Fact-Check: Old Video of Violence From Gujarat Falsely Linked to Haryana
The video could be traced back to at least July 2019 and is unrelated to the recent violence in Nuh, Haryana.
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As communal violence continues in Haryana, a video of several people wearing skull caps and pelting stones at a bus is being shared on the internet as a recent incident from the state.
What have users said?: Those sharing the video uploaded it with a caption in Hindi that said, "We filed tax return yesterday for these people." Some users identified the location as Mewat region in Haryana.
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About violence in Haryana: A religious procession that was being carried out in the state turned violent when it was stopped by several men who allegedly threw stones at the procession near Khedla Mod in Nuh.
According to an eyewitness Anil Mohania, several vehicles, including his car, were damaged and then set ablaze.
Violence in the state has reportedly claimed six lives. You can watch the video below for more details.
What is the truth?: The video could be traced back to at least July 2019 and from Gujarat's Surat. It reportedly shows protestors attacking a bus and turning violent during a rally against mob lynching.
How did we find out?: We noticed the word "Sitilink" written on the side of the bus, which stands for Surat Bus Rapid Transit System. It is a public transport system and has been operational since 2014.
The number plate of the bus also carried the "GJ" initials. Both these factors combinedly indicated that the video could be from Gujarat.
We found several clues indicating that the video is from Gujarat.
(Source: Viral video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
A keyword search in English led us to a video uploaded on the official YouTube channel of TV9 Gujarati.
The video was uploaded on 5 July 2019 and its description said, "Rally against mob lynching incidents turns violent in Surat, stones pelted on buses."
It carried several visuals from the clashes and showed similarities between the damaged bus seen in this video and the viral one.
The text and the damage can be seen at the same positions in both images.
(Source: YouTube/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)
What were the protests about?: According to Times to India, the rally was organised to protest against mob lynching in various parts of the country. The rally was organised by the Versatile Minorities Forum, which saw thousands of Muslims participating in it.
Several people turned violent when the rally was not allowed to proceed beyond Makkai Pool.
While some people pelted stones at the police, others targeted a city bus and broke its window panes.
The police had to lob 15 teargas shells and fire one round in air to disperse the violent crowd. Five policemen were injured in the incident.
A second wind?: The Quint had fact-checked the same video in 2019 when it was being shared with a false claim that it showed auto-rickshaws and taxi drivers protesting in Mumbai. You can read it here.
Conclusion: Neither is this video recent, nor is it from Haryana. Social media users are falsely linking to the violence that broke out in Haryana.
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