Names of 19 abroad returnees leaked

A list of 19 persons from Chandanagar who were ordered into self-quarantine after they returned from abroad in the past few days was leaked on social media. In a major breach of privacy, this list has the persons’ names, phone numbers, passport numbers and complete home addresses.

The list was widely shared on Twitter, with many falsely claiming that Chandanagar had been declared a “red zone”. A few users pointed out that such a privacy breach could lead to vigilantism against those named in the list.

It isn’t clear how the list was leaked. Chandanagar police station house officer B. Ravinder, when contacted, said he had no idea how it came about. He said the list has been supplied to them by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). “I do not know about it. We did not leak it,” he said. He insisted that the leak would not cause any security incidents either.

GHMC officials were not aware of the source of the leak. N. Sudhamsh, GHMC deputy commissioner responsible for the area, said he did not know how such a list was made available to the public. He admitted that the list contains sensitive data. He added that GHMC would take action against those spreading false information based on this list. “We will file a police complaint against those who are claiming Chandanagar is a ‘red zone’,” he said.

Mr Sudhamsh said it was up to the police to investigate how the list was leaked.

“In any case, I don’t think there is any immediate danger to the people named in it. All their respective neighbours already know that their houses are under quarantine. This list won’t give them any new information,” he said.