CHENNAI: The Avadi city police on Monday registered a case against the infamous right-wing website OpIndia.com for allegedly fear-mongering migrant workers in the state through fake news stories.
The website was booked under sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different regional/language/caste groups), 505 A (publishing and circulating reports containing rumours with intent to create enmity between communities) and 505 (b) (statements conducing public mischief) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code).
Citing Hindi news websites, OpIndia, in one of its articles wrote, "They (migrant labourers) have alleged that as many as 15 people have lost their lives in the “Talibani” style attacks being carried out against the Hindi-speaking migrant labourers in the state."
The case was registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by DMK IT wing member Suryaprakash at the Thiruninravur police station.
"In his complaint, Suryaprakash stated that one OpIndia.com website is spreading false news and has created a sense of fear among the workers from other states in Tamil Nadu and there is a risk of conflict between the local people and people from other states,” said a senior police officer.
"This has been widely circulated in various social media including Twitter. This may cause a nuisance to the public tranquillity,” the complaint stated and sought police action against the CEO Rahul Roushan and the editor of the website, Nupur Sharma, for spreading false news and creating panic among the public.