Bhubaneswar: Back‑to‑back mob violence in Rayagada and Sambalpur districts within a week — both triggered by child‑lifting rumours — have prompted Odisha police to heighten vigilance. Superintendents of police (SPs) have been asked to remain “extremely alert”, while local stations have been directed to sensitise villagers to report suspicious persons instead of resorting to mob justice.Police said awareness drives will be intensified in vulnerable districts, with community leaders roped in to counter misinformation.Police admitted that such rumours tend to escalate quickly and spread across districts. “There is a general tendency that when one or two incidents occurr, they spread like an outbreak,” a senior police officer said.Experts link such flare-ups to rising child-missing cases, language barriers and suspicion toward unfamiliar faces, especially vendors, beggars, magrant workers, sadhus and mentally unstable people in local communities.“If we analyse NCRB data, it shows a disturbing rise in missing children in Odisha — 2,899 in 2020, 4,133 in 2021, 4,757 in 2022, 5,938 in 2023 and 6,223 in 2024. Against this backdrop, when local residents see strangers interacting in different languages with children or offering chocolates, they fear for their safety. That fear often leads to misinterpretation,” said women’s rights campaigner Sujata Mohanty.Senior psychologist Amrit Pattojoshi linked the rumours to deep‑seated anxieties about child safety. “Every parent wants their child to be safe, and that concern comes from love. But fear spreads faster than facts. A stranger smiling at a child or offering a chocolate may be a kind gesture, yet in today’s atmosphere, it is easily misread as the beginning of a child‑lifting attempt. The intention remains the same, but fear changes how it is interpreted,” Pattojoshi said.He cautioned that while protecting children is paramount, communities must pause before reacting. “Verifying information before sharing it and remembering that not every unfamiliar face is a threat can prevent an innocent person from becoming a victim of collective fear,” he said.Past incidents showed that as rumours rippled through villages, suspicion grew and facts lost relevance. People began reacting emotionally rather than rationally. “Mob violence rarely starts with hatred. More often, it begins with fear, anxiety and misinformation. Social media aggravates the spread of falsehoods. Educated villagers must take the lead in sensitising communities not to go by rumours or take law into their own hands,” retired SP Santosh Nayak said.