Advocate arrested in Faridabad for circulating fake news, released on bail

The Faridabad police arrested a 40-year-old man on Thursday for allegedly circulating fake news on various social media platforms and violating guidelines of the

The Faridabad police arrested a 40-year-old man on Thursday for allegedly circulating fake news on various social media platforms and violating guidelines of the Election Commission of India, said the police. He was released on bail by a court on Friday.

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The police said, they received a complaint from Paras Bhardwaj, the district convenor of the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP), on Wednesday alleging that a person named Surinder Siwach, who is a lawyer by profession, was attempting to disturb public harmony by indulging in false propaganda and undermining the election prospects of the BJP in Haryana.

Arun Yadav, state IT head for the BJP, said that on September 24 they came across a post on Facebook which had a picture of a boy with a gunshot wound. The caption allegedly took a dig on the BJP’s campaign slogan that envisions a win of more than 75 seats for the party in the Haryana assembly elections scheduled for October 21. “The statement and the photo are both false as the alleged incident shown in the post never took place in Haryana, or for that matter in India. The picture is allegedly of an incident in Pakistan,” said Yadav.

A case was registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity), 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 125A of the Representation of People’s Act (RPA) at the Faridabad old police station.

Anil Kumar, assistant commissioner of commissioner (crime), Faridabad, said that lawyers in the city protested on Friday and did not initially let them produce Siwach in the court that led to a delay in the proceedings. “Siwach was actively sharing fake news and was, therefore, arrested on Thursday late night. He was produced before the court and was granted bail on Friday,” he said.