In an attempt to put an end to the recent controversy surrounding his picture taken at a CRPF jawan’s funeral in Kerala, Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam has filed a complaint with the state police chief demanding action against those spreading fake information that it was a selfie.
The minister got entangled in the controversy over a selfie which he supposedly took during the funeral function of slain jawan V V Vasantha Kumar. In the photo, the minister was seen standing beside the coffin of jawan, which after being posted on the official social media handle of Alphonse Kannanthanam, was construed as a selfie which he took. “Through the complaint, I asked the DGP to take proper action against those who were involved in spreading this fake information,” said the union minister in a Facebook post on Thursday. According to the post, the complaint was filed last Monday.
“I participated in the funeral rites of the jawan as a union minister, representing the country. It is unlawful and immoral to create fake news against me, who came to pay homage to a jawan who has sacrificed his life for the country,” he said in the post. He also clarified that the photo being circulated was not a selfie. “The photo was taken by somebody while I was passing by after paying homage to the slain jawan. It was sent to my media team in office,” he said.
The petition was filed directly by the minister’s advocate Dany J Paul to the DGP. “The advocate had a discussion regarding the matter with the police’s cyber team,” he added in the post.
Meanwhile, netizens were unimpressed with the minister’s complaint. Many slammed the minister for giving a complaint against the spread of fake information instead of booking the staff which posted the image in the social media without his permission.
“You should take action against the person who is handling your Facebook account and not the ones who share your idiotic status…,” read one of the comments.
“Even if that is not a selfie, it is a photo which was published in your official account. If there is nothing wrong with that, then why did you delete it?,” reads yet another comment.
His original Facebook post with the photo was deleted after it became a controversy. “The cremation of Vasantha Kumar, who attained martyrdom at Pulwama in Kashmir held at his home. It is because of the sacrifice of people like Vasantha Kumar that we are able to live a safe life,” read the original post on Facebook along with the picture.