Old video of former Nashik Police commissioner issuing a directive banning Hindu devotional songs near Mosques is being shared as recent one
Recently, the Election Commission of India released the notification for the Maharashtra Assembly elections. In this context, a video of a police officer speaking to a news agency is going viral on social media (here, here, here, and here). The video claims that the Nashik Police Commissioner has issued an order banning Hindu devotional songs from being played near mosques or during and after the azan (Islamic call to prayer). In the viral video, the officer, speaking in Hindi, states, “Bhajans and kirtans (Hindu devotional songs) will not be allowed within 100 meters of mosques, and 15 minutes before and after the five Aazaan’s—at 5:00 a.m.; 1:15 p.m.; 5:15 p.m.; 6:30 p.m.; and 8:30 p.m.” Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Nashik Police Commissioner issuing a directive prohibiting the playing of bhajans and kirtans (Hindu devotional songs) during the Azaan (Islamic call to prayer).
Fact: This viral video dates back to 2022 and shows the former Nashik Police Commissioner issuing a directive prohibiting the playing of Hindu devotional songs during the azan. This directive was issued in response to the controversy over the use of loudspeakers at mosques in Maharashtra. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, a political party in Maharashtra led by Raj Thackeray, had threatened to recite the Hanuman Chalisa (a Hindu devotional prayer) outside mosques if the state government did not remove loudspeakers from mosques by 03 May 2022. No recent directive has been issued by Nashik Police to ban Hindu devotional songs near mosques or during the azan. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To learn more about the viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using keyframes from the clip. This search led us to the original, extended video (archived here), uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Asian News International (ANI) on 18 April 2022. The viral clip starts at the 1:14 timestamp of this video. The description of the video reads: “Amid the row over Azaan in Maharashtra, Nashik Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey on April 18 informed that playing of Hanuman Chalisa or Bhajan will not be allowed 15 minutes before and after the Azaan within 100 metres of mosques. “Permission has to be taken for playing Hanuman Chalisa or Bhajan. It will not be allowed within 15 minutes before and after the Azaan. It will not be allowed within 100 metres of the mosques. The aim of this order is to maintain law and order.” From this information, it is evident that the viral video is not recent but is over two years old.
We conducted a keyword search and found multiple news reports (here, here, here) published in April 2022, detailing a directive issued by former Nashik Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey that prohibited the playing of bhajans and kirtans during the azan. According to these reports, this directive was issued in response to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) call to ban loudspeakers in mosques and its threat to recite the Hanuman Chalisa in front of them if the state government did not remove the loudspeakers by 03 May 2022. To maintain law and order, former Nashik Police Commissioner Deepak Pandey issued a directive banning the playing of devotional songs near mosques.
According to a report by ‘India Today‘ dated 21 April 2022, Deepak Pandey was transferred from his position as Nashik police commissioner, and his successor, Jayant Naiknavare, subsequently cancelled the directive.
Additionally, we found a clarification post by Nashik Police regarding this viral video on their official Twitter account on 15 October 2024. In the post, Nashik Police stated that the viral video is old and has been misrepresented as recent. A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered in this regard.
Furthermore, we did not find any credible reports or official documents indicating that Nashik Police recently issued directives banning the playing of Hindu devotional songs near mosques in Nashik.
To sum up, an old video from 2022 is being shared with the false claim that Nashik Police recently issued a directive banning Hindu devotional songs near mosques.