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Did Muslims Assault Former Soldier For Objecting Against Namaz In Train? No, Viral Video Is Misleading!
Madhya Pradesh, 25 Nov 2022 10:37 AM GMT | Updated 1 Dec 2022 11:24 AM GMT
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Social media users including journalists are sharing a video of an injured man claiming that Muslims assaulted a soldier because he allegedly obstructed their offering of Namaz.
A video is being widely shared across social media which shows a man with injury marks on his face sitting in a train compartment. While sharing the video, social media users are claiming that persons from the Muslim community assaulted the injured man because he allegedly obstructed their offering of Namaz.
Claim:
The viral video is of 2:20 minutes where an injured man with bleeding marks on his face can be seen sitting in a train compartment.
The man in the video says, "This is an incident of Train 12804 going to Visakhapatnam in the S4 compartment. On this train, there are about five-six Muslim brothers. They are praying at 5.15 am, 1.30 pm, and 5.15 pm, completely blocking the way and causing inconvenience to everyone. When I had to go to the restroom in the afternoon, they said don't go from here, our Namaz is underway. Even now, when I had to go to urinate, they stopped me saying that their Namaz is going on. After their Namaz was offered, I sat there and invoked the name of my God. I began offering prayers for 2-3 minutes and then, a few people from the pantry car came and assaulted me."
Then the man picks up the camera and shows Muslim men who had allegedly offered Namaz on the train.
A Twitter user @RituRathaur shared the video with the caption, "Horror!Hindu man was brutally beaten up by 'shanti doots' for objecting to their reading Namaj thrice in moving train thus even obstructing way to bathrooms. The security guard kept quiet and no one helped the Hindu man in a train to Visakhapatnam. Tyranny of fascist minority..".
Dainik Bhaskar journalist Rahul Sharma shared images of the Muslim men shown in the video who were offering Namaz.
He shared the video with a Hindi caption which in English reads, "Ex-army man brutally assaulted in a dispute over reading Namaz in Visakhapatnam Swarna Jayanti Express. When the victim Vilas Naik asked for the people offering Namaz to make the way, they refused. However, when the ex-serviceman started chanting on his seat, he was assaulted. Treatment going on in Betul".
Sagar Kumar, a reporter at the right-wing propaganda channel Sudarshan News, shared the video with the claim, "Jihadis made a Hindu brother bleed in the train."
A Twitter user @its_VSR shared the video with the claim, "This community is another form of demons"
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact-check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The former soldier had entered into a scuffle with the pantry car workers which led to his injuries which we are able to see in the video.
We first noted that while narrating the incident, the person in the viral video did not explicitly say that the men who assaulted him belonged to the Muslim community. He just mentions that 3-4 people from the pantry car assaulted him.
We conducted a keyword search and came across a report by Firstpost which was published on November 22, 2022. The report stated that pantry car workers allegedly assaulted a former Indian Army soldier. The ex-serviceman had objected to a group of Muslims offering prayers onboard the Swarna Jayanti Express. The ex-soldier, Vilas Naik, was allegedly beaten by pantry car workers on the train near Betul in Madhya Pradesh. As per the Firstpost report, the incident is from November 20 and the ex-jawan's video went viral on November 22.
The ex-serviceman sat in the aisle of the coach and began reciting Hindu prayers to protest against the Muslim men offering prayers. A pantry staff member asked Naik to sit aside but he refused which led to a scuffle between the two.
The Firstpost report mentions the name of the pantry car manager as Harvesh Singh, who allegedly manhandled Naik, which led to Naik's injuries as seen in the viral video. Shrivastava said that the ex-serviceman had become violent when he attempted to resolve the matter. The pantry car manager alleged that he was attacked on the neck by Naik.
We also came across a report by FreePress Journal published on November 22, 2022. The report also noted the names of the persons who assaulted Naik as Harvesh Singh and Pawan Singh.
The report also carries a quote from GRP-Betul Police in-charge Narottam Singh Thakur who said that a complaint was filed by the former army man Vilas Naik alleging that he was assaulted by the two workers of a pantry car.
We also came across a report by Times Now published on November 21, 2022, quoting Mujkir Ahmed, one of the passengers who was offering Namaz.
Ahmed is quoted as saying, "We were offering Namaz. The ex-serviceman deliberately objected to it by claiming that he wanted to go to the toilet. After offering Namaz, we sat down in our seats. But the ex-serviceman started offering his prayers and even stopped a pantry staff member. This led to a scuffle breaking out."
The Times Now report also notes the name of the pantry car manager as Harvesh Singh who reportedly intervened to resolve the situation. The report also notes that the manager and the pantry car staff were deboarded from the train.
We came across tweets from Kashif Kakvi, a multimedia reporter from Madhya Pradesh. In a thread of tweets, he shared visuals that showed the incident that occurred in the Swarna Jayanti Express and the statements of those involved.
In this tweet, the person in the viral video can be seen leaning against the seat and sitting on the floor of the train compartment. Pantry workers can be seen standing around with their food products. The tweet reads, "Ex-serviceman Vilas Naik along with his family boarded the Swarna Jayanti Express from Hazrat Nizamuddin for Vishakapatnam. Some Muslim youths also boarded his bogie. When they offered Namaz on the train, it became exasperating to Naik. He interrupted their Namaz nearly two times to insist on going to the toilet even during Namaz".
In a video statement given by Harvesh Singh, manager of the pantry car, he said, "The person was troubling the people reading Namaz in the train. He sat on the floor and kept saying that he would not let anyone pass. He was shoving pantry car workers if they attempted to pass. Then I went to intervene and asked him why he was doing this. Then he assaulted me on the neck. Then one of the pantry car workers assaulted him which led to blood pouring from his nose. Then he began to hit himself. After the assault, when we asked him to file an First Investigation Report (FIR) with the police, he demanded that the persons offering Namaz should be deboarded with him."
In the video statement, Government Railway Police officer Narottam Singh Thakur said, "There was a fight between the people of the pantry car and the retired army man. The soldier was injured in the nose which led to bleeding. He has been admitted to the hospital since. The ex-serviceman supposedly stopped the pantry car workers, which led to the scuffle. Muslim persons were offering Namaz separately and the scuffle was not between them. The scuffle was between the pantry car workers and the retired soldier, the Muslims were not involved."
The Government Railway Police deboarded all those involved in the entire scenario from the train to question them on the matter. The Betul GRP filed an FIR after which two were arrested and one person is absconding.
We also came across a report filed by the Railway officials after the incident. The report notes, "Some Muslim passengers sitting on the seats next to him were offering Namaz, during which he had difficulty in going to the toilet. He asked those passengers to give way, but they did not agree. Following this Vilas Naik sat on the floor of the train coach, which obstructed the passage of the staff of the pantry car. This led to a fight between the passenger Vilas Naik and the pantry car staff…GRP Betul in-chargeSub Inspector N. S. Thakur lodged an FIR against pantry car manager Harvesh Singh and two other vendors on the complaint of passenger Vilas Naik under section 294, 323."
Conclusion:
We found that the video being shared with the claim of Muslim men allegedly assaulting a former serviceman after he objected to their Namaz is misleading. The former soldier had entered into a scuffle with the pantry car workers which led to his injuries which are seen in the video. As per statements from the persons involved, the Muslims on the train were not involved in assaulting the former soldier. Thus, the viral claim is found to be misleading.
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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