In light of the recent communal clashes that broke out in Rajasthan’s Karauli district on the Hindu new year day, a social media post accompanying a video showing face-off between two factions is being circulated with a claim that the visuals show the Muslim community obstructing Hindus rally on Hindu New Year day. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of Muslim men obstructing Hindu rally on Hindu New Year’s day.
Fact: These viral visuals are actually related to an old incident of communal clashes that took place in Punjab’s Phagwara back in 2016. While incidents of communal violence have been reported recently on Hindu New Year Day in Rajasthan’s Karauli, these viral visuals are not related to this incident. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Recently, on the Hindu New Year Day (02 April 2022), Karauli in Rajasthan reported incidents of communal violence, following stone-pelting at a motorcycle rally by Hindus passing through a Muslim-dominated area on Nav Samvatsar/new year day. Multiple visuals of these clashes have been reported by the news agencies, which can be viewed here, here, and here.
However, the viral visuals in the post have nothing to do with this incident, as they are related to an old incident from Phagwara in Punjab. A reverse image search of the screenshots of the viral video yielded couple of 2016 news articles (here & here) that published similar images. A comparison of the viral screenshots with that of the images published in the news articles indicates that both the video and the news articles are related to the same incident.
As per these news reports, the visuals are related to clashes that broke out in Phagwara, Punjab between Shiv Sena leaders and Muslims against the backdrop of disruption of the Amarnath Yatra in Jammu Kashmir.
Further, upon close observation of the viral video, one can notice a signage of a shop that reads ‘Nikhil Collection’. Taking a cue from this, further search yielded details of an outlet with a similar name and images on Justdial.
As per the details provided on Justdial, the outlet is located in ‘Gaushala Road, Daddal Mohalla in Phagwara, Punjab. Further, on Google Maps, we could also locate an outlet named ‘Nikhil Collection’ on Gaushala Road in Phagwara.
Thus, all these establish the fact that the viral visuals are related to an old incident of communal clashes that took place in Punjab’s Phagwara back in 2016 and are not related to the recent incidents of communal clashes that broke out in Rajasthan’s Karauli district on Hindu New Year Day.
To sum it up, old visuals are passed off as Muslims obstructing Hindu rally on Hindu New Year Day.
