Fake assault charge by soldier: Youth League targets BJP's Anil Antony, media for propagating fake news

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 28 (PTI): Youth League leader P K Firos has targeted BJP spokesperson Anil Antony and a section of the media over the propagation of a recent fake claim by a soldier to create communal divisions in society.

The soldier, hailing from Kadakkal in Kollam district, had claimed that he was assaulted by a group of six persons who wrote 'PFI' on his back with green paint. Later it emerged that the soldier had faked the incident.

PFI generally refers to the Popular Front of India, an Islamic political organisation that was banned by the central government last year.

In a Facebook post, Firos, who is the general secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League party's youth wing, said that the BJP's Anil and right-wing activist Pratheesh Vishwanath were among those who deliberately spread the news in society.

Urging the government to take action against those who propagated the fake news, Firos said the Youth League would soon lodge a complaint with the DGP in this regard.

''There are media houses and individuals who deliberately spread this news in the society...Anil Antony and Pratheesh Vishwanath were among such people. There are those who were not ready to give a correction even after they came to know the truth. So, the government should be ready to take action against them also,'' Firos said.

Firos said that while the soldier and his friend were taken into custody by the police, that alone does not bring an end to the problem; usually the media issues a correction and apology in such cases -- although the damage caused by the news cannot be undone.

Refuting the charges, Anil said that a section of people were trying to use this one incident to whitewash a large anti-social, anti-national network and their dubious activities -- referring to the PFI.

In a post on social media platform X, Anil dubbed politicians of the INDIA alliance, the media, and fact-checkers as the ''terror sympathising gang'' and claimed that they ''seemed to be ruffled'' by some of the recent statements that he made with regard to the soldier faking a communal attack on himself.

Anil said said that it turned out that the soldier and his friend were ''miscreants'' but it doesn't diminish ''the fact that Kerala is emerging as a dangerous epicentre of radical Islamists''.

Just in the last few months, the NIA has busted multiple underground PFI activities with links to ISIS, with a Kerala police officer himself suspended for leaking sensitive information to these terror groups, the BJP spokesperson further alleged.

''And the terror sympathising ecosystem of the various dot dot I.N.D.I alliance partners - @INCIndia @CPIMKerala @kerala_iuml with some of their media and fact-checker friends are using one incident to whitewash a large anti social anti national network and their dubious activities. All of them are dangerous for the country's internal security. @HMOIndia,'' he claimed in his post.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)