In order to counter the rumour-mongering on an increasingly large scale following the communal clashes in Lalbaug-Parel last week, the Mumbai Police have traced the origins of a photograph and a video that was being circulated on social media and said they were fake. The police said that the photograph of the youth who supposedly died in the clashes was that of a road accident victim while the video of supposed disturbance in Manish Market was an edited video of an incident in Karnataka. Late on the night of January 4, two incidents in the Lalbaug-Parel belt sparked off unrest in parts of the city and the police had to enforce heavy bandobast till the next day. The same night, the police realised that certain elements were circulating inflammatory and totally untrue messages via text messaging, WhatsApp and social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, and a separate inquiry was initiated into the matter. Apart from the local police and the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, the Special Branch (SB) and the Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (CCIC) are also working on the case, the police said. “When a photograph of a youth who ostensibly died in the riots was circulated on WhatsApp, we sent our personnel to all the hospitals where the injured were taken, and they could not find him. We then widened our search and ultimately found out that the photo was of a 14-year-old boy who was brought dead to the JJ Hospital on the morning of the incident. He had been run over by a truck while travelling on a bicycle near the Mazagon Docks,” said Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria. He added that a video, supposedly of a communal incident in Manish Market, that was subsequently circulated, turned out to be the video of an incident in Karnataka. “All these aspects suggest a conspiracy and planning. We are taking help from central agencies to trace those responsible and are also in touch with service providers. Strict action will be taken against anyone that we find out to be part of the forwarding chain,” said Maria. The police have registered an FIR for public mischief under the Indian Penal Code and invoked the section 66 of the Information Technology Act. The police have also been trying to combat the rumour-mongering by sending out bulk text messages to Mumbaikars. The police said that the bulk of the rumour-mongering was being done through WhatsApp, and only a few stray messages were posted on social networking websites.
