Authors
An Electronics & Communication engineer by training, Arjun switched to journalism to follow his passion. After completing a diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the India Today Media Institute, he has been debunking mis/disinformation for over three years. His areas of interest are politics and social media. Before joining Newschecker, he was working with the India Today Fact Check team.
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.
Claim
Muslims attacked a Jain monk in Karnataka
Fact
The viral pictures are not recent and the claim saying Muslims attacked a Jain monk in Karnataka is false.
The bitterly fought assembly elections may have come to an end, but the politics is far from over in Karnataka. Following a thumping majority for Congress, several images have now surfaced on social media claiming to show Muslims revealing their ‘real face’ in Karnataka, enabled by the party’s win.
One of the many photographs being shared shows a Jain monk in Karnataka who was allegedly thrashed because he refused to raise ‘Congress Zindabad’ slogans. Many posts also include separate photographs of a man and a woman, both bleeding from their heads, allegedly after being attacked by Muslims. The post is viral on Facebook and Twitter.
Fact Check/Verification
Image 1
Using the reverse image search, we found that the picture of the woman has been viral on the internet since 2018, with different claims. Sharing the viral image on Twitter on April 1, 2018, a user named Pintu Yadav King claimed that the image was from West Bengal.
However, we couldn’t trace the viral photo to any credible sources, and hence, were unable to confirm if the image was indeed from West Bengal as claimed in the Twitter post by Pintu Yadav King or elsewhere.
Image 2
Using another reverse image search, we traced the image showing the bleeding man to Twitter posts by Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi and AAP leader Sanjay Singh in May 2018. Taking a dig at the Yogi government, the leaders claimed that the man was injured in a lathi charge during a protest related to B.Ed and TET exams in UP.
However, on further research, we found a fact check on a website named SM Hoax Slayer which clarified that the viral image was from UP’s Muzaffarnagar and shows a man who was allegedly thrashed by his wife and her lover.
In its report, SM Hoax Slayer has carried a clarification from the editor of the website Royal Bulletin, whose article they used to debunk the claim by Sanjay Singh and Imran Pratapgarhi. The editor of Royal Bulletin confirmed that the image was clicked by one of their journalists, although, the news piece is no longer available on their website.
Image 3
Similar to the other two images, using a reverse image search, we traced the third image to a Deccan Chronicle, published on March 31, 2018, which revealed that the man seen in the photo is Jain monk Upadhyay Mayank Sagar, whose picture was shared by ‘Post Card News’ editor Mahesh Vikram Hegde, with a false communal claim.
Hegde alleged that the monk, Mayank Sagar, was attacked by Muslims in Karnataka when he was actually injured in an accident. The Karnataka police also arrested Hegde for spreading fake news.
Conclusion
Here, it can be concluded that the claim in the viral post saying Muslims attacked a Jain monk in Karnataka is false and communally motivated. The viral pictures are not recent and have nothing to do with the Karnataka elections.
Result: False
Our Sources
Twitter post of March 30, 2018
Report of SM Hoax Slayer
Report of Deccan Chronicle and The Hindu
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Authors
An Electronics & Communication engineer by training, Arjun switched to journalism to follow his passion. After completing a diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the India Today Media Institute, he has been debunking mis/disinformation for over three years. His areas of interest are politics and social media. Before joining Newschecker, he was working with the India Today Fact Check team.
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.
