Disturbing visuals of people pelting stones in a riot like situation during Ram Navami celebrations in Howrah, West Bengal has surfaced with false claims that the incident happened in Khargone, Madhya Pradesh.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from across the country during Ram Navami celebrations on March 30, 2023. According to a news report, several incidents of stone pelting and arson in states of West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and Gujarat, reportedly triggered communal tensions around the celebrations this year. No such incident was reported from Khargone however.
The video, which shows celebration tableaus standing still as people pelt sones, is being shared with a caption on Twitter, "70 terrorists stone pelters in Khargone Madhya Pradesh arrested in view of Violence on Ram Navmi."
Khargone was the epicenter of Ram Navami celebration violence in 2022 when several houses, shops and vehicles were torched after communal tension broke out in the area in April, last year.
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Click here to view the tweet.
Fact Check
BOOM performed a reverse image search and found that several Twitter users posted the video on March 30 claiming it to be from a clash which happened in West Bengal.
Taking a cue, we ran a related keyword search in Hindi and found that the ABP News reported the video as a stone pelting incident that took place in Howrah on March 30, 2023.
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The news bulletin aired visuals from West Bengal mentioning that several stone pelting incidents took place in Howrah on two consecutive days - March 30 and March 31. The report carried a segment from the viral video stating that it shows the violence from March 30 during the Ram Navami celebrations in the area.
We found another ABP News ground report carrying visuals of destructions which took place in Howrah's Shibpur area. Some witnesses, in the report, mentioned that provocative slogans were raised during the rally and then the clash took place on March 30.
BOOM, on the other hand, noticed a shop named "Ghose's Eye Clinic" in the viral video.
A related keyword search with the shop's name led us to a Facebook page carrying an old image of the eye clinic located on G. T. Road in Shibpur, Howrah.
We then reached out to the shop to verify the video. A staff from Ghose's Eye Clinic confirmed that the incident is from Howrah and the clash took place in front of their shop.
A report by The Indian Express, published on April 2, reported that West Bengal’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) began to probe into the clashes that erupted during the Ram Navami rally in Howrah. A senior police officer, as per the article, also informed that the affected areas were visited by the officials and evidence were collected.
The report quoted Howrah Police Commissioner Praveen Kumar Tripathi saying, "A total of 38 people have been arrested in connection with the violence. Two cases have been registered.”
What Happened in Khargone in 2022
We found several old news reports stating that Madhya Pradesh's Khargone witnessed a major stone pelting incident in the district on April 10, 2022. The articles mentioned that stones were hurled at a Ram Navami rally leading to arson and arrest of over 70 people.
As per a Press Trust of India report published on April 11, 2022, "When the Ram Navami procession started from the Talab Chowk area near the district headquarters, stones were pelted at the gathering, prompting the police to fire tear gas shells to control the situation."
The Quint on August 2, 2022, reported, "Three months after the communal violence that broke out during a Ram Navami procession in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone city, the state police on Sunday, 31 July, arrested 30-year-old Sameerullah Khan, son of Nasrullah Khan, on the charges of being the ‘mastermind’ behind the violence."