A Facebook page by the name 'Breaking News BN’ had on Wednesday, 14 February, shared a post detailing how a Christian pastor and his wife were humiliated by Indians in Uttar Pradesh, as they were stripped naked and made to "march around town as punishment.” The post is also accompanied by a picture of a man and a woman standing naked, with the latter having a baby around her arms.
The post, which has garnered more than 1,27,000 shares and over 5,000 comments, is fake.
The picture used in the post surfaced back in October 2015, and, in fact, shows a Dalit family allegedly stripping in protest when the police refused to register an FIR of a robbery in Uttar Pradesh's Dankaur.
There are also typos in the post – Uttar Pradesh spelt as ‘Utter Pradesh’, "they were make naked.” The post has not been taken down till this story was published.
BREAKING NEWS... Please pray for the Christian Pastor and his wife, being humiliated by Indians in Utter Pradesh -India, for preaching the Gospel, they were make naked and March around town as punishment. Lord have Mercy.....Can you please pass on this news as fast as possible so that a lot of people can pray for them (sic).Fake Facebook post by ‘Breaking News BN’
Notably, there were also conflicting versions of the real incident involving the Dalit family. While some reports suggested that it was the Dalits who had stripped themselves in protest, others indicated that it was police personnel who had stripped and humiliated them.
Nevertheless, the fake post by 'Breaking News BN’ got unprecedented traction on Facebook, with many users being taken in by their post.
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