KNB, PTK, Only Kashmir and others likely to be banned
Kashmir Press Service
Srinagar: Coming down heavily on running fake news portals in Jammu and Kashmir, police has booked two self-styled editors in a first phase and has started profiling of these online portals operating in Valley.
According to reports, police has registered an FIR against Sajad Ahmad Malik resident of Aloosa, Bandipora chief editor Kashmir News Bureau and Bilal Bashir Bhat chief editor of Only Kashmir resident of Srinagar for publishing fake news.
Pertinently, several unregistered and unprofessional persons are running news portals in Kashmir from last couple of years and which has become a tool for them to loot people and bureaucrats
Earlier police have booked several administrators of whats app groups and facebook pages who are either involved in uploading fake news and rumours.
The police has registered cases against five Twitter handles and filed complaints with service providers against such misleading posts on Facebook and WhatsApp so that necessary action is taken at the earliest, officials have said.
The officials said a communication had been sent to the micro-blogging site for providing details of the Twitter handles so that punitive action could be initiated at the earliest as it would help in reining in what they call rumour mongers.
The police has laid special emphasis on monitoring the social networking websites and also various groups created on messaging services like WhatsApp, Telegram and similar tools available on the internet, they said.
Police registered a case against two self-styled chief editors of news portal who recently published news against former Finance Minister which an attempt to gain TRP and not to do ethical journalism.
According to reports, Kashmir News Bureau and Only Kashmir published a news that chairman Kashmir Press Service (KPS) editor allegedly forces these fake news portal operators including Sajad Ahmad Malik to pull down the news published online against the former Finance Minister Hasbeeb Drabu which is totally false and far from reality.
In this regard a complaint was filled with police and taking cognizance of report police swung into action and registered an FIR against Sajad Ahmad Malik resident of Aloosa, Bandipora and Bilal Bashir Bhat resident of Srinagar under FIR no. 141/2018 and started investigation under IT Act 66 and 505 to punish the culprits.
It is pertinent to mention here, several cases have already been registered against Sajad Ahmad Malik in several frauds and particularly in Handicrafts Department wherein he has allegedly withdrawn bills fraudulently. After unearthing a scam by the daily Tameel Irshaad newspaper that Food Corporation of India and Food and Supplies Department Budgam have swindled several trucks loaded with rice meant for public, news portal Press Trust of Kashmir (PTK) which is running by a government official working in Education Department to get his work done by blackmailing officials under the pressure tactics of ‘media’ is uploading fake and are trying to demean the professional journalism.
Tameel Irshaad has also approached court for registration of FIR against the news portal who is uploading fake news and defaming the newspaper.
According to reports, Wahid Bhat is operating the news portal PTK, who is unprofessional and known for blackmailing people through online mediums on the directions of his boss who works in Education Department. (KPS)
