Uttarakhand Police to register FIR against people spreading fake news about forest fires

Uttarakhand's Director-General (law and order) Ashok Kumar on Wednesday said that an FIR is being registered against people spreading rumours about the fire in state forests and warned of strict legal action against the culprits. 

While speaking to news agency ANI, he said, "Some people have spread rumours on social media that a massive fire has broken out in forests of Uttarakhand. It is not true. Photos being shown belong to 2016 when the fire had broken out. Some photos from foreign countries have also been used."

"I would like to appeal to people to not spread rumours. FIR is being registered against people who spread rumours. Stringent legal action will be taken against them," he said.

'Don't believe in such a motivated campaign'

Earlier, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said old pictures of forest fires in Chile and China are being circulated on social media platforms to claim that fire broke out in the forests of Uttarakhand.

"A misleading propaganda, using old pics of forest fires of 2016 and 2019, and that of forest fires in Chilean and Chinese forests, is raging on social media. I request everyone to not believe in such a motivated campaign. Fire incidents reported until yesterday is way less than previous years (sic)," Rawat said in a tweet.

Forest fires are not uncommon in Uttarakhand, which is probably what led to many falling for the recent social media posts. Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda called out the unverified information doing rounds on social media. He also compared the forest fire statistics of 2019 and 2020 to reiterate the fact.

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The forest fire season in Uttarakhand ranges from March to May, peaking in April. Meanwhile, according to reports, as many as 46 forest fires have been raging in the hill state of Uttarakhand over the last five days. The forest fires this year have seen a drop from 1000 fires that were reported last year. Reportedly, in 2018, there were instances of 3000 such fires. Thus, the numbers of fires this year has been considerably low.

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(With agency inputs)