Court asked Umrao to file an affidavit saying 'he will not tweet or forward any messages to promote enmity between different groups'.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court granted anticipatory bail to Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Prashant Umrao in the case filed against him for peddling fake news about attacks against Hindi-speaking migrant workers in Tamil Nadu.
The court asked Umrao to file an affidavit undertaking that “he will not tweet or forward any messages to promote enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc”.
Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan said that “it is a sorry state of affairs that the petitioner, being an advocate” and being party of a national political party, did not show a sense of responsibility towards the society.
“Before tweeting or forwarding the Twitter messages, he must think about the consequences of the said messages and the genuineness of the said messages,” the judge said.
The court also directed him to appear before the police station where an FIR has been filed in the case, twice a day for the next 15 days, and after that, as and when required for the investigation.
Prashant Umrao was also asked to execute a bond of ₹1 lakh and two sureties for the same amount.
During the hearing, the Judge opined that, being an advocate and member of a national political party, he should have thought about the consequences of his actions.
“Fortunately, no untoward incident or group clashes between the communities of the two states happened due to the alleged Twitter forwarded by the petitioner as per the news published in news channels,” the judge noted.
Further, the Judge directed the petitioner to cooperate with the police interrogation.
Earlier, the Thoothukudi police registered a case against Umrao under Sections 153, 153(A), 504, and 505 of the Indian Penal Code for tweeting misinformation on 23 February, where the BJP Spokesperson contended that fifteen people from Bihar had been “hanged in a room in Tamil Nadu for speaking Hindi” and that 12 of them had “sadly died”.
Following this, the Thoothukudi police formed a special team to arrest him and the BJP spokesperson approached the court for an anticipatory bail.
Towards the end of February, several fake or misrepresented videos with false claims that migrants were being attacked and killed in Tamil Nadu were circulated by some Hindi media. These were amplified on social social media by several leaders of the BJP, especially from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Despite Tamil Nadu police issuing multiple clarifications and independent fact-checkers calling out the fake news, the misrepresented videos with false claims continued to be in circulation, leading to a political slugfest between the BJP and the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu.
Several Hindi media houses like Dainik Bhaskar, ABP Bihar, Punjab Kesari Bihar-Jharkhand, Zee Bihar-Jharkhand aired, printed, and pushed the unrelated videos on social media.
The Tamil Nadu police said on 4 March that cases have been filed against several people, including journalists, for spreading false information. Among those booked were the CEO and editor of the news website OpIndia.
The police formed special teams apprehend those booked, even as it stepped up vigilance in areas where Hindi-speaking migrants lived.
The Cyber Crime Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police also booked state BJP chief K Annamalai for instigating hatred and violence by peddling disinformation on the migrant workers’ issue, even as the party vice president blamed the BJP and UP arms of the BJP for spreading fake news without verifying it.
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