Jaipur, May 8 (IANS): In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the district administration in Dholpur has banned posting all kinds of unverified news on all social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn and Telegram, till further orders.

Those posting news from unverified sources have been given a clear warning that if charges are proved against them, they could be punished with fine or imprisonment of up to one year under Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, Section 1 and 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1957 and Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, said an order released recently.

District Collector Rakesh Jaiswal said that a lot of fake news were doing the rounds on different social media platforms in Dholpur district in the last few days.

Many news bulletins and interviews were being circulated on social media, without taking permission from either the Directorate of Information and Public Relations, nor the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The administration, therefore, decided to slap a ban on running all such news on social media, said the order.

The order referred to a Supreme Court judgment dated March 31, 2020 in the Alakh Alok Srivastava vs Union of India case. In that judgement in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the top court had said, "If fake and incorrect reporting is done by any print, electronic or social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Twitter etc., it can run panic in the society and its consequences can be fatal."