Uttarakhand Police to file FIR against those spreading forest fire rumours

An FIR is being registered against people, who are spreading rumours about fire in the forests of Uttarakhand, and stringent legal action will be taken against them, said Ashok Kumar, Director General (law and order) on Wednesday.

"Some people have spread rumours on social media that a massive fire has broken out in forests of Uttarakhand. It is not true. Photos being shown belong to 2016 when the fire had broken out. Some photos from foreign countries have also been used," Kumar told ANI.

"I would like to appeal to people to not spread rumours. FIR is being registered against people who spread rumours. Stringent legal action will be taken against them," he said.

Earlier, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said old pictures of forest fires in Chile and China are being circulated on social media platforms to claim that fire broke out in the forests of Uttarakhand.

"A misleading propaganda, using old pics of forest fires of 2016 and 2019 and that of forest fires in Chilean and Chinese forests, is raging on social media. I request everyone to not believe in such motivated campaign. Fire incidents reported until yesterday is way less than previous years," Rawat said in a tweet.