J&K police to act tough against hate-mongers', Internet bigotry

Cases have been registered against those who recently claimed wrote on Facebook or Twitter that Kashmiri Pandits were being attacked.

Update: 2016-07-11 12:34 GMT
One such case has been registered against a netizen Ashok Koul who on Saturday claimed that two Pandits had been killed and Hindu houses burnt. (Photo: HU Naqash/DC)

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police has decided to act tough against ‘rumour mongers’ who are spreading false texts through the Internet.

Cases have been registered against those who recently wrote on Facebook or Twitter that minority Kashmiri Pandits and their properties and places of worship have been targeted, by mobs during the ongoing turbulence triggered by the killing of a militant commander by security forces on Friday.

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One such case has been registered against a netizen Ashok Koul who on Saturday wrote on his Facebook timeline “According to sources two Pandits killed in Kashmir as some village...many Hindu houses burnt...Internet services suspended.” The case has been registered against him at Srinagar’s Kothi Bagh Police Station under Section 505 (b) of the Ranbir Penal Code (Making statement conducing to public mischief with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility).

Koul has since apologised. He wrote on his Facebook wall “I beg pardon from entire people of JK that I posted many news without verification which proved fake ….These news were sent to me by one Raj Dhar from Kashmir. For this I beg pardon from people again. In future I assure you all that no such news will be posted. Again I beg pardon.”

The J&K police is also surprised as to how a community leader Vinod Pandit could tweet from a southern Kashmir village that a temple he was at has been attacked by a mob at a time, when no Internet facility was available in the area. Even the mobile phone services had been withdrawn in some areas of south Kashmir after these witnessed widespread protests and violence.

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Pandit who is chairman of All Pandit Migrants' Coordination Committee (APMCC) tweeted “I’m inside Kakran temple. We are surrounded by the mob who are relentlessly attacking temple with stones. No Army and security cover is visible.” The police has launched an investigation and said that if it is proved Pandit had tweeted from somewhere else, action under law would be taken against him as well. The J&K police’s cyber cell has, meanwhile, begun a tremendous scrutiny of the texts placed on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites by their uses from within the State and outside regarding the ongoing turbulence. “Action under law would be taken against all those who are found spreading rumours or trying to spread their hate messages and other objectionable material through the Internet,” a senior police officer said. Pandit has said that he would issue a detailed statement on the incident he had mentioned in his tweet by Tuesday.

J&K government spokesman and education minister, Naeem Akhtar, confirmed the reports and said that the man who had posted "baseless and untrue" information that two members from the State’s minority community have been killed during protests has been booked under the law. He added that action under law would be initiated against all other ‘rumour-mongers’.

The J&K authorities had on Friday night asked the service providers to suspend Internet services on mobile phones and through dongles. Internet services are, however, functioning on fixed broadband lines.

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