This tweet asking Muslims to offer prayers through a WhatsApp group is made from a parody account of Ranjan Gogoi

• Dilip Kumar Sripada

A screenshot of a tweet purportedly made by the former Chief Justice of India and Rajya Sabha Member Ranjan Gogoi is being shared on social media claiming it as Gogoi’s recent tweet comparing Triple Talaq and Namaz practices of Muslims. This purported tweet of Ranjan Gogoi questions Muslims that when they can give Talaq on the telephone, why could not they offer prayers through a WhatsApp group. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.

The archived version of the post can be seen here.  

Claim: Former CJI and Rajya Sabha Member Ranjan Gogoi’s tweet comparing the Talaq and Namaz practices of Muslims.

Fact: Former CJI and present Rajya Sabha member Ranjan Gogoi does not have an account on Twitter. The screenshot in the post shows a tweet made from a fan page (parody) account. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.

On searching for the official Twitter handle of Former CJI Ranjan Gogoi on Twitter, we found that he has no account on Twitter. Using the username mentioned in the screenshot, we found the Twitter account (archived) that posted this tweet. The Twitter account (@SGBJP) from which the tweet is made clearly states that it is a fan page of former CJI Ranjan Gogoi.

If Ranjan Gogoi had made any such public statement asking Muslims to offer Namaz through a WhatsApp group, several mainstream news websites would have published articles reporting that information. We could not find a single news report attributing these comments to Ranjan Gogoi.  

Earlier, when tweets made by parody (fan page) Twitter accounts of Ranjan Gogoi were shared on social media, FACTLY published fact-check articles debunking those claims. They can be seen here, here, and here.

To sum it up, this tweet asking Muslims to offer prayers through the WhatsApp group is made from a parody account of Ranjan Gogoi.