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.
Vivek Agnihorti’s film The Kashmir Files has taken the internet and the country by storm, deepening the fault lines between right wing and secular voices prominent on social media. The online disinformation machinery has become hyper-active and some members of media have amplified these by publishing unsubstantiated or misleading claims. One such claim, published by many publications reports on the alleged stabbing of three Hindu youth by Muslim men after they watched The Kashmir Files in Kushinagar. Newschecker has found this claim to be partly false and misleading.
The news item, published in the Organiser Weekly, associated with the RSS, was shared by Rashmi Samant, the first Indian student leader of Oxford Students Union who was asked to resign from her post after allegations of racism, with the caption ‘And this happened in a Hindu majority state’. The tweet was shared over 200 times and garnered over 1000 likes.
Several other media publications also published the same news with similar claims.
It was also shared by several social media users.
Fact check/Verification
In order to verify the authenticity of the reports, Newschecker conducted a keyword search on the words ‘Three Hindu youth stabbed after watching Kashmir files’. We did not find corroborating reports in any credible news organisation.
Newschecker then decided to verify the Twitter page of Kushinagar police and found a video of the Additional Superintendent of Police, Kushinagar, posted around the same, in which the officer can be heard listing out the names of the accused.
The officer can be heard saying that “Sachin Gaur and his friends Priyanshu Jaiswal and Sonu and Krishna Jaiswal went to the Sahu Chitra Mandir in Fazilnagar to watch a movie on March 18. Around 8pm in the night, they came out of the theatre during the interval. They got into an argument with Anish Singh, Raja Kherwal and Zainuddin, alias Gunga and his brother Moinuddin during a conversation following which they were attacked with a knife. The police was informed immediately and they were sent to the hospital for treatment. A swift probe was launched and one of the accused, Moinuddin, has been arrested. Three teams have been formed for the arrest of the three others. They will be arrested shortly and necessary action will be taken.”
The ASP’s description of what transpired clearly mentions the names of two Hindu accused along with the names of two other accused, raising doubts about the claim.
We then contacted the spokesperson(PRO) of the Kushinagar police who said “This incident has nothing to do with The Kashmir Files movie or anything of that sort. It has been given a false communal spin. An argument broke out between the two groups when they were out during the interval and things got heated. They were all young, around the age of 17-18. There were Hindus among both groups and it has nothing to do with religion or the movie.”
Newschecker also spoke to the Additional SP, Ritesh Kumar Singh, who further confirmed “The fight began over ‘aapsi baat’ (personal matter). One of the accused has been arrested as well.”
Conclusion
An incident of stabbing in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar that took place after two groups of men watched The Kashmir Files, is being shared in a misleading manner by giving it a communal colour. The altercation took place over a personal matter as clarified by the police in charge.
Result: Misleading/Partly False
Sources
Tweet by Kushinagar police
Conversation with PRO, Kushinagar police and
Conversation with ASP Ritesh Kumar Singh, Kushinagar
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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.
