Rourkela: Despite repeated advisories issued by Odisha police, a complete check on incidents of assault and violence over child lifting suspicion is yet to come to an end in the state.
A mentally challenged person was roughed up Tuesday by a mob who suspected him of child theft. The incident took place at the Kuarmunda area under Biramitrapur police limits of the Sundargarh district.
According to police, a young man from Jharkhand had gone to Chataktola village in Sundargarh where rumors of child abduction had surfaced earlier. Seeing the mentally-unstable young man roaming around in the village, a group of locals beat him up suspecting him to be a child thief.
The assault went on in full public view with hundreds of bystanders watching the man getting beaten. The mob later handed the man over to police.
A source in the area said that innocent people are falling prey to such rumors and being attacked frequently in several villages of the district. However, police and district administration are yet to take any step to control the situation.
Recently, two men were beaten up by locals over suspicion of child lifting in Sector-6 of Rourkela and Kokerama area under Nuagaon block in the district.
PNN