Haryana Police closely monitoring social media for rumours, misinformation

Even as the situation in Nuh slowly returned to normal, authorities in adjoining districts including Faridabad, Gurugram and Palwal were on alert on Wednesday even as the state government began cracking down on the culprits. In a bid to restore the peace, senior Police officials including the state DGP PK Agarwal made an inspection to Mewat. Keeping in mind the seriousness of the matter, police have been directed to go through social media content that went viral prior to and following the initial violence.
At the same time, the government has also made it clear that whoever was found misusing social media in any form regarding the issue, will be punished.
A video posted to social media video by Monu Manesar ahead of the procession on Monday has also come under scrutiny. State police made it clear that the video will also be investigated thoroughly along with the role of other social media posts. In order to nab the culprits, the cyber department of the police is probing social media. After the widespread violence, the police administration stated that anyone found spreading any kind of rumours or false news would be subject to stern action.
In the same vein, during the Assembly session in February this year, Congress MLA Maman Khan landed into controversy after he made a statement pertaining to Monu Manesar. Following the nature of the statement, it was later removed from the proceedings of the House. The legislator had blamed the protests in the Mewat area on Monu Manesar, adding that he would be “crushed” if he returned. His statement was strongly objected to by the ruling MLAs and led to a ruckus to some extent. Following the unrest, Khan’s statement has begun doing the rounds on social media. Similarly, older videos uploaded by Monu Manesar are also being circulated. In addition, a provocative video of a youth of a community has also gone viral in the district.
Keeping in view the seriousness of the matter, the police have now started a thorough investigation of the CCTV data and audio calls.