Jaideep.Shenoy
Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada district police will seek the help of Facebook to track down a ‘netizen’ who revealed the identity of the district’s first Covid-19 victim on the social media platform.
While the victim, a 50-year-old woman from Bantwal has been officially designated as P-390, the netizen posted a picture of the victim and her husband along with a derogatory comment.
Having drawn a lot of flak for this lack of netiquette despite repeated advisory from the ministry of home affairs, the ‘netizen’ who subsequently expressed regret for posting the photo, merely removed the photo while retaining the offending comment. When the comment continued to draw fire online, the account was subsequently deactivated.
Speaking to TOI, superintendent of police B M Laxmi Prasad said a case has been registered in Bantwal town police station based on a complaint from the son of P-390. “We obtained the complaint from him on e-mail and after obtaining permission from the jurisdictional court registered a private complaint. A recent order under Disaster Management Act now permits the SHO – PSI to register a private complaint in such cases,” he said.
Police has named one William Pinto and another person as accused. The district police chief said an FIR has been registered and submitted to the court.
“Our initial enquiry based on his profile that he was from Koppa in Chikkamagaluru has drawn a blank,” SP said. He also requested people with information on the accused person to contact police. “In the interim, we will also seek help from Facebook India to track down the accused,” he added.
In a related development, Gowd Saraswath Brahmin (GSB) community was livid with another netizen – B R Bhaskar Prasad for suggesting that P-390 is from GSB community. Prasad wrote that community was opposed to her cremation in the city and it had to be done in police presence. Bhaskar also wrote that son of P-390 had wielded influence and had not quarantined himself, despite being directed to do so, earning the ire of other netizens.
Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada district police will seek the help of Facebook to track down a ‘netizen’ who revealed the identity of the district’s first Covid-19 victim on the social media platform.
While the victim, a 50-year-old woman from Bantwal has been officially designated as P-390, the netizen posted a picture of the victim and her husband along with a derogatory comment.
Having drawn a lot of flak for this lack of netiquette despite repeated advisory from the ministry of home affairs, the ‘netizen’ who subsequently expressed regret for posting the photo, merely removed the photo while retaining the offending comment. When the comment continued to draw fire online, the account was subsequently deactivated.
Speaking to TOI, superintendent of police B M Laxmi Prasad said a case has been registered in Bantwal town police station based on a complaint from the son of P-390. “We obtained the complaint from him on e-mail and after obtaining permission from the jurisdictional court registered a private complaint. A recent order under Disaster Management Act now permits the SHO – PSI to register a private complaint in such cases,” he said.
Police has named one William Pinto and another person as accused. The district police chief said an FIR has been registered and submitted to the court.
“Our initial enquiry based on his profile that he was from Koppa in Chikkamagaluru has drawn a blank,” SP said. He also requested people with information on the accused person to contact police. “In the interim, we will also seek help from Facebook India to track down the accused,” he added.
In a related development, Gowd Saraswath Brahmin (GSB) community was livid with another netizen – B R Bhaskar Prasad for suggesting that P-390 is from GSB community. Prasad wrote that community was opposed to her cremation in the city and it had to be done in police presence. Bhaskar also wrote that son of P-390 had wielded influence and had not quarantined himself, despite being directed to do so, earning the ire of other netizens.
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