Shillong:  Apr. 07, 2020: Inspector General of Police (A) Meghalaya, Shillong, G. K. Iangrai, MPS Asstt. Informed that despite several appeals to the general public to refrain from propagating or circulating fake news/rumours relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, through Social Media or any other medium, some individuals have disregarded the appeal and uploaded/posted contents which were found to be fake news.

In this connection, 3 (three) cases have been registered in Cyber Crime Police Station and 1 (one) case has been registered in Williamnagar Police Station against rumour mongers, under the relevant provisions of Indian Penal Code, Information Technology Act and National Disaster management Act.
Out of the 4 (four) cases, 3 (three) cases have been registered after the applications which have been received through the Fake News Verification Portal have been verified to be fake news.

A content which was uploaded in a Facebook page “Ka Sur U Paidbah” has been found to be fake news and hence a case has been registered, similarly the other cases which have been registered include a post regarding a person who has been infected with COVID-19, a post regarding the WHO Protocol & Procedures for Lockdown, and several other fake news.

The citizens of the state are hereby requested to kindly desist from uploading/circulating contents without verifying the authenticity of the content. To verify information regarding COVID-19, citizens are requested to make use of the online portal hosted in the department’s website http://www.megpolice.gov.in/.

Information can also be validated by checking the verified information uploaded in http://www.megpolice.gov.in/covid-19-fake-news or through the department’s official social media pages @ https://www.facebook.com/meghpolice or @ https://twitter.com/MeghalayaPolice. Iangrai added.