The Kerala police on Sunday evening arrested a 38-year-old man for spreading fake news on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and triggering panic among the public. The accused has been identified as Thiruvananthapuram native Renjith.
On Sunday, the 38-year-old accused was arrested by the Fort Police after it came to their attention that he had used Facebook to share a fake post on COVID-19, claiming that one person had died in Thiruvananthapuram due to the virus.
"We booked the accused and arrested him on the same day as he had posted the fake message on Facebook. His message had triggered panic among fellow social media users and this came to our attention," an officer from the Fort Police Station told TNM.
Renjith has been booked under section 505 (1) (b) of the Indian Penal Code (any action which is intended to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public) and sections 118 (e) (acts causing danger to public or failure in public safety) and 120 (o) (causing, through any means of communication, a nuisance by repeated or undesirable or anonymous call, letter, writing, message, email or through a messenger) of the Kerala Police Act, 2011.
The Kerala police have been taking strict action against those spreading fake news or violating lockdown orders in the state amid the spread of coronavirus. On Sunday, the state reported 15 fresh cases of the virus, taking the total count to 67 (out of which three have recovered).
On Saturday, Kasaragod district went into lockdown with all religious, social and other public institutions shutting down for two weeks until March 31. All private and government offices too, have been shut down for a week. Kasaragod has reported 19 positive cases as on Sunday, out of which a majority are Gulf returnees.
On Sunday, Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kasaragod, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam went into lockdown. This is part of measures imposed on 75 districts in the country by the Centre to reduce movement and contain the spread of the coronavirus. These districts have now suspended all inter-state, suburban train services and metro services until March 31, with only good trains continuing operations. Only essential travel has now been allowed in the locked-down towns and cities.
In Kasaragod, which went into lockdown on Saturday after one positive case of COVID-19 disregarded quarantine and reportedly exposed over 1000 people, multiple arrests have been made by the police against those who violated curfew norms.