Mohammed Shahrukh, who made the news all over the country for brandishing a gun in front of a Delhi police personnel during the anti-CAA violent protests has been arrested from Shamli, Uttar Pradesh. Shahrukh became the face-of-what exactly is wrong with the anti-CAA protests nationwide when he openly fired eight rounds of ammunition during the riots in the Jaffrabad-Maujpur area last Monday. The perpetrator was absconding since then and has now been caught by the Delhi Police. Police said that the pistol, with which Shahrukh fired rounds in the area, is yet to be recovered.
As soon as the riots took off, the video of Shahrukh, brandishing gun at the police personnel went viral. The radical Islamist elements on social media started spreading the fake news that the man in question was not a Shahrukh, but a ‘Hindutva terrorist’ Anurag Mishra. Joining the bandwagon was India’s very own Magsaysay and Gauri Lankesh Award winner Ravish Kumar. The controversial NDTV journalist went to the extent of legitimizing the fake news during his TV show, wherein he said, “Police has not been able to arrest him (the gun brandishing guy) till now. Delhi Police clearly says that he is Shahrukh, but look at Social Media, he is being identified as Anurag Mishra.”
Astounding how Ravish Kumar can spread such blatant lies, defame an innocent Hindu man and get away with this. @IndEditorsGuild will do NOTHING in this case. pic.twitter.com/ZHu2cXOy3B
— Shefali Vaidya. 🇮🇳 (@ShefVaidya) February 27, 2020
Now that Shahrukh has been nabbed, it needs to be seen if Ravish Kumar comes up with a sincere apology for tarnishing a common man’s image, rather so blatantly.
Having shamelessly generated the fake news earlier, the NDTV journalist came up with an agonizing excuse instead of apologizing for reckless reporting. He said, “In my show, I said, “Police clearly said that he is Shahrukh, but see social media is claiming that he is Anurag. We need police to speak up on his identity.”
Anurag Mishra who was unnecessarily dragged into controversy by leftist and liberal fanboy’s favorite anchor has been having a hard time since then. Apart from the loss of reputation and sheer hatred, he is also facing life threats. Rumours keep intensifying and now miscreants have started portraying him as BJP leader Kapil Mishra’s nephew.
To say that he got carried away by what the social media users were saying and wanted the Delhi Police to clarify is too flimsy an excuse. Why couldn’t he verify the claims and do a fact-checking report instead? He could have formally clarified the issue with the Delhi Police through proper channels instead of going live and asking for clarification.
Strict action must be taken against Ravish Kumar, including blocking his Prime Time show and penal action. A journalist cannot be allowed to turn rogue targeting innocent citizens in order to build specific narratives at the cost of reality. If Ravish has still an iota of ethics and morality left within, which by most shots is improbable but we are an optimistic bunch and the least we and Anurag can expect is an apology.
