Sohag Bhattacharjee:Indiapost24: KolKata:May 14:
The city of joy, Kolkata is turning into the city of Terror. In the last 24 hours 117 people have contracted with the virus. The number of deceased has crossed 100 mark. As the pandemic is getting more powerful so instances of fake news are also increasing day by day.In the present scenario such news are really dangerous and can mislead people. Drawing a distinction between news and fake news has become a dilemma in the social media era. Altough the Police administration is handling it very strictly nowadays..
Allegations are levelled that people are compelled to stand with placards reading, “West Bengal government are hiding facts of Covid-19”, by the opposition. They hold these placards on conditions of getting rice.
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Thus the fake posts about the West Bengal government concerning Covid-19 outbreak are doing the rounds on social media platforms. Recently a 29 year-old woman was arrested for posting fake news on social media. She posted that a doctor of ID hospital, Beliaghata contracted corona. State Health Department filed an FIR with the Cyber Crime Branch of Kolkata Police against the woman. Joint commissioner (crime) Murlidhar Sharma said, “The suspected woman Chandrima Bhowmik, was charged with Section 66 of IT Act 2000, read with section 505 (1)(b)/2 of the Indian Penal Code.”
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After Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued a strong warning against spreading fake news so Police Dept started taking a sharp action against it. As a result,Kolkata Police arrested 32 people in seven days and also warned 200 people for sharing unverified news over social media.
Except for Kolkata, West Bengal Police also arrested 30 people from the rest of the districts. Two womens were also allegedly arrested. Most of them were well educated and they included homemakers, students, school teachers, bankers, chartered accountants, government employees and traders.
Another case of fake news also striked when Techno City police under Bidhannagar police arrested a 26 year year old man. He was alleged of spreading false information that six people of a New Town housing comolex were diagnosed with Covid-19. The accused was an unemployed youth named Muslem Ali Molla of Patharghata. He claimed that he had no clue about the consequence of spreading fake news. The information created a panic situation amongst the local people. They were scared and tried to leave the place. Even the security guards refused to work there..
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Few days back,Mamata also directly slammed BJP IT cells for spreading fake news against state as
many cases have also surfaced on social media. Among those on April 30 West Bengal Police pulled up the state unit of the BJP for tweeting a fake post. BJP posted a tweet about that the state government brought 3000 students from Kota in only three buses. West Bengal Police clarified that the post was false. They posted on the microblogging site Twitter that 2368 students of Bengal who were studying in Rajasthan, Kota were brought back through 95 buses under supervision of Govt. officers..
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Recently there is also an another case from Union Minister Babul Supriyo who was booked under non-bailable sections of the IPC by Kolkata Police for sharing fake photos. On May 8, he shared a photo of Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha drinking with few people on Twitter. Among them were Kartik Banerjee, brother of Mamata Banerjee.So
Supriyo was booked under IPC sections153A, 505,120B. Even others were alleged who shared this fake photo further.
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Thus Cyber Cell of Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police jointly created a special team to clamp down the spreading rumours about Covid-19 outbreak. Crime Investigation Department (CID) is also a part of the team.This is how both KP and Bengal Police keep warning against spreading rumours or fake news as spreading rumours can create trouble for the person in charge and also mislead people. Legal proceedings will be taken against the person concerned.
So no one should share any post on social media without knowing their origin. Sharing of fake news is a punishable crime. Fake news can have an adverse effect on people related to that context. Even it can create panic and mislead people. Fake news in the time of crisis may cause revolution.So people should not believe on everything they come across. They should verify every news from an authentic source and verify that before sharing and believing. Everyone should be positive in this time of pandemic of Covid-19.
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