Kishan Bharwad’s murder sparks false claim of Muslims being forced out of Gujarat village

A man named Kishan Bharwad was shot and killed in Dhandhuka, Gujarat for allegedly posting an “objectionable” religious Facebook post. Since then, several claims related to the murder have been floating on social media. A few arrests have been made in connection with the incident. Against this backdrop, a video is being circulated widely that shows people arguing with the police. It has been claimed that Hindu residents from the village where Bharwad was murdered were forcefully evacuating the Muslim families.

Twitter user Harish Rajguru shared the footage with this message. (Archive link)

देखो जब हिन्दू जागता है तो क्या होता है, यह वीडियो देखकर आप को बहुत सकून मिलने वाला है, हिन्दुओ ने पूरा गांव ही खाली करा डाला वहा किशन भरवाड़ का मडर हुआ था आज पूरे गांव को 🐷🐷🐷🐷सुअरो से मुक्त करा डाला 🙏 pic.twitter.com/XDlF7I3XVl

— हरीश राजगुरु (@harishrajguru19) January 31, 2022

Another video of people sloganeering at a rally is also being circulated with the same claim. Twitter handle ‘@maheshspatel74’ posted the clip with the same claim. (Archive link)

देखो जब हिन्दू जागता है तो क्या होता है, यह वीडियो देखकर आप को बहुत सकून मिलने वाला है, हिन्दुओ ने पूरा गांव ही खाली करा डाला ,वहा किशन भरवाड़ का मर्डर हुआ था ,आज पूरे गांव को मुक्त करा डाला । pic.twitter.com/LOpTe1vxC6

— हिन्दू🕉️🔱भगवा🚩योद्धा🏹योद्धा #प्रशासक 74 (@maheshspatel74) February 2, 2022

Both the videos are widespread on Facebook and Twitter. (Tweet 1, Tweet 2)

Fact-check

Alt News found that neither of the two videos was linked to the murder of Kishan Bharwad.

First video

We performed a reverse image search which led us to a TV9 Gujarati report dated January 30, 2022. It says that locals were protesting the administration’s decision to erect a wall outside the Imamshah Dargah in Ahmedabad’s Pirana area. Police and representatives from the city’s municipal corporation also reached the scene to reason with the angered crowd.

Local media outlet GSTV News also covered the incident.

Second video

This video also depicts the aforementioned incident that occurred in Pirana.

Several videos of this protest were posted on Facebook, including by a page called ‘Hazrat Pir Saiyed Imamuddin’. It is evident that the video is from Pirana as there are several bystanders who can be seen in both sets of visuals. For instance, the man highlighted below.

Similarly, we have pointed out the same female protestors in both the videos using different coloured arrows.

Alt News reached out to the administrator of the Facebook page. He explained that the video was taken during the demonstration at Pirana. He also identified the white building that appears in the background as Gurukul Vidhyavihar English School. The Imamshah Bawa Dargah is located 950 m away from the school.

Furthermore, he sent Alt News some additional photos and videos of the location where the viral video was taken. These confirm that the second video was indeed taken at Pirana.

As shown below, we can confirm that the location shown in the viral visuals is, in fact, Pirana.

The images below contain similar kinds of trees and foliage. They also feature the same advertisements printed on the wall.

On January 31, 2022, The Indian Express published a report covering the Pirana demonstration. It mentioned that residents of Pirana village in Daskroi taluka of Ahmedabad district took to the streets on Sunday to protest the construction of a wall on the premises of the Imamshah Bawa Sanstha Trust. 133 protesters, including 64 women, were also detained by the police. The outlet also quoted a senior officer at Aslali police station who explained that intermittent protests had been going on in the village for the past three to four months. The protestors said that they would go to the collector’s office to lodge a complaint. Some protestors were recording videos and uploading live updates. The police took a few of them in custody to “maintain peace”.

We could not find any reports to corroborate the claim about Muslim residents being ostracised from the village. On February 2, BBC Gujarati reported that the situation in Dhandhuka was tense. However, a local resident who was quoted stated that several Muslim families lived in the village but there have been no conflicts recently.

Alt News also spoke to Dhandhuka police about the incident. They rubbished the claims viral on social media and clarified that there was no truth to the news of Muslim villagers being forced to evacuate.

To sum it up, videos of a protest over a wall outside the Imamshah Dargah in Ahmedabad’s Pirana area were falsely linked to the Kishan Bharwad murder case.