Fact check: Does Murder Mystery of Harsha have a connection with the release of Fatwa?

Harsha, a 23-year-old, Bajrang Dal Activist was recently murdered in Shivamogga, Karnataka. An uproar of aggression can be seen among the members of the Bajrang Dal after the death of Harsha. As per the Araga Jnanendra (Home Minister of Karnataka), the three accused of the murder are under custody of the Police but their names won’t be revealed. Meanwhile, a claim is getting viral on social media that a Fatwa was released in the name of Harsha calling him blasphemy of Islam. Users are relating his death with the release of Fatwa.

Rashmi Samant, a Hindu Human Rights activist claimed that in 2015, a Facebook group named Mangalore Muslims has released a Fatwa against Hindu activist Harsha. She added that the Harsha took active participation in the Hijab Row. She also mentioned Lavanya and Rupesh Pandey along with Harsha. Lavanya was a 17 year-old-girl of Thirukattupalli, Tamil Nadu who committed suicide because of the extreme pressure built on her for conversion to Christianity. BJP members gave much elevation to the case alleging the brutal site of conversion in Tamil Nadu. Rashmi Samant posted the tweet on 21^st February 2022 by inserting a Facebook post of the Mangalore Muslims which is written in Tamil.

https://twitter.com/RashmiDVS/status/1495618912448303104?s=20&t=yMZYUdER9oujoDdtaSzYGw

B L Santhosh, National General Secretary of BJP org, also connected the murder case with protest regarding Hijab in Karnataka. He claimed that Harsha was killed by Jihadi Fundamentalists brutally in front of his house in Shivamogga for showing support in Hijab Row. He considered him a martyr.

Harsha was killed by jihadi fundamentalists brutally in front of his home in Shivamogga for supporting #YesToUniform_NoToHijab . He was a marked man by anti Hindu forces . Tributes to Balidani Harsha . We will stand by his family in this hour of grief . 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/Tb1GLINvv4

— B L Santhosh ( Modi Ka Parivar ) (@blsanthosh) February 21, 2022

Fact Check

After seeing the post of Mangalore Muslims, we translated the caption which says that “Prophet Muhammad Mustafa has been abused by the activist of the Hindu terrorist organization Harsha. He has also used obscene words about Allah and disrespected Kaaba. The people of Shivamogga should find more evidence against him and file a case in the nearest Police Station.”

We cannot find anything related to Fatwa’s release in the entire post of Mangalore Muslims. Thus the claim that Harsha was killed due to the release of Fatwa in 2015 is entirely fake and misleading.

Home Minister Araga Jnanendra also said that there is no connection between Harsha’s death with Hijab Row. As per TOI.

Another report of India Today that says Chief Minister, Basavaraj Bommai and Araga Jnanendra have clearly said that they have not found any credible source which states Harsha was killed because he played anti in Hijab Case. Therefore, there is no link between the death of Bajrang Dal Activist and Hijab Row.