Days after villagers in Odisha’s Rayagada district attacked two NGO workers on suspicion of being child-lifters, a mob assaulted a daily wage labourer from Kerala in Sambalpur under similar circumstances.

Police said Vishnu S., a resident of Alappuzha in Kerala, was wandering near Dhobapada Park in Sambalpur, a town in western Odisha, when locals confronted him. Unable to communicate in Odia, he was taken for a child-lifter and assaulted.

Police rescued him from the mob and took him to a hospital. Mr. Vishnu was later connected with a friend and after consultation with his family, was put on a train to Bokaro, police said.

The attack is a grim reminder of the rising mob violence in Odisha in recent times.

On June 16, two students — a girl from New Delhi and a boy from Gujarat, interning with an Odisha-based NGO – were abducted by villagers under Kalyansinghpur police limits and assaulted by over 100 people, leaving them grievously injured. So far, 25 persons have been arrested in the case assigned to an Additional DGP-level officer to expedite the investigation.

Such incidents are not isolated. In February, a mentally challenged man was beaten to death in Mayurbhanj’s Morada block following which 15 persons were arrested. In a similar case in Samakhunta block, a couple was attacked by villagers, leading to 16 arrests. In both cases, suspicion of child abduction triggered the violence.

In May, a railway constable was lynched in the Balianta area on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar after he was accused of harassing a woman.

Three months ago, two booth-level officers from West Bengal were attacked in Jaleswar block after being mistaken for child abductors; a similar incident was reported from Baliapal in Balasore district, and Nabarangpur too witnessed mob violence on similar suspicion around the same time. Earlier this year, a man was beaten to death after being accused by local youths of involvement in cow slaughter.

The growing list of such incidents underscores a disturbing trend of vigilante justice, with mobs breaking the law with little fear of consequences.