A video has gone viral on social media in which a man is seen shooting a bull tied to a tree with a rifle. The video is being circulated with the claim that the boy in the video is Mohammad Mujahid Islam, Kerala Congress media in-charge, and that the act was done to celebrate Priyanka Gandhi’s victory in Wayanad during the recent by-elections.
An X (Twittter) user named Mouli shared the video with the above claim. The user alleged that the boy had shot the bull to celebrate Priyanka Gandhi’s victory.
Building on this claim, BJP supporter Roshan Sinha amplified the tweet, though he later deleted his tweet.
Similarly, a user named Aditya Anand tweeted the video with the assertion that the Congress has crossed all boundaries of hatred toward Hindus. He alleged that Muhammad Mujahid Islam, identified as Kerala Congress’s media in-charge, shot the bull as a ‘sacrifice’ in celebration of Priyanka Gandhi’s win in Wayanad. (Archived link)
X handle @HPhobiaWatch also shared the video, using it as an opportunity to target Congress.
Fact Check
To verify these claims, Alt News performed a reverse image search using frames from the viral video. This led us to a report published on May 7, 2024, by the Free Press Journal, which confirmed that the video was not a recent one. This disproves the claim that the incident was connected to Priyanka Gandhi’s recent by-election victory in November 2024. The video has been circulating online for at least six months prior to these elections.
We noticed that the video had surfaced with differing narratives over time. Previously, it was claimed that the person in the video was a Kuki militant in Manipur, shooting the animal to insult Hindus. On another instance in May 2024, it was alleged that the video depicted a cow being sacrificed to secure Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s victory in Kerala during the Lok Sabha elections. Numerous fact-checking organizations debunked these claims at that time, declaring them baseless.
When the video first went viral in May, PETA India (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) issued a statement acknowledging the video and confirmed that they were working with the cyber crime cell of Manipur Police to trace the incident’s origin. Once the location and details were verified, the organisation would file a formal FIR.
PETA India’s Cruelty Response Team is working with Manipur Police’s Cyber Crime Cell to confirm the details with respect to the location of the crime. Once it is ascertained we will work with the concerned district police to get an FIR registered and have necessary action taken.
— PETA India (@PetaIndia) May 7, 2024
Although Alt News could not independently verify where or when the incident in the video occurred, one thing is certain: the clip has been circulating online for at least six months and has no connection to Priyanka Gandhi’s victory in Wayanad.
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