Govt takes down 35 Whatsapp groups over fake info
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Sunday banned 35 Whatsapp groups for spreading fake news on the new military recruitment scheme Agnipath and Agniveers, the Union ministry of home affairs said. At least 10 people have been arrested on charges of rumour-mongering and organising protests.
The Centre has also issued a number -- 8799711259 -- for Whatsapp fact-checking, the home ministry said.
The crackdown comes amid reports of social media platforms, particularly Whatsapp, being used for mobilising protests in
states like Bihar, which has witnessed violent protests that disrupted train services and led to the destruction of several train bogies and vehicles.
On June 17, the Bihar government suspended internet services in 12 districts till Sunday, saying that it was being used to transmit objectionable content in order to spread rumours with an intent to incite the public and cause damage to life and property.
The district administration in Patna also said that the information collected from the mobile phones of arrested protesters pointed to the role of coaching centres.
On Saturday, the Telangana Police arrested the owner of a coaching institute in Narasaraopet town of Palnadu district in Andhra Pradesh for allegedly instigating the youths to participate in the protests against the Agnipath scheme. The detained coaching institute owner, Avula Subba Rao, has been accused of creating a Whatsapp group called Hakimpet Army Soldiers, which comprised hundreds of army aspirants. In this group, he had allegedly sent messages to all the members asking them to take part in the protests.
Despite widespread protests, the Centre on Sunday ruled out a rollback of the Agnipath scheme for recruitments to the armed forces for a four-year tenure. The defence ministry said that aspirants accused of arson or vandalism will not be recruited and asserted that “every individual who wants to join the armed forces through the Agnipath scheme will have to submit a pledge that they were neither part of any protest nor were involved in any violence. Nobody can join the forces without police verification...”