Unrelated video shared as visuals of Bhim Army rally seeking justice for Indra Meghwal - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 20, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as visuals of hundreds of Bhim Army supporters rallying, seeking the release of their president Chandra Shekhar Azad and justice for Indra Meghwal, a nine-year-old boy who allegedly died after being beaten up by a schoolteacher in Jalore. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of hundreds of Bhim Army supporters rally seeking justice for Indra Meghwal.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows a huge crowd following Shihab Chottur in Rajasthan. Shihab Chottur is a 29-year-old Kerala man who is to offer Haj by travelling to Mecca on foot. The video shared in the post has nothing to do with Bhim Army or Indra Meghwal’s death. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, we could not find any reliable information related to the video. On observing the video carefully, one could see a group of Muslims with a skull cap following a man who is being guarded by police. The man was looking similar to Shihab Chottur, a 29-year-old Kerala man who is on a journey to offer Haj by travelling to Mecca on foot. When we searched for the video using relevant keywords, a video with similar visuals is found in a Facebook post uploaded on 18 August 2022. This Facebook user described it as visuals of a huge crowd welcoming Shihab Chottur at the Parabatsar town in Rajasthan.
The clearer visuals in the video show Shihab Chottur walking on a highway with a huge crowd and police following him. This user mentioned that the video was shot on 17 August 2022. Several other social media users have also shared videos of people welcoming Shihab Chottur on the way to Parabatsar. A few of such videos can be seen here and here. Shihab Chottur uploaded the video of his dream journey in Rajasthan on 17 August 2022. All these indicate that the video shared in the post has nothing to do with the Bhim Army and Indra Meghwal’s death.
Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekhar Azad was detained at the Jodhpur Airport while he was on the way to meet the family of the nine-year-old Dalit boy who allegedly died after being beaten up by a schoolteacher in Jalore. Demanding the release of Chandra Shekhar Azad, Bhim Army workers demonstrated protests at the Bharatpur Collectorate and blocked highways leading to Jalore.
To sum it up, a video related to Shihab Chottur’s Mecca travel is shared as visuals of the Bhim Army rally seeking justice for Indra Meghwal.