Child kidnappers’ gang rumour sparks 3 attacks on women

Rajkot: An atmosphere of fear is prevailing in Rajkot and some other parts of Saurashtra following the rapid circulation of unverified social media messages claiming the presence of a gang of women kidnapping children. While police maintain that no official abduction complaints were filed, the rumours already led to three incidents of mob violence against women suspected of being part of the alleged gang within three days.On March 4, a woman was attacked near Brahma Samaj Chowk on Raiya Road, following a similar beating in the Pradyumannagar area in Feb. In both cases, police investigations revealed the women were simply beggars.The most recent incident occurred on Friday at Racecourse Ground, where a woman was attacked by a crowd after a mother, Bina, alleged the unknown woman tried to lure her five-year-old daughter with snacks. The police intervened, rescued the woman, and took her to the hospital. She was later identified as a beggar.In response to the growing chaos, deputy commissioner of police (DCB) Jagdish Bangarva issued a clarification, stating there is "currently no active gang kidnapping children in the city." He appealed to citizens to refrain from taking the law into their own hands based on unverified social media messages."People are mistakenly attacking individuals they suspect to be members of a kidnapping gang," Bangarva said, urging the public to report any suspicious activity directly to the nearest police station or control room instead.The Cybercrime team is actively monitoring the messages being shared across social media platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram, noting that people are forwarding unverified messages, often including photos of women falsely linked to a Mumbai-based kidnapping gang, in their personal society and apartment groups.