To clamp down on fake news in social media in West Bengal (WB) and other parts of the country, the state government is mulling a law. The law is believed to have been conceived in the wake of posts (containing fake news) creating nuisance and unrest in many parts of the country.

A state home department official told a news agency that the state government, while formulating the law, will be relying on the data bank on fake news circulated on social media in West Bengal and other parts of the country in the past couple of years, apart from keeping records of past wrongdoers.

“The state government intends to bring more clarity on the nature of the offence and punishment for those responsible for spreading fake news and posting morphed photographs with an aim to disrupt peace and communal harmony or spread hatred in society,” the official told the agency.

The official further informed: “There are several incidents in recent times when posts on social media had major implications. Different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) are used to deal with cases depending on the nature of the crime or intent of the posts. But the state government is trying to formulate a law for strict actions against persons or the organisation found guilty of such activities.”

The state has witnessed a spate of incidents of communal violence during the past few years owing to fake news circulated on the social media.

In July 2017, in one these such incidents happened at Basirhat, a violence broke out due to a Facebook post by a 17-year-old teenager leading to large-scale destruction of public property, vandalisation by radical Muslim outfits.

Earlier, other riots had happened in the state such as in Dhulagarh (Howrah), Samudragarh (East Burdwan), Jalangi (Murshidabad), Hajinagar, Kanchrapara, Deganga (North 24 Parganas)  and many other in which fake news circulated on social media played the trigger.

—India Legal Bureau