On the eve of the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Pune rural police on Tuesday issued an order warning action against people circulating inflammatory, misleading and objectionable content on social media. In the order, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Baramati division Narayan Shirgaonkar stated that citizens should refrain from circulating messages that could create confusion among people and cause a law and order situation. People are instructed not to circulate inflammatory, objectionable and false content on social media platforms and messaging applications, which could create a social and religious rift between communities, the order states. The order has been issued under section 68 of the Maharashtra Police Act and penal action will be taken against group administrators and members of messaging apps and social media platforms if they are found circulating objectionable content, the SDPO said in the order. Group administrators on messaging apps have been asked to change the settings of their group to “admin only” to prevent other members from posting or sharing any objectionable content, he said. All sub-divisional police officers in the district have been asked to issue such orders in view of the ground- breaking ceremony, said Sandip Patil, superintendent of police, Pune Rural.
