NEW DELHI: After Malayalam actor Priya Prakash Varrier becomes an internet sensation, a fake news is going viral on Whatsapp and social media platforms that a fatwa has been issued against her.
A statement attributed to Maulana Atif Qadri, the vice-president of the West Bengal Minority United Council claimed that a fatwa has been issued against her.
“After the viral video of Priya Prakash Varrier, Whenever we or our fellow Muslim Brothers closed our eyes to offer Namaz, instead of Allah, her face would appear, which is hurting our sentiments, hence we issued a fatwa against her,” is the message that is doing rounds in social media platforms.
https://twitter.com/TiimesHow/status/963644759167389696
Interestingly, a parody account called Tiimes How (T-I-I-M-E-S H-O-W) having a close similarity to the logo of Times Now issued the fake tweet.
A popular Hindi news channel named Aaj Tak in its evening programme called Halla Bol also hosted a debate based on the tweet.
However, senior anchor Anjana Om Kashyap later apologized for the confusion caused.
Not just mainstream media fell prey to the fake tweet but even social media users reacted and widely shared the screenshot of the tweet on various platforms.
No chill. Got no chill at all. https://t.co/LzQUNXfs3l
— Saurabh Joshi (@SaurabhJoshi) February 14, 2018
https://twitter.com/ARanganathan72/status/963769874458791937
If your faith is so vulnerable, strengthen your faith, don’t weaken the law https://t.co/MPybaGLElN
— SANJAY HEGDE (@sanjayuvacha) February 14, 2018
Hello @TwitterIndia @Support, what is your policy vis-a-vis parody news handles such as @TiimesHow? Multiple people fall for such handles which put out false information, often with a malicious intent. Isn't the world dealing with enough disinformation already? pic.twitter.com/G1QClwczOY
— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) February 14, 2018
A complaint was lodged at the Falaknama police station in Hyderabad by some Muslim youth who alleged that Varrier through her expressions had hurt their sentiments.