Several posts (here, here, here, & here) accompanying a video of a man seemingly taking a bath at a factory are being widely shared across social media platforms. In the viral video, a man can be seen lying in a small tub, scooping white liquid with a mug, and pouring it over his head. The claim accompanying the video suggests that it depicts a Muslim man in Kerala taking a bath in milk to make it ‘Halal’ before distributing it to Hindus. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: A video depicting a Muslim man in Kerala bathing in milk to make it ‘Halal’ before distributing it to Hindus.
Fact: The viral video is from Turkey and dates back to the year 2020. According to reports, the incident took place in 2020, and the individuals accused in this incident were Emre Sayar, who allegedly bathed in milk, and Ugur Turgut, who filmed it. They stated that the liquid they bathed in was not milk as claimed, but rather a disinfectant solution. Later, the court acquitted both of them in October 2021. Sayar subsequently filed a lawsuit against the state treasury, won the case, and the court in Konya ordered that he be paid 1,150 Liras. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To learn more about this viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using keyframes extracted from the footage. This search led us to a report by the Turkish news outlet TRT Haber, dated 10 June 2022, which featured a similar photo to one of the keyframes from the viral video. According to this report, the incident occurred in Konya, a city in Turkey. Emre Sayar, an employee at a dairy plant in Konya, was reportedly arrested for bathing in milk. Another plant worker, Ugur Turgut, who shared the video on social media on 06 November 2020, was also arrested following the video’s viral spread.
Several other news reports regarding this incident can be found here, here, here, and here. According to these reports, it was stated that the liquid they bathed in was not milk. They also argued that the tub was a disinfectant basin. Later, the court acquitted both of them in October 2021. Sayar subsequently filed a lawsuit against the state treasury, demanding a total of 120,000 Turkish Liras in compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages. Sayar won the case, and the court in Konya ordered that he be paid 1,150 liras. Based on this information, it is evident that the viral video is from Turkey and dates back to the year 2020.
To sum up, an old video dating back to 2020 from Turkey is being shared with a false communal narrative attributing it to Kerala.
