Amarinder Singh directs Punjab police to check misuse of social media

In an attempt to curb the menace of increasing evil activities on social media, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday directed the state police to monitor social media activities.

A statement issued by the Punjab's Chief Minister Office said, "CM Singh issued strict directions to the state police and intelligence agencies to go all out to counter the increasing misuse of social media to spread hate campaigns."

The chief minister has also ordered to take up stern steps to break the nexus between terrorists and gangsters, as well as between gangsters and jail staff, to prevent use of prisons by gangsters to carry out their nefarious operations.

Keeping in mind the increase in recovery of mobile phones and sim cards from jail and some gangsters operating from prisons, the Chief Minister has ordered strict monitoring of jails and directed the Home Department to take immediate steps to fill vacancies in the state prisons.

"There was a need to instill in these gangsters a fear of the law to ensure that the state's peace and harmony is maintained at all costs," Singh said.

These directions were forwarded at a high-level meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister, to review the law and order situation in the state, which was attended by senior police and administrative officials.

The Chief Minister who had also expressed his concern over the recent killing of a Hindu Shiv Sena leader in Amritsar ordered the police to expedite the investigation in the case.

The police officials assured Captain Amarinder that the culprits, who had already been identified, would be caught soon.

Captain Amarinder also instructed the security agencies to adopt effective measures to counter the online hate campaign by Pakistan's ISI and the communal tirade being launched by a section of the hardline Hindus against the Sikh community and vice versa.

He gave the security forces a free hand to tackle any threat to the state's peace and harmony, saying no violation of the law would be tolerated.

All such attempts should be dealt with an iron hand, the Chief Minister directed the state police, adding that while the law and order situation in Punjab had seen a marked improvement in the past eight months, there was need to tighten the belt further to ensure that people in the state live in an atmosphere of peace, with fear of any kind.

Among the top police officials who attended the meeting were DGP Suresh Arora and DGP Intelligence Dinkar Gupta, DGP Law and Order H S Dhillon, DGP Administration M K Tewari, DGP Jails IPS Sahota, ADGP Crime Pramod Kumar, IG Personnel V Neerja, IGP Crime Shashi Prabha, ADGP Chief STF H S Sidhu. Besides Advisor to CM Lt. Gen. (Retd) T S Shergil, Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, CS Karan Avtar Singh, ACS (Home)N S Kalsi, CPS CM Suresh Kumar, PS CM Tejveer Singh were also present in the meeting.