New Delhi, Aug 27: The Editors Guild of India on Sunday voiced concerns over the decision of the Karnataka government to set up a fact-checking unit to monitor "fake news" on social media platforms.

The Guild insisted that efforts to check such content have to be by independent bodies that are not under the sole purview of the government lest they become tools to clamp down on voices of dissent.

Any such monitoring framework should follow principles of natural justice, including giving prior notice, right to appeal and judicial oversight, the Guild said in a statement here.

It said such fact-checking units should also be set up with due consultation and involvement of all stakeholders, including journalists and media bodies, so that press freedom is not tampered with.

The Guild has already filed a petition in the Bombay High Court, challenging the amendments to the IT Rules 2023 that allow the setting up of a 'fact-checking unit' under which the executive will have the sole authority to determine what is fake and the powers to order content take-down.

Karnataka's IT & BT Minister Priyank Kharge recently said that "posts and reports that are tagged as fake by the fact-checking unit will be taken down," and "if required, the government can also take penal measures under relevant provisions of the IPC".

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Mangaluru: In a major development in the Dharmasthala mass burial case, the whistleblower, a former sanitation worker appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Mangaluru on Saturday, July 26. He was questioned for more than seven hours and recorded his statement before investigating officer Jitendra Kumar Dayama.

According to sources, the complainant’s legal team received a notice late on Friday night, July 25, summoning him for questioning at the newly established SIT office located at the PWD Inspection Bungalow (IB) in Mallikatte, Kadri. Two rooms within the bungalow have been reserved for the SIT’s operations.

A day earlier, senior officials from the SIT, including DIG M N Anucheth and DySP Dayama, reached Mangaluru and officially took over the case files from the Dakshina Kannada district police. The SIT is currently examining land survey records and other crucial documents related to the alleged burial sites as part of the probe.

The case, which has triggered widespread concern, is based on a complaint filed by the former employee who claimed that he had buried the bodies of several women and children on instructions from his superiors over a period spanning 20 years between 1995 and 2015. The complainant also submitted skeletal remains, reportedly exhumed from one of the alleged burial sites, as evidence to support his claims.

The Mangaluru rural police had registered a case based on the complaint on July 4. Following public pressure and demands for a fair probe, the Karnataka government constituted the Special Investigation Team on July 19.

The SIT is headed by senior IPS officer DGP Pronab Mohanty, who is also in charge of the Internal Security Division and Cyber Command. His appointment came after the complainant’s legal team appealed to the government to assign an impartial officer to lead the investigation.

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