“The complainant had approached us with a complaint stating that the news channel had reported fake news with intent to spread anarchy in the society,” a senior police officer told the Indian Express.
Following a complaint by one of the men who had allegedly entered a Tanishq showroom in Gandhidham on Monday evening and demanded an apology for the advertisement that depicted an interfaith family, Kutch district police have registered an FIR against news channel NDTV, the Indian Express reported.
A day after Gujarat Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja tweeted that a case be lodged against those spreading “fake news”, with reference to an NDTV report about an “attack on the Tanishq showroom in Gandhidham”, the FIR was registered against the channel on Thursday under IPC Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).
In a report on Wednesday, the channel had stated that the store received “threats”.
After a group of men entered it on Monday evening, the police patrolling outside the Tanishq showroom was intensified. The men were protesting the advertisement by Tanishq. The company later withdrew the ad.
Ramesh Maitra is a complainant in the FIR registered at A division police station of Gandhidham on Thursday night. Maitra is a local businessman who was part of a group that entered the showroom on Monday evening.
“The complainant had approached us with a complaint stating that the news channel had reported fake news with intent to spread anarchy in the society. Taking cognizance, we have lodged an FIR with the accused as ‘NDTV channel’. Further investigation is going on,” a senior police officer told Indian Express.
Gujarat minister Jadeja, in a statement released on Twitter on Wednesday, said: “The news of an attack on a showroom in Gandhidham Kutch by @ndtv is totally fake. This is a motivated attempt to adversely impact law and order and incite violence in Gujarat. I have asked to register a case and take strict action against those who spread this fake news.”
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