Bengaluru City Police had to firefight a news from a major news website which had reported about a protest against cattle sale purchase order which may harm the business of some entities.
Cattle slaughter has become a point of debate in India ever since a cow was slaughtered in Kerala to protest against what is being perceived as the Beef Ban.
The news portal had issued a flash which read:
“Massive protests breaks out in Bengaluru against the Union Government’s recent cattle ban order.”
Some people, however, had doubts on this piece of news and decided to ask the Bengaluru City Police to verify the information. A Twitter user asked the Twitter handle of the Bengaluru City Police if the protest in Bengaluru is for ‘real.’
When Yazidi Activist showed the same resolve as Rani Padmawati
The response was swift and the Bengaluru City Police said “This is fake news.’
This is fake news.
— BengaluruCityPolice (@BlrCityPolice) June 2, 2017
Twitter users were left fuming after the reply and many claimed to be from the area also concurred with the police.
Forget him.. i live in Bengaluru and a kannadiga. I am not seeing any massive protest here
— Praveen ಶಿರಾಲಿ (@pkshirali) June 4, 2017
While some demanded action against fake news:
If this is fake news, will there be no action against the news agency. This isn't freedom of expression.
— Navin Srivastava (@navinks) June 3, 2017
Fake news menace has engulfed India and has led to heated debates and many sites have been labeled fake.