Six held for ‘spreading rumours’
Police yesterday arrested six people for "spreading rumours" and claimed to have kept over 100 social media accounts under surveillance for their involvement in spreading misleading information and rumours regarding the coronavirus outbreak.
As a part of taking action, police have already blocked 50 other social media accounts and arrested around 12 people from different districts of the country, including Dhaka, in the last two weeks, a high official of police, involved with social media monitoring, told The Daily Star yesterday.
"We are keeping close contact with all police units across the country and have arrested six people last week for spreading rumours regarding covid-19," Najmul Islam, additional deputy commissioner of social media monitoring and cyber security crime division, told The Daily Star yesterday.
"We are only arresting those who are spreading rumours on social media," he said.
As a part of the arrest, police are also providing counselling for those who are unintentionally getting involved with spreading rumours about the virus.
"We have detained five people two days ago for spreading rumours and they were released after proper counselling so that they do not get involved again," said ADC Najmul.
Najmul further said that they are also blocking some pages and groups on social media after it found spreading rumours regarding the virus. "We have a special 20-member team, who is monitoring social media to take action against those who are spreading rumours," he added.
According to officials, they have found different professionals' involvement in spreading rumours, including a doctor, followers of pir and private university students.
On March 25, the secondary and higher education divisions suspended two government college teachers, following their "critical" Facebook posts over the shortage of PPE for doctors.
The suspended teachers are Kazi Zakia, an assistant professor of Gafargaon Government College in Mymensingh, and Shahadat Ullah Kayser, a lecturer at Barishal Government Women's College.
A doctor was arrested in Chattogram and a Jamaat-e-Islami leader in Chandpur for spreading rumours recently, said police.
Police also arrested six people from different areas in Dhaka on Saturday on charges of spreading rumours and misleading information on the coronavirus outbreak.
They are Awkad Hossain, 53, Ferdous Hasan Titu, 25, Tawhidul Islam, 25, Muslim Uddin, 23, Mofizul Islam, 20, and Farid Hossain, 20.
Police also recovered a large quantity of leaflets containing misleading and false information and seized a pick-up van from their possessions.
SM Shamim, assistant commissioner (Ramna Zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said a police team first arrested Awkad while he was distributing leaflets in front of Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Saturday evening.
Based on his information, five others were arrested from Dhaka's Mouchak area, said Shamim.
During primary interrogation, the arrestees admitted that different groups on 32 pick-up vans are distributing such leaflets in the city and they are all followers of "Rajarbagi Pir", added the officer.
The arrestees claimed that the Rajarbagi Pir gave the money to them but police are trying to find more information about the funding, added the official.
"The other teams went into hiding after their arrests. We informed the Motijheel Division police to take steps against the Pir," Shamim said.
The cyber police bureau of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is also working closely with other police units to deal with the spread of rumours on Covid-19.
Shah Alam, deputy inspector general of CID's cyber police bureau, told The Daily Star yesterday that they are on high alert and are monitoring every activity on social media.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Javed Patwary, inspector general of police, warns of taking strict action against anyone found spreading misleading information and rumours on social media about coronavirus.
The police chief said law enforcers are regularly monitoring social media platforms, including Facebook.
The IGP came up with the remark while addressing reporters at the end of a handover programme of personal protective equipment (PPE), waxes, hand gloves and sanitizers in the police headquarters yesterday.
Overseas Chinese Association of Bangladesh (OCAIB) handed over the equipment to Bangladesh Police to prevent the spread of coronavirus. OCIAB president Zhuang Lifeng, vice president Feng Xiaorong, executive director Chen Qihua were also present in the programme among others.
The IGP further urged all to stay at home following the government-directed hygiene measures to prevent the spread of the infection.
The police chief said no one would leave the house without urgent or special reasons. "If you need to get out of the house when there is an urgent need, you must follow the hygiene protocols."
The IGP further said police members have been instructed to treat the people professionally, tolerantly and humanely.
He added that all police units has been working together to prevent the transmission of coronavirus. Police personnel who attended the funeral processions and burials of those who were coronavirus positive were provided with special PPE and other protective equipment, he added.
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