What Happened to Those Who Attacked Balapitiya Youths in Athurugiriya?

 Last week's torrential rains and the accompanying cyclone submerged many parts of the country, displacing a vast number of people. We witnessed the hearts of people in other areas being moved by the plight of those affected by this massive flood, which flowed indiscriminately over high and low lands. Many did not limit this emotion to a mere feeling; they began to arrive from all four corners of the country, bringing aid according to their capacity, to find those in distress.

Amidst these heavy rains, a distressing incident experienced by a youth from Balapitiya in the Southern Province, who had come with aid, became a major topic of discussion on social media in recent days. While distributing aid by boat near Athurugiriya, a group contacted them via a phone call and lured the aid team to a deserted location. There, they attempted to assault them and rob their goods, while also insulting the people of the South with obscene language, as revealed by the youth in a video. The news of this barbaric act committed against a group who had come with great effort to provide relief to the victims sparked intense anger in everyone who heard it.

Approximately a day after this incident, news, accompanied by photographs, rapidly circulated across social media claiming that the police had arrested the group who attacked the relief workers. Various captions and photos of police officers were also included, and many who saw this rejoiced at the punishment of the criminals. However, an investigation into the truth revealed a completely different story. Upon inquiry, Police Headquarters confirmed that while the identities of the suspects were known, none of them had been arrested at the time of this report. Thus, the information circulating on social media about the suspects being apprehended was entirely false.

This is a prime example of how dangerous the spread of false information can be during a national disaster.

Furthermore, false rumors circulating in some areas about tank bunds bursting caused undue panic, leading people to abandon even their valuable possessions and flee in all directions. Due to this unnecessary commotion, those who left their homes were unable to save their property from the real flood that arrived a few hours later. The destruction of even gold items and valuable documents resulted in an irreparable loss for these people.

Currently, there is also a trend of misleading people through fake photos and videos created using technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI). The damage caused when ordinary people, who do not have much understanding of technology, accept such things as true and make decisions based on them is immense. It must be remembered that before sharing anything on social media from a mobile phone, verifying its authenticity and acting responsibly is the greatest social service one can perform amidst such disasters.