Times Of India Falls For Fake Circular Warning Against Winking like Priya Varrier

The Times Of India (TOI) fell for a photoshopped circular claiming to be from the VLB Janakiammal College of Arts and Science, in Coimbatore, banning its female students from winking like Malayalam actor Priya Varrier.

The story reported on March 18th, cited 'reports'. TOI's story said the circular warned students that CCTVs were installed in all classrooms (of the college) to ''monitor such activities''. The story also said those found guilty of violating the diktat would be debarred from the college for one year.

(Click here to view an archived version of the story)

VLB Janakiammal College of Arts and Science, on its website and Facebook page have debunked the fake circular stating there were no new circulars issued in 2018. (See post below) The original circular which has been used to create a fake, was about the college replacing 'soft drinks of foreign origin' with fresh juices.

BOOM contacted the college which confirmed that they were forced to put out a clarification as two fake circulars were issued on social media. "We are in the process of identifying those responsible for these fake circulars and will take legal action," said Arun Prateesh, spokesperson of the college.

BOOM also got hold of the photoshopped circular which had several signs to indicate that it was fake.

Incidentally, the college has been a victim of photoshop mischief in the past too. A previous fake circular stated the college would place CCTVs in toilets after a staff member was injured by a 'sutli bomb' kept in the staff washroom.

(Times of India removed the story on its site after BOOM's fact-check. The paper has stated that the article was removed as the content was found to be incorrect.)

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