"We identified the accused seen in the video and arrested them."
Eight Indian men from Meerut have been arrested for beating a man whom they wrongly thought was a child lifter. Police explained that the man was attacked on Sunday, August 25, 2019.
The victim was identified as Azad, who was in his 20s and a resident of Bhiwani in Haryana.
He had been in Shahjahanpur town selling herbs when a group of people mistakingly suspected him of being a child lifter and beat him.
According to officers, the assault occurred after locals discovered that Azad looked like one of the suspected child-lifters in the area.
The incident was filmed and the video went online. Police officers took notice of the video and identified eight of the attackers.
Superintendent Akhilesh Narayan Singh said: “A video of the incident went viral on social media platforms.
“We identified the accused seen in the video and arrested them.”
Azad also registered a police complaint against the Indian men. The men have been identified as Nazim, Nadeem, Pawan, Shahzad, Imran, Anas, Avneesh and Mustaji.
The men, who were seen pleading for mercy shortly after their arrest, are all residents of Shahjahanpur.
After the eight men were taken into custody, Meerut police requested people not to take matters into their own hands.
They also told citizens not to take action based on rumours which have been spread on WhatsApp.
In an effort to stop rumour-mongering, Meerut SSP Ajay Sahni has now ordered an FIR to be registered against those spreading false rumours and accusations.
This is not the first time that a group of people in India have taken action.
In Madya Pradesh, three men were arrested for beating a man after accusing him of theft and that he had only entered the village to meet some women.
Officers arrived at the scene to find Bunty Singh Rajput covered in blood. After recovering, he told officers what happened.
Police Inspector Ram Gopal Verma said:
“The victim said that he was having tea at a stall when three men asked him to come with them.
“They then accused him of coming in the area with the intention of meeting some women, the victim denied their charges but they did not pay any heed to it and started beating him.”
The incident was filmed and it showed Mr Rajput going in and out of consciousness as the group stood around him.
Inspector Verma explained that they were successful in arresting three of the suspects.
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