As the communal flare-up in Uttar Pradesh claimed 37 lives and injured more than 80 people, the Union home ministry, along with Central agencies dealing with cyber security, are closely examining the fresh threats being posed by the social media as the Muzzafarnagar violence was stoked using such platforms which are routed through cross-border channels.
Acting swiftly, the MHA has roped in cyber experts to formulate a strategy to counter the mounting threats posed through the social media which has extensively been used to fan communal unrest.
The Centre has also warned the Akhilesh Yadav government afresh of trouble brewing in the state as the VHP plans to culminate its 84-kosi parikrama yatra on Friday. The VHP’s plans come at a time when there is a charged communal atmosphere in the state due to the recent communal clashes in Muzzafarnagar.
Top government officials pointed out that morphed and fake videos have not only been used during the Muzzafarnagar violence but also during the August 2012 ethnic clashes in Assam. Now, the cyber experts of the Central government have been roped in to assist the local police to decipher how the morphed video, possibly shot in tribal areas of Pakistan had been passed off as the Kawal clip- the village where the communal flareups first began in UP in the first week of September.
“It is surely a growing trend where the social media is extensively being used by certain anti-national elements to stir unrest. The probe is going on to gather evidence to nail the culprits behind the fake Muzaffarnagar video,” a senior government official said.
However, government officials conceded that it is an uphill task to determine the exact location from where the video was uploaded as the servers of the social networking platforms are located outside the country and getting information from such platforms is ‘’difficult’’ .
Meanwhile, the Union home ministry has cautioned the state government saying ample precautions must be taken to prevent any fresh outbreak of violence.
“We cannot ban or allow the yatra but we have told the state government that this time round adequate measures need to be in place to avoid any communal flare-ups or any violence,” an MHA official said.
Uttar Pradesh tops the list of states affected by communal violence in the country reporting more than 75 incidents of communal violence till August this year.