Goa: Four held for raising false alarm, beating up men on suspicion of being child lifters

Four persons have been arrested in connection with incidents of some men being beaten up on suspicion of being child lifters in different parts of Goa, police said on Friday. The police on Thursday arrested three accused who had allegedly instigated a mob to beat up a mentally unstable man found wandering in a locality in Vasco town of South Goa, inspector Kapil Nayak of Vasco police said.

The arrests were made two days after a video of the incident surfaced on social media, he said.

The police have admitted the victim to the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour near here for treatment, the official said.

In a similar incident, a group of people assaulted a man at Betalbhatim village, 10 km away from Margao town in South Goa, on Thursday, inspector Filomena Costa of Colva police station said.

A video of a person being beaten up by a mob suspecting him of being a child lifter was circulated on social media, he said.

The victim had allegedly lost his way and wandered into someone else’s property accidentally, he said.

''The man was working on a fishing trawler. There was misunderstanding as a group of women shouted for help after noticing an unknown person loitering around their houses,” Costa said, adding that no arrests have been made in this case.

Another incident was reported in the jurisdiction of Fatorda police station in South Goa on Tuesday, where a private security guard was arrested for causing unnecessary panic about a child lifter.

The security guard raised a false alarm and alerted the police claiming that a beggar in the area was a child lifter, inspector Girendra Naik said.

The accused guard allegedly “wanted to shoot a video of the police action and upload it on social media”, he said, adding that the beggar was also booked under an anti-begging act.

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