Punjab police arrests Nambardar for spreading rumours on COVID-19
Sep 08, 2020
Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], September 9 : Punjab police arrested a person for uploading a fake and objectionable post about human organ trafficking on social media and spreading rumours about COVID-19.
According to the Punjab Information and Public Relations Department's press statement: "In their continued crackdown on rumour-mongering, Punjab Police has arrested nambardar of Jattpura village in Ludhiana for uploading a fake and objectionable post about human organ trafficking at Rajindra Hospital Patiala on Facebook and spreading rumours about Covid-19 leading to panic amongst citizens, besides tarnishing the state government's efforts to contain the pandemic."
The accused is identified as Mandeep Singh, also known as Deepa, a resident of Jattpura village, police station Hathur. An FIR under Section 188 IPC 54 Disaster Management Act police station Hathur has been registered in the case.
"Investigation has revealed that Mandeep had uploaded a post on his Facebook Profile 'Deepa Dhillon Jattpura' on August 24, 2020, wherein he made disparaging remarks about Rajindra Hospital Patiala and referred to it as being a Centre for Human Organ Trafficking and levelled baseless allegation that they kill people by injections, etc. against the Hospital," a spokesperson disclosed.
The accused has admitted that he had uploaded the post in haste in emotion as his uncle (Sarpanch of his village) had died recently due to COVID-19, the spokesperson added.
Notably, the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday had directed the DGP to crack down on all rumour mongers and web channels spreading misinformation among the people about the pandemic. Disclosing further, the spokesperson said that mobile phone which was used to upload the post has been confiscated and is being forensically examined to ascertain all facts.
