Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
A WhatsApp forward, along with a video, is doing the rounds in which it is claimed that a person who belongs to the Tablighi Jamaat was kept in an isolation ward where he started wandering naked. The viral forward also claims that the person who was wandering naked did this vulgar act intentionally. The video narrates the story as “The blood-soaked naked young man can be seen banging his head on the glass walls. The naked youth wanders here and there and at the end of the video he was asked to leave.”
The viral post along with the claim can be seen below.
The same claim is viral with multiple claims on various social media and messaging platforms.
Tablighi Jamaat, a community that initially sparked controversy and later made subject to controversy. Dozens of fake news around the Jamaat, members hiding their travel history and infection with the COVID-19, misbehaving with the medical staff, carelessness, unverified content pieces, spitting hoax, viciously opinionated news headlines, overwhelming allegations and a chain of events; all this when put together define the Tablighi Jamaat controversy in whole. Another addition to the chain of fake news pertaining to Tablighi Jamaat is doing the rounds on social media.
Fact Check
In order to verify the viral claim, we first fragmented the video and performed a reverse image search using one of the keyframes obtained from the fragmentation. Google results of the reverse image search suggest that the video is at least one year old.
As per the results shown above, we found that a naked man entered a mosque in 2019. Using the same description when we searched YouTube with the keyword “Naked man in the mosque in Pakistan”
In the results shown above, the second video from the top is a longer version of the viral video. In the longer version, a man can be seen entering the mosque and banging his head against the glass wall and then comes moves in the hall after a man tries to scare him with a stick. Notably, the video was published on August 26, 2019, hence it is evident that the viral video has nothing to do with the Tablighi Jamaat.
A rough translation of the description of the aforementioned video reads, “An unidentified man broke into the Khalid Bin Walid mosque of the Ahl-e-Hadith school district on Gulshan-e-Hadid Phase 2 Double Road and the imam’s place lay down after the glasses were damaged.”
Basis the description of the video when we searched further, we found another YouTube video that throws more light on the issue.
A rough English translation of the title of the above-mentioned video reads, “A madman broke into the mosque at Gulshan-e-Hadid Phase Two”
https://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk/24-Aug-2019/1053946
Similarly, a rough English translation of the description of the aforementioned YouTube video reads, “Gulshan-e-Hadid Phase Two: A madman breaks into a mosque, breaking a mosque’s glass with his head. The man handed over is not a fanatic. Masjid Khalid Bin Walid’s administration investigated the facts and brought the facts to the fore. Also the police are commanding mental condition has worsened.”
https://www.urdupoint.com/daily/livenews/2019-08-23/news-2039047.html
When we performed a custom Google search using the keywords mentioned in the video above, we found several media reports and a Facebook post on the issue. Notably, all our findings date back to August 24, 2019.
گلشن حدید کی مسجد میں توڑ پھوڑ کرنے والا پولیس کے حوالے
کراچی (سٹی نیوز)گلشن حدید میں مسجد کے اندر توڑ پھوڑ کرنے والے شخص کو اہل محلہ کو پکڑ پولیس کے
کراچی،گلشن حدید میں مسجد کے اندر توڑ پھوڑ کرنے والے شخص کو اہل محلہ کو پکڑ پولیس کے حوالے کردیا
گلشن حدید میں مسجد کے اندر توڑ پھوڑ کرنے والے شخص کو اہل محلہ کو پکڑ پولیس کے حوالے کردیا ہے ۔ملزم ریٹائرڈ ڈی ایس پی کا بیٹا ہے ،جس کا ذہنی توازن ٹھیک نہیں ہے ۔تفصیلات کے مطابق تھانہ اسٹیل ٹاؤن پولیس کی حدود ایک شخص نے برہنہ حالت میں مسجد میں گھس کر توڑ پھوڑ شروع کردی ،شیشے توڑنے کی وجہ سے وہ شدید شدید ہوگیا ۔ملزم کی حرکت پر اہل محلہ اشتعال میں آگئے اور انہوںنے اس کو پکڑ کر پولیس کے حوالے کردیا ۔مسجد خالد بن ولید کی انتظامیہ …
Basis the findings mentioned above, it can be concluded that the video being circulated in the name of Tablighi Jamaat members’ misbehaving with the nurses treating them for the COVID-19 is old. Hence it is evident that the viral claim is ‘False’ and is being shared with a communal angle.
The same fact-check report can be read in Urdu here.
Tools Used
- Google Search
Result: False
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Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
