India’s biggest fair Maha Kumbh started on January 13, 2025 and will end on the auspicious day of Maha Shivaratri on February 26, 2025. Saints from different corner of the country are visiting the Sangam city to attend the fair.
In today’s world various people are making videos on Kumbh and sharing on their social media. But with rise of theis comes the concern for rumors. To tackle this UP Police have taken action against 54 social media accounts for sharing misinformation and spreading rumors regarding this Maha Kumbh Fair, as per police statement.
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 Maha Kumbh. One of the videos was of an oil pipeline accident that happened in Egypt in 2020.
The video was posted with the “misleading” description, “Maha Kumbh 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 Maha Kumbh.
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 Maha Kumbh. Earlier, on February 2, police took action against seven accounts for posting an old video from Nepal as a stampede at the Maha Kumbh.
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 Maha Kumbh. On February 12, action was taken against seven accounts linking bodies found in Ghazipur in 2021 to the Maha Kumbh.
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.
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