Assam Lynching: Digital Bombs of Mob Violence

People in Assam바카라�s Karbi Anglong district바카라�like in most parts of the state바카라�have grown up hearing stories about the 바카라�xopadhora바카라�, the Assamese word to describe a child-lifter. 바카라�Xopa바카라� means both a gag and to gag someone and 바카라�dhora바카라� is to catch. In remote Assam, where superstition has a firm grip on the populace, the telling and re-telling of xopadhora horror tales has given birth to a ghas­tly creature in imagination바카라�described variously as having long, braided hair and flashing eyes which hypnotise little children before he catches hold of them and devours them.

READ ALSO: Karbi Anglong Lynching: 'This Is Not The Assam I Know'

On June 8, when Nilotpal Das, a 29-year-old sound engineer, and his friend Abhijeet Nath, 30, a businessman, set out to visit a popular tourist spot in Karbi Anglong바카라�s Dokmoka바카라�about 180 km from state capital Guwahati바카라�they had no idea that the area was in grip of virtually generated paranoia: messages claiming that a group of child-lifters had entered the area from Bihar had gone viral on social media and WhatsApp.

READ ALSO: Nilotpal Wanted To Promote Assam Through Music, Abhijeet Never Even Hurt An Insect, Say Friends Of Mob Lynching Victims

Even if they had known, would they have thought anything of it? It was just an online rumour after all. But as other ­examples from the last two months have shown us, hysteria has rendered the ­absurd as hard fact, bringing out the worst manifestation of fear바카라�brutal violence. The 바카라�child-abductor바카라� lynchings have come almost like a wave: a 52-year-old transgender in Hyderabad, a 26-year-old youth in Bangalore, a 55-five-year-old woman in Tiruvannamalai district in Tamil Nadu, all lynched by mobs gone paranoid over social media and WhatsApp rumours in the month of May itself. In all these places, the victim fell into an 바카라�outsider바카라� category.   

Nath and Das, the latter with his Rastafarian dreadlocks, were fitted into the image of the 바카라�xopadhora바카라� by a mob of around 200 people when they stopped their car to ask for directions in a village. They had no chance. Even their pleadings, 바카라�I바카라�m Assamese...My father바카라�s name is...my mother바카라�s name is바카라�바카라� failed to deter the murderous rage of the mob, comprising mostly of Karbi and Bodo people.

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The next day, Assam woke up to one of the most shocking news in recent times. There are no convenient explanations. This cannot just be pinned as a one off incident of a superstitious, 바카라�remote바카라� people. This had happened in the heart of urban India too. Increasingly, it appears to be a barbarity aided directly by the technology of the times.

바카라�Superstition was behind the attack,바카라� Mukesh Agarwal, Additional DGP (law and order), Assam, tells Outlook.

바카라�It was not conspiracy of one section of the tribal community against the mainstream Assamese as has been projected in dozens of reports,바카라� he adds, referring to a sentiment that is seeing this as a tribal vs non-tribal issue. Another police officer, who does not want to be named, describes the potency of the rumour: 바카라�Since a fortnight before the tragic incident, locals were taking turns and staying up at nights and keeping vigils out of fear바카라�.

The police were criticised for not doing anything to stop the spread of rumours and allay fears. Pictures and video clips purportedly showing a police official shooting the assault on his mobile phone have also added to the public바카라�s anger.

At least twenty four people have been arrested so far in the case and a few other have also been rounded up for posting rumours and hate messages on social media after the lynching.

바카라�We are also in the process of pinpointing other culprits who were present during the attack by the mob on that fateful day. There was a core group of attackers, then there were those who were egging them on and also bystanders who were witnessing the incident. Individuals are being booked as per the degree of their offense. But we want to ensure that not a single innocent person is arrested,바카라� says Agarwal.

Shocked people took to the streets of Assam to demand justice for Nilotpal and Abhijit. Protests have rocked the state since the incident. The local media has also been highlighting the issue, with print, digital and electronic media covering little else over the past week.

Afrida Hussain, founder and editor-in-chief of the online portal 바카라�Inside NE바카라� (North East), which has extensively reported on the incident, tells Outlook: 바카라�The public outrage is unprecedented. The area where the double murder took place is a tourist spot, visited by ­tho­usands of people from all over. The exact location of the lynching is just 12 km from the local police station. When two Assamese youth are beaten to death for visiting a part of their own state, the kind of fear and insecurity that it can generate has to be felt to be believed.바카라� She too questions the police. 바카라�When the rumours were circulating, what was the police doing? Why didn바카라�t ­their cyber crime cell swing into ­action?바카라� she says.

The police of the state now have ­another set of problems to deal with. Post the murders, some reports of Bodos and Karbis facing retaliatory ­violence has come to the fore.

바카라�Here too, social media is being used to fan fears. The administration and police have launched a two-pronged attack to check these rumours,바카라� says Sabir Nisad, the state바카라�s Information and Public Relations Officer. 바카라�The first step is to prevent rumour-mongering and the next step is to stop the vicious cycle of counter attacks by cracking down on the spread of online hate.바카라�

The Coordination Committee of the Tribal Organisation of Assam (CCTOA)바카라�an umbrella body of groups representing different tribes바카라�rushed to hold a press conference to both condemn the incident and appeal to the people of Assam to not indulge in vengeful violence. Other Northeastern states, such as Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh, saw largescale protests too, both against the lynching and the stray incidents of attacks on Bodos and Karbi.

According to a source, Abhijit Nath, his parents바카라� only child, was asked by them to return to Guwahati from ano­ther part of the country where he had been living for sometime. 바카라�Now his parents cannot forgive themselves for calling him back,바카라� says the source. The family of Nilotpal Das has said that the police could have done their bit to ­dispel rumours.

A police officer, as procedure demands, puts together the minute details바카라�the timing of the attacks, drunk people in the mob. 바카라�The duo entered the area after dusk, around 6 pm, when, usually, tourists return from there,바카라� he says. 바카라�One of them was an avid collector of exotic fish, maybe they were hoping to reach at night for a good catch.바카라� He also mentions alcohol, that evening is usually drinking time for locals and that some in the mob may have been drunk.

It was a potent, fatal mixture. The childhood stories of the 바카라�xopadhora바카라�, rumours bombarding inboxes, the fading daylight filtering in through the dense forest against which two strange men in a car were silhouetted.

By Dola Mitra in Calcutta