A social media post (here, here, and here) featuring a photo of a group of people is being widely shared, claiming that a boy from Karnataka was beaten by locals in Haryana for speaking Kannada instead of Haryanvi. Let’s verify the accuracy of this claim.
Claim: Visuals show a Karnataka boy beaten by locals in Haryana for speaking in Kannada instead of Haryanvi.
Fact: The incident occurred in Bengaluru, Karnataka, not Haryana. A scuffle broke out at Gabru Bistro & Café on 02 February 2024, between a food delivery agent and restaurant staff over a delay in service. The delivery agent claimed he was attacked after asking the staff to speak in Kannada, while the restaurant owner alleged he was abusive. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
First, we searched the internet using relevant keywords but couldn’t find any reports of such an incident in Haryana. We then conducted a reverse image search of the photo featured in the viral post, which led us to several national news articles (here, here, and here) and Kannada news articles (here and here) featuring the same visuals.
According to these reports, the incident occurred at Gabru Bistro & Café in Bengaluru, Karnataka, on 02 February 2024. A scuffle broke out between the restaurant staff and a food delivery agent over a delay in the food order. Both the delivery agent and the restaurant owner filed complaints against each other, resulting in two First Information Reports (FIRs) being registered at Soladevanahalli Police Station. According to the FIR (here) filed by the delivery agent, Naveen, he questioned a worker about the delay, but the worker allegedly abused him in another language. When Naveen asked him to speak in Kannada, he was allegedly attacked by the worker and other hotel staff. Naveen also claimed that he was taken to an area without CCTV cameras, where he was severely beaten before being rescued by other delivery agents.
However, the restaurant owner, Jatin Gupta, alleged in his complaint (here) that Naveen abused the hotel staff over the delay, manhandled a staff member named Abid, and threatened to kill him and vandalise the restaurant. The Soladevanahalli police told The Times of India that they were investigating the matter. We also contacted the Soladevanahalli police and will update the case status based on their response.
Furthermore, our investigation revealed that the viral post was initially shared by a satirical Instagram handle named “The Bindu Times”, which explicitly mentioned that the post was satire.
To sum it up, visuals of a scuffle at a Bengaluru restaurant over a food order delay are falsely shared as an incident of a Karnataka boy being beaten in Haryana for speaking Kannada.
