A video has gone viral on social media and instant messaging app WhatsApp which claims that a boy dies bleeding because the ambulance was stopped for passage of Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari. However, Times of India found that, the video was recorded a year back and belongs to some other event and not at all related to Manoj Tiwari. The video shows that an ambulance is stopped by barricades of Delhi Police, the driver asks the policemen who will be responsible for child’s death.
The video actually is from Rajpath in 2017 when Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Rajak visited India and to ease out his way Delhi police put barricades. Preet Narula, who shot the video, said that “There were 40-50 cars waiting at the barricade when we heard an ambulance siren behind us. Everyone decided to move their cars to allow the ambulance to pass. The cops, however, stopped the ambulance when it reached the barricade.” Times of India reported this story on 5th August 2017, the report said that the kid was injured in an accident in his village in Sonipat and the local hospital refereed him to Delhi. Police denied the allegations that the cops stopped that ambulance and said that In fact they made the way for the ambulance despite the fact it was behind 50 cars. The fake news about Manoj Tiwari and this video has been circulating on WhatsApp and other social media platforms with a clear intention that in order to provide VVIP treatment to Manoj Tiwari, Delhi Police had put a boy’s life in jeopardy.
Circulation of fake news and hoaxes has become a major problem for regulators in the country. Political parties and organizations spread fake news intentionally to malign image of some leaders and reap political benefits out of it. Circulation of fake news has become a dangerous weapon in the hand of shrewd politicians. In the era of ‘post-truth’, politicians like Donald Trump were caught many times spreading fake news through their twitter accounts. Spreading rumors about rival parties and leaders is major part of political campaigning nowadays. The fake news problem is not limited to maligning image of someone, many people got killed due to fake news and rumors. In recent times, most of the mob-lynching cases that have happened in India are due to rumors of child-lifting gangs operating in various parts of the country and most of these rumors were spread through WhatsApp. Increase in incidents of mob-lynching has resulted in huge protest from a particular section of society and media. The incidents were used to peddle their political agenda and not to educate the people regarding fake news and rumors. Such people wait for mob-lynching incidents to take place so that they can launch their vulture politics, and because of this attitude, fake news and rumor circulation is only increasing in India, especially via WhatsApp.
The government has told Whatsapp that it could face a ban if it does not find a way to trace the origins of hoaxes and fake news. The most popular instant messaging platform is owned by Facebook and it refused the government’s request and told that it would not violate privacy protocol. This video concerning Manoj Tiwari demonstrates the need for stricter control on social media platforms including WhatsApp in order to stop such rumor mongering.