Images From UK, Indonesia Passed off as Ramadan Crowd in India

Fact-Check | These pictures were shared with ‘#BanRamzanGatherings’, which became one of the top trends on Twitter.

(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)

As the cases of coronavirus continue to rise in the country, multiple users on Saturday, 17 April, took to Twitter to share a few pictures of mass gatherings insinuating that the pictures are recent and from India.

In fact, these pictures were shared with ‘#BanRamzanGatherings’, which became one of the top trends on the platform with over 25,000 tweets at the time of writing this story.

However, we found that these pictures are old and unrelated to the current situation in India.

CLAIM

Supporting the aforementioned hashtag, users on Twitter and Facebook shared these pictures.

An archived version of the post can be seen here.

Another user shared a set of images and wrote that if the Prime Minister is appealing to “call off” the Kumbh Mela then the same should be done for Ramadan gathering. The Kumbh Mela is currently being held in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, where a massive crowd of devotees has gathered.

Earlier today, PM Modi had appealed that the Kumbh should only ‘be symbolic’ in the light of the unprecedented health crisis.

An archived version of the tweet can be seen here.

More such posts can be seen here, here, here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

• Of the four images, three images don’t have anything to do with Ramadan celebrations in India.
• The one which is from India is from 2018.

IMAGE 1

On conducting a simple reverse image search using Google, we came across an article on Arab News, which carried the same image. The article dated 7 April 2020 mentioned that the picture showed a gathering of Egyptian Muslims at Old Cairo’s historic Amr Ibn Al-Aas mosque. The picture was credited to news agency AFP.

We then did a keyword search using relevant words and found the image on Getty Images. The details of the photograph mentioned that the picture was taken on 5 June 2019 by AFP photographer Mohamed el-Shahed.

IMAGE 2

On conducting a reverse image search we found this picture in an article on ‘NPR.ORG’. The picture was attributed to AP photographer Zik Maulana and the caption mentioned that it was taken in Indonesia in 2020 despite concerns of the coronavirus outbreak.

We also found the photograph on AP Images. The picture was taken on 24 April 2020.

IMAGE 3

On conducting a reverse image search we came across the same photograph on Metro, a UK-based newspaper. The report published in 2018 mentioned that the picture was from Ramadan celebrations in Birmingham’s Small Heath Park. The picture was credited to PA Images, which is a UK-based image provider.

We also found the image on PA images, which also mentioned that the picture was taken in UK in 2018.

IMAGE 4

On conducting a reverse image search we came across an article on The Print dated 19 April 2020, which carried this image. The image was attributed to news agency PTI and mentioned that it was used for representational purposes.

We then looked up the image on PTI archives and found this image. The caption mentioned that it was taken on 17 May 2018 in Srinagar.

Clearly, old and unrelated images have been passed off as Ramadan celebrations in the country.

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