Indiatimes, Greater Kashmiri, The Siasat Daily have circulated news that women drowned her 5 children in river Ganga due to no food during lockdown.
But the truth is that on April 12, 2020 in a village of Uttar Pradesh a woman jumped with her children in river Ganga, but as the children started to drown, she came out of the river. In the morning when villagers saw her sitting, she narrated that she committed such an act because of her husband. She said that her husband has drinking and gambling problems due to which she had a quarrel with him and because of the quarrel she attempted suicide and drowned her 5 kids as well.
When the police officials asked the husband, he said that she is mentally unsound and that he does not know why such a step was taken by her, he went to Jharkhand with some relatives the night when the incident took place however the wife accused the husband of physical abuse on a routine basis due to which she decided to do so.
The wife (Manju Yadav), with children Vandana (12), Ranjana (10), Shivshankar (08), Pooja (06), Sandeep (05) were residents of Bhadohi District, Gopi Ganj area, Uttar Pradesh.
As you can see in the screenshot below taken by Legal Correspondants of LawStreet Journal, all mainstream media channels (except Business Insider, Indiatimes, Greater Kashmiri and The Siasat Daily) posted articles on the same issue responsibly whereas the above four mentioned media channels, have displayed highly irresponsible, reckless and unacceptable journalism at his crucial time of pandemic.
Media channel Indiatimes posted an article “With No Food During Lockdown Mother Throws 5 Children into River Ganga In Uttar Pradesh” and the post got around 40K shares and further got a whopping 13,000+ likes on its Instagram handle.
Further, as you can see in another screenshot taken by Lawstreet Journal, the Indiatimes did not bring about any changes till 11: 19 AM (April 13, 2020) i.e. after about 20 hours of circulation of this fake news before changing their heading at 11:40 AM.
However, by that time the fake news had already been widely circulated, quoted and tweeted by thousands. Similarly, Greater Kashmir, The Siasat Daily and Business Insider also published the same.
Moreover, The Siasat Daily and Greater Kashmir has till now made no amendment in the fake news, even till the time of writing this article.
Law Street Journal Editor at around 3:00PM today immediately spoke with Mr. Rajendra Prasad, District Magistrate, UP whereby he stated that there was no such news of lack of food and the the incident occurred after the wife had an argument with her husband and not because of lack of ration and food grains facility.
The officers and their units on duty are continuously working to supply ration to each and every house amid the lockdown and fake news such as this is a mockery towards their efforts.
Pursuant to conversation with LawStreet Journal Editor, Mr. Prasad stated that strict action shall be initiated against such fake news as this weakens the confidence among people towards the administration and government.
Fake news by these four media houses raised a roar of allegation towards Government and its functioning and several renowned personalities shared and tweeted about the same creating havoc on social media.
Such act of the media houses shall be punished under following legal provisions:
Section 505(1)(b) of Indian Penal Code, 1860: The punishment for making, publishing or circulating any statement, rumors or report which may cause fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public.
Punishment: Imprisonment which may extend to 3 years or fine or both.
Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005: Whosoever without any cause obstruct any officer or employee of central government or the state government or a person authorized by national authority or state authority or the district authority in the discharge of his functions.
Punishment: Imprisonment which may extend to one year or with fine.
Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005: Whoever makes or circulates a false alarm or warning as to disaster or its severity or magnitude, leading to panic.
Punishment: Imprisonment which may extend to one year or with fine.
Section 188 of Indian Penal Code, 1860: Disobedience of order duly promulgated by public servant.
Punishment: Imprisonment which may extend to 1 month or fine or both.
