Child-lifting rumours caused 69 mob attacks, 33 deaths in last 18 months

45 persons were killed in 40 cases of mob lynching across nine states between 2014 and 3 March 2018 according to data

Two incidents of mob violence reported from Dima Hasao in Assam and Mangaluru in Karnataka on July 6, 2018, take to 61 the number of mob attacks sparked by rumours of child-lifting circulated on social media since beginning of the year.

So far this year, 24 persons have been killed in such mob attacks, an IndiaSpend analysis of news reports from across India shows. This is more than 4.5 times rise in attacks and two-fold rise in deaths of this kind over 2017, when 11 persons were killed in eight separate attacks.

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