A screengrab of the fake video flagged by Tamil Nadu Police
The Tamil Nadu Police have flagged a video about alleged attacks on migrant workers tweeted by a Bihar journalist as fake and warned of legal action against him. The police's warning comes on a day they issued guidelines on how to bust fake news about migrant workers being attacked in Tamil Nadu, which had created panic and forced some workers, mostly from Bihar, to leave the southern state.
The "fake" video tweeted by Manish Kasyap, who identifies himself as a "public figure" and a "journalist" on the microblogging website, shows some men with Band-Aid on their faces and talking about how they returned home after being attacked. One of the men even laughed before talking.
Referring to the video, the Tamil Nadu Police tweeted the incident did not happen in their state.
"You can't cheat everyone, every time. Please see this video. This incident (did) not happen in Tamil Nadu. It is purely a scripted one. Please verify the fact and tweet. Stern legal action follows," the police said.
Mr Kasyap in the tweet tagged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and attacked them for "lying" to the people of Bihar as they had said no such attacks have happened.
Mr Kasyap also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the same tweet which the Tamil Nadu Police have flagged as "fake".
Manish Kasyap also tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the same tweet which the Tamil Nadu Police have flagged as fake
The police in Tamil Nadu have issued guidelines on how to bust rumours about attacks on migrant workers in the state. The police will name five senior officers to coordinate with law enforcement agencies and other states over rumours, propaganda and disinformation. A worker in every company will be nominated as a liaison and the person will be added on the police's official WhatsApp group for sharing information.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has also reached out to migrant workers in the state and assured them there is no threat to them as hinted by the rumours.
Tamil Nadu has a sizeable number of migrant worker population, with many from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal working in sectors including construction.
A four-member Bihar government delegation yesterday met officials and workers in Chennai and expressed satisfaction over the state government's actions after the fake videos emerged.
The delegation had earlier travelled to Tirupur and Coimbatore, both of which employ a large number of migrant workers.