Maharashtra: ‘Social media misuse spiked during Bandra migrants’ protest & Palghar mob lynching’

As per the state data, a total of 258 cases were registered against persons for using different social media platforms to spread rumours and create communal unrest since the lockdown was imposed last month. Of these, April 14 saw the highest number of cases — 20 — to be registered on a single day. With the 21-day lockdown set to end on April 14, nearly 2,000 stranded migrant workers had taken to the streets demanding transport to take them back to their home states. [Prime Minister Narendra Modi later extended the nationwide lockdown till May 3.]

Soon after the incident, police had registered two FIRs for alleged use of social media to spread misinformation. One of the FIRs was lodged against a TV journalist for a contentious story about train services resuming for migrant workers seeking to return home. A second case was filed against a local political party worker for putting up a video asking migrant workers to start walking towards their villages.

“There was a lot of fake news and incorrect information being put out (on social networking sites) to give the issue a communal colour. The home minister had asked the police to take action against those spreading such misinformation. Accordingly, a high number of cases were registered,” said an officer from the cyber police.

The next day saw just five FIRs. However, on April 16, after a lynching video — fueled by WhatsApp rumours about thieves operating in the area, a vigilante group lynched two sadhus and their driver at Gadchinchale village in Palghar district — started circulating widely on social media, a total of 17 FIRs were registered. Nine more FIRs were registered a day later, the statistics provided by the state government states.

State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said, “I had instructed the cyber police to take action against those who were misusing these incidents giving it a communal spin.” Deshmukh had earlier posted a video where he explained how in the video of the Palghar lynching incident, ‘oye bas’ was deliberately interpreted as ‘ Shoaib bas’ to give the issue a communal spin. Eventually, in order to counter misinformation, he had released names of the arrested persons to prove they were not from the Muslim community.

An officer from the cyber police said, “There has been a rise in the case of social media being misuse over a period of time.”

SP (Beed) Harsh Poddar told The Sunday Express, “In Beed, we found a lot of misinformation being circulated soon after the Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz incident with people trying to give it a communal colour. Now, however, those rumours have reduced.”

A Tablighi Jamaat congregation that took place at the Markaz in March has been seen as a coronavirus hotspot, with more than 4,000 confirmed cases linked to the event reported across the country.