A collage of two images of a woman attacked by a mob and a video documenting the attack has been circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook in several parts of West Bengal with false claims that she abducted six children from Barasat, a city in North 24 Parganas district.
BOOM reached out to Barasat Superintendent of Police Pratiksha Jharkhariya who confirmed that the woman in the photograph, identified as Parbati Das is innocent. Jharkhariya further told BOOM that the woman was a victim of a rumour spread by a murder suspect - that she kidnapped children in Barasat, which then led to her assault by locals.
Visuals of her being apprehended by locals are circulating amid rumour-mongering posts about child kidnappers on the prowl on social media, leading to multiple incidents of violence reported in different parts of West Bengal - Barrackpore, Bongaon and Barasat. Recently, clashes between locals and police erupted in Barasat's Kazipara following the disappearance and later death of an eleven-year old boy. Rumours then circulated in the area alleging that child kidnappers were responsible for the incident; this further resulted in the assault of a woman, whose pictures and videos later surfaced online alongside the child kidnapping allegations.
The Bangla text in the graphic with the woman's pictures translates to: "Important announcement. Parents, be cautious. If anyone has seen the woman in the image, please reach out. She has abducted 5 children and an 11-year-old child near the playground at Barasat, Ghola Kazipara, Ekdilshah Road Uttarhat!"
The caption further claims that the woman, along with three others, have been abducting children using hypnosis.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Users on Facebook also posted a video of the woman being tied to a tree, claiming that she was caught after stealing a child.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a keyword search to verify the authenticity of the claims online and found a post dated June 17, 2024, from Barasat police's X handle.
The post addressed the child kidnapping rumours and included multiple screenshots of the viral social media posts.
Click here to view the post.
We then reached out to Barasat Superintendent of Police Pratiksha Jharkhariya who told BOOM that a murder suspect spread rumors of child abduction in the area to divert attention from the crime, resulting in a law-and-order disruption.
Jharkhariya told BOOM, "Recently, a child was murdered in Kazipara, Barasat. The investigation revealed that the child's uncle, Enger Nabi, committed the crime. The murder occurred on Sunday, June 9 and a day after the murder, the perpetrator began spreading rumors of child abduction to hide the killing. When we recovered the child's body three to four days later, the rumour of child abduction had already spread rapidly on Facebook and WhatsApp."
Jharkhariya further added that the accused claimed that a homeless woman was responsible for the abduction and killing of the minor. She told BOOM, "The accused initially spread this rumour within the local community that a vagabond woman in the area was the abductor."
Jharkhariya identified the woman in the viral posts as one Parbati Das. She told BOOM, "The woman Parbati Das, aged 45, is from Chakdah in Nadia. Due to the rumor spread by the victim's uncle, people of Kazipara initially suspected her of being a child abductor and the mob attack happened just 500-600 meters away from the place of murder."
Barasat Police has since then arrested several people including some social media admins who amplified the rumour about child kidnappers.