Panchjanya weekly, the Hindi mouthpiece of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has had to delete a post of theirs after the Moradabad Police threatened them with legal action for spreading fake news. The now deleted post, which had been viewed by atleast 55,000 people, aimed to cause disharmony, and spread misleading and propaganda filled news regarding an inter faith couple. The tweet claimed that a Hindu girl had to suffer the consequences of marrying a Muslim man as the said man raped the Hindu wife along with his friends. It was also alleged that 15 individuals have been booked in this case.
As the tweet began gaining online traction, with more than 1,200 retweets, and a number of right wing handles began spreading the lie, the Moradabad Police swung into action and debunked the claim. The Moradabad police replied to the said tweet and stated that “आपके द्वारा किये गये ट्वीट के सम्बन्ध में अवगत कराना है कि जनपद मुरादाबाद में इस तरह की कोई भी घटना नहीं हुई है । बिना जानकारी के अनावश्यक ट्वीट न करें । भ्रामकता फैलाने पर आपके विरुद्ध वैधानिक कार्यवाही की जायेगी। (In relation to your tweet, it is to be informed that no such incident has taken place in Moradabad district. Do not tweet unnecessarily without information. Legal action will be taken against you for spreading misleading information.)”
Post this tweet by the Moradabad police, the false tweet by the Panchjanya was deleted. This was an important and necessary move to re-establish the false narrative being spread by the far-right functionaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its extremist Hindutva outfits, where it is alleged that Muslim men lure Hindu women for conversion to Islam by unethical means such as seduction, kidnapping, feigning, deception, and ultimately marriage as a part of a broader ‘war’ by Muslims against India and Hindus.
The media also plays a vital role in spreading this conspiracy to every house possible, something that can be witnessed upon tuning in to any of the major news channels operating in our country. Almost every channel has or regularly shows content based upon this topic and is very much responsible for directly manipulating people by the means of fake and distorted information. This action by the Moradabad Police also comes as a surprise, because according to the pattern being followed, even the police under BJP governed states user fear and intimidation against couples, even those who have had consensual marriages and subjugate young Muslim men by fake charges and FIRs based on a façade, as we have already seen on multiple occasions after the administration of this law in states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh…
This story was originally published in sabrangindia.in. Read the full story here