A satirical newspaper clipping with the headline ‘ABVP attacked a zoo for serving non-veg to tigers on Maha Shivratri’ is shared as that of a true incident
A post going viral on social media (here, here, and here) featuring a screenshot of a newspaper clipping claims that ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) attacked a zoo for feeding non-vegetarian food to lions on Mahashivratri. Let’s verify the claim made in the post through this article.
Claim: A newspaper clipping states that ABVP attacked a zoo for feeding non-vegetarian food to lions on Mahashivratri.
Fact: The newspaper clipping in the viral post is satirical and was published by The Savala Vada, an Instagram page known for posting satire and parody content. An internet search found no credible reports about ABVP attacking a zoo for feeding non-vegetarian food to tigers on Mahashivratri. However, reports indicate that clashes occurred at Delhi’s South Asian University (SAU) over the serving of non-vegetarian food on Mahashivratri. The viral post was created as a satirical post following this incident. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We closely examined the viral post and noticed the phrase ‘This Might Be Satire’ written in the top left corner.
To verify the claim, we conducted an internet search using relevant keywords but found no credible reports about the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) attacking a zoo for feeding non-vegetarian food to lions on Mahashivratri. However, reports (here, here, and here) indicate that at Delhi’s South Asian University (SAU), clashes occurred between student groups over the serving of non-vegetarian food on Mahashivratri. The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) alleged that ABVP members attacked students and mess staff for serving non-vegetarian food, while the ABVP claimed that SFI members attempted to serve non-vegetarian food in a mess designated for students fasting on the occasion.
To find out the origin of the viral post, we did a reverse image search of the viral screenshot, which led us to an Instagram post dated 28 February 2025 (archived) featuring the same viral newspaper clipping. The second slide in the post features another parody news story claiming that South Asian University has been renamed Akhand Bharat University.
After reviewing The Savala Vada’s Instagram page, we observed that it consistently publishes satirical and parody content, often employing dark humour to comment on contemporary news and politics.
To sum up, a satirical newspaper clipping with the headline ‘ABVP attacked a zoo for serving non-veg to tigers on Maha Shivratri’ is shared as that of a true incident.