Images of Injured UP Priest Shared With a False Communal Angle

The photos show a priest who was injured after an altercation with another priest and a policeman in UP's Mirzapur.

The photos show a priest who was injured after an altercation with another priest from the same temple.

(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

A set of two images showing an injured, blood soaked priest is being shared on social media to claim that it shows Amit Pandey, a priest at in Mirzapur's Vindhyachal, who was attacked by a man from the Muslim community.

However, we found that the photo shows Amit Pandey, who was injured after an altercation with another priest from the same temple.

As per Station Officer (SO) Shailesh Kumar of Vindhyachal Police station, Pandey got into a fight with a priest and when police arrived at the scene, he attacked the police officer as well.

CLAIM

The image is being shared with a claim, which is originally in Hindi. The claim states that Amit Pandey, a priest from Ma Vindhyachal temple in Mirzapur, was brutally assaulted by 'Jihadis' - a derogatory term which is often used by the right wing to refer to the Muslim community.

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

More claims across social media can be seen here, here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

While going through one of the posts, we found a reply by Mirzapur Police's verified Twitter account, which said that the case was an old one registered with the Vindhyachal Police.

The account noted that the case was an old one.

(Source:Twitter/Screenshot)

Responding to another tweet, the account also noted that the incident happened on 26 June, 2020.

Mirzapur police noted that the incident happened on 26 June. 

(Source:Twitter/Screenshot)

Using keywords such as 'Amit Pandey Vindhyachal Priest', we looked for news reports on the incident.

The Times of India reported that Pandey had attacked another priest from Ma Vindhyavasini Temple in a disagreement over recording a video inside the temple. The other priest, identified as Vishwanath Pandey, filed a complaint with the police.

When the police arrived at the scene to investigate, Amit Pandey initially locked himself inside a section of the temple and later attacked a policeman identified as Ravikant Mishra. As other police personnel rushed to stop Pandey, he started injuring himself, reported TOI.

As per Hindi news publication Patrika, Mishra's head was gravely injured , while other policemen also suffered injuries.

The Quint contacted Station Officer (SO) Shailesh Kumar Rai of Vindhyachal Police, who told us that the claim of Muslims attacking the priest were false, and that the case was from 2020.

Rai said that the incident was a fight between two priests at the temple and identified the other as one Vishwanath Pandey.

"Amit Pandey had attacked a policeman, Ravikant Mishra, who got six stitches and another priest. There are 22-23 cases against him and he's a history sheeter here. When the police went to catch him, he started hurting himself. As of now, Amit Pandey is absconding."

SO Shailesh Kumar Rai, Vindhyachal Police

Sharing details of the two FIRs registered in relation to this incident, he added that the bloodied photo in the claim was a result of Amit Pandey cutting himself near the neck when the police tried to arrest him.

Clearly, photos of a 2020 case of an altercation between priests of Ma Vindhyavasini temple in Mirzapur are being shared with a false communal spin stating that Muslims attacked a priest.

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