Slogans demanding revenge on RSS workers for Tabrez Ansari’s death has been added to a two year old Muharram procession video. Sudarshan News shared the doctored clip.

Fact Check News: An old video of a Muharram procession, where people can be seen brandishing swords, has been doctored and shared with a false claim that the crowd demanded avenging the death of Tabrez Ansari.

Tabrez was beaten by a mob on suspicion of theft and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’ in Jharkhand last month. Ansari succumbed to his injuries on June 22 while in the custody of the police.

The 30-second-long video, bearing the logo of Sudarshan News, shows a crowd brandishing swords and hockey sticks while the slogans of ‘shoot the killers of Tabrez, naara-e-Takbir Zindabad Zindabad, Allah-hu-Akbar, down with RSS, shoot the half-pant people, Tabrez your blood will bring revolution’ can be heard in the background.

The clip has been shared with a caption that claims ‘a terrifying glimpse of religious fanatics walking the streets of India. Brandishing naked swords they are chanting kill those dressed in half pants. They are signalling death to RSS and other Hindu groups.’

(Hindi: पूरे भारत मे मज़हबी उन्मादियों का खौफनाक रूप सड़को पर. नंगी तलवारों के साथ लग रहे नारे- चड्ढा चड्ढी वालों को, गोली मारो सालों को. मौत का इशारा #RSS व अन्य हिन्दू संगठनों के कार्यकर्ताओं की तरफ.)

Click here to view the post.

BOOM reached out to Surat Police who confirmed that the video is nearly three years old and the accused had been arrested.

Fact Check News India: A disturbing video showing two migrant workers being intimidated and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Surat, Gujarat has resurfaced on social media with no context that the video is nearly three years old.

The one minute long video shows one Amit Singh Rathore assault two men as he forces them to use expletives against Islam and chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Another person recording the assault can be heard in the background.

The video, which is viral on Twitter, has been viewed more than 2300 times at the time of writing this article.

Same video viral in Moradabad in 2016

The same video was viral in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, later that month.

Watch the Video here.

BOOM found that the fountain can be powered with just about any sound made.

Fact Check India: A viral video of a girl shouting into a voice controlled fountain has gone viral on WhatsApp and social media, with captions that falsely claim that it is in Thailand and that it can only be powered by saying “OM”.

BOOM found out that the fountain is actually located in China, and that it can be powered by making any noise into a loudspeaker placed near the fountain.

The Misleading Message Goes Viral

On July 8, 2019, BOOM received two forwarded messages on its WhatsApp helpline, that claimed that there exists a fountain in Thailand that can be powered with the word “OM”. The message came with a video with a ‘Tik Tok’ watermark, where a girl is seen making a sound on a voice amplifying instrument, which is followed by the fountain water rising up swiftly.

Does the girl in the video really make the water in the fountain rise by saying “OM” into the loudspeakers?

Watch the Video here.

Netizens photoshop a bottle of Jack Daniels into a team photo of the Men In Blue.

Fact Check: An image purporting to show a bottle of alcohol placed below the chair of Ravi Shastri, coach of the Indian cricket team, during a team photograph, is photoshopped.

The image has been poorly edited by adding a cropped photo of a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey to it.

BOOM received the morphed picture on its WhatsApp helpline (7700906111) from a reader who asked about the photo.

It is also being shared on Twitter with the same caption. Most of the replies to the tweet have pointed out that the image is fake and photoshopped and was created as a joke.

A reverse image search of the photograph shows the original photo which does not have the bottle.

It was tweeted by the official handle of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on July 6, 2019.

You can view the post here.

BOOM reached out to Tabrez Ansari’s uncle and cousin who rubbished the rumours.

Fake News India: Family members of Tabrez Ansari, who was lynched by a mob in Jharkhand in June, has rubbished a viral video claiming Ansari’s wife attempted to commit suicide by trying to hang herself.

The video, viewed more than 83000 times at the time of writing this article, has been shot with a voice-over in an attempt to appear like a credible news bulletin.

It has been captioned as “wife of Tabrez Ansari has hanged herself.” (Original caption in Hindi: तबरेज अंसारी की बीवी ने लगाई फांसी)

The video opens with a dramatic voice over, narrating how Shaista Parveen could not bear the loss of her husband and decided to end her life.

“Namaskar, welcome to Around News. Tabrez Ansari’s wife received a serious mental blow after his death. News is coming in about Tabrez Ansari’s wife hanging herself.”

It further states that Shaista Parveen was driven to take the decision since the accused weren’t arrested yet.

The video then makes a passing mention how Parveen was saved when “her chacha (uncle) quickly reached and rescued her.”

You can watch the video here.

The viral post claims that a group of Muslims in Haryana pelted stones at women singing devotional songs at a temple.

Fake News: A four-year old video of a sectarian clash between Shia and Sunni Muslims at a mosque in Rajasthan has gone viral with a false claim that a group of Muslims in Haryana pelted stones at a Hindu temple.

BOOM, however, found out that the incident was not an inter-religious clash but was a dispute between Shia and Sunni sects of the Muslim community, that took place in 2015.

A caption with the viral video reads ‘a group of peaceful Muslims pelted stones at women singing devotional songs at a temple at Attali village in Faridabad yesterday. A woman filmed the incident which has now gone viral in entire country. No news channel will show this.’

(Translated from Hindi: कल शाम को अटाली गांव फरीदाबाद में शांतिप्रिय मुस्लिम लोगो द्वारा मंदिर में कीर्तन कर रही महिलाओ पर पथराव। एक जागरूक महिला ने वीडियो बनाया जो की पूरे हिंदुस्तान में फेल चूका है। किसी न्यूज़ चॅनेल पे ये नहीं दिखाया जाएगा।)

The same video was posted by a Facebook user on July 3, 2015 and has been now revived after a temple was desecrated in Delhi’s Hauz Qazi allegedly by local Muslims. Read more about the incident below.

You can watch the video here

Anti-defection may seem to be an inhibitor to party-hopping legislators, but the current Karnataka showdown has exposed its backdoor.

Fact Check News: The year 1967 was a different ball game in the life of a certain Gaya Lal.

It was the year in which he changed his political parties…twice. And these changes all occurred in one day. He changed his party thrice over the period of one fortnight. These defections helped him stay on the side of power in a nascent Haryana government, which was less than a year old.

But this ‘Aaya Ram Gaya Ram’ business – an adage termed to popularise turncoat behaviour taken by politicians like Lal to stay in power came to a halt with the advent of what is called the popular anti-defection law that came into being in 1985 to promote party loyalty and curb such switching.

The concurrent upheavals in the Goa Assembly, where 10 of the 15 Congress MLAs have defected to the BJP, and in the Karnataka Assembly where 14 MLAs of the Janta Dal (Secular) – Congress combine have submitted their resignations (although they have not been accepted) have raised fresh questions on their destinies under the anti-defection law.

What is the Anti-Defection Law?