Bandra incident: Cyber Dept identifies over 30 accounts for spreading rumours about train services

The Maharashtra Cyber Department has identified over 30 accounts on various social platforms including a 'news channel' for spreading rumours about train services, which led to a huge gathering at Bandra railway station here on Tuesday.

According to an official statement, the Maharashtra Cyber Department has identified persons responsible for spreading fake news and rumours and have informed the Mumbai Police about the same within few hours.

"We have identified more than 30 accounts on various platforms including a news channel responsible for spreading rumours about train services. All this is informed to the concerned police units," reads the statement.

The Mumbai Police have registered three FIRs in connection with Tuesday's gathering at Bandra railway station.

More than 1,000 migrant workers had gathered outside the station in Bandra on Tuesday, demanding transport facility to go back to their hometowns, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of the lockdown to May 3.

In the prevailing situation of the lockdown due to global pandemic of COVID -19, sadly a few cyber criminals and anti-social elements in the society are taking advantage of the situation with an intention to cause pc and disrupt the harmony of society by large, said the Maharashtra Cyber Department.

However, as per the directive of Home Minister l Deshmukh, the Maharashtra Cyber is continuously working to stop these fake news and rumours on social media related to the COVID -19 pandemic.

The Maharashtra Cyber Department said that it is monitoring fake news, rumours spread through various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Tik-Tok, Instagram and others 24/7 with a strong team.

If any fake news or rumours are spread by any users, the Maharashtra Cyber traces their location, co-ordinates and informs the district police in that region to take action as per law against the perpetrator.

Till April 14, 201 cases have been registered at different police stations across the State. The accused in all these cases were either involved in spreading fake news about COVID-19 pandemic and circulating hate messages to create "enmity between two sections or religions of society."

On analysing the crimes registered across the State, the Maharashtra Cyber Department has noticed that 99 cases were registered with regard to WhatsApp for sending offensive messages, 66 cases were registered for the offensive posts shared on Facebook, three cases were registered for offensive videos uploaded on Tik-Tok and on other social media platforms such as YouTube. As many as 37 cases were registered for circulating fake news and videos.

Till to date, 35 people have been arrested and more than 114 people are identified for arrest. A case has been registered at Navi Mumbai, Koparkhairane Police Station against an unknown person, who had uploaded image and post on Instagram, which shows disrespect towards the Indian flag and the country.

According to the Maharashtra Cyber Department, there is a new modus operandi of the cybercrime reported at different police stations. Accused use various social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp to give a religious angle to COVID-19 pandemic, eventually leading to disturbance and law and order problem.

The Maharashtra Cyber Department has said that stringent action will be taken by the police against the creators, propagators of fake WhatsApp messages and videos or against the Group Admins who continue to ignore the instructions shared by the police from time to time.

It has appealed to all citizens and orgsations to keep themselves aloof from such activities.

"We at the Maharashtra Cyber request all the citizens of the State not to believe and forward any fake messages/news, WhatsApp forwards or rumours on social media. In case of any fraud, the victim is expected to immediately intimate to the nearest police station and on the website, www.cybercrime.gov.in," added the Maharashtra Cyber Department.

( With inputs from ANI )