Assam Police On The War Against Rumor Mongers: 52 Cases Registered, 25 Arrested For Spreading Fake News Amid The Lockdown

Assam Police is in full swing during the lockdown period as they have to not only enforce the state but also fight against fake news about the pandemic which is spreading all over the internet. Recently, 25 people have been arrested for misleading information about coronavirus. In fact, this action also creates a huge wave of panic on the internet which might lead the crisis to the worse situation. 

The same situation happened in Assam where unfounded rumors strike the chord among the community. That’s why the state Police need to take action against the rumor monger. Earlier, a piece of news about the coronavirus in the name of a ministry of India stirred up the internet. According to him, all people's phone calls and messages will be monitored by the government.  However, it turned out to be fake news and there was no such ministry in our country. To keep the people from being panicked, the Assam police has to announce a warning message regarding this issue on social media, alerting people not to believe or forward those message to others.

To prevent fake news from surfacing on all means of media, the Assam Police department has founded a committee including 5 members to monitor contents and articles on the internet. According to the department, all rumor mongers will be punished. As a consequence, 25 people have been arrested among 52 cases registered for spreading fake news about the coronavirus on the internet.

AIUDF MLA leader Aminul Islam was one of the 25 arrested cases. His audio went viral on the internet and took everyone by storm when revealing 'people are getting injected with coronavirus'.

Assam Police's action is strongly supported by the community. Dr Ankuran Dutta, Associate professor and head of the Department of Communication and Journalism at Gauhati University praised the mission and called it 'check the fake'. According to him, while coronavirus creates a pandemic to the real world, fake news strikes the 'infordemic' on the internet which poses an initial threat to society.