Delhi Police have launched an investigation into social media accounts allegedly spreading rumours and inflammatory content during recent protests in the national capital, with the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit tracing at least one suspicious handle's IP address to Pakistan.
According to police, some foreign-based accounts were circulating false claims about police action against demonstrators in an alleged attempt to provoke public disorder.
Additional Commissioner of Police Sanjay Bhatia told ANI that the IFSO unit's cyber patrolling team was monitoring social media posts to verify their authenticity and compliance with legal provisions.
"Numerous social media posts made during the recent protests... Delhi Police’s IFSO unit has a dedicated cyber patrolling team that monitors such posts to verify their authenticity and compliance with legal provisions. If we find a post to be factually incorrect, false, a rumor, a threat to public order, defamatory, or likely to incite anarchy, we take action in accordance with the law... When we sought registration details for one such specific handle, the IP address traced back to Pakistan; we are currently investigating that case. The process is ongoing, and we have registered other cases as well; investigations are underway, and we will share further details and evidence with you as they emerge..." Bhatia said.
Providing details of a specific instance of alleged misinformation, Bhatia said a social media account had circulated a false claim that police were firing at demonstrators.
"We found a post intended to incite chaos; the handle registered in Pakistan... It alleged that the police were opening fire on the demonstrators. It was a deliberate attempt to whip up a volatile atmosphere based on falsehoods. Since the claim was untrue, we immediately requested the post's removal and registered a case; further action is underway," he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Delhi Police announced the arrest of three Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) activists over alleged repeated attempts to disturb public peace, violate the law and use social media to encourage others to engage in similar unlawful activities.
Two of the activists, Sourav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, were remanded to five days of judicial custody, while Ajinkya Shinde was bound down for six months to ensure peace and good behaviour.
According to a Delhi Police statement, the action followed an incident on the morning of October 13, when the three activists and 11 other CJP members allegedly entered the denotified protest site at Jantar Mantar through private premises.
Police personnel deployed at the site intervened and attempted to stop the group. However, the protesters allegedly obstructed the personnel from carrying out their official duties, the police statement said.
Meanwhile, the CJP maintained that its demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar remained unchanged. The party also reiterated its opposition to the denotification of Jantar Mantar, stating that it would continue to seek electoral accountability and would not abandon peaceful democratic action over the removal of the historic protest venue.