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Covid-19: Assam cracks down against fake news; 12 cases lodged, 7 arrested
The Assam government has filed an FIR against a newspaper for publishing a false news and have called out another newspaper and a news channel for misleading details on Covid-19 patients.
Assam government has started taking stringent action against persons spreading misinformation on Covid-19 on social media and also news organisations airing or publishing unverified news about the disease.
On Sunday, the information and public relations department of the government filed an FIR against Jugasanka, a Bengali daily published from Silchar, for carrying a false news report about the state’s first Covid-19 patient.
While the patient is still admitted at Silchar Medical College Hospital, the news story mentioned that he has been cured of the disease. It stated that the second test carried on the patient was found negative.
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“According to doctors, the news item is completely baseless and the patient has not recovered yet,” said the FIR lodged at Karimganj police station by Sajjadul Hoque Choudhury, district information and public relations officer Karimganj.
Stating that publication of the news has resulted in “inconvenience in maintaining law and order”, the case was lodged against the reporter who filed the story and the publisher of the newspaper under section 188 of IPC and provisions of Assam Covid-19 Regulation, 2020.
Twenty six people have so far tested positive for coronavirus in Assam and out of them 25 have been linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area last month.
The information department has also taken to Twitter to name and shame news platforms for sharing fake news. The Eastern Chronicle, an English daily and Pratidin Time, an Assamese news channel have been called out for sharing misleading details on Covid-19 patients. Both are based in Guwahati.
The actions came three days after the department constituted a five-member committee “for monitoring and checking of fake news in all forms of media. Members of the committee are officials from the information, health, police and disaster management departments.
Besides monitoring fake news, the committee directed district information officers to streamline social media handles and activate WhatsApp numbers so that the public can get access to correct information.
The police department has raised surveillance levels to check social media users spreading rumours about the disease. Till Sunday, 12 cases had been lodged, 7 persons arrested, 80 others counselled across the state. Over 100 fake reports were also removed from various social media platforms.
Police have warned of stringent action and have requested citizens to share or provide unverified or provocative content on social media. The department has also asked the public to inform them about rumours on its Facebook page, Twitter handle and WhatsApp helpline number 9132699735.
