Police action likely against two for spreading ‘fake news’ after Rajasthan assembly poll results
The crime branch has written to the SOG and the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) to identify the accused before legal action is taken against them.
Two people, who are charged with spreading hate content on social media, may land in trouble after the crime branch of the Rajasthan Police wrote to the special operations group (SOG) for action against them. The two posted fake videos on micro-blogging site, Twitter, after the results of the 2018 Assembly elections were announced on December 11, police said.
“We have sought the help of our specialised agencies to identify people who post those videos and then act against them,” said Additional Director General of Police (crime branch) Pankaj Kumar Singh.
The crime branch has written to the SOG and the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB) to identify the accused before legal action is taken against them.
“We have received a letter from the crime branch with details of the Twitter handle and the alleged posts. Our team has started investigating the case,” said SOG ADG Umesh Mishra. SCRB DIG Sharat Kaviraj said that he had started the process to track the people who tweeted those videos.
A crime branch official who didn’t want to be named said: “In the letter, we have written that two people are trying to create communal tension by spreading hate content, which is fake. Details of both of them should be obtained and they should be booked under the criminal offense.”
A video was uploaded on December 12 which went viral on the social media. The video showed that a Pakistani flag was raised at a rally in Jodhpur district in Teori village celebrating the victory of the Congress.
The tweet, along with the video, translated to “stupid Hindus who waved the Pakistan flag after the Congress win in Rajasthan, you will regret in the future”.
After the tweet appeared, the official Twitter handle of the Rajasthan Police rebutted by saying: “Alert, the video circulating on #socialmedia claims that there is a Pakistan flag being waved in a victory procession of the Congress. This is false and we request people not to get trapped. We are trying to trace the mischief-maker.”
On December 15, another video was uploaded on social media where few persons of a particular community were seen molesting women.
A person tweeted to the police about the video saying that “Aurangzeb’s rule” is coming to the state. Those sharing the video are claiming that the incident happened in Utambar, Rajasthan after Congress won the recently concluded assembly elections.
The police rebutted the same by saying that the police are tracking you and this is an old video of Ranchi, Jharkhand. You should delete it immediately otherwise the case would be transferred to the cyber unit of the police. After which the video was removed and the post was deleted.