An order by the Mumbai Police ‘to control the spread of fake news and hate messages on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic’ has drawn sharp political reactions from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Praveen Darekar, leader of opposition in the Legislative Council, has demanded immediate withdrawal of this order.
The order makes ‘admins’ of groups responsible for these acts and makes it the personal responsibility ‘of all persons designated as admin’ to report any such malicious, derogatory or incorrect content posted by a member of the group to the police immediately.
“The gag order issued by Mumbai Police suppresses the fundamental right of expression of the citizens. The police should immediately withdraw such order,” Darekar demanded of Subodh Jaiswal, state director general of police. He was accompanied by legislators Rahul Narvekar and Prasad Lad.
“The police department is selective about the abuse of social media. Despite the complaints against objectionable comments and threat to kill former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, police is not taking any action,” he alleged while speaking to the media after the meeting.
“In a democracy, every citizen has the right to express their opinions. But the state government is trying to curb this right by misusing section 144,” he alleged.
“We met former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh a few days ago and demanded him to take action against those trolling Fadnavis. But as police are working under the pressure of the state government, they did not initiate any action. But the same police force is taking action against and arresting BJP workers. We requested to convert our complaints as FIR and take action. If police did not initiate any action, we will start a hunger strike,” he warned.
