Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh has said action has been ordered against a reporter and an anchor of a news channel for allegedly running a “false” story that state minister Jitendra Awhad’s daughter tested coronavirus positive at the time of return from Spain.
IMAGE: A police official steps out of the sanitation van at Dharavi in Mumbai. Photograph: Kunal Patil/PTI Photo
In a series of tweets, Deshmukh said the code of conduct of not revealing the name of any coronavirus-infected patient was violated in the process.
He did not name the news channel concerned.
On his part, state housing minister Awhad on Thursday said Deshmukh asked him to register a case, but he has decided against it as he does not want to act out of vengeance.
Deshmukh said there are rules in the law regarding not revealing the names of girls, and what the channel did “deliberately and irresponsibly was quite serious”.
It is wrong to broadcast “false and terrorising” news at a time when an atmosphere of fear is prevailing in the country due to the spread of coronavirus, he said.
“Hence, order has been issued to take action against the reporter and anchor of the news as per rules,” Deshmukh tweeted late Wednesday night.
Awhad thanked Deshmukh for expressing concern over the news report and asking him to register a case.
“I think instead of vengeance I have decided to not register case against anybody. The channels do their job. Let people decide #ForgiveAndForget,” Awhad tweeted.
A police official with whom Awhad interacted recently tested positive for coronavirus.
Hence, as a precaution, the minister has quarantined himself.
On Wednesday, Awhad said his test report has come out negative for coronavirus and he is fit and fine.
Journalist beaten up for writing about qurantined families
A 35-year-old jouranlist was assaulted in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district for publishing a report about some families who had been home quarantined to prevent the spread of coronavirus, police said on Thursday.
Balasaheb Navgire was assaulted by a group of over 12 persons, most of them women, at Panegaon near Newase in the district on Wednesday, said an official of Sonai police station.
Navgire had written in a local newspaper about 17 families who had been quarantined at home for suspected exposure to coronavirus, he said.
The accused allegedly believed that due to the report, their employers did not allow them to work and turned them away.
On Wednesday, a group of over a dozen persons reached Navgire’s house and beat him up.
A case was registered against them for assault, rioting as well as for breaking quarantine. No arrest has been made yet, the police official said.
