{"id":16023,"date":"2018-07-08T09:52:44","date_gmt":"2018-07-08T04:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=16023"},"modified":"2018-07-09T18:09:20","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T12:39:20","slug":"hindu-khatre-mein-hai-how-the-fake-news-ecosystem-targets-minorities-to-create-a-fear-psychosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/hindu-khatre-mein-hai-how-the-fake-news-ecosystem-targets-minorities-to-create-a-fear-psychosis\/","title":{"rendered":"Hindu khatre mein hai? How the fake news ecosystem targets minorities to create a fear psychosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social media has become a convenient medium for purveyors of misinformation. Fake news has grown manifold, a large proportion of which is dominated by information which is communal in nature and inciteful in tone, seeking to divide on religious lines. Alt News has observed that in the past few months, a systematic, synchronised and organised attempt is underway to target Muslims and Christians and paint both communities as criminals and morally bankrupt while constantly painting the Hindu community as a victim. This has been sought to be achieved by weaponising misinformation and targeting the minority communities through distortion and lies.<\/p>\n

1. Fake news of 9-year old rescued from being sexually assaulted by ‘Sajid’<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA 9yr old girl was saved 4m rape by alert people. Guy, who was caught with kid, is Sajid. M\/s\u00a0@Uppolice<\/span>\u00a0please arrest this guy Sajid & make him spend some time in jail!”<\/em>\u00a0This message was circulated along with a video in which a girl child is seen crying and a young man is thrashed by passers-by. Those who are shared it claimed that the girl was about to be sexually assaulted by the perpetrator whose name is Sajid, but was rescued in time.\u00a0his video has been tweeted\u00a0by an account named\u00a0Kunvar Ajaypratap<\/a>\u00a0Singh(@sengarajay235<\/em>) who is followed by PM Modi. Another Twitter user\u00a0@goyalsanjeev\u00a0<\/em><\/a>who is followed by the office of Piyush Goyal also tweeted it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The perpetrator’s name is not Sajid but Gokul Ramdas. This was confirmed to Alt News<\/a> by the inspector of Jinjhana police station who confirmed that the claims floating on social media with regard to this incident are false.<\/p>\n

2. “Muslims responsible for 95% rapes in 2016”<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Mahesh Vikram Hegde, founder of Postcard News was among those who tweeted a set of statistics according to which he claimed 95% of perpetrators of rape in 2016 were Muslim, and 96% of the victims were non-Muslim women. Hegde is followed by PM Modi on Twitter. This message was shared widely across social media platforms.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) which is the nodal agency for recording crime in India, in a conversation with Alt News<\/a> called this claim false and malicious. It categorically stated,\u00a0\u201cIt is totally wrong data & complete misrepresentation of facts as NCRB does not collect data on the\u00a0<\/i>religion\u00a0of accused & victims. It is malicious propaganda, which needs to be countered by the law-abiding citizens. Concerned officials have been advised to initiate legal action.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Fake news about ‘Khalid’ and ‘Irfan’ charged in Lucknow rape case<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A minor girl was reportedly gangraped and the incident filmed by the perpetrators in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The incident occurred in the beginning of July 2018 in Lucknow. Soon, social media was abuzz with the claim that the two accused in the incident are named Khalid and Irfan, and that they have been arrested.\u00a0\u092e\u0902\u0926\u0938\u094c\u0930 \u0915\u0947 \u092c\u093e\u0926 \u0932\u0916\u0928\u090a \u092e\u0947\u0902 \u0928\u093e\u092c\u093e\u0932\u093f\u0917 \u092c\u091a\u094d\u091a\u0940 \u0938\u0947 \u0926\u0941\u0937\u094d\u0915\u0930\u094d\u092e\u2026 \u0906\u0930\u094b\u092a\u0940 \u0916\u093e\u0932\u093f\u0926 \u0914\u0930 \u0907\u0930\u092b\u093e\u0928 \u0917\u093f\u0930\u092b\u094d\u0924\u093e\u0930\u2026 \u0935\u0940\u0921\u093f\u092f\u094b \u092d\u0940 \u092c\u0928\u093e\u0908 (After Mandsaur, minor girl raped in Lucknow. Accused Khalid and Irfan arrested\u2026 they also made a video- translation),\u00a0<\/em>said the message.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The claim that the two accused in the case are Khalid and Irfan is a lie<\/a>.\u00a0S<\/i>SP Lucknow, Deepak Kumar has stated<\/a> that the\u00a0two accused in the case are Bhola Chandrakar and Kushmesh Kanaujiya.\u00a0According to reports<\/a>, the accused Chandrakar hails from Chhattisgarh while Kanaujiya is from Sitapur district in UP. The duo was caught while trying to escape after the victim raised an alarm.<\/p>\n

