CLAIM
A message, attributed to the Ministry of Home Affairs, is being circulated on social media with a claim that all posts related to coronavirus have been ‘declared a punishable offence by the Central government’ and that only a government agency is permitted to post on coronavirus.
The message has been undersigned by ‘Ravi Nayak, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Hime Affairs’ and is being shared on Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook.
The Quint also received multiple queries about the message on its WhatsApp helpline number.
WHAT’S THE TRUTH?
The message has been undersigned by ‘Ravi Nayak, Principal Secretary, Home Ministry’. So to check the veracity of this message, we decided to verify the credential of the person.
On going through the Ministry of Home Affairs website, we noticed that there was no person with the name ‘Ravi Nayak’ neither was there a designation called Principal Secretary.
Further, we contacted the Ministry of Home Affairs and a source within the ministry told us that ‘the name and the designation doesn’t match with anyone in the ministry’.
Moreover, there are no media reports about any such order being passed by the Central government.
You can read all our fact-check stories on coronavirus here.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)