Video of horse operators assaulting Kedarnath Dham pilgrims shared with a communal narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 14, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming it is the visuals of Muslim pony service providers assaulting Kedarnath Dham pilgrims with sticks in Uttarakhand. Sharing the video, the post claims that Muslims were dominating horse riding services and other businesses in Hindu religious places, and further assaulting Hindu pilgrims. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Muslim horse operators assaulting Kedarnath Dham pilgrims in Uttarakhand.
Fact: The horse operators who attacked a woman and her co-travellers at the Bheem Bali bridge area are not Muslims. The Rudraprayag Police through a tweet informed that all the five accused who assaulted pilgrims on the Kedarnath Dham footpath were arrested, and in another tweet informed the accused names as Ankit Singh, Santosh Kumar, Rohit Kumar and Gautam. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
When we searched the internet for the details of the video using relevant keywords, a few screengrabs of the video were found in an article published by the ‘Devbhoomi Dialogue’ news site on 13 June 2023. This news site reported that Rudraprayag police filed a case and detained four horse operators who were involved in the assault on Kedarnath Dham pilgrims.
Reporting the details of the incident, several other news websites have published articles. They can be seen here, here, and here. As per the reports, Tanuka Pondar, a resident of Delhi, saw a horse in a bad condition, near the Bheem Bali bridge, during her pad yatra to the Kedarnath Dham. She asked people around for help, but no one came forward to help her. At the same time, she saw a horse operator mercilessly beating an animal, and she told him not to harm the animal. As soon as she had an argument with the man, a few co-horse operators joined him, started abusing the pilgrim, and assaulted her and her co-passengers with sticks. The incident took place on 11 June 2023. The FIR filed at the Sonprayag police station regarding this incident can be seen here.
The Rudraprayag Police through a tweet informed that all the five accused who assaulted pilgrims on the Kedarnath Dham footpath were arrested, and in another tweet stated the names of the accused as Ankit Singh, Santosh Kumar, Rohit Kumar, and Gautam. The Rudraprayag Police said a minor was also involved in the incident, but they did not reveal the name of the minor. Rudraprayag SP Vishakha Ashok Bhadane released a video detailing the incident on 14 June 2023. The horse operators who attacked a woman and her co-travellers at the Bheem Bali bridge area were not Muslims.
अभियुक्त अंकित सिंह, सन्तोष कुमार, रोहित कुमार निवासी ग्राम आसो, जयकण्डी, रुद्रप्रयाग व गौतम निवासी ग्राम जाखन भरदार, रुद्रप्रयाग। इनके अतिरिक्त घटना में संलिप्त एक नाबालिग के सम्बन्ध में अलग से कार्यवाही की गयी है।
To sum it up, the video of horse operators assaulting Kedarnath Dham pilgrims is shared now with a communal narrative.