HYDERABAD: Ever since it came to her notice that the spread of online rumours has been escalating, Jogulamba Gadwal Superintendent of Police (SP) Rema Rajeshwari had taken it upon herself to curb this trend in her district. She opted for a rather novel technique in her endeavour, by depending on folk artists to create awareness among the people. Interestingly, she herself had penned a song in Telugu, that too in a Telangana dialect, to reach out to the common man.
What is the general response you get for initiatives to prevent fake news?
The response was mammoth. We organise folk programmes in every police limits, in order to communicate to the people that it’s necessary to prevent fake news. Everyone has internet these days. We just tell people not to misuse it by creating rumours.
Can you explain the format of these special campaigns?
Fake news often has terrible consequences. Many innocents were lunched to death by mobs, just because of the spread of such baseless rumours. I felt passionate about it, so I wrote Telugu songs on the issue. Now a few folk artists are helping me present them at every village of Mahbubnagar, Gadwal districts. I visit these places personally and interact with the villagers. We have also set up a special social media tracking cell to monitor online content.
What kind of rumours are the most common?
The rumours regarding kidnap gangs from others states arriving to kidnap local children are very common. Such messages are widely circulated on social media, often accompanied with pictures. We have been asking people to not blindly believe in such WhatsApp forward, and instead inform police if they find someone in suspicious circumstances.