Around the night of 1-2 October, a Dalit man named Hariom Valmiki was killed by a mob in Rae Bareli's Unchahar town. The reason behind it was a rumour that he was a thief. A few days earlier, a mentally unstable man was killed due to a rumour of theft in Bareilly. But these were not isolated incidents.
Similar incidents have come to light from many rural areas of Uttar Pradesh which have been caused due to such rumours. And at the root of these violent incidents are rumours and conspiracy theories.
These incidents are living examples of the fact that the impact of rumours are now being felt on people's lives and are not only limited to social media platforms.
In this special report by The Quint, we have tried to find out of the root-cause of these incidents. When we went to the ground, we witnessed the fear of drones, conspiracy theories linked to Nepal's GenZ protests, villagers guarding their homes with sticks and batons, and the victims of the violence.
The report will try to find the answers to three major questions:
Who are the ones spreading these rumours?
What steps is the local administration taking to stop them?
Who are the people that have been affected by the rumours?
The Atmosphere of Fear Among the Villagers Due to Rumours
We went to the Khirauni village in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya district to find out what kind of fear is plaguing the villages of the state. On reaching there, we saw many people carrying sticks and batons and keeping watch.
On asking the reason behind them guarding their homes, the villagers claimed that drones come everyday, and these drones are used to conduct a recce. We asked them if they could show us any such drones conducting recce. The villagers answered us by saying that since we had come today, perhaps that is why no drone was visible. Otherwise, it is seen everyday.
We moved ahead from this place and later arrived at Kalipurwa village. We found that along with men, women were also guarding their homes. They claimed that they had seen cameras flying.
But we found one commonality.
Have you seen any thief stealing?
Every villager had the same answer to our question, "No, I haven't seen it myself, but I have heard about it from someone else."
When we reached the Pirkhauli village at 11 at night, a crowd of people came running towards us. After they spotted the mic in our hands, they were assured that we were indeed from the media. Ramnarayan, who was keeping watch in the village, told us that we would have been surrounded if we had not been from the media.
But the story remained the same here as well. Ramnarayan had not seen any thief with his own eyes.
Who Were the Victims of These Rumours?
After seeing the fear that had engulfed the villages of UP due to rumours, we then proceeded to meet the people who had become victim to these same rumours. They were those who were mistaken for thieves and were then attacked by mobs.
Our team reached Anjrauli village, where two members of the same family were beaten up after being mistaken for theives.
Govind, who was a victim of the violence, said that two members of his family were beaten up in a nearby villager after they were mistaken for thieves. When Govind went to rescue them, the mob started thrashing him and called him a thief.
You can see Govind's family members lying in an unconscious state in the image below. This photo was captured by some villagers after the violence.
In the Ayodhya district, a local artist from Shuklapur faced violence due to the same rumours. Karan played the banjo at nearby events. We reached Karan's house in Shuklapur. His neighbours told us that if police had not arrived at the scene, the violence was so brutal that Karan could have lost his life.
Karan told our team that when there were no events or weddings, he worked as a labourer to support his family. However, he suffered such serious injuries in the violence that he can no longer do labour work for some time. He said that supporting his family has now become a challenge.
During the violence, Karan suffered serious injuries to his head and lost consciousness. He does not even remember who spread the rumours. He only remembers that the mob tied him to a police and thrashed him brutally. The police arrived at the scene and saved his life. Karan's back had serious marks of injuries.
The Truth Behind These Rumours
Team WebQoof found the truth behind the rumours in those same villages, where violence was happening because of them. We spoke to some people, who rejected the drone theory. At the same time, they were also raising awareness among villagers so that they do not fall for such rumours.
"When thefts used to happen earlier, thieves would not come for months after one incident out of fear that they would be caught. This case is strange, where supposedly everyday there is a theft alarm, still the thieves keep showing up. This is completely impossible. Some people must have bought drones from fairs for entertainment, because of which these rumours spread."Lal Bahadur Singh, a villager in Khirauni
Another villager, Durgesh Singh, told us that such rumours often spread in villagers where people are not working in the fields and do not have any specific work to do. He further said that when news of theft taking place in a village comes and when one calls someone to verify, they usually hear that nothing has actually happened.
There is Ayodhya International Airport. At night, many planes take off and people get confused seeing their lights. In a few days, the crop harvesting work will begin. If you come then, you will see that there is no such rumour. These rumours spread when people are free and idle.Durgesh Singh, a villager
The local police of different districts are continuously appealing to people not to pay attention to rumors.
The police in Rae Bareli has also arrested two youths on charges of spreading fear through drones. As per the information received so far, the police investigation has not proved that any gang of thieves is conducting reconnaissance using drones.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)