Video of Chattisgarh’s Kawardha communal violence falsely shared as visuals from Uttar Pradesh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 14, 2021
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of a group of Hindus destroying Muslim vehicles and properties in Uttar Pradesh. This post claims that a Muslim mob recently attacked the Durga pandal near the Lalganj town of Pratapgarh district. It goes on to add that in retaliation to the Muslim mob attack, a group of Hindus was seen to be destroying vehicles belonging to Muslim. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a group of Hindus retaliating a Muslim mob attack on Durga pandal in Uttar Pradesh.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows recent visuals of Kawardha communal violence in Chhattisgarh. There is no such incident of Muslim mob attack on Durga pandal reported at Lalganj town in Uttar Pradesh. This video has nothing to do with Uttar Pradesh. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On observing the video carefully, we could see Chhattisgarh vehicle registration number on one of the vehicles being vandalized by the mob. When searched for videos using relevant keywords, we found several social media posts describing it as the recent visuals of communal violence in Chhattisgarh’s Kawardha town. They can be seen here and here.
On searching for more information regarding this video, we found similar visuals of vandalized vehicles in an article published by the ‘Dainik Bhaskar’. This article reported that on 05 October 2021, a large group of people came out on roads carrying sticks and vandalized parked vehicles in the Kawardha town of Kabhirdham district, Chhattisgarh. Reporting the complete details of this incident, several news articles published articles and videos. They can be seen here, here, and here. According to these news reports, the communal violence in Kawardha started on 03 October 2021, after Hindu and Muslim communities got into a brawl over the removal of religious flags from the Lohara chowk area. According to news reports, following the bandh announced by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on 05 October 2021, a mob entered Muslim-dominated areas and vandalized parked vehicles on the street.
When this video went viral on social media as the visuals of communal violence in Pratagarh district, the Uttar Pradesh Police Fact-Check team issued a clarification through a tweet on 13 October 2021. Uttar Pradesh police clarified that the incident in the video took place at Kawardha town in Chhattisgarh, not in the Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh. The Pratapgarh police also made a tweet clarifying that there is no such incident of  Muslim mob attack on the Durga pandal reported near the Lalganj area in Pratapgarh.
दिनांक 05.10.2021 को कवर्धा, छत्तीसगढ़ में हुई घटना को भ्रामक रूप से उ०प्र० प्रतापगढ़ की घटना के रूप में दुष्प्रचारित किये जाने के सम्बन्ध में @pratapgarhpol द्वारा खण्डन कर मुकदमा पंजीकृत किया गया है।#UPPAgainstFakeNews#UPPolicehttps://t.co/dIZihWukAL https://t.co/swS2i6Bkkp https://t.co/hdrK4xIZyG pic.twitter.com/o0Dvnq0PU0
To sum it up, a video of Chhattisgarh’s Kawardha communal violence is falsely shared as visuals of a group of Hindus retaliating a Muslim mob attack on Durga pandal in Uttar Pradesh.