Indians are full of false reports about the release of those accused of killing Nijjar
Millions of people in India woke up on Thursday to fake news that four Indians accused of killing Sikh-Canadian Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 had been released from custody after their case was split.
The news was repeated in many different outlets, including the Times of India, which headlined its report “Four Indian Suspects in Nijjar Murder Case Released From Jail in Canada.”
CBC News has confirmed that the reports are false. None of the Nijjar suspects have left custody, and they are not expected to.
“It is not true that the four suspects were released on bail,” Ann Seymour of the BC Prosecution Service told CBC News. “All four suspects have been detained, and they are still being held in custody.”
The next court appearance is a pretrial conference on February 11, and they will appear in court on February 12.
There is no fact-checking of rumors on social media
Indian media that repeat the false claims include Hindu Post, First Post, Hindustan Times, Business Today, Business Standard, India Today, The New Indian Express, Mint News, News 18 and others.
The news appears to stem from claims made by Canadian social media accounts that appear to be based on a misreading of court documents. One such tweet received nearly 300,000 views and was still live at the time of this article’s publication.
Many Indian media linked the fake news to the collapse of the Canadian police case against the four men, Karan Brar, Amandeep Singh, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh, or to the alleged failure of the “inexperienced” Canadian police to oppose their release. bail.
Those claims are also false. Most or all of the articles are still in circulation at the time this report is published.
‘Godi’ media
Critics of the Narendra Modi government have pointed to the erosion of journalistic standards and press freedom as one of the consequences of his nationalist, Hindu-centric and nationalistic style of government.
The country has seen the emergence of an aggressive “Godi” media, which sticks closely to Modi government issues and sometimes targets enemies of the Modi government with scandalous or unsubstantiated reporting.
Some of the outlets that found false allegations about Nijjar’s suspects fit Godi’s news profile, but others do not. The Times of India has been publishing for 186 years and is the world’s most widely circulated English-language newspaper, yet it seems that it has not tested the claims on social media as much as its more cheerful counterparts in the Indian media scene.
Relations with India are at a low level
The allegations and arrests in connection with Nijjar’s killing have caused an unprecedented rift in relations between Canada and India, with the joint expulsions significantly reducing each country’s presence in the other.
Canada announced Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and five other diplomats invalid person in October, after the RCMP accused the Modi government of inciting a campaign of violence and intimidation in Canada that included murder, arson, looting and assault.
CBC News reported that investigators are looking for four suspects in Nijjar’s murder, as well as others, in connection with at least four other murders in Canada, including that of an 11-year-old boy.
The US case has bolstered Justin Trudeau’s claim that the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada was carried out by the Indian government. We address other suspected targets and provide special insight into the plot.
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