A tampered video of an elderly Muslim man being assaulted was shared widely on social media saying that his beard was forcibly cut for not chanting ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
However, this was found to be fake news as the Ghaziabad Police clarified that there was no communal angle to the incident.
Apparently, the old man identified as Abdul Samad Saifi was an occult practitioner and was assaulted by the men as the amulets he gave did not give positive results.
The police have arrested three men – Adil, Parvesh Gujjar and Kallu – regarding the incident. Three more men identified as Arif, Poli, Mushahid are reportedly absconding.
Despite clarification, Twitter neither flagged the video content as ‘manipulated media’ nor did it remove the video from the platform.
An FIR has been registered by Uttar Pradesh Police against Co-founder of ‘fact-checking’ website AltNews Muhammad Zubair, Congress leaders Maskoor Usmani, Salman Nizami and Shama Mohamed, Muslim journalists Saba Naqvi and Rana Ayyub and digital publication The Wire.
In Tamil Nadu, Sun News owned by Kalanithi Maran of the DMK family too peddled the fake news saying that the man was attacked for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
#NEWSUPDATE | ஜெய் ஸ்ரீ ராம் சொல்லுமாறு இஸ்லாமியரை தாக்கிய கும்பல்!#SunNews | #UttarPradesh | #AbdulSamadSaifi pic.twitter.com/JHmz1aT3mx
— Sun News (@sunnewstamil) June 15, 2021
BBC News Tamil too took to spread the fake news.
In light of this, BJP Spokesperson SG Suryah has urged the Uttar Pradesh police to take action on Sun News and BBC News Tamil too for inciting communal hatred.
Respected @ghaziabadpolice, You've filed FIR against 6 Journos & Politicos u/IPC for sharing a video with deliberate & malicious intention to foment religious discord. I request you to book Tamil News Channel #SunNews & #BBCTamil News Website as well for spreading the same lie. pic.twitter.com/BxeJ8I5DLx
— SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) June 16, 2021