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.
Just days after a rally celebrating the Hindu New Year was attacked in Rajasthan’s Karauli, a similar incident has come to light in Karnataka, where miscreants threw stones at a ‘Shri Ram Shobha Yatra’ in Mulbagal area on Friday night. While several netizens took to social media platforms to express outrage over the Kolar violence, some alleged that the violence occurred after members of the yatra stopped in front of a mosque and played loud music and raised Jai Shri Ram slogans. One among them was journalist CJ Werleman who tweeted a video showing several people with saffron flags, playing loud music in front of a mosque, claiming that ‘Hindutva terrorists carried out stone pelting attacks against mosque in Mulbagal.’ Newschecker has found the video to be unrelated to the Mulbagal incident.
The 27 second long video tweeted by Werleman has garnered around 2,000 likes and has been retweeted over 1,000 times. In addition to claiming that those who participated in the yatra played loud music outside the mosque, Werleman also claimed that the group physically assaulted many Muslims.
Werleman is a controversial figure, who has been called out multiple times by multiple organisations for sharing fake news. You can read one of our fact check on Werleman here.
Kolar Violence: Rerun of Karauli?
Prohibitory orders were imposed in Mulbagal in Karnataka’s Kolar after miscreants pelted stones at a Sri Rama Shobha Yatra procession organised on the eve of Ram Navami, on Friday night.
The procession carrying an idol of Lord Ram started in the afternoon from Shivakeshava Nagar and headed towards Jahangir Mohalla. According to the police around 7.40 pm the power supply was shut following which miscreants pelted stones at the idol, The Indian Express reported. Commotion followed, during which windshields of two cars were damaged and a bike was set ablaze. Few youths sustained injuries and five people were taken into custody, the police said.
Also read: Video Of Men Waving Saffron Flags Outside A Mosque In Karnataka Linked To Karauli Violence
Fact check/Verification
To check if the video was indeed from the Kolar violence that took place on Friday, Newschecker began by analysing the full video properly. We notice, that the signboards seen in the video are all written in Hindi, which is rare for Karnataka. On further analysis, towards the end of the video, at about 26 seconds, we notice the signboard of the mosque, which reads ‘Jama masjid, Rajnandgaon’.
Using these details as a clue, we searched for mosques in this area on Google maps and found an image of a mosque, corresponding to the same location seen in the video. This proves that the video is in fact from Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, and not has no links to the Kolar violence.
To understand more about the video, we split it into keyframes and conducted a reverse image search on the video and found the same video tweeted by a user @KashifArsalaan, who identifies himself as a freelance journalist. The video, posted on April 7, shows the exact same sequence of visuals as seen in the viral video posted by Werleman. The description of the video on the thread reads ‘The incident is from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, where a mob gathered outside the Jama Masjid and started raising ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans at the time of Azan.’
Conclusion
Video tweeted by controversial journalist CJ Werleman claiming to show Hindu mob chanting Jai Shri Ram slogans outside a mosque in Kolar is false. The video is actually from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh from an earlier date, and has no links to the Kolar violence.
Result: False Context/False
Sources
Tweets by Kashif Arsalaan
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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.
