Vande Bharat stone-throwing: FIR against Bengal BJP chief, 10 scribes for ‘spreading fake news’

PTI, Jan 10, 2023, 9:09 AM IST

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Kolkata: Kolkata Police registered an FIR against state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and 10 journalists from the city for claiming that the second incident of stone-throwing on Vande Bharat Express last week took place in West Bengal giving the state a bad name, an officer said on Monday.

The incident had happened in Bihar when the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri semi-high-speed train was passing through that state on January 3.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier said that legal action will be taken against those who spread ”fake news” that the incident took place in this state.

”An FIR has been lodged against BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar and 10 journalists. The event actually had happened in Bihar. This has harmed West Bengal’s reputation. Hence, they have been booked under specific sections of the Information Technology Act,” the police officer told PTI.

Majumdar had claimed in a tweet that the incident took place at “Phansidewa near Darjeeling district”.

The 10 journalists, mostly from television channels and digital media, had also reported that the incident had taken place in West Bengal.

On January 3, the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Vande Bharat Express was pelted with stones for the second consecutive day.

Later, the Eastern Railways stated that after scanning video footage, it was found that the stone-throwing incident on the train took place in Malda district on January 2 and in Kishanganj district of Bihar the next day.

Soon after the video surfaced, the West Bengal chief minister said that legal action will be taken against those media outlets that spread ”fake news” that the incident took place in West Bengal, giving a bad reputation to the state.

The incidents sparked a slugfest between the BJP and Trinamool Congress.

The train was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 30.