False Claim About Muslim Man Caught Urinating on Kumbh Poster in Raebareli Viral

The city police clarified on X that the name of the man in the viral video was, Vinod.

Fact-Check: Police confirmed that the man in the video was a Hindu and not Muslim. 

(Source: The Quint) 

A video showing a man being thrashed on the streets is being shared to claim that a Muslim man urinated on a Kumbh poster in Raebareli.

Those sharing wrote, "Abdul Urinates on Photos of Mahakumbh and Hindu Deities on Wall, Caught by Locals" (sic.)

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is the claim true?: No, the claim is false.

• Rai Barielly police clarified on their X page that the name of the man in the video was Vinod and that he didn't belong to the Muslim community.

What we found: We ran a keyword search and found a report by Amar Ujala about this incident which took place in the Bachhrawan police station area in Raebareli. The report, however, did not mention the man's religion or name.

• We also found a post on an X account named Prime Media Channel about this incident, which stated that the accused came from "another community," alleging that the man belonged to the Muslim community.

• Raebareli police's X handle replied on this post and stated that the man's name was Vinod Pheriwala.

• We contacted the OP Tiwari, the Station House Master of Bachhrawan who debunked the communal angle to this incident. Speaking to The Quint, he said, "The name of the man was Vinod, who was a Hindu and has been arrested."

• Tiwari added that the man was in an intoxicated state, and he urinated three to four feet away from the wall where the poster was placed. He said, "The investigation in the matter has started."

Conclusion: Social media users have added a false communal angle to this incident where a Hindu man urinated on a Maha Kumbh Mela poster.

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