CLAIM
A video of men being trampled by cattle is being circulated on social media with the claim that Indians are forcing Muslim men and children to be run over by cows. “Barbaric & inhuman. Modi developing sick Nazi RSS ideology,” the post read.
In the video, men can be seen lying face down on the ground, while the cattle decorated with colourful headdresses trample over them, prodded by the onlookers.
An archived version of the post can bee seen here.
WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
The video is from Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain where people let cows run over them as part of a Diwali ritual, believed to bring the participants good luck.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On breaking down the video into key frames and running a Google reverse search image using the key words ‘cows walk over men India’, we came across a video on YouTube titled ‘Meanwhile in India: Worshipers let cows walk all over them in century-old ritual.’
Using the key words ‘cows trample men ritual govardhan puja,’ we came across multiple news reports on the bizarre Hindu ritual.
British national daily tabloid newspaper ‘The Daily Mirror’ also carried the same video in November 2018, which further ascertained the visuals are from Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain.
According to reports, scores of men in Ujjain volunteer to get trampled by cows, with the objective of bringing prosperity. The century-old ritual is carried out during Diwali, as part of the Govardhan Puja.
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