Supreme Court focus on ‘fake news’

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said migrant workers had panicked and headed home because of “fake news” that the lockdown would extend to three months, and directed journalists to publish the “official version” on the outbreak.

A bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao asked the government to invoke Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which provides for a year’s imprisonment, against mainstream and social media for spreading fake news.

“…We are informed that the labourers who are unemployed due to lockdown were apprehensive about their survival. Panic was created by some fake news that the lockdown would last for more than three months,” the bench said.