©newslaundry
The Jammu Kashmir Police has come under sharp criticism for not registering an FIR against Arnab Goswami owned Republic Bharat TV for running a fake news on his channel.
Republic Bharat had run a news item claiming that the house slain Kashmiri Pandit Sarpanch in South Kashmir’s Islamabad (Anantnag) district had been ransacked.
The Kashmiriyat, however, run a fact check and found the news as baseless and merely aimed to incite communal and Anti-Kashmir hatred.
The locals and Police officials verified to The Kashmiriyat that no such incident of ransacking has taken place in the area, “His house is safe and Local Muslims are taking care of it”, a local told The Kashmiriyat.
The SSP of Islamabad (Anantnag) Mr Sandeep took to Twitter and asked Republic TV to stop spreading fake news.
The Police, however, has not announced the initiation of any action against the channel.
The internet has sharply responded to this, many Kashmiris took to social media, and demanded lodgement of an FIR against the Republic TV and the Reporter.
Many questioned the conviction of the police, saying it is quick to act against local Reporters only.
“Why not FIR. Are these FIR you registered only for Kashmiri Journalists. The reporter should be booked. Like Jammu Kashmir Police booked Peerzada Ashiq, Gowhar Geelani Masrat Zahra, Qazi Shibli, Peerzada Fahad,” a young boy wrote on his twitter handle.
Police have lodged various cases against the local organizations and reporters for running alleged fake news reports, however, little has been done to check the Fake news from media outlets outside Kashmir who spread false news against Kashmir.
A couple of years ago a Kashmiri Pandit known for his communal remarks similarly posted a fake news claiming that Muslims have set a temple in South Kashmir on fire, No action was initiated against him.
On the other hand, the police have registered several FIRs against Media outlets in Kashmir.