Telangana cops release song to stop people from sharing fake messages of child lifters

The state has seen at least 5 cases where innocent people have been brutally assaulted on suspicions of being child abductors.

news Awareness

In a bid to clamp down on the fake WhatsApp messages on child abductors doing the rounds in Telangana – leading to much paranoia in the public – the Rachakonda police released an awareness song, which advises people against taking the law into their own hands if they think someone is suspicious.

The song sung by LB Nagar Traffic Inspector Anjapally Nagamallu cautions the public against resorting to violence and appeals them to dial 100 if they are suspicious about any person’s activity.

The lyrics of the song are:

Don’t lynch and kill people who are new

If you have a suspicion dial 100

Rachakonda police is here to protect you

Telangana police is with you

If we get an alert we will be there within a minute

Rachakonda police is here to protect you...

Public awareness song by Rachakonda police on social media rumors. pic.twitter.com/ifL7Lc1QXi — Rachakonda Police (@RachakondaCop) June 5, 2018

Speaking to TNM, Nagamallu said that he was extremely disturbed by the fake WhatsApp messages about child kidnappers and deadly dacoits doing the rounds, leading to the brutal lynching of several innocent people.

“These hoax messages have proven to be a menace to the society. People are being killed just because of someone’s suspicions. I was very saddened by the turn of events. So I thought I should educate the people through my songs. Although the police have been carrying out various workshops on how people should handle these messages, I thought the reach may be better if I made an enjoyable song,” he added.

Besides singing the song, Nagamallu also penned the lyrics for it. He said that singing and writing lyrics come naturally to him.

“In 2014, I released an album with six songs on the bravery of the police. Later, I wrote a song on the Haritha Haram project (a government project to increase the green cover of the state). My department is flexible and it encourages me to write and sing such songs,” he said.

He added, “I am also a rationalist. Before joining the police in 2009, I was constantly doing awareness campaigns along with Jana Vignana Vedika (a rationalist forum) debunking the ‘powers’ of the fake babas and the explaining the science behind the gimmicks of the fake babas.”

So far, Telangana has seen at least 5 cases of innocent people being assaulted due to these fake messages. In a bid to curtail the violence, the police moved beggars to shelter homes and asked trans people to leave the city until the menace ends. The police also warned that it would arrest those who share the messages without verifying the claims.