Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Jun 25 (IANS): The Kanpur district administration has lodged an FIR against unidentified persons for allegedly circulating false information about a government shelter home where 57 inmates, including five pregnant minors, besides one staff, tested positive for corona last week.
According to the FIR, false news about the shelter home was circulated on various platforms, including social media and news channels, and the identities of the inmates were revealed.
The case was registered at the Swarup Nagar police station on Wednesday under relevant sections of the IPC, including 228-A (disclosure of identity of the victim of certain offences, etc.), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).
The police have also invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, the Disaster Management Act, and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.
The complaint has attached screen shots and clippings of news reports.
Investigating officer Amar Singh said that an investigation into the district Probation officer's complaint has been initiated.
"We are collecting evidence to nail the person who circulated false information," he said.
Meanwhile, the two minor girls of Swarup Nagar shelter home, who had reportedly been found HIV and Hepatitis-C positive in a preliminary screening, have now tested negative for the two viruses in a confirmatory test at a city laboratory.
Confirming the reports, district probationary officer Ajit Kumar said, "The two had undergone tests required for HIV and Hepatitis C and their report is negative." The five pregnant girls are victims of sexual crimes.
"Senior hospital authorities, thereafter, sent their samples to a local microbiology lab for Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) confirmation test, in which they were found negative for HIV and Hepatitis C," he said.
It may be recalled that on Sunday, shelter home superintendent Mithilesh Pal had told reporters that two minors, out of 57 inmates who had tested positive for Covid-19, had also tested positive for HIV and Hepatitis-C respectively.
Five out of 57 Covid-19 positive inmates, including these two girls, were also pregnant. They are all rape survivors, who had been brought to the shelter home under the POCSO Act.