In the midst of one of Punjab's most damaging flood seasons — with over a thousand villages submerged and thousands displaced — six social media accounts chose to redirect public grief into political accusation, claiming that water releases to Haryana had caused the catastrophe. Punjab Police, having traced the videos to the wrong river and the numbers to mathematical impossibility, filed criminal charges, reminding us that in moments of collective suffering, false narratives are not merely wrong — they are a form of harm.
Punjab Police crack down on six social media accounts spreading false flood claims
Devastating floods affected over 1,000 villages, displaced thousands of people, and damaged hundreds of acres of farmland in Punjab.
False claims weaponized a genuine disaster to score political points
Mark
So the police are saying these six accounts deliberately lied about what caused the floods. What exactly did they claim?
Mimi
They said Punjab released 4,500 cusecs of water to Haryana in April, and if it hadn't, the floods wouldn't have happened. It's a clean political narrative—blame the government for a water decision that backfired.
Luke
But the math doesn't work. 4,500 cusecs was 0.7 percent of what was stored in Bhakra Dam. That's not a rounding error—that's nothing.
Mimi
Right. And the videos they used weren't even from the right river. The posts talked about the Sutlej and Bhakra, but the footage was from the Ravi.
Mark
So they mixed up the geography deliberately?
Luke
Or they just grabbed whatever dramatic flood video they could find and attached it to a political claim. Either way, it's false.
Mimi
The police say the posts were meant to create fear and anger, to make people lose trust in the government during an actual crisis.
Mark
And the floods are real—over 1,000 villages affected, thousands displaced.
Luke
Which is why the timing matters. You're spreading lies when people are actually suffering and need reliable information to know where to go, what to do.
Mark
What happens to these accounts now?
Mimi
They're facing charges under disaster management law, the criminal code, and IT Act provisions. It's not a small thing.
The Pulse
- As floodwaters displaced thousands across Punjab and swallowed hundreds of acres of farmland, social media accounts began circulating a politically charged lie: that the state's own water release to Haryana had caused the disaster.
- Investigators dismantled the claim on two fronts — the 4,500 cusecs cited represented just 0.7% of Bhakra Dam's total storage, and the dramatic videos used as evidence were filmed on the Ravi River, not the Sutlej-Bhakra system the posts described.
- Authorities identified the posts as deliberate instruments of fear and discord, designed to erode public trust in government agencies at the precise moment when coordinated relief efforts depended on that trust.
- Punjab Police registered FIRs under the Disaster Management Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the IT Act — signaling that misinformation during a declared disaster will be treated as criminal interference, not protected opinion.
- Citizens have been formally warned to consult only official channels, as the state draws a sharper legal and moral line between free expression and speech that obstructs rescue when lives are at stake.
In the midst of one of Punjab's most damaging flood seasons — with over a thousand villages submerged and thousands displaced — six social media accounts chose to redirect public grief into political accusation, claiming that water releases to Haryana had caused the catastrophe. Punjab Police, having traced the videos to the wrong river and the numbers to mathematical impossibility, filed criminal charges, reminding us that in moments of collective suffering, false narratives are not merely wrong — they are a form of harm.
Punjab Police have filed criminal charges against six social media accounts — among them handles like @akhand_bharar_s and @abhijitmajumder, along with pages tied to political identities — for spreading fabricated claims about the cause of the state's devastating floods. The posts alleged that Punjab's decision to release water to Haryana had triggered the disaster, a claim investigators found to be both mathematically and geographically false.
The numbers told the first part of the story: the 4,500 cusecs at the center of the allegation amounted to just 0.7 percent of the water stored in Bhakra Dam at the time — a volume too negligible to have meaningfully altered any flood outcome. The videos told the second part: footage presented as evidence of mismanagement on the Sutlej-Bhakra system was traced instead to the Ravi River, an entirely different waterway. Whether through carelessness or calculation, the posts had stitched together footage from one crisis to manufacture outrage about another.
A senior police officer described the posts as designed to breed fear, erode confidence in relief agencies, and disrupt rescue coordination at a moment when those systems were under maximum strain. FIRs were registered under the Disaster Management Act, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and the Information Technology Act — charges with real legal consequence.
The floods themselves have been severe: more than 1,000 villages affected, thousands of people uprooted, and hundreds of acres of agricultural land damaged or lost. Against that scale of genuine suffering, the false posts were not merely inaccurate — they were an active interference with the public good. The police action draws a clear line: during disasters, when coordination and trust are lifelines, spreading unverified claims is not opinion. It is obstruction.
Punjab Police have filed criminal charges against six social media accounts for circulating false claims about what caused the state's devastating floods. The accounts—including handles like @akhand_bharar_s, @abhijitmajumder, and pages named Mahathugbandhan, BJP Sahnewal Ludhiana, Mahathugbandhan Video, and one attributed to Jogindra Rana—posted allegations that Punjab's decision to release water to Haryana in April had prevented the floods from occurring. Police investigations determined the claim was entirely without foundation.
The specific allegation centered on 4,500 cusecs of water. When investigators examined the numbers, they found that this volume represented just 0.7 percent of the 12,297 thousand circular mils stored in the Bhakra Dam at the time. In practical terms, the water release was negligible relative to the dam's total capacity and could not have meaningfully altered the flood outcome. The claim, in other words, rested on a mathematical impossibility.
There was another layer to the deception. The videos accompanying these posts were traced to the Ravi River, yet the posts themselves made claims about water management on the Sutlej River and the Bhakra Dam system—two entirely different waterways. The mismatch suggested either carelessness or deliberate obfuscation, mixing footage from one crisis to support a false narrative about another.
A senior police officer explained the intent behind the posts: they were designed to manufacture fear and anger among the public, to undermine confidence in government agencies, and to disrupt relief and rescue operations at a moment when coordination and trust were essential. The accounts had weaponized a genuine disaster to score political points or sow discord.
The police registered first information reports under Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act, along with relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act. These charges carry legal consequences. The Punjab Police issued a formal warning that spreading unverified information during a disaster is a criminal offense, and they called on citizens to rely exclusively on official channels for information about relief efforts.
The floods themselves have been severe. More than 1,000 villages across Punjab have been affected. Thousands of people have been displaced from their homes. Hundreds of acres of farmland have been damaged or destroyed. Against this backdrop of genuine suffering and urgent need for coordinated response, the false social media posts represented not merely misinformation but an active obstruction of the public good. The police action signals that during disasters, when lives and livelihoods hang in the balance, the line between speech and harm becomes sharper, and authorities will treat false claims not as opinion but as interference.
Notable Quotes
These fake posts were aimed at creating fear and anger among the public and eroding trust in government agencies and relief operations.— Senior Punjab Police officer
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