Video from MP falsely viral as UP police thrash people offering namaz on the road - Alt News
Kinjal
29th October 2021 / 5:51 pm / Last updated: 10th January 2022
A video of police personnel lathi-charging a group of people is viral on social media. It has been claimed that people offering namaz in public in Banaras were beaten by cops.
बनारस में रोड पर नमाज पढ़ने का अंजाम देख लो ,क्या ये और किसी के राज में सम्भव है, 😊
धन्यवाद योगी जी का🙏🚩 pic.twitter.com/gxFhe3cKlr
— Uttam Chaurasiya – ( भारतीय )🇮🇳🙏 (@INDUttam) January 8, 2022
The video has been shared by multiple users. (1, 2, 3)
BJP supporter Renuka Jain had shared the video in October 2021. (Archive link)
No namaz on roads. We need more yogi in India pic.twitter.com/rWe4JiCpPd
— #RenukaJain (@RenukaJain6) October 25, 2021
In fact, it was widespread in October with the claim that a new law has been introduced in Uttar Pradesh that forbids Muslims from offering Namaz in public.(Archive link)
In UP Yogiji has ordered No Namaz on Roads. Still if some were offering, to whom khirapat was given. 😂😂
Posted by Sreekanta Swamy on Saturday, October 23, 2021
Several users had shared the video as Uttar Pradesh on Facebook and Twitter. We received some requests to verify the visuals on the Alt News mobile application and WhatsApp helpline number.
A user commented on one of the viral posts that the video is actually from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Alt News performed a keyword search using this information, which led us to an October 19 video report by MP Tak. According to the report, a procession was taken out on the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi in Jabalpur. During this, a scuffle broke out between the police and some participants of the procession. Some of them pelted stones, and the police responded by firing tear gas shells and lathi-charging.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpwG3-HltkY]
At one point in this video story, we noticed the same shop seen in the viral video.
Further, in the viral video, we saw another shop’s board with ‘S Deen Tailors’ written on it. While searching on Google Maps, we found that a shop of this name exists in Gohalpur, Jabalpur.
Numerous media outlets have covered the incident. (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4)
Navbharat Times reported that the original route of the Eid procession was to be from the Fish Market to Subbah Shah Maida. However, as soon as the crowd reached the market, some of the participants tried to remove the police barricades. Meanwhile, others began pelting stones and throwing firecrackers at the police. In response, the police also lathi-charged those gathered there. Several police officers were injured in the violence. There was another incident of violence near Jabalpur’s Raddi Chowki the same day.
Next, we performed a keyword search to verify the claim about a supposed restriction on offering prayers on the streets. In August 2019, the Uttar Pradesh police had banned religious activities like namaz or aarti on the streets. This restriction was imposed in the interest of curbing road traffic.
To sum it up, a video of police lathi-charging locals during a row that broke out during an Eid procession in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh was falsely shared with the claim that the UP police beat Muslims offering namaz on the road.
Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.
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