In this super fast age of internet and social networking, news goes viral within seconds. There has been umpteen no. of cases where a viral video has turned out to be morphed, false and spurious. Still we hardly take any care and share anything found on social media without verifying for its authenticity. Such tendencies have proved fatal to a lot of persons who became victims of such blind sharing. The recent example of this is JNU’s Student Union president, Kanhaiyaa Kumar, who was booked under the charge of sedition on the basis of a video which later found out to be doctored.
We all remember a Delhi cop video which went viral, last year, in which, the cop, Salim PK, while travelling in Delhi metro falls down to the floor, in the manner resembling a drunkard. The video went viral so much so that the very next morning, the cop got suspended for his alleged mis conduct. Everybody attributed Salim’s falling to his drunkard state. Nobody cared to verify what exactly would have happened and justice delivered without any delay on the basis of that video. We all laughed out loud, blamed the system, abused police’s non performance, upon seeing that video and got back to our comfortable cocoon of online world. The cocoon from where people pop out with strange names, hurl abuses, slander somebody and get back to the safe haven of virtual world. And the well educated middle class takes no time to make anything viral which has caught his fancy irrespective of what consequences it may wreck on concerned people.
However, after three months, investigation revealed the truth and Salim, the victim cop, stood vindicated. In reality, Salim actually suffered a brain stroke and had a black out when he fell down in the Delhi metro. Salim got reinstated and Delhi police, admitting its mistake, converted his suspension period into leave.
Prejudice played a major role in Salim’s victimization. Not every time does a cop fall down because he is drunk. Salim has filed a petition in Supreme Court demanding a law to be made so as to curb such incidences from happening.
Such incidences are not rare. Rather, it has taken the shape of organized crime. Making doctored video, circulating it on social media to achieve hideous designs, is not uncommon. Without falling into such traps, we need to be cautious about things which are circulated on social media. We must check for the authenticity of online videos and the likes, before sharing and making it viral on social media. Because as they say, Sharing is Caring. Sharing is not maligning and hurting people.
