Guwahati, July 6: In another incident of mob lynching, three sadhus were attacked in Dima Hasao's Mahur in Assam on Thursday. The sadhus were rescued by a team of police and Assam Rifles personnel.

A furious mob attacked the sadhus over rumours that they were child kidnappers. The sadhus were on their way to the Tripura Sundari temple in Agartala when they had stopped at Mahur after their four-wheeler developed a snag.

On seeing the sadhus, some locals, already panicky over viral WhatsApp messages of child-lifters, raised an alarm and soon hundreds of people gathered to attack them. However, the personnel from an army camp located nearby rescued them from being lynched.

The belongings of the 'sadhus' were thrown open by the mob, videographed and shared on social media, further fuelling the hearsays, the officials said.

Following the incident, the district administration, under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner Amitabh Rajkhowa and Superintendent of Police Prasanta Saikia, called for an emergency meeting yesterday.

Representatives of different communities who attended the meeting, appealed to the public, especially the people of Dima Hasao, to act responsibly and not be swayed away by rumours on social media.

They also urged the people to not take law into their own hands, and instead, report to the authorities about any suspicious movement of any person.

In the last few weeks, there have been several attempts by the district administration to make people aware about news circulating on social media without any base or authenticity, the officials said.

In a similar incident on June 8, two friends, who had gone to a picnic spot in Karbi Anglong, were stopped on their way back by a group of villagers and lynched on the suspicion of being child-lifters. (With PTI inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 06, 2018 03:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).