Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Several social media users are sharing a video where two young men can be seen thrashing two older men with sticks and wooden logs, as womenfolk attempt to dissuade them. Those sharing the video have claimed that the incident happened in Delhi’s Sangam Vihar and shows how ‘Hindus are being harassed in Delhi’ just like in Jahangirpuri. Newschecker has found that the incident had no religious angle to it and that both parties in the video are Hindus.
The claim was shared on social media on May 1 by @AmitSin69535386.
Newschecker found that several such claims were widely shared in Hindi in Facebook and Twitter with similar captions, identifying the location as Sangam Vihar and attributing the violence to religious motive.
Fact check/Verification
To verify if the video was really from Sangam Vihar, Newschecker split the viral video into keyframes and conducted a reverse image search. One of the search results led us to a tweet by a user @vishalurll, which carried a Hindi caption that translates to “Children attacking their own father and grandfather with sticks for taking part in the property, Gali No .-6 , Sonia Vihar, Delhi.” The tweet carried the same viral video.
To research further, Newschecker conducted a keyword search with the words ‘Sonia Vihar’ and ‘Property dispute’ which took us to an article published by Hindi news website NDTV India, which read “Delhi: Sticks Used on the elderly over property dispute in Sonia Vihar, video of incident viral.” This proves that the video was not from Delhi’s Sangam Vihar, but from Sonia Vihar.
The article detailed that the incident took place in North East Delhi’s Sonia Vihar locality, which reportedly took place on April 20 and further attributed the scuffle to a property dispute between two brothers Prempal and Shyampal, their children and grandchildren. According to the report, the scuffle between members of the same family blew up and spilled onto the streets, resulting in a full blown street-brawl, where their father and grandfather were also attacked.
Another article in Navbharat Times revealed the same details.
Newschecker Hindi reached out to Amit Chauhan, SI of Sonia Vihar station who confirmed that the incident was a family dispute. “This incident took place in street number 3 of Sonia Vihar. There was a dispute between two brothers Prempal and Shyamlal over land, after which both the families fought. Two b have been registered in this case and a total of three people have been sent to jail. There is no communal angle in this matter.”
Conclusion
Video showing a scuffle between family members in Delhi’s Sonia Vihar over a property dispute falsely shared with a communal angle and claiming it to be from Sangam Vihar.
Result: False Context/False
Sources
Conversation with Delhi police
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Authors
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
