In the hallowed arena of fact-checking, an institution’s commitment to impartiality is the linchpin of its credibility. However, a disconcerting pattern has surfaced within an alleged fact-checking unit YouTurn, founded by Iyan Karthikeyan, the ‘Mission Director’ of DMK Government’s Fact-Checking Unit (FCU), as it consistently directs its scrutiny toward opposition parties while maintaining a conspicuous silence on the actions of the ruling government.
The essence of fact-checking lies in its role as an unbiased arbiter, ensuring accuracy in public discourse and holding all political actors accountable. Yet, the observed selectivity of this unit raises crucial questions about its dedication to the principles of journalistic integrity, prompting concerns about the erosion of public trust and the unit’s potential transformation into a tool of political partisanship.
In the recent fact-checking analysis of the speech by BJP Tamil Nadu State Secretary Ashwathaman on a YouTube channel, YouTurn inaccurately assessed the content, leading to the publication of fake news in its website and falsely branding Ashwathaman’s speech as fake news.
In the interview to Aadhan Tamil, Ashwathaman said, “Congress government brought a bill in parliament in 2013, according to the provisions of which FIR can registered only on the Hindus but not on Muslims and Christians, if there is a communal violence in India.”
Alleged Fact Check Unit YouTurn “fact-checked” this speech of Ashwathaman and said that YouTurn’s fact-checking analysis found that Ashwathaman’s speech qualifies as fake news, citing two key points.
Firstly, the Congress-proposed Bill (PCTV 2011) does not explicitly state that, in the event of riots, legal actions can only be taken against Hindus, exempting Muslims and Christians. Secondly, the legislation is designed to safeguard individuals from caste, religious, and linguistic minorities, emphasizing that it is not exclusively targeted at Christians and Muslims.
YouTurn has adeptly manipulated the language within the draft bill to substantiate their assertion. In the draft bill it is clearly defined what is “communal and targeted violence.”
In chapter 1 section 3, the bill says, “communal and targeted violence means and includes any act or series of acts, whether spontaneous or planned, resulting in injury or harm to the person and or property, knowingly directed against any person by virtue of his or her membership of any group, which destroys the secular fabric of the nation.”
The key point here is the definition of the word “group”. It says, “group means a religious or linguistic minority, in any State in the Union of India, or Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes within the meaning of clauses (24) and (25) of Article 366 of the Constitution of India.”
Consequently, by elucidating the term “group,” the draft bill implies that the proposed law is applicable only when violence is perpetrated against Muslims, Christians, and other minorities, including SCs and STs as per the draft bill, in the event of an outbreak of violence. There are no provisions in the bill which states that actions will be taken against Muslims, Christians or other minorities in case of a violence outbreak against Hindus.
This is what Ashwathaman mentioned in his speech that, in case of a violence outbreak, according to the provisions of the bill, no FIR will be filed on the Muslims and Christians while there are provisions to file FIR against Hindus.
Further, Clause 7 prescribes that a person is said to commit sexual assault if he or she commits any of the sexual act against a person belonging to a ‘group’ by virtue of that person’s membership of a group. Clause 8 prescribes that ‘hate propaganda’ is an offence when a person by words oral or written or a visible representation causes hate against a ‘group’ or a person belonging to a ‘group’. Clause 9 creates an offence for communal and targeted violence. Any person who singly or jointly or acting under the influence of an association engages in unlawful activity directed against a ‘group’ is guilty of organised communal and targeted violence.
This draft Bill proceeds on a presumption that communal trouble is created only by members of the majority community and never by members of the minority community.
Thus, offences committed by members of the majority community against members of the minority community are punishable. Identical offences committed by minority groups against the majority are not deemed to be offences at all.
So, a sexual assault is punishable under this Bill only if committed against a person belonging to a minority ‘group’. A member of a majority community in a State does not fall within the purview of a ‘group’.
‘Hate propaganda’ is an offence against the minority community and not otherwise. Organised and targeted violence, hate propaganda, financial help to such persons who commit an offence, torture or dereliction of duty by public servants are all offences only if committed against a member of the minority community and not otherwise. No member of the majority community can ever be a victim.
This draft law thus proceeds on an assumption which redefines the offences in a highly discriminatory manner. No member of the minority community is to be punished under this Act for having committed the offence against the majority community. It is only a member of the majority community who is prone to commit such offences and therefore the legislative intent of this law is that since only majority community members commit these offences, culpability and punishment should only be confined to them.
Finally, the propaganda and fake news of Youturn regarding the PREVENTION OF COMMUNAL AND TARGETED VIOLENCE Bill can be dismantled with a straightforward question: “Can a FIR can be filed against a Muslim or Christian in case of violence according to the provisions of the bill”? The answer is a resounding NO. Therefore, Ashwathaman’s assertion that FIRs can only be filed against Hindus is accurate, and, consequently, the so-called “fact-checkier” YouTurn founded by DMK Government FCU’s Mission Director has in effect published a fake news.
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