The Ahmedabad police have arrested a local journalist, who runs an online portal, for publishing a speculative story on a change of guard in the State.
The portal “Face of Nation” carried a story that the BJP high command had summoned Union Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandavia and he was likely to replace Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in the wake of rising cases and deaths owing to COVID-19 in the State.
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The story was carried on the portal on May 7. Subsequently, all local media reported it, which prompted Mr. Mandavia to issue a clarification that the Gujarat CM was not being replaced.
On May 11, the journalist, Dhaval Patel, was picked up by the crime branch after a police constable filed an FIR stating that the story was baseless and amounted to create “instability and atmosphere of fear” in the State during the pandemic.
Interestingly, the crime branch has not acted against other local publications that also carried a similar story with Mr. Mandavia’s clarification but instead chose to target a small-time journalist.
