UP Video of Acid Spilt on 2 Men on Holi Given False Communal Spin

Bulandshahr SSP told us that both the men involved in the incident are Hindus and that the viral claim is false.

A viral video is being shared with a false claim that ‘jihadis’ threw acid on Hindus in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr during Holi celebrations.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A viral video on social media is being shared with the false claim that ‘jihadis’ threw acid on Hindus in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr during Holi celebrations on Monday, 29 March.

However, Bulandshahr SSP Santosh Kumar Singh told us that both the men involved in the incident are Hindus and that the viral claim is a false one. They have been identified as one Tinku and Rohit.

CLAIM

Radharamn Das, vice president and spokesperson of ISKCON, Kolkata, shared the video with the claim that ‘jihadis’ threw acid on Hindus while celebrating Holi in Bulandshahr.

(Note: The images in the links below may be distressing to some. Viewer discretion is advised.)

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

Several social media users shared screenshots of the now deleted tweet on Twitter and Facebook, calling it out for making a false claim. The posts can be viewed here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We came across a reply by the Bulandshahr Police on Radharamn Das’s tweet which stated that the two men involved in the incident that took place in the Khanpur area, were identified as Tinku and Rohit.

The reply further mentioned that no third person was involved in the incident. As per the tweet, Tinku inadvertently hit the bottle of acid, instead of an alcohol bottle, on his head, while dancing during Holi celebrations.

(Source: Twitter/ Screenshot)

Speaking to The Quint’s WebQoof team, Bulandshahr SSP Santosh Kumar Singh denied the claim that people involved in the incident were Muslims.

“Both the men are Hindus. They were drunk and were dancing during Holi celebrations. One of them said that he can break the bottle using his head and brought an acid bottle by mistake that was kept in his house. While pulling off the act, some drops of acid spilt over the boy next to him as well. Both of them are out of danger now,” he added.

We also came across the details of the incident on The Times of India.

Evidently, a video of two boys dancing while playing Holi, with one breaking an acid bottle with his head was shared with the false claim that ‘jihadis’ are behind the incident.

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