False propaganda on GITAM: Registrar complains to cyber police

Visakhapatnam: GITAM Deemed-to-be University filed a complaint at Visakhapatnam cybercrime police station on bad propaganda being circulated in social media groups.

University Registrar Dr D Gunasekharan approached the cyber police with all documents. He briefed the cyber police how unknown persons have been circulating the message with unlawful words against GITAM. He requested the police to conduct a detailed inquiry as per the IT Act.

The Registrar made a complaint to Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner on October 6 requesting him to take measures to stop negative and untruthful rumours in social media groups about GITAM Deemed-to-be University. He made an appeal stating, "Narratives govern the society and if it is a false narrative particularly related to an educational institution of eminence, it is bound to create confusion and disarray and whoever is responsible for such spread of misinformation must be held accountable for the disorder resulting from a failure to behave responsibly."

The menace is further magnified with multiple options to post at various platforms without verification, such as forward, share, etc., which in turn creates a cascading impact against the reputation of the University, he explained.

He made a request to conduct a thorough investigation into the complaint and demanded that the miscreants and vested interests be brought to book under the legal provisions under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Information Technology Act, 2000.

He sought police protection against this malicious attempt to post unnecessary and false statements about the University that is solely targeted at harming it's goodwill and reputation.

The Registrar requested to take up this complaint as a matter of utmost importance and urgency to arrange a probe to prevent this fake information being spread in the social media about GITAM.