Crackdown on Misinformation: Barasat Police Arrest Facebook Group Admins

On Thursday, three Facebook group admins were taken into custody for allegedly circulating false information about a gang kidnapping children in Barasat, North 24-Parganas.

The police crackdown occurs one day after three people in two locations in Barasat were attacked on the grounds that they were suspected of kidnapping.

The three people who were detained, according to the police, maintained their innocence and stated that they "genuinely" believed that "a child-lifting gang was active in Barasat." Additionally, the police stated that they did not accept their theory.

They have been charged with violating sections of the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code pertaining to mischief and disturbing social harmony.

The three were recognized by the police as Pritam Mistry, Payal Talukdar, and Sheikh Mijanur Rehman. Everybody from Barasat is three.

Mistry, 33, is a part-time insurance agent in addition to working for a private IT company. Payel works as a makeup artist on her own. It wasn't until late on Thursday night that Rehman's occupation was determined.

According to Pratiksha Jharkhariya, superintendent of police in Barasat, the three individuals detained were fervently disseminating false information on social media via two groups, alleging the presence of a child trafficking gang in the region.

These three served as the organizations' administrators. They disseminated false information through their posts, which included video clips, about a group of child traffickers that were allegedly abducting children from Barasat. In an effort to put an end to the rumors, they were also removing our remarks from our official account from the groups, according to Jharkhariya.

The officer stated that since the corpse of a Class V kid was found in a run-down restroom in Kazipara, Barasat, on Thursday, the three had been uploading recordings and leaving comments.

They informed our officers that they thought the boy had been kidnapped and murdered. They desired to take action in this regard. Thus, they began disseminating the rumor and uploading different content, such as videos of a body being retrieved, Jharkhariya claimed.

Numerous more social media accounts are being investigated, according to the authorities. "Fake profiles" are being used to manage a large number of them, according to the police.

An officer stated, "We are not ruling out the possibility that this was a component of the coordinated rumor-mongering that caused violence in the area and injured three people."

Every major school in Barasat now has a police post in front of it, and on Thursday, senior police officers spoke with locals on the streets, especially those who drop and pick up their kids from school. Additionally, leaflets asking people not to propagate rumors or fall for them were distributed.

This is hardly the first instance of social media platforms being abused to disseminate violent rumors.

There have been multiple reports of violent incidents resulting from rumors of child lifting in Calcutta and its surrounding areas. The people who spread rumors were often taken into custody. However, many more avoid punishment, and as the rumors die down, the crackdown becomes slack.

"The main obstacle is getting people to stop forwarding unverified messages through Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms," stated an IPS officer who had previously served as the head of the Kolkata Police's cybercrime unit.

"Some people disseminate false information on purpose in an effort to incite conflict within the community or undermine law and order."

The Class V student's death sparked the rumors, according to a senior police official in Barasat. According to the officer, the uncle of the child, Enger Nabi, has been taken into police custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder.

Following a mob attack on Wednesday that injured two men and a woman, eighteen persons have been taken into custody.