Fake news is one of the biggest menaces of the recent time. Not only does it disseminate fast through unverified social media, but sometimes it can even fool the mainstream media sources. Something like that happened recently when a 'notification' went viral on social media. It was about West Bengal government giving five day holiday for Eid.
The news was even aired by some regional channels and carried in few papers, thus adding credibility to the 'notification'. The Bengal government was slammed by many for arbitrarily increasing the number of holidays for Eid. It finally took Kolkata Police to clear up the confusion. "A fake notification is doing the rounds in social media about Eid holidays. It is false. Those who have masterminded this will be strictly dealt with as per law," the Kolkata Police posted on its social media handles.
The fake notification purportedly issued by the state finance department on a letterhead with the Biswa Bangla logo stated that the state government has declared holidays for five days, from June 12 to June 16, to celebrate the Eid festival. "All state government offices including educational institutions, rural and urban local bodies, development authorities, boards, corporations and state government undertakings shall remain closed" on those five days, the fake notification read.
The police have started an investigation to find out who is behind the fake notification.
With PTI inputs
