A video showing a massive crowd gathered near a mosque is going viral on social media to claim that it shows a recent video from Haldwani, Uttarakhand.
The claim also states that 20 years ago, the Muslim population in Haldwani was one percent but now it has risen to about 20 percent.
Recent update from Haldwani: On Thursday, 8 February, 250 people were injured and four people died in widespread violence over the demolition of an illegal madrasa and an adjoining mosque in Uttarakhand's Haldwani.
The city has been placed under curfew and internet services completely shut down.
How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video and this led us to an old Facebook post from 3 May 2022. The video matched the viral video.
We also came across another X (formerly Twitter) post from 5 May 2022 with the same video and the caption stated that it shows visuals from after people had offered namaz at Jwalapur Eidgah, Haridwar.
Taking a cue, we performed a relevant keyword search and found a video report shared by Bharatvarsh 24x7 News.
It mentioned that thousands of people offered Eid ul Fitr prayers on Eid at Jwalapur Eidgah.
We also found the location at Haridwar on Google maps.
Sharp rise in Haldwani's Muslim population?: Haldwani's Muslim population did not go from 1,000 people in 2004 to one lakh now.
In a fact-check, Team WebQoof found that as per the 2001 Census, Haldwani had 80,436 Muslim residents who made up 16.15 percent of the population.
Subsequently in 2011, the Muslim population fell to 67,559 people, making up 18.55 percent of Haldwani's population.
Since the 2021 Census has not been conducted, there are no recent official figures for Haldwani's current demographic composition.
Conclusion: An old video of an Eid gathering in Haridwar is being shared as a recent clip from Haldwani, Uttarakhand.
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