Kirpan Photo Passed Off as Weapons Seized From Mosque in Gujarat
The picture was originally taken at a Kirpan factory in Patiala.
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On 10 July, six people were arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district after the police raided a madrasa and recovered weapons. Ever since, multiple pictures have been going viral with a claim that the police has seized weapons from madrasas in different parts of the country. The Quint has earlier debunked such claims.
CLAIM
A picture which shows swords lying on the floor has been shared on WhatsApp with a claim that the Gujarat police found the weapons from a masjid in the state.
The claim, which is in Hindi, loosely translates to, “These weapons were seized from a mosque in Gujarat’s Rajkot. All the mosques in the country have a similar situation.”
The Quint too received a query on its WhatsApp helpline number regarding this story.
WHAT’S THE TRUTH?
On conducting a simple reverse search we came across a tweet which suggested that the picture was from a Kirpan factory in Patiala. The picture was attributed to India Today.
Taking a cue from here, we looked for Kirpan factories in Patiala and stumbled upon ‘Khalsa Kirpan Factory’.
The Quint then contacted the factory owner Bachan Singh and he confirmed to us that the picture was from their warehouse. He told us that swords in the picture were kirpans (a small dagger carried by Sikhs). He also told us that the picture was taken at their warehouse from where they pack and supply these kirpans to the whole of Punjab.
So, the truth of the matter is that the picture is not from a police raid or discovery but a Kirpan warehouse in Patiala.
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