Viral image of cow being skinned is NOT from India

by Jignesh Patel

An image of a cow being skinned by a group of people is being circulated on social media. Delhi Akali Dal MLA Manjinder Sirsa tweeted the image with a message, “साम्प्रदायिक नफ़रत में कुछ लोग इस क़दर तक अंधे हो चुके हैं कि मासूम जानवर तक को नहीं छोड़ते धरम की नफ़रत के चक्कर में पहले लोगों को मारा जाता था और आज बेज़ुबान गाय पर अत्याचार हो रहा है (Some people have become blind in the communal hatred that they didn’t even leave this innocent animal. Earlier, due to this religious hatred, people were killed and now the voiceless cow is being tortured -translated)”

The message shared with the image suggested that a particular religious community is torturing this cow because of communal hatred against a major religious group. The tweet doesn’t specify the origin of the picture. Sirsa’s tweet has amassed over 1,400 retweets so far.

NOT FROM INDIA

Alt News found that the existence of the photograph on the Internet dates back as far as May 2015. With a simple Google search, we were able to find a 2015 blog with multiple images of cow slaughter.

However, the name of the file suggested that the image was later added to the blog in the month of September in 2016.

While some blogs also suggested that the horrific photograph was clicked in China, we couldn’t confirm the same. Although, multiple blogs and articles which posted the image as early as September 2016 don’t associate it to India at all.

In conclusion, an unverified photograph clicked outside India was shared by Akali Dal MLA Manjinder Sirsa with a provocative message that communal hatred in the country has led to the brutal skinning of the animal.

About the Author

Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.