Baghpat: Religious ensigns on bikes of Muslim youths peddled as Pakistani flags; video falsely viral

by Pawan Kumar

A video has been circulating widely on social media showing a crowd stopping bike riders, verbally abusing them, and accusing them of waving the Pakistani flag. In the footage, a youth is also seen being slapped and threatened. The video is being shared with the claim that residents of Aminagar Sarai in the Thana Sighawali area of Baghpat caught individuals allegedly waving the Pakistani flag and handed them over to the police.

Verified X handle @ajaychauhan41, which amplifies communal misinformation and propaganda regularly, shared the video with this claim. He deleted the tweet but not before it had garnered over 25,000 views. (Archived link) 

Another X user, handle #अक्षय Dn Nationalist also posted the video amplifying the same claim. (Archived link) 

Verified X handle Sanatani Yoddha promoted the claim by stating, “Friends, the Islamist Jihadis waving the Pakistani flag in Aminagar Sarai of Thana Sighawali area of Baghpat were caught by local nationalist brothers and handed over to the police, Har Har Mahadev”. (Archived link) 

Fact Check

We conducted a keyword search and found a report from Amar Ujala, published on September 17 of this year. The report clarified that two youths had been detained on the Meerut-Baghpat National Highway under suspicion of waving the Pakistani flag. However, during a police investigation, it was revealed that the flags in question were not Pakistani flags but religious ones. The youths were later released after the misunderstanding was cleared.

The report further detailed that the two individuals, Arbaaz and Aamir, residents of Gauspur village, had been riding their bikes with green flags while chanting slogans on the Meerut-Baghpat National Highway. This incident occurred on a Monday morning near the Sarai turn. Members of a nearby Hindu organisation, suspecting that the green flags were Pakistani national flags, chased the duo and caught them near the Singhawali Ahir bridge. They beat up the two, but local shopkeepers intervened and handed them over to the police. Following their detention, the police called religious leaders from the local community to examine the flag, which they confirmed to be a religious symbol, not a Pakistani flag.

Baghpat Police issued a statement on X regarding the viral video, clarifying the matter. They tweeted: “On 16-09-2024, three bike riders from Gauspur village were heading to Meerut with green cloth on their bikes. Some locals stopped them, believing the green cloth to be the Pakistani flag. After an investigation by the Singhawali Ahir Police Station, it was found that the green cloth was related to the Eid-e-Milad festival, not the Pakistani flag. The Baghpat Police refutes the false information. Please refrain from spreading misleading news, or legal action will be taken against you” (Archived link) 

To sum it up, the viral video depicting Muslim youths being hecked was based on the mistaken assumption that green cloths related to the Eid-e-Milad festival attached to their bikes were Pakistani flags. After they had been handed over to cops, the matter was looked into and they were released.   

Pawan Kumar is an intern at Alt News.

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