An FIR has been filed in Lucknow against three media houses for purportedly spreading “fake news” about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. 

A case was filed against News24, Haribhoomi and Dainik Bhaskar based on a complaint dated February 21 from RSS functionary Ashok Kumar Dubey. A prant prachar pramukh of the RSS in Awadh Prant, Dubey alleged the three publications incorrectly reported that the RSS was seeking 100 acres of land in Ayodhya to construct its “second headquarters”. 

The FIR was filed under sections 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code which deal with promoting enmity and public mischief, and section 66 of the IT Act.

According to the complaint, the Dainik Bhaskar report was published on its website on February 14 and was later picked up by News24. The report alleged the RSS sought the land under Uttar Pradesh’s Navya Ayodhya scheme.

Dubey called these reports a “deliberate act of maligning the image of the Sangh”. He claimed he “circulated a denial” on behalf of the RSS and had later been contacted by Vijay Upadhyay, bureau chief of Dainik Bhaskar in Lucknow, who “assured...that he shall be conveying about such incident to the head office of the news agency”. 

But to Dubey’s shock, Dainik Bhaskar’s print edition carried the report on February 15. It was later picked up by other news outlets including, according to the complaint, Haribhoomi, TV9, Focus 24, Prakash TV, Punjab Kesari, Bharat News, and others. 

Dubey said the news reports “misled” readers into “wrongly believing” the RSS has “lost its path of Param Vaibhav” and that the “agenda is obvious to associate Ram Mandir...with this organisation”. He also said this was an “oblique and tainted news story” published “irresponsibly and recklessly, without any degree of factual investigation and ignoring all journalistic ethics and principles to malign the pious image of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh”.

Newslaundry reached out to Dainik Bhaskar’s Lucknow bureau chief Vijay Upadhyay, who told us to speak to Ramesh Mishra, the reporter who had filed the piece. “We are aware of the FIR. It is being discussed. The website has taken down the news item. Talking will only worsen the situation,” Mishra said.

Newslaundry had previously reported on issues surrounding the acquisition of land in Ayodhya for the Ram temple. For instance, the relative of a BJP leader had bought prime property for Rs 20 lakh and then resold it to the Ram Mandir trust for Rs 2.5 crore. Check out our series Ayodhya: Whose Land Is It Anyway here.