'Fake media groups' in J&K: Ramban district magistrate asks cops to collect personal details of some journalists

Three weeks after asking the district police to identify "fake media groups", the district magistrate of Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district has directed the police to collect personal details of certain journalists in the area.

This includes name, address, contact number, name of their employer and copy of ID card, and income details.

These journalists are, according to district magistrate Mussarat Islam, neither registered nor accredited with J&K's information department.

Islam sent a letter in this regard to Jammu's divisional commissioner for information and Ramban superintendent of police.

Islam directed the recipients of the letter to submit the details within a week "to proceed further in the matter".

On May 23, Islam had raised concerns over "fake media groups" operating "without registration" in the area. He claimed these groups were "seen spreading propaganda, fake news and also indulging in blackmail of government functionaries in the district" and planting "anti-government stories which are largely aimed at maligning the image of the administration and always portraying them in bad light".

At the time, he asked the police to identify these media houses and journalists and verify their "antecedents" and "source of funding".