Claim
A user on social media shared a video in which an angry mob is seen climbing to the balcony of a person in Telangana. We can also see a bunch of people barging in on the door of the house.
The user has shared this video with caption: “This video is from Telangana, not from Afghanistan or Pakistan. These people are barging into the houses of Hindus to behead them.
Your safety is in your hands. No politician, organisation, or media won’t come to your rescue just like the Hindus in Kashmir.”
Fact Check
To check the authenticity of the viral video, DFRAC did a reverse image search of a keyframe from the video. This led us to images posted on social media and some news reports about the incident.
We examined the social media post by a profile called pakistanihindus and came across the video posted on the sixth slide of the mentioned post. The caption of the video mentions the incident. A minority Hindu community man was booked under blasphemy law. People alleged that it is a fake case of blasphemy. The person booked under blasphemy is a sanitation worker, named Ashok Kumar. People tried to behead him, as mentioned in the caption of the post.
A report by Free Press Journal, dated 22 August 2022, stated that a Hindu man named Ashok Kumar, who was a sweeper, lodged at Rabia Centre in Saddar of Hyderabad in Pakistan was hounded and brutally attacked by a vicious mob.
It was a case of personal vendetta which led to the Hindu man being booked in a fake case of blasphemy.
Hyderabad Police of Pakistan came into action and dispersed the mob and took over the Hindu sanitation worker. Police gave clarification that it was a personal clash with a local resident, which led to the accusation of blasphemy.
Another report by Economic Times, dated 22 August 2022, mentioned similar facts as stated in the Free Press Journal’s report.
“Hyderabad police dispersed a violent mob which was demanding handing over a Hindu sanitary worker accusing him of #blasphemy Police claims the sanitary worker was targeted because of a personal clash with a local resident,” said Mubashir Zaidi in a Tweet.
A social media post by a Pakistani journalist on the incident has been quoted in the report. “Hyderabad police dispersed a violent mob which was demanding handing over a Hindu sanitary worker accusing him of #blasphemy Police claims the sanitary worker was targeted because of a personal clash with a local resident,” said Mubashir Zaidi in a post on social media.
Similarly, another Pakistani journalist’s social media post was quoted in the report. Naila Inayat’s post says, “Hindu sanitary worker Ashok Kumar booked under 295B of blasphemy over alleged desecration of the Quran in Hyderabad. The allegation came after a brawl with shopkeeper Bilal Abbasi, who then lodged the complaint against Kumar.
This report gives a clear picture of how a minority Hindu man in Pakistan’s Hyderabad was falsely accused of blasphemy and attacked by a violent mob. Later, Hyderabad Police of Pakistan came to his rescue.
Conclusion
From the fact check, we can conclude that this viral post is misleading. This viral video is not from Telangana, but is from Hyderabad in Pakistan. Moreover, this incident dates back to 2022.
