Image Credit: Twitter
Rajasthan
Viral Video Shows Muslims Pelting Stones On Police In Rajasthan? No, Video Viral With False Communal Claim
|The mob that pelted stones was enraged due to alleged assault on a man in police custody. The man (Krishna) belonged to the Hindu community. No communal angle was involved in it.
In the last few month months, Rajasthan witnessed several communal clashes. On April 02, in Karauli, violent clashes erupted after a procession to mark Nav Samvatsar (Hindu New Year), was allegedly pelted with stones from rooftops, as they entered a Muslim locality. Police arrested around 46 people after this incident. Later, in Jodhpur, 211 people were arrested due to communal clashes before the Eid celebrations on May 5. The violence was sparked due to the installation of Islamic flags on the Jalori gate circle, which led to stone pelting in which five policemen were injured.
Since then, a lot of misinformation is being circulated to instigate communal tension. Recently, a video of a group of men pelting stones at policemen is being circulated on social media. Following the communal clashes in Karauli and Jodhpur, the captions of the viral video claim that this is another instance of communal conflict in Dholpur, Rajasthan.
Claim:
In the video, a mob can be seen pelting stones at the police. As the mob draws closer, the police are seen escaping from the stone-pelting.
A Twitter user shared this video and wrote, ""करौली और जोधपुर के बार अब धौलपुर में शांतिप्रिय समुदाय की पत्थरबाज़ी..अब कौनसा रामनवमी का DJ बज रहा था जो पत्थरबाज़ी हो रही है @ashokgehlot51 जी."
[English Translation: "After Karauli and Jodhpur, the 'peaceful community' in Dholpur is pelting stones. Now, which DJ was playing religious songs on Ramnavmi which has become the cause of this stone-pelting? Please answer Ashok Gehlot ji.]
The caption refers to Muslims as a 'peaceful community, a term that is often used to spread communal misinformation across social media by subverting Twitter's misinformation and hatred filters. The caption also refers to the Karauli violence where stone-pelting incidents took place due to the playing of communally inciting religious songs over loudspeakers in the procession.
The claim was shared by journalist Pradeep Bhandari and the Bharatpur division of the BJP who later deleted the tweet. Below is an archived version of the tweets.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. No communal angle was involved in it.
We conducted a reverse image search on the viral video with InVid's Keyframe analysis tool. Using one of the keyframes, we conducted a reverse image search and came across this tweet by Giriraj Agarwal, who is a journalist and editor at Dainik Bhaskar. He tweeted the same 45 seconds video which shows the stone-pelting incident with the following caption: "Ruckus in Bari City of Dholpur district: A youth was severely beaten in police custody which angered the people. Heavy stone pelting took place while the police also threw stones."
We then conducted a keyword search with relevant keywords such as "Bari City Dholpur" and "Stone-pelting". We then came across a report of ANI published on 26th May. The thumbnail of the report contained snapshots from the viral video. The report detailed the stone-pelting incident that took place in the Bari city of Dholpur district, Rajasthan. As per the report, a woman alleged that his husband Krishna was severely beaten by the police.
Superintendent of Police of Dholpur, Narayan Togas denied the claims made by his wife, as noted in the report. The SP stated that Krishna reached the police chowki himself and demanded his arrest. Krishna was in an inebriated state and the police took him to the hospital and his relatives were informed, the SP stated. As per the report, the SP claimed that some person spread the rumour of him being assaulted leading to his serious condition due to which relatives & locals were riled up and blocked the road.
The report quotes that Krishna was manhandled and beaten up by the police personnel. After the assault, he was taken to the hospital. He was vomiting while he was being admitted.
The testimonies of Krishna's wife and the Superintendent were noted in a Twitter thread tweeted by the news agency ANI.
We also came across a report by news portal India.com published on May 26, 2022. The report quotes SP Narayan Togas stating that stone-pelting took place, but the police controlled the situation. The condition of the youth is stable. The report also quotes him as saying, "A case under section 376 of IPC was registered against Krishna at Bari police station. The police had summoned him earlier also, but he did not come. This morning, he reached the police post under Bari police station under the influence of alcohol."
We found a report by Dainik Bhaskar published on 26th May. The report gave more details about the case stating that Krishna was absconding in the case of attempted sexual assault. As per this report, a complaint against Krishna was registered by his younger brother Ashok's wife Moti alias Rajni for attempted sexual assault three months ago.
The Dainik Bhaskar report stated that he had reached the Bari Kotwali police station in an inebriated state. As soon as he reached the police station, he started verbally abusing the policemen. The police then took him to Bari Hospital for medical treatment.
Conducting a keyword search across Twitter, we came across this statement by the Superintendent of Police, Narayan Togas on the incident. The statement was uploaded by Avdhesh Pareek, a journalist at TV9 Rajasthan. In the statement, the SP reiterated the statements made by him in the news reports. He says that Krishna reached the Kotwali police station in Bari under the influence of alcohol. Then he started abusing police officials and was taken to the Bari Hospital for medical treatment. During this treatment, Krishna fell unconscious and recovered later on. The SP also said that the doctor has confirmed that the youth is in good condition now. Nowhere in the video, SP Narayan Togas mention about any communal angle involved in this.
Conclusion:
As per the viral claim, the Muslim community of Dholpur pelted stones at the police.
However, as we found out, the mob which pelted stones was enraged due to the allegations of assault on a man in police custody. The man belonged to the Hindu community However, there are different versions of events by the relatives of the man, Krishna and the Dholpur police. In our investigation, we found no instance that the incident was communally driven. Hence, the viral claim is false.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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