Was Abdul Samad Pushed into Water-Filled Pit by a Hindu Companion? Truth of Lucknow’s Viral Video

A video clip of CCTV footage is getting viral on social media. In the video, two children can be seen near a pit filled with water. One child is standing by a bicycle while the other child approaches on foot. After a while, the child on the bicycle pushes the approaching child into the water-filled pit, causing his death. Social media users are claiming that this incident is a result of growing animosity between Hindus and Muslims, and even children are not spared from its repercussions.

A user named Roshan retweeted a quote tweet and wrote: “Is this India’s Mr. Modi used to talk that I will make a new India? All this never used to happen before 2014. Today children, youth, all have started hating Muslims. Society is rotten. Even children are not being spared”.

In fact, a user named Mohammad Imran shared a video clip of CCTV footage and wrote: “Lucknow. In Thakurganj, 7-year-old Abdul Samad was taken away from Kishore’s home and pushed into a pit dug for beautification… Whole incident captured in CCTV camera, murder case on six, four in custody…”.

Fact-Check

To verify the claim regarding viral videos, the DFRAC team searched for some keywords on Google.   We came across several media reports during this process.

In Lucknow’s Thakurganj, 7-year-old Abdul Samad was pushed into a water-filled pit by his own friend near Kala Pahad. After the CCTV footage of the incident went viral, Abdul’s father lodged a complaint alleging a conspiracy to murder his son, involving a minor named Kishor, along with Abdul’s father, Mo. Zahiin, mother, Saika, uncle, Khalid, Arif, and Huma. The police have filed a report in this case and have begun their investigation, questioning a number of people who have been taken into custody.

In addition to that, according to the website of the newspaper Hindustan, 7- year old Abdul Samad, was pushed by his 13-year-old friend into a water-filled pit near the Kala Pahad, at Thakurganj in Lucknow, and unfortunately died after being stuck for a while.

According to Abdul’s father, Ahmad, the accused minor and his family also reside in the same locality. They are neighbors of Ahmad’s family. The accused teenager’s uncle, Khalid, works at the district magistrate’s office and often intimidates the people in the neighborhood. Khalid and his family have given threats earlier as well. As a result, Ahmad suspects the involvement of Khalid, along with his son Mo. Zahiin, wife Saika, Uncle Arif, and Huma are in the conspiracy to kill Abdul.

 Probably the Hindu-Muslim angle has been aroused by mentioning that “7-year-old Abdul Samad was taken away by Kishore from home” since the accused is a minor, therefore, the name and identity of the minor cannot be revealed, hence it is being written as Kishore.

Conclusion

It is clear from Dfrac’s Fact-Check that claim associated with viral video is misleading as it does not involve any communal angle. In fact, both parties are Muslim, therefore, the claim of social media users is false.