Even as the Uttar Pradesh government blamed the circulation of a fake video on social media for aggravating communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, inflamattory and communally inciting material continued to be spread widely on social networking sites and applications. Newspapers reports, morphed with inflammatory headlines, were widely circulated through various groups on Twitter, Facebook and other mediums of social media on Monday. Two widely circulated posts were picture clippings from the reports of Hindi daily Dainik Jagran's Muzaffarnagar edition. A report dated September 9 was morphed with the headline, “Musalmano duara Hinduo ka katleam jaari (Muslims continue to slaughter Hindus).” However, the original headline read: “Dangiyo ko goli marne ka aadesh (Shoot at sight orders against rioters.” Another report of the same daily, dated September 8 was also morphed with a fake headline and widely circulated on Facebook. The original headline read, “Panchayat se laute do logo ki goli...

AGRA: Under fire over handling of the communal flare-up in Muzaffarnagar, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh on Tuesday defended the Akhilesh Yadavgovernment, saying it took stern measures and the situation was brought under control in two days. "The government did everything to control the violence. It was stopped in two days. The security forces dealt with the problem very effectively," he told reporters here. "It is because of the sterness shown by the government that the situation remained calm," Mulayam said. There was no failure on part of the Akhilesh Yadav government in handling the situation, he said. Reacting to allegations that the SP-led dispensation did little despite being alerted by the home ministry about the impending violence, he said "the government was alert." "However, several lives have been lost... the death toll is 36. It is a big number," Mulayam said. The violence in Muzaffarnagar and its adjoining areas...