Mahakumbh: Police takes action against 54 social media accounts for spreading rumours

The police took special cognizance of two videos doing rounds on social media, which showed a fire incident in Egypt but were being linked to Mahakumbh. One of the videos was of an oil pipeline accident that happened in Egypt in 2020. The video was posted with the "misleading" description, "Mahakumbh bus stand caught fire, 40-50 vehicles burnt to ashes."

In response, a case was registered against seven social media accounts for "spreading rumors."

In the second video, visuals showing chaos in Bihar's Patna during a film promotion were wrongly linked to the Mahakumbh. The police have taken action against 15 social media accounts for this post.

Uttar Pradesh police remain vigilant in identifying and acting against fake videos that spread rumors about the ongoing Mahakumbh. Earlier, on February 2, police took action against seven accounts for posting an old video from Nepal as a stampede at the Mahakumbh. On February 7, an FIR was filed against a Facebook account for showing a crowd of devotees in the Sangam area as a stampede. On February 9, cases were registered against 14 'X' (formerly Twitter) accounts linking an incident from Jharkhand's Dhanbad to the Mahakumbh. On February 12, action was taken against seven accounts linking bodies found in Ghazipur in 2021 to the Mahakumbh.

Following instructions from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the police have implemented a special strategy to surveil cyberspace, deter the spread of rumors, and take action against those responsible for spreading them.

UP DGP Prashant Kumar has urged the public to verify the authenticity of any information before sharing it on social media. Strict legal action will be taken against those spreading rumors, he added.