An image of a shrine gutted by a fire in June 2012 in Jammu and Kashmir has been shared on social media with a false claim that it shows a mosque set on fire during communal violence in Tripura.
Parts of North Tripura witnessed violence after reports of a mosque allegedly being vandalised surfaced. Shops and houses were also attacked in the Panisagar sub-division during a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) rally on October 26, 2021. The image is being shared in this backdrop.
Panisagar Sub-Divisional Police Officer Soubhik Dey was quoted by The Indian Express as saying that a section of Vishwa Hindu Parisad activists ransacked a mosque in Chamtilla area. Later, three houses and three shops were ransacked and two shops were set on fire in the Rowa Bazar area, around 800 yards away from the first incident.
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The image has been shared on Facebook with a caption in Bangla. The translation of the caption reads, "Please pray for Muslims in Tripura! A small state Tripura. Till now, 16 Mosques and many houses were set on fire. Pray for Muslims in Tripura. Muslims have been attacked in Tripura state of India since a few days. Many houses, shops for Muslims and 12 mosques were set ablaze by some fringes of Hinduvta groups and Bajrang Dal workers. But the administration has not taken any step yet. Leave bootlicking Modified media and secular parties. Muslim political leaders have not spoken a word on recent communal violence in Tripura. Allah must leave them but he cannot spare them."
The viral image has a date stamp of October 26 2021 and 'Tripura Mosque' written in Bangla on it.
Click here to see the Facebook post.
(Original text in Bangla: ত্রিপুরা মুসলমানদের জন্য দোয়া করুন সবাই! ভারতের একটি ছোট্ট অঙ্গরাজ্য ত্রিপুরা। ত্রিপুরায় এখন পর্যন্ত ১৬ টি মসজিদে আগুন এবং অনেক ঘর বাড়িতে আগুন লাগিয়েছে। ত্রিপুরার মুসলিমদের জন্য দোয়া করুন। ভারতের ত্রিপুরা রাজ্যে মুসলমানদের উপর বেশ কিছুদিন ধরে হামলা চলছে। মুসলিমদের বহু বাড়িঘর, দোকানপাট ও ১২টি মসজিদ পুড়িয়ে দিয়েছে কিছু উগ্র হিন্দুত্ববাদী জনগোষ্ঠী ও বজরং দলের লোকেরা। কিন্তু প্রশাসনের পক্ষ থেকে এখনো তেমন কোনো পদক্ষেপ নেওয়া হয়নি। পা চাটা মোদী মিডিয়া আর ধর্মনিরপেক্ষ দলগুলোর কথা বাদ দিলাম। মুসলিম রাজনৈতিক নেতারাও ত্রিপুরা সাম্প্রদায়িক হত্যাকাণ্ড নিয়ে একটি শব্দও উচ্চারণ করেননি। নিশ্চয়ই আল্লাহ ছাড় দেন কিন্ত ছেড়ে দেন না! #TripuraMuslimsUnderAttack #TripuraViolence #SaveTripuraMuslims #SaveTripura #StandwithTripuraMuslims #SaveTripura #savemasjid #saveQuran)
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse search on the photograph and found the image on news site Times of India(TOI) on June 26, 2012.
The image has been captioned as, "Historic Srinagar Sufi shrine gutted... The residents of the area blamed the fire service officials for laxity in saving the building."
The same image is available on Rediff News' photo slides from June 25, 2012.
The shrine has been identified as, Peer Dastageer Sahib. According to a report published on Deccan Herald on June 25, 2021, the fire broke out around 6.30 am due to a suspected short circuit at one of the minarets and engulfed the entire shrine within a short time. At least 55 people, including 10 policemen and 15 fire fighting personnel, were injured in clashes after the fire gutted the 300-year-old shrine of 'Peer Dastageer Sahib'.
Read reports by NDTV, The New Indian Express and ABP News.
The renovated shrine was reopened on January, 2015 ahead of Urs, an annual congregation, reported the Greater Kashmir.
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