The Tamil Nadu Police have charged OpIndia news portal CEO Rahul Roushan and editor-in-chief Nupur Sharma with spreading “fake news” and instilling fear among migrant laborers in the state.
D. Balamurugan, Bihar’s rural development secretary, who was in Tamil Nadu to meet with workers from the northern state, expressed confidence in the Tamil Nadu government’s efforts to alleviate migrant workers’ fears. The news portal spread fake news that the migrant workers from other states were being attacked in Tamil Nadu, creating a sense of fear among them.
Citing Hindi news websites, OpIndia wrote in an article last week, “They (migrant laborers from Bihar) have alleged that as many as 15 people have lost their lives in the “Talibani” style attacks being carried out against the Hindi-speaking migrant laborers in the state.”
A few videos circulated through WhatsApp and other social media platforms with the message that these incidents (alleged attacks) happened with Bihari laborers—that news is fake. “That has been confirmed and verified,” the news agency ANI quoted Balamurugan as saying.
The Thiruninravur police, which come under the jurisdiction of the Avadi city police commissionerate, said one Suryaprakash of the IT wing of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), who complained that OpIndia was spreading “fake news” that migrant workers from other states were being attacked in Tamil Nadu and creating a sense of fear among them. The complaint also mentioned the possibility of clashes between locals and workers from other states.
