Video of Hindu ritual shared as “cows forcefully made to run over Muslims in India”

On September 1, Sahibzada Jahangir, the spokesperson of Pakistani Prime Minister on Trade and Investment in the UK and Europe, posted a video wherein a group of men are lying on the road while a herd of cows runs over them. Tweeting the video, Jahangir claimed that Indians are forcing Muslim men as well as children to lie on the road while “dozens of heavy cows” are run over their bodies.

Civilisation at its lowest. Indians forcing Muslims men & children to lie on ground & running dozens of heavy cows over their bodies while the spectators applauding the exhibition. Barbaric & inhuman. Modi developing sick Nazi RSS ideology. pic.twitter.com/ufUnqt2oHX

— Sahibzada Jahangir (@ChicoJahangir) September 1, 2019

Fact-check

Listening to the audio of the clip carefully, the crowd can be heard saying, “haathi godha palkhi jai kanhaiya lal ki”, which refers to Lord Krishna and thus suggests that it is part of some ritual or tradition. With a keyword search on Google, Alt News found a video of the ritual, performed by villagers in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, wherein people voluntarily lie on the road while cows are made to run over them. Daily Mail posted the video of the same ritual in 2018 with the caption, “Groups of men in India have voluntarily agreed to be trampled by a herd of cows in a bid to secure future prosperity for themselves and their villages”.

According to Daily Mail, the ritual is to mark the auspicious day of Ekadashi which follows the Hindu festival of Diwali. “Though many participants are seriously injured by the ritual, it is thought their luck will grow as their ailments heal,” stated the article.

In conclusion, a video of a ritual where men voluntarily choose to lie on the ground while cows run over them was shared by Sahibzada Jahangir as Indians punishing Muslim men.