Covid Blues 19 – Fighting Fake News
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Chennai: News appeared in social media that hospital in
charge in Ghaziabad hospital has complained to the police authorities of unruly
and disgraceful behavior on the part of some Tableeghi jamat members from the
Markaz admitted for diagnosis.
The news explained the disgraceful behavior as it said that
the Tableeghi members indulged in undressing and moving about naked and
taunting the hospital staff and even spitting at them.
Now this news has gone viral and the entire Muslim community
has been vilified because of this news. I got this news from a very senior
journalist whom I knew personally and wondered why he forwarded this to me. I
was shocked and my reaction was; You Too Brutus!
Since, I know Tableeghi's from childhood I can pledge my life
that they are incapable of such indecent behavior. They are too conservative and
cannot commit any obscenity or vulgarity. So i am convinced about them they
cannot indulge in any indecent behavior.
Their outlook and philosophy of life is too puritan in
nature. They do not talk about worldly matters and consider world as ‘Maya.’ They
do not have any political agenda and their mission is to make Muslims a better human
beings. They are really pure by heart and bode no ill against anyone in this
world.
As afterthought my second reaction was this could be an overreaction
by the Tableeghi members as they may have been treated with criminal intent those
conducting corona tests on them.
Their misbehavior maybe part of such overreaction and perhaps
if there was any proper counseling, they may not have reacted as it was told in
the news that they have done.
Later on, the news of spiting turned out to be fake news as
those in the picture was unrelated to the Tableeghi jamat members.
When this news came to
my notice my quick reaction was that this was planted news. As a journalist I could
make out that the vital keys of the news was missing as it was unsubstantiated
and was fake news.
When I went to the news item once again, I could clearly make
out the motivation and communal intent attached to the news. The
news says the hospital authorities had complained to the police against the
Tableeghi's indecent behavior.
Now, if the complaint was made then the police should have taken action and booked
the culprits on charges of obstructing of duties, jeopardizing public health,
obscenities, disorder and promoting communal hatred etc. However, nothing of
any such sort ever happened in the aftermath of the alleged complaint.
What actually happened was queer news was peddled in the
media and media lapped this fake news without verifying its accuracy. One needs
not to be a journalist to discern that it was fabricated, motivated and
malicious news. The interest of the peddlers of the news was to polarize the
society on communal lines.
Now when the country is put under disaster management act, the
original peddlers of the news item have to be verified. The media outlets that circulated
the fake news should attract penal notice. In fact the perpetrators of this news item should
be brought to justice and the guilty must be charged with sedition.
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be
contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com
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