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.
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
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
Crowd beats up NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad for his “disrespectful comments on Shri Ram”.
Awhad courted controversy after he recently claimed that Lord Ram belonged to the ‘Bahujans’ and was a non-vegetarian, contrary to common belief.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker ran a keyword search for “Jitendra Awhad Shiv Pratishthan assault”, based on the voiceover heard in the viral video, appearing to be from a news report. We were led to this India Today report, dated July 21, 2015, featuring the viral video and stating that NCP leader Jitendra Awhad faces the ire of Shiv Pratishthan activists in Sangli, Maharashtra.
According to the report, Awhad, who was speaking against the Maharashtra Bhushan award given to Babasaheb Purandare and the founder of Shiv Pratishthan, Sambhaji Bhide, was attacked by Shiv Pratishthan workers in Sangli. The report further stated that no one was seriously injured in the entire incident and the police had also arrested five workers of Shiv Pratishthan. Similar reports can be seen here and here.
We traced the second part of the video, which shows Awhad walking out, to a Youtube short uploaded by Awhad on November 27, 2023, which predates the controversy, thus confirming that the viral video was created by merging two old clips.
Result: False
Sources
India Today report, July 21, 2015
Youtube video, November 27, 2023
(This report was originally done for Newschecker Hindi by Saurabh Pandey)
If you would like us to fact-check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill out the form.
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.
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
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.
