As the Jammu and Kashmir administration struggles to prevent the people from using social media sites despite the ban, the police have registered a case against various people for defying the government orders.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday registered a case against various people who have been using virtual private networks (VPN )apps to bypass the ban on social media sites.
The union territory's administration on January 14 had issued an order banning all social media sites to curb their misuse by miscreants for propagating false information and rumours.
"Taking serious note of misuse of social media, the cyber police station in Kashmir has registered a case against various social media users who defied government orders and misused social media platforms," a police spokesman said.
"There have been continuous reports of misuse of social media sites by miscreants to propagate secessionist ideology and to promote unlawful activities," he said.
After the ban on social media sites, several Internet users in Kashmir installed VPNs to access the social media sites which have been blacklisted. On its part, the administration created firewall to block the VPNs, but with innumerable VPNs available online, the measure could not stop users from accessing social media.
The FIR has been registered after taking cognisance of social media posts by miscreants through different VPNs, he said
Social media is their "favourite tool" as it largely provides anonymity to the user and also gives wide reach, the spokesman said.
Miscreants are propagating rumours with regard to the current security scenario of the Kashmir Valley, the spokesman said.
He said these posts are "propagating secessionist ideology and glorifying terror acts and terrorists". Incriminating material has also been seized in this regard, spokesman said.
This is the first FIR registered in the Cyber police station (Kashmir Zone) in Srinagar since it came into existence through a notification of the government.
(With PTI Inputs)
