A video clip showing a group of men pelting stones at a building is viral with the false claim that it's an incident in Bihar and the alleged perpetrators are from the minority community, while the so-called victim – Sunny Gupta – is a Hindu. The caption this video is being shared with communalises the incident and incites people by suggesting it will go unnoticed because the 'victim is a Hindu'.
In fact, the incident actually occurred in Pakistan’s Hyderabad, when members of a banned sectarian outfit pelted stones at the house of a man, accusing him of blasphemy.
CLAIM
The post is viral on Facebook and it claims that some Muslims were throwing stones at the house of the deceased in Bihar, who the post names as Sunny Gupta. The post received thousands of shares on the social media platform.
It also claims that the group returned to attack his house while the police looked on helplessly.
“Nobody will say anything because the victim is a Hindu,” the post goes on to claim.
The Facebook post attached above had over 6k shares at the time this story was published. It also had 48k views.
Many other people also shared the 30-second long video on Facebook.
The video was also shared on Twitter.
WHAT WE FOUND
We split the video into multiple keyframes which are still images from within the video. A quick reverse image search helped us come across two posts which suggested the incident could be from Pakistan. The posts also said that the video showed members of Sipah-e-Sahaba (a political party and organisation in Pakistan) vandalising a house. Both the tweets were dated to 23 and 24 April, 2020.
Finally, we came across a tweet by Bilal Farooqui, a journalist based in Pakistan. According to Farooqui's post, dated 23 April, members of Sipah-e-Sahaba were seen throwing stones at the house of a man, adding that the reason was that the attackers had accused him of committing blasphemy.
Farooqui further credited the video to Zawar Asghar Ali Baloch. According to his Twitter bio, Farooqui is a 2014 Henry Luce Fellow and has worked with Tribune 24/7, The Express Tribune, The News, Samaa TV, Daily Times and Pakistan Today.
We also got in touch with Farooqui, who shed some more light on the incident.
Haider Abbas, a Shia Muslim in SITE area of Hyderabad city in Pakistan’s Sindh, was accused of making comments against Sipah-e-Sahaba, the companions of Prophet Muhammad, according to Farooqui.
Explaining that in Pakistan, speaking or writing against the Prophet's companion is also considered blasphemy, Farooqui said that Sipah-e-Sahaba, an anti-Shia organisation, goes after Shias for speaking against them.
Sipah-e-Sahaba and its supporters registered a case against Abbas at the local police station and later visited his house, accompanied by the police, where they hurled stones. The crowd reportedly broke into the house but found that Abbas had left by then.
We had one more clue, which helped us ascertain that the incident occurred in Pakistan. The uniform of the policemen visible in the video matches one worn by Pakistani police personnel.
(With inputs from SM Hoaxslayer.)
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