Video falsely claims that an Islamic tomb is built in the premises of Gita Upadesh sthal in Kurukshetra - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 12, 2022
A social media post accompanying a video, visuals of which show a tomb like structure in a Hindu temple premises is being widely circulated. The video is being shared with a claim that the visuals show an Islamic tomb built in ‘Gita Upadesh sthal’ in Kurukshetra, with an intent to encroach the temple. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: An Islamic tomb is built inside the premises of ‘Gita Upadesh sthal’ in Kurukshetra.
Fact: The viral visuals does not show any Islamic tomb in the premises of ‘Gita Upadesh sthal’ in Kurukshetra but is a bhorkha, built by a Hindu brahmin family in memory of their ancestors. News reports confirmed the same. Further, as per the news reports some miscreants have placed a chadar (with 786’ & ‘Jai Pir Babe Di’ written on it) on the structure and made the video viral on WhatsApp with communal claim. Even the administrative and police officials have confirmed that the structure indeed belongs to a Hindu brahmin family. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The viral visuals show the Gita Upadesh sthal in Kurukshetra, as the visuals of the viral video are similar to official visuals of the place.
However, the tomb like structure shown in the viral video is not an Islamic tomb but a structure built by a Hindu family many years ago in memory of their ancestors. Reverse image search of the screenshots of the viral video led us to a news article which reported a news about some miscreants placing a blue sheet (chaddar) on a bhorkha (Hindu tomb like structure built in memory of those who die unmarried) in Kurukshetra.
This article published an image of the structure similar to the one shown in the viral video. Comparison of both these visuals can be seen below. However, the article reports that it is not Islamic structure. Further as per the article, some miscreants have placed a chaddar (786’ & ‘Jai Pir Babe Di’ written on it) on a bhorkha, which belongs to ancestors of Pandit Aatpal, built thirty years ago.
Another news article that reported police confirming that the shrine was built by a Hindu Brahmin family can be read here. Thus it is evident that the structure claimed to be Islamic is indeed a Hindu structure.
Further, Aaj Tak in its article reported that the viral clip does not show any Islamic tomb but a Hindu Bhorkha. Aaj Tak confirmed this contacting Vinod Sharma, whose ancestors built this structure. Vinod Sharma confirmed that he is a Brahmin, and the structure was built by his family members many years ago in the memory of his ancestors.
Moreover, in their correspondence with Aaj Tak, the administrative and police officials have ruled out the claim of Islamic structure in Gita Upadesh Sthal. The police reiterated that their investigation found that the structure was built by a Brahmin family living in a nearby village in the memory of their ancestors
To sum it up, this video falsely claims that an Islamic tomb is built in the premises of Gita Upadesh sthal in Kurukshetra.
Update (13 MAY 2022):
When we contacted the Jyotisar Police officials regarding the viral claim, they informed us that the structure in the video is not related to Islam or Muslims but belongs to Hindus. They confirmed that some miscreants had placed an Islamic cloth on the structure to spread fake news. Further, they told us that the structure is now shifted. Several social media users have shared the visuals of the place after the structure has been shifted. (Note: Social media users mentioned in these posts that the ‘mazar’ has been removed, which is not true as it belongs to Hindus). Some of those posts can be seen here, here, and here.