Bengaluru, July 19: A man was thrashed by a mob in Karnataka on suspicion of child theft on Wednesday. The incident happened in Mandya's Krishnarajpet Taluk when the man, identified as Mahesh from Hindupur, had reportedly gone to meet his son. According to reports, Mahesh had gone to Mandya to meet his son and tell him to come with him days after his wife had taken away the child with her to her parents' home after a brawl with him.

Reports say that Mahesh had a brawl with his wife three months ago, following which his wife had left him to live with her parents in Mandya. She had admitted their son in a school near her parents' village.

On Wednesday, Mahesh stopped his son's school bus on the way and forced his son to come with him. His son refused to go with him. During the incident, a crowd gathered and saw an Andhra Pradesh registration number on his car and suspected him of being a member of a child lifting gang.

Following this, the mob started thrashing him brutally. When Mahesh's wife got to know about the incident, she reached the spot and told the mob as well as the police that he was her husband and had come to take their son.

The incident comes just days after a Hyderabad techie was lynched in Karnataka's Bidar on suspicion of being a child lifter. Mohammad Azam and his three friends were distributing chocolates among school children when people suspected them of being child lifters and beat them up. While Azam succumbed to his injuries, his three friends were injured.

The Supreme Court had on Wednesday asked the Centre to see if a new law can be framed in Parliament on lynching. The court said, "Horrendous acts of mobocracy cannot be allowed to become a new norm."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 19, 2018 11:39 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).