Tractor Driver Runs Over Cow, Video Viral With False Communal Spin

The accused driver was identified as Ishwar Dhruv, whereas owner of the tractor is one Sonu Yadav.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video, showing a tractor driver running over a cow, has gone viral on social media with a false communal spin.

The Quint’s WebQoof team, however, found news reports that pointed out that the incident happened in Chhattisgarh and the accused is a man called Ishwar Dhruv, who was arrested by the cops after the CCTV footage of the incident came to light.

CLAIM

The video is being shared with multiple claims insinuating that a Muslim man ran over a cow. Words like ‘jihadis’ were used by several users while referring to the driver as they added that ‘Hindus need to wake up before it’s too late’.

[Note: Due to the graphic nature of the visuals, we have not added the video in the story.]

An archived version of the claim can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The video is viral with the same misleading claim on both Facebook and Twitter. Archives version of these claims can be accessed here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

A Google search using the terms ‘Tractor driver runs over cow’ directed us to a Hindi news bulletin by IBC24, which carried the same video and mentioned that the incident was from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh where a man deliberately ran his tractor over a cow.

An archived version of the bulletin can be accessed here.(Source: IBC24/Screenshot)

A report by News18 identified the driver as Ishwar Dhruv and the vehicle’s owner as one Sonu Yadav. The report further mentioned that the driver was arrested by Sarkanada Police who said that the accused was reportedly drunk at the time of the incident.

The Quint reached out to officials at the Sarkanda Police Station in Bilaspur who told us that there was no truth to the communal claims regarding the incident. “The tractor driver has been arrested. His name is Ishwar Dhruv,” a police officer told us.

Clearly, the incident of a man running his tractor over a cow in Chhattisgarh was shared on social media with false communal claims.

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