Kashmir: Police Arrest Youth for Spreading ‘Misinformation' Related to Encounter

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Friday said they had arrested a youth for “spreading misinformation” through the social media handles he was operating with “fake” identities.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Sandeep Chowdary, told reporters in Srinagar that the youth, whom he identified as Samiullah Chalroo, was running social media accounts by the name of ‘Urwa Andrabi’ on Facebook and ‘Sana Nazki’ on Twitter. 

The youth, a resident of Chatabal area of Srinagar, had posted about an accused a pharmacist from a minority community for being involved in the killing of a militant from Shopian during a recent encounter in Wagoora locality of Nowgam, putting the life of the pharmacist at risk. 

The police also warned against the use of anonymous social media accounts. 

“You can’t hide and run anonymous accounts. We have investigative skills and we have set up teams so we can reach you like in this case. We urge people not to use anonymous handles to target innocent persons,” SSP Sandeep said.
  
“We were sure that the man who was wrongly accused has no role in whatsoever ever militancy related operations and he and his family were running their business smoothly,” the SSP said. 

The police directed SP South to carry out an investigation and after concluding it within two days zeroed in on Samiullah.

Samiullah is a BCA graduate and has been currently employed in the private sector. He has participated in various silent protests and would often carry placards. “He considers himself a social activist and has been detained several times in past years,” a source privy to the development told NewsClick.  

The police officer claimed there were no facts in the update posted by the youth and he was arrested after “proper” verifications and investigation.

The police have arrested many for what they refer to as misuse of social media in the region, especially since the last few years. The police arrested several youth including one based in a West Asian country for running pro-militancy handles on social media.