Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], May 30 (ANI): FIRs have been registered against 17 organisations for allegedly spreading rumours about the fire in forests of Uttarakhand on social media, an official said.

"Some people spread rumours on social media about the fire in forests of Uttarakhand. Pictures of fires of forest in other countries were shared. This is wrong and a criminal offence. We have registered FIRs against those 17 organisations under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and IT Act 2017. Police are taking action," Jai Raj, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCR), told ANI.

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Earlier, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that 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 a motivated campaign. Fire incidents reported until yesterday is way less than previous years," Rawat said in a tweet on Wednesday. (ANI)

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