On Saturday (July 3), the zonal police of Kashmir issued a show cause notice to The Wire for publishing fake news with the potential to create panic and fear. The Inspector General of Police of the Kashmir Zone, IPS Vijay Kumar, listed the specific instances where the leftist portal peddled the fake news.
In the first instance, the article published on The Wire, dated June 28, 2021, claimed that numerous SPOs had resigned in recent times due to threats from militants and that some of the SPOs had switched sides to join the militant groups.
“In recent times, many SPOs have resigned from service after facing threats from the militants while some have even joined the ranks of the militancy,” claimed the article.
Having not included any valid figures or data for such a ‘critical claim’, the leftist portal was accused of tampering with the security of the nation, as per the formal complaint.
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The show cause notice, addressed to The Wire, mentioned, “Under the circumstances when security forces in the region are working day and night to combat and eradicate the menace of terrorism in the valley such false narrative and statement without any figures based upon presumption and assumption are prejudicial to the interests of the security of the nation.”
Moreover, in the complaint, it was also assured that unlike the report by The Wire, not a single SPO had switched sides to militant organisations. The notice read, “Pertinently in the year 2021, there has not been a single incident where SPO has joined terrorist ranks or left the job.”
“The issuance of above statement without establishing the veracity and authenticity of facts has caused fear and alarm among the masses, especially the security forces,” added the complaint.
Read more: FIR against fake news website The Wire for trying to incite Muslims in UP’s Barabanki
In the second instance, the complaint mentioned another article by the leftist portal, wherein they had skewed the facts and details of the death of Mohammad Amin Malik. “Police never termed the accused as ‘active’ or ‘categorized terrorist’. It is a concocted fact and mischievous misrepresentation of facts having strong tendency and motive only to malign the working of security forces and their working,” the complaint retorted.
Peddling fake news to create anti-India rhetoric has been a norm for The Wire for long. Spreading dangerous lies about the security forces of India strongly suggests that such leftist portals would not hesitate to stoop down to any level, to meet the objectives of their various anti-India propagandas.