Himachal: The Himachal Pradesh Police have registered an FIR against six individuals, including BJP MLA from Dharamshala Sudhir Sharma, media outlets Punjab Kesari and The Tribune, and three other journalists in the recent ‘jungli murga’ (wildfowl) episode for allegedly spreading false information and defaming the Hatti community of Kupvi during Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s visit to Tikkar village in Chopal on December 13.
The FIR, registered at Kupvi police station, accuses the individuals of tarnishing the region’s cultural image through fabricated social media posts and reports.
The case has been filed under Sections 353(2) and 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, following a written complaint by Suman Chauhan, the pradhan of Kulag gram panchayat, and Neetu Kumar, a local resident.
Accusations of tarnishing region’s cultural image.
According to the FIR, the Chief Minister visited Tikkar village on December 13, where he was warmly welcomed by the locals with traditional songs and cuisine. Women from the village prepared regional dishes as part of their cultural hospitality. However, media reports and social media posts shared a fabricated menu that falsely claimed the inclusion of illegal wildlife dishes.
The complainants alleged that the baseless accusations severely damaged the reputation of their community, which values wildlife as sacred and integral to their cultural heritage.
The persons booked in the case includes Sudhir Sharma, BJP MLA from Dharamshala, accused of sharing misleading social media posts and Punjab Kesari, a widely circulated Hindi newspaper, Tribune, a reputed English daily of the North region, Bol Himachal, an online news portal, Munnu Thakur, a journalist accused of contributing to the false narrative and Dr Sanjeev Sharma, another journalist implicated in spreading misinformation