NEW DELHI: Indian police said Monday they had arrested nearly two dozen people on charges including murder and rioting after a wave of lynchings in an eastern state that left eight dead.
Mobs in the largely tribal Jharkhand state set upon victims with sticks and fists over two days of violence as rumors spread on social media that a gang was kidnapping children, police said.
The brutality of the murders — captured potently in one viral image showing a bloodied man on his hands and knees begging for his life — has sparked outrage and allegations of police negligence.
Jharkhand has been on edge since the lynchings, just the latest in recent months across India, where mobs have publicly murdered people for inter-faith marriages and alleged offenses involving sacred cows.
Prashant Anand, police superintendent in the state’s main city of Jamshedpur, said locals in two neighboring districts attacked “any outsider irrespective of his community” after baseless rumors spread on WhatsApp and social media.
“We have so far arrested 20 people, five for lynching and 15 others for rioting or clashing with the authorities,” he told AFP.
Distraught relatives of the victims have clashed with authorities since the attacks last week, demanding a speedy investigation into the murders.
Local authorities have launched a public awareness campaign, distributing flyers to dispel rumors about the child kidnapping racket.
Police have been criticized for not responding quickly to dispel the misinformation, or to assure villagers about the safety of their children as fear took hold.
The National Human Rights Commission, India’s main rights watchdog, Monday said Jharkhand law enforcement agencies had failed to perform their duty.
“A civilized society cannot allow such heinous crimes to occur where human lives are taken by angry mob merely on suspicion of them being anti-social elements,” it said.
Child trafficking is a major problem in India, particularly in rural areas. Victims are sold off to work in factories or as beggars and prostitutes.
India’s indigenous tribes often suffer the worst rates of poverty, malnutrition, education and life expectancy.
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Indian police make arrests after mobs lynch eight
Indian police make arrests after mobs lynch eight
Discussions with Board of Peace ‘on hold’ due to Iran war, Indonesia says
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s foreign minister said talks on US President Donald Trump’s Gaza “Board of Peace,” of which the Southeast Asian nation is a key troop-contributing member, were on hold due to the Middle East war.
The US and Israeli air war against Iran has killed scores of civilians, thrown global air transport into chaos and sent oil prices surging after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“All BoP discussions are on hold as all attention has shifted to the situation in Iran,” Minister Sugiono, who goes by one name, said late on Tuesday in response to a question on calls for Indonesia to exit the peace board in the aftermath of the fresh conflict in the Middle East.
“We will also consult with our friends and colleagues in the Gulf because they are also under attack,” Sugiono told reporters after attending an event alongside President Prabowo Subianto.
Indonesia’s participation on the board has drawn criticism from experts and Muslim groups at home, who say it compromises the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation’s longstanding support for the Palestinian cause.
Indonesia backs a two-state solution.
The Indonesian Ulema Council, a leading clerical body, said on March 1 that Indonesia should leave the board, citing Trump’s attack on Iran as rendering the initiative ineffective.
Meanwhile, Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, said Jakarta should use its position to press Israel and the United States to halt the violence.
Trump first proposed the board in September when he unveiled a plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza, later expanding its remit to address other global conflicts typically handled by the United Nations.
Sugiono also said Prabowo is willing to be a mediator in the Iran war in a bid “to cool down and de-escalate the situation in the region.”
Indonesia is readying 1,000 troops for potential deployment in Gaza by early April as part of a proposed multinational peacekeeping force, its army said, as part of the UN-mandated International Stabilization Force. It has also been given the deputy commander role of the force.
The US and Israeli air war against Iran has killed scores of civilians, thrown global air transport into chaos and sent oil prices surging after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“All BoP discussions are on hold as all attention has shifted to the situation in Iran,” Minister Sugiono, who goes by one name, said late on Tuesday in response to a question on calls for Indonesia to exit the peace board in the aftermath of the fresh conflict in the Middle East.
“We will also consult with our friends and colleagues in the Gulf because they are also under attack,” Sugiono told reporters after attending an event alongside President Prabowo Subianto.
Indonesia’s participation on the board has drawn criticism from experts and Muslim groups at home, who say it compromises the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation’s longstanding support for the Palestinian cause.
Indonesia backs a two-state solution.
The Indonesian Ulema Council, a leading clerical body, said on March 1 that Indonesia should leave the board, citing Trump’s attack on Iran as rendering the initiative ineffective.
Meanwhile, Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, said Jakarta should use its position to press Israel and the United States to halt the violence.
Trump first proposed the board in September when he unveiled a plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza, later expanding its remit to address other global conflicts typically handled by the United Nations.
Sugiono also said Prabowo is willing to be a mediator in the Iran war in a bid “to cool down and de-escalate the situation in the region.”
Indonesia is readying 1,000 troops for potential deployment in Gaza by early April as part of a proposed multinational peacekeeping force, its army said, as part of the UN-mandated International Stabilization Force. It has also been given the deputy commander role of the force.
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