Pune: Officials of the Pune rural police on Monday warned people of action if they are found involved in spreading rumours or false information regarding coronavirus in the name of April Fool’s Day jokes or pranks on social media.

Police officials issued a notification in this regard. They warned people of penal action under section 188 of the IPC if a person is found circulating misinformation and rumours related to the pandemic on social media platforms. 

As per the notification issued by Narayan Shirgaonkar, sub-divisional police officer, Baramati division (Pune rural police), the spread of false information or rumours related to coronavirus would create panic and confusion and would spoil the purpose of 21-day lockdown. 

Group admins of the respective social media group should alert the group members about the same. They should change the settings of the social media group only to allow group admins to send messages in the group.

On April 1, as a custom, people, friends, relatives play harmless pranks on each other by spreading hoax messages. Hence, police officials are warning people against spreading false information about COVID-19.