Delhi Police vs YRF – Analysing the aftermath of a classic social media trial
Times of Bennett | Updated: Feb 17, 2026 15:50
Correspondent: Vignesh Iyer
A week ago, our social media feed was brimming with opinions and outrage on the ‘missing people cases’ conundrum in the national capital. Netizens started bifurcating themselves and started creating echo chambers based on what the algorithm was feeding them. One part of the debate began creating conspiracy theories of street gangs or notorious mafia lurking Delhi’s streets, while the other part chargedYRF as guilty of creating panic amongst the citizens as a cheap marketing tactic for the recent release of ‘Mardaani 3’. YRF’s Mardaani franchise delves into the story of a female cop who battles organized crime, trafficking, and violent crimes against women; but, the plot of the latest sequel had an uncanny resemblance to the headlines that were flashing on mainstream media. The story of Mardaani 3 revolves around the story of 93 girls who suddenly and mysteriously went missing and parallelly, the headlines on mainstream media and social media alarmed the audience by portraying a sudden spike in missing person cases in Delhi, with an eerie focus on the main target being young women. A huge majority of the Indian netizens refused to believe this resemblance to be a mere co-incidence and ultimately resorted to outrage.
A statement by Delhi police was released on one of their official social media handles, saying, “After following a few leads, we discovered that the hype around the surge in missing girls in Delhi is being pushed through paid promotion. Creating panic for monetary gains won't be tolerated, and we'll take strict action against such individuals.” Official Delhi police data highlighted a total of 1,777 recorded missing person cases in the month of January. Contrary to the headlines, this number was actually lesser than the recorded
monthly average. These stats were compelling evidence to prove the popular headlines wrong, ultimately raising suspicion on the marketing team of Mardaani 3. A spokesperson of YRF responded to this quandary by stating, "Yash Raj Films is a 50-year-old company founded on the core principles of being highly ethical and transparent. We strongly deny the accusations floating on social media that Mardaani 3's promotional campaign has deliberately sensationalised a sensitive issue like this, and we have immense trust in our authorities that they will share all facts and truths in due course." This exchange of statements may have amplified the media visibility of both the parties, but swept the actual truth under a rug because we as consumers of media content failed to see the actual point of this debate.
The ultimate impact of this social media trial on the public can be observed in their de-sensitized attitude towards the issue. Netizens made haste in pointing fingers, assigning blame, but failed to express their sympathy and concern for the missing people and their families. This whole fiasco was reduced to a drawing room talk, where people could’ve actually made themselves aware about the importance of fact checking and news verification. Surjeet Singh Panesar, Commissioner of Assam Police said, “Cases like these aren’t impossible to solve. Almost 99% of such cases are efficiently decoded by the police. People shouldn’t fall prey for whimsical opinions on the social media, always rely on facts and figures.” Several other police officials along with Commissioner Panesar vocalized their staunch opposition to ludicrous and exaggerated claims on the media and urged the audience to fact-check the news content they consume. While the audience was busy falling prey to fabricated opinions and outrages, our enforcement officers were burning the midnight oil to reunite families. A proper outrage originates from informed research, not half-baked opinions.
(This article is written by Vignesh Iyer, a Masters student of Mass Communication. He is passionate about journalism and aspires to become the editor of a leading news agency in India)
A week ago, our social media feed was brimming with opinions and outrage on the ‘missing people cases’ conundrum in the national capital. Netizens started bifurcating themselves and started creating echo chambers based on what the algorithm was feeding them. One part of the debate began creating conspiracy theories of street gangs or notorious mafia lurking Delhi’s streets, while the other part charged
monthly average. These stats were compelling evidence to prove the popular headlines wrong, ultimately raising suspicion on the marketing team of Mardaani 3. A spokesperson of YRF responded to this quandary by stating, "
(This article is written by Vignesh Iyer, a Masters student of Mass Communication. He is passionate about journalism and aspires to become the editor of a leading news agency in India)
