Police detain 3 people for spreading fake news on social media
The detainee said a local induced him to spread the fake news against police
Police have detained three people for violating the digital security act and spreading fake news and rumours on social media, said a press note from the Bangladesh Police on Saturday.
Police claim that one of these people used a fake Facebook account with the profile name Jarine Afrine Ruma and put up a post saying "Faridganj officer-in-charge raped a girl after luring her with relief," which is false as no such incident occurred.
Immediately after Chandpur Police and a cyber team of the Bangladesh Police started investigating the matter, that account acknowledged the crime and sought forgiveness through another post on Facebook.
In the post, he wrote that a local person induced him to post the fake news to malign the image and the humanitarian work done by the police amid the Covid-19 crisis. He also wrote that he did not know the girl and he did not even know if there is any girl by that name. He downloaded the photo from the internet and added it to the post.
Police said that spreading rumours on social media is a punishable crime. The incident has destroyed the image of the person and his family in society. Bangladesh police acted promptly against the rumour, and they will strictly counter anything that goes against the public interest, the press note reads.
