In Mumbai, a social worker goads kids into thrashing a 'pedophile'

Liyakat Shaikh, a self-proclaimed social worker, has taken law in his own hands. Shaikh, who hails from Bandra, has uploaded a video on his Facebook account, in which he is seen meting out his own brand of justice, instigating children into beating up an alleged child sex abuser.

The video, which was shot at Bandra Terminus Road on October 23 and has gone viral on social media, shows Shaikh goading five children into thrashing an old man with their bare hands and slippers, as he holds him still. Another man is also seen jumping into the fray at one point. The assault stopped only after the man began bleeding from the mouth.

Later in the video, Shaikh looks into the camera and says the man who was being beaten up, was a child sex abuser who molested children in parked autorickshaws.

Defending his move, Shaikh told mid-day that the unidentified old man, who resides in Santa Cruz, was a repeat offender and had been caught red-handed. "He used to pick up several young children from the area and take them into parked autorickshaws or some secluded area. After receiving several complaints from the locals in Bandra, I decided to confront the man," said Shaikh. "I even asked him to leave the area, and warned him of dire consequences if he was seen loitering around again," he added.

While the old man wasn't seen around for around an hour, he soon returned and started talking to small children at a park, said Shaikh.

Meanwhile, Shaikh and his three friends decided to watch his next move from the distance. "We saw the old man take three children inside a parked auto, and so, we decided to follow him. When I reached the spot, I got him out of the parked vehicle and asked the children what he was doing with them. The children then told me that he had asked them to sleep and sit on him," Shaikh added.

While Shaikh had plans to take the molester to the police station, the parents of the children involved were hesitant to do so. He then decided to humiliate the old man in public, and got the kids involved to teach him a lesson.