Rumour mill goes into overdrive

Over the last couple of days, some rumours have been spread apparently to undermine the peaceful student movement for road safety or to make it violent.

Some vested quarters are using social media, particularly Facebook, to serve their agenda, said high officials of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

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Showing some photographs at a press conference yesterday, DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said the vested quarters have resorted to spreading rumours with photos dating back to 2012 and 2015 depicting police excesses on students. 

In one such photo, a police official is seen holding a boy by his collar. The photo is from 2015 but it has been doing the rounds on social media over the past several days with the claim this is a moment of the road safety demo.  

The city police boss called upon the people to remain alert to this sort of distorted and misleading items. He said police have launched investigation into the rumours, and those behind it would be identified and brought to book.

Many have been found sharing and posting such contents without verification, leading to confusion.

In one rumour, it was claimed that Dhaka Residential Model College expelled some of its students for joining protests.

However, the school authority later in a clarification said some students were sent home for parental motivation as they violated discipline. They have come back to their dormitories at the college.

Another post read that police picked up Sheikh Raian Ahmed Alif, an HSC student of Khilgaon Government Colony College, from his house in Kajla in Jatrabari. Later, a status from the supposed Facebook page of the youth said he was not detained.

Meanwhile, UNB reports, police filed a case with Ramna Police Station accusing 29 social media users and online news portals on charges of instigating students during the ongoing street protests.

Assistant sub-inspector of the cybercrime unit of DMP, Yeasin Meah, filed the case under section 57 of ICT Act on Thursday, said Deputy Commissioner (Media) Masudur Rahman.

According to the first information report (FIR) of the case, the plaintiff alleged that provocative posts, writings and videos were uploaded on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and online news portals and blogs, aiming at deteriorating law and order.

In another development, the Rapid Action Battalion picked up actress Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed from Uttara last night on the allegation of spreading rumours on Facebook regarding attacks on agitating students.

She was later taken to Rab-1 office for interrogation, said a text message from the elite force.

Going live on Facebook yesterday afternoon, Nawshaba urged people to “save the students from attacks” and claimed two students were killed. She also claimed that the attackers gouged out a student's eyes.

In Chittagong, BNP leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury was sued under section 57 by Chittagong city BCL acting general secretary Zakaria Dastagir.

UNB reports that a reported audio clip of telephonic conversation between the BNP standing committee member and an unknown boy over intensifying the ongoing student movement went viral on Facebook and YouTube yesterday.

Khosru, however, termed the audio clip false and fabricated, and said it was circulated to thwart the student movement.

In the clip, it is heard that a boy phoned Khosru calling him uncle. The BNP leader asked the boy whether he has got involved in the student agitation, UNB adds.

Contacted, Khosru said, "It's just a cooked up audio clip and a false campaign. The government agencies made the audio faking my voice to frustrate the student movement."