This Indian City Has Banned April Fool Jokes, Whatsapp Forwards, 6-Months Jail For Violators: Find Out Why

April 1, or April Fool’s Day as it is called, is quite a favourite date for the pranksters in us. People plan weeks or months prior to the date to pull some awesome pranks on their friends and family. 

There is a possibility that the April Fool’s Day of this year will be quite bland as the Coronavirus outbreak has reached quite a high point. 

However, as a precaution, the Pune Police have issued a notice against Whatsapp forwards and false information being spread under the pretext of April Fool’s Day this year. 

They have asked the public not to forward any jokes or pranks this year as that may add to the chaos that is already happening in India due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

So what happens if we forward a joke today? Find out what the notice issued by the Pune police says!

Pune Police Issue Notice Against Social Media Forwards On April Fool’s Day

A notification by the Pune Police has warned of a penal action under Section 188 of the IPC, which states punishment for disobeying any order that is duly promulgated by a public servant. And this includes forwarding misinformation or rumours or pranks and jokes related to the coronavirus outbreak on social media.

The punishment in such cases will include imprisonment for a term that may be up to six months or a fine up to Rs. 1000, or both.

In the notice, Narayan Shirgaonkar, sub-divisional police officer, Pune rural police states, “..in the current situation when a lockdown is in force to contain the spread of coronavirus, people should not spread any such information or messages or rumour regarding virus and lockdown on social media which can create confusion among people and may lead to violation of lockdown.”

He has also asked the administrators of Whatsapp groups to caution the group members and change the group settings to admin only. 

Google Will Skip April Fool’s Tradition Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

April fool’s day is one of the most popular days in the year, and all the top organizations in the world take to social media to celebrate it through a prank on its customers, Google being one of them. However, this year, Google has declared that they will not be following their tradition this year due to the grave situation created by Coronavirus.

Google’s marketing chief, Lorraine Twohill said, “Under normal circumstances, April Fool’s is a Google tradition and a time to celebrate what makes us an unconventional company. This year, we’re going to take the year off from that tradition out of respect for all those fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Our highest goal right now is to be helpful to people, so let’s save the jokes for next April, which will undoubtedly be a whole lot brighter than this one.”

Coronavirus is reaching to every nook and corner of the world, and India is in a lockdown. There are several rumours spreading regarding the virus, the lockdown and more. At a time like this, we believe this is a good step taken by the police of Pune and hope everyone follows through.