News agency Asia News International (ANI) has joined the league of the fake news peddlers after it misreported that people in Noida were quarantined after coming in contact with Tablighi Jamaat members. On April 8, ANI shared a posted a tweet on its Uttar Pradesh handle that people have been quarantined in Noida's Sector 5 after coming in contact with members of the Tablighi Jamaat.
ANI editor Smita Prakash had also shared this from her official Twitter handle but deleted the tweet after being called out on Twitter. The agency quoted Sankal Sharma, the deputy commissioner of police in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Budh Nagar district as its official source for the information.
Noida DCP exposes 'fake news' by agency
However, Noida DCP rebutted the agency's claim and accused it of spreading "fake news" by falsely adding a Tablighi Jamaat angle to it. Responding to the agency's original tweet, Noida DCP clarified that there was no mention of Tablighi Jamaat and the agency was "misreporting" facts by adding this angle.
"@ANINewsUP people who had come in contact with the positive case were quarantined as per laid procedure. There was no mention of Tabligh Jamat. You are misquoting and spreading fake news," Noida DCP wrote on Twitter.
Fake news being spread about Jamaat members
Earlier, Zee News had also published a false report claiming that stones were pelted on the medical team escorting the coronavirus-positive members of Tablighi Jamaat in Uttar Pradesh. However, the media organisation, which is quite famous for running hate campaigns against Muslims, was exposed by the Uttar Pradesh police.
The report published by Zee News' Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand vertical on April 6, 2020, and on Zee News' Facebook page, where it received more than 5,500 likes and 1,400 shares before being refuted by the Firozabad police.
Several reports of alleged misbehaviour have been published by media ever since a Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi become coronavirus hotspot. Earlier there were reports that the members of Jamaat misbehaved with nurses and medical staff at a hospital in Ghaziabad. However, the investigation into the incident was delayed in the absence of any evidence.
