now appear to have moved to the next level.

These messages, forwarded without verification, are akin to rumours that spread through word of mouth. Careless chatter has been a potent source of rumour-mongering for ages, but its tech avatar has sharpened its edges and turned it into a lethal weapon.

In incident after incident reported in the last few months, word-of-mouth rumours and WhatsApp forwards warning people about certain “child-lifters” active in their respective areas came to light. The messages urged people to protect their children and be wary of such strangers.

These messages were ostensibly intended to caution people, but they ended up creating paranoia. In multiple incidents, locals mistook innocent visitors as “child-lifters” and beat them up instead of reporting them to police.

Indeed, in many places the mobs carrying out this thrashing were large enough to force police to stay away helplessly. Those at the receiving end could not be saved from the clutches of the mob in time and were soon lynched.

In a new but startling revelation, it appears that even as tailored but generic content is being probed for these lynchings, new messages are being drafted and forwarded that target specific individuals.

Earlier this month, police in Nashik detained a man for allegedly circulating his cousin’s photo on WhatsApp branding him as a child-lifter.

Catch has learnt of another message being circulated on WhatsApp that specifically identifies a couple as “child-lifters” and targets them. The message contains a photograph of the couple with text in Hindi superimposed on the photograph.