4. Fake news of march by Muslims demanding release of Mandsaur rape accused<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The brutal rape of an 8-year old in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh in June 2018 was given a brazenly communal spin on social media.\u00a0Thousands of users shared a message according to which members of the Muslim\u00a0community rallied on the streets of Mandsaur demanding that the perpetrator of the crime be released because the Quran sanctions rape of non-Muslim women. This claim had appeared in the form of an article by a website IndiaFlare<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The above picture is photoshopped<\/a>. While the image is indeed of Mandsaur, the rally was in support of the victim and demanded the harshest punishment for the accused<\/em>. The article also wrongly claimed that no Muslim groups had descended on the streets in solidarity with the victim.<\/p>\n

5. Photoshopped image of madrasa teacher portraying Islam as superior to Hinduism<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In June 2018, a photograph was shared widely on social media. It showed a teacher apparently demonstrating to students via the black board how Islam is a superior religion to Hinduism.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As expected, this photograph turned out to be photoshopped<\/a>.\u00a0It is a photo from a madrasa named Darul Uloom Husseini in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. Many news organisations had reported the story and carried the photograph in April 2018, out of which an article from\u00a0Outlook<\/a><\/i>\u00a0reported,\u00a0\u201cThis Madrasa has become a center for modern education, where along with Arabic and English, Sanskrit is also taught (translated from Hindi)\u201d<\/em>. It further states,\u00a0\u201cThe specialty of this Madrasa is that Sanskrit is being taught by a Muslim teacher. Probably, this is the first time ever that Sanskrit is also being taught in Madrasa\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

6. False claim of woman’s hair chopped off for not wearing burqa<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cIf\u00a0<\/em>Dont\u00a0Wear A Burqa This Is The Way A Women Is Punished By Cutting Her Hairs With Daughter In Her Lap. And These Cowards Say They Will Conquer The World? These Moron Mujahids Are The Most Cowards Creatures On Earth<\/em>,They\u00a0Can Only Torture Helpless Humans. They Cant Face Real Men<\/em>\u201d tweeted\u00a0a social media user\u00a0Singh Singh<\/a>(@HatindersinghR<\/em>) on June 26, 2018, with an attached video. The tweet claimed that a woman\u2019s hair was chopped off because she refused to wear a burqa and the video showed a man cutting a woman’s hair.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alt News tried to find out the truth of this claim. Googling the key words “man cuts off woman’s hair” threw up a list of articles, out of which an article which was posted by Daily Pakistan. It stated that this is allegedly a video of a husband who is cutting his wife\u2019s hair for cheating on him with his nephew.\u00a0On further investigation, Alt News found<\/a> that this incident had been reported by a number of websites in Portuguese. It has been claimed that the incident took place over an extra-marital relation. There is however no reference to the claims made in the tweet- that this couple is a Muslim couple and that her hair was chopped off because she refused to wear a burqa.<\/p>\n

7. Rajiya Bano becomes Sharma ji- A fake, hate spewing profile exposed<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cHindustan ka sher jisne As*** ka badla lia<\/em>\u201d A malicious Facebook post by one \u201cRajiya Bano\u201d cheered the accused of the horrific Mandsaur child rape case suggesting that he had avenged the rape of the Kathua victim that had rocked the country a few months ago. The post suggested that the scores were settled as the victim in the Mandsaur rape case was a Hindu and the alleged rapist, a Muslim; in revenge for Kathua where it was the other way round.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alt News found out<\/a> that this is a fake profile. For example, the university that Rajiya Bano claims to be teaching in, is not in Pakistan but in the Philippines. Moreover, a Facebook post of May 2018 exposed the identity of this Rajiya Bano.\u00a0The replies to a post that asked \u201cKya haal hai doston\u201d post had comments inquiring why has this person changed the name. In one of the comments, the person is addressed as \u201cSharma Ji\u201d, while in another comment this person is addressed as \u201cPawan\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Communally provocative misinformation about Karnataka<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Assembly election in Karnataka took place in May 2018. The run up to the poll saw a flurry of misinformation which continued unabated after the election ended and the new government was formed. In all of these instances, Muslims and Christians were projected as aggressors and schemers who enjoyed the support and patronage of the Congress party and the Congress-JDS government in the state.<\/p>\n

Misinformation prior to election<\/strong><\/h3>\n

1. Congress leader promising ‘unending bloodshed of Hindus’ if voted to power<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u2018Bangalore Congress candidate (chamarajpet) Zameer Ahmed promises unending bloodshed of Hindus if Congress is voted to power and when he becomes minister\u2019<\/em>. This provocative message accompanied a video\u00a0 that was circulating widely on social media prior to the election. In the video, Congress candidate for the Karnataka assembly election Zameer Ahmed Khan is seen addressing citizens in Urdu on his campaign trail.\u00a0The video along with this message was posted on Twitter by a user Kamal Lochan Mahanta. Mahanta according to his Twitter profile is a self-proclaimed Hindu nationalist residing in Chicago who is\u00a0\u2018blessed to be followed by PM @narendramodi\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n