With a spike in the number of positive coronavirus cases in Gujarat that touched 146 cases on Monday evening, the cases of sharing hate messages on the basis of religion and fake messages on social media platforms related to lockdown have also increased dramatically to 113 with the arrest of 198 persons in the state in nearly a week.
The latest case was registered in Anand district, about 80 km from Ahmedabad, on Monday where two persons were held for putting up a hoarding outside their village that read, "no vegetable vendors or any other businessman from Muslim community will be allowed to enter the village and those found breaching it will have to take the responsibility of the damage." District Superintendent of Police Ajit Rajian, told DH that the hoarding was removed and persons responsible for it were held. He said that local leaders were contacted and peace meeting was held in the village.
The Ahmedabad police's cyber cell also arrested a person identified as Mukesh Patil, a private supervisor in a waste management firm. On April 1, he had allegedly posted “The Tablighi Jamaat congregation was a terrorist plot to spread coronavirus in the country and 2,500 virus-infected members will be spreading the virus in different parts of the country." Similar, messages were spread in other parts of the state where over a dozen cases were registered in the past week, said a senior police officer.
Cyber cell also arrested one Umarkhalid Pathan, 40, for his Facebook post that was laced with expletives that said media was only blaming Tablighi Jamaat members for spreading the virus but not those migrant workers who were walking back home to their natives. Similar cases were registered in Amreli, Surat and other districts on Monday where the accused were held.
Director General of Police, Shivanand Jha, said in his daily briefing in Gandhinagar that "12 new cases of spreading rumours related to lockdown have been registered." He said that police are keeping a close watch on such platforms which are being used to spread fake messages that create hatred and panic.