<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A document marked ‘SECRET’ containing registered mobile subscriber numbers and names of subscribers went viral on social media on March 31,2020. The mobile subscriber numbers were tracked by mobile towers for having travelled near or around what has been termed as ‘hot spot’- Nizamuddin area- Delhi, from March 14 to March 21,2020. The document was prepared by BSNL\/MTNL for information to the north east states for the purpose of alerting them to locate and undertake procedures on COVID-19. It may be mentioned that the travellers from the north east had returned to their respective states and duly reported to the health authorities and also filled in the required forms and completed the stipulated 14-day quarantine period. The issue remains that despite no case of any COVID-19 infection, the persons whose names were highlighted in social media, suffered from stigma. Such confidential letters\/documents which were supposed to be circulated only within official circles imply that someone had purposely ‘leaked’ on social media with an ulterior motive to defame by causing personal stigma. While social media is a growing global information phenomenon with an open and limitless potential; yet it has not accountability. In many cases, defamatory and salacious matters are posted which cause immense damage to the reputation. Police cybercrime cell should do its job to contain this virus in social media. On another note, the same Nizamuddin episode in Delhi unmasks another virus that is also going communally viral. Among preventive steps against COVID-19 is social distancing is vital. Thus, when some people ignore it to congregate for a religious occasion; it means they are courting disaster. This what happened in Delhi at the headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat, a religious organisation, where thousands of devotees from India and abroad attended during Ijtema (annual gathering) held from March 13 to 15. Incidentally, the three-day event began the day the Delhi Government issued a general order prohibiting ‘all sports gatherings, including IPL, conferences and seminars beyond 200 people’. The Tablighi Jamaat acted in a wilfully irresponsible behaviour, that is tantamount to criminal negligence and the government has promptly registered a criminal case against the Tablighi cleric. The AAP government and the Delhi Police also cannot evade responsibility for their belated response.When it was learnt that the Jamaat was to be held, a firm action in mid-March could have prevented the situation from coming to such a pass.The participants of the Jamaat have now acquired notoriety for spiking up COVID-19 infections in several states of India. Even as this coronavirus hotspot has triggered the biggest single-day spike in cases so far, the communal spin being given to the whole affair on social media and by a section of the electronic media is an alarming development. Attributing Islamic terror conspiracy for the spread reeks of malice and mischief. Muslims as a community have been adhering to the advisories and have been forthcoming in doing their mite and therefore, they should not be held accountable for what the Jamaat followers did.<\/p>\n
Virus and viral<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-editorial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}