Muslims Threw Meat Near Hindu Temple? No, They’re Rooster Feathers

The Hathras Police found that the things lying on the ground are feathers of a rooster.

A viral video falsely claimed that Muslims threw pieces of meat near a Hindu temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

A viral video on social media claims that Muslims threw pieces of meat near a Hindu temple in Hathras’ Nai ka Nagla area in Uttar Pradesh.

In the video, alleged meat pieces can be seen lying on the ground with dogs loitering around them. The video tweeted by one Navneet Gautam was viewed over 36,000 times and had garnered 2,700 retweets at the time of publishing this story.

Dainik Jagaran published an article on Friday, 14 February, with the headline: “मंदिर के पास मास के टुकड़े मिलने से लोगों में गुस्सा, अधिकारियों में खलबली Hathras News” (Translated: Public angry after meat pieces were found near temple)

Dainik Jagaran published an article on the incident on 14 February.

The video has been shared on Facebook with the same claim.

The video is viral on Facebook.

TRUE OR FALSE?

False.

The Hathras Police found that the things lying on the ground are not pieces of meat but feathers of a rooster and other waste material that were thrown by a shopkeeper into a dustbin.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We found that the official Twitter handle of Hathras police station had replied to Navneet’s tweet mentioning that the claims made in the viral tweet are false.

The clarification issued by the police, when translated in English, reads: “They are not pieces of meat but a rooster’s feathers and other garbage.”

The waste material was later pulled out of the dustbin by dogs, the statement added.

A local journalist told The Quint that a shopkeeper had thrown dead remains of a rooster in the dustbin.

“The shopkeeper is claiming that some animal might have pulled it out of the dustbin. A group of Hindus were angry because of the incident and later the police officials closed the shop.”

Local journalist

In the viral video as well, at 0:21 seconds, heaps of garbage can be seen lying on the ground.

We found that the video shows heaps of garbage being thrown on the ground.

Further, on comparing the visuals seen in the video to the feathers of a rooster, we found that they are similar. (highlighted in blue)

Left: Screengrab of video. Right: Feathers of a rooster.

Clearly, a video is being circulated with a false claim that Muslims threw pieces of meat near a Hindu temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras.

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