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India·Disinformation

Indian court convicts 20 over 2018 mob lynching fuelled by WhatsApp kidnapping rumour

Friday, 24 April 2026, 06:28 · 1 min read

An Indian court in Assam (a state in the country's northeast) has convicted 20 people for the murder of Abhijeet Nath and Nilotpal Das, two men beaten to death by a crowd of up to 200 villagers in 2018 after a false rumour spread that they were child kidnappers. The killings, which took place in Panjuri Kachari village in the Karbi Anglong district, were part of a wider wave of mob violence across India at the time, driven by fabricated child-abduction warnings circulating on WhatsApp. Both victims' families have expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict, citing the acquittal of 25 other accused due to insufficient evidence, and say they are considering further legal action ahead of Friday's sentencing.

Sources
BBC WorldA rumour, a lynching in India and a long wait for justice ↗︎
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