Over 1,000 profiles on social media under lens in Kashmir Valley

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir police have launched a tough campaign against those using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to access social media platforms “for spreading rumours, glorifying terrorists and their activities and try to create law and order problems” in the Union Territory (UT) and beyond.

During the past few days, the police detained over a dozen persons for questioning after they allegedly ‘misused” social media. At least, two persons identified as Waseem Majeed Dar and Imtiyaz Ahmed Kawa, who are residents of frontier district Kupwara area, have been formally arrested on charges of spreading “fake news” and uploading such material on social media which could “disturb peace”. The police sources said that more than one thousand social media profiles are under scanner for “spreading false information and propagating violence.”

Tahir Ashraf, who heads the cyber police station and the anti-militancy unit, said that the processing of identifying such social media profiles is a continued process and over one thousand profiles were found violating various provisions of the law. The official also said that the real persons of these profiles could be Kashmiri-based or may be operating from outside the Valley.

Earlier this month, the cyber cell of the J&K police had registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against “propagation of false information”. On Thursday, DGP Dilbag Singh issued a stern warning against those people using VPNs to access social media platforms “to spread rumours and try to create law and order problems.”