7-yr-old video of political clash in Kerala falsely shared as Muslims throwing stones at Hindu houses

Social media users are sharing a video, seemingly CCTV footage, where a group of boys/men can be seen throwing stones. Their target, if any, is not visible in the clip. The users are claiming that the video is from a recent event in Kerala where some Muslim boys were throwing stones at Hindu bungalows and were ‘threatening them to vacate’ the place.

Twitter user Nationalist (@Nationalist2575) shared the above-mentioned video on July 22 with the same claim as above and also added that Kerala would face a ‘Kashmir-like situation’ in future. The tweet has received close to 2 Lakh views and has been retweeted over 5,000 times. (Archive)

Muslim boys throwing stones on Hindu bungalows in Kerala threatening them to vacate, same like Kashmir situation is going to come in future#Kerala #keralastory pic.twitter.com/RTjzxmELkY

— Nationalist (@Nationalist2575) July 22, 2023

Another user, Anoop Kumar Singh (@rashtrawadi_aks), shared the video with a Hindi caption claiming the same—that Muslim were throwing stones at Hindu Bungalows in Kerala. Alt News has previously debunked misinformation shared by @rashtrawadi_aks on several occasions. (Archive)

केरला में हिंदुओं के घरों पर पत्थर फेंक रहे मुस्लिम
साथ में धमकियों का दौर जारी है और कहा जा रहा है कि यहां से घर खाली कर दो
जैसा कि कश्मीर में हुआ वह केरला में दोहराने की प्लानिंग चल रही है pic.twitter.com/vFZQl8oQOU

— Anoop Kumar Singh (@rashtrawadi_aks) July 22, 2023

Several other users also shared the video with similar claims on Twitter and Facebook.

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Fact Check

Upon running a reverse image search on a key-frame of the viral video, we came across a YouTube video by the Malayalam news channel Manorama News from August 15, 2016. The title of the video said: “More than 50 house attacked in Nadapuram | Manorama News”, Nadapuram is a town in Kozhikode district of Kerala. This proves that while the video is from Kerala, it is old and not from 2023.

The video report in Malayalam can be translated as: “Widespread attack against houses in Nadapuram, even as attempts are being made to bring peace to the region. Fifty-one houses have been attacked. The attacks have happened mostly against houses of supporters of Congress, BJP and CPI(M). 2 dozen cases have been registered. The attackers had their faces covered to prevent identification by the police. Autorickshaws, bikes and cars have been damaged. Cases have been registered against 50 persons. All political parties are active in attempts to bring peace. Police have deployed a large number of personnel”.

Taking a hint from the above, we ran a relevant keyword search which led us to several news reports that put the viral clip in context.

As per a August 13, 2016, news report by The News Minute, a 20-year-old Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML) worker named Aslam had been killed in Nadapuram the day before. The report further mentioned that Aslam’s killing was being linked with the killing of a 19-year-old CPI(M) activist named Kuneri Shibin. Aslam was an accused in the allegee crime, but was later acquitted.

We further came across a news report by The Times of India from August 18, 2016. The report confirms that the violence in Nadapuram and Thuneri areas followed the alleged murder of IUML worker Aslam.

On August 28, 2016, Matrubhumi reported that a CPM activist named Rameesh was arrested in connection with Aslam’s murder.

In 2017, Alt News had reported on the video. It was viral with false communal claims then as well.

Therefore, the communal claim with which the video in question is being shared on social media is false. The attack on the houses in the Nadapuram area was an outcome of a long-standing political rivalry.