36 booked in Haryana for sharing misleading information on Coronavirus

The Haryana Police has booked 36 people for allegedly spreading false rumours and misleading information about COVID-19 on social media platforms. State Home Minister Anil Vij had asked the police to take stern action against those circulating fake, misleading and unverified information about the pandemic on social media so that potential confusion and panic among the general public could be prevented.

All the 36 rumour-mongers have been booked under different sections of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act, Additional Director General of Police Navdeep Singh Virk said on Saturday. He further advised the general public neither to post unverified information on their social media accounts nor forward it to others on messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger etc, as they would could land into trouble.

Earlier, police had said several instances of spreading factually incorrect and unverified information on social media are being noticed. They also had warned of strict action against the violators.

In order to enforce the strict lockdown, Virk said police have also registered 1,141 FIRs, booking close to 1,655 people for violating the government order.

"Since the lockdown was enforced, we have also seized 5,750 vehicles and imposed a fine of Rs 7.11 crore on the violators under the Motor Vehicle Act," Virk said.

Virk said all ranks of the Haryana Police are actively engaged in educating and encouraging the people to stay indoors during the lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19.