A video showing a violent mob trying to break into a house and attack its members over allegations of blasphemy in Pakistan's Hyderabad has been falsely shared as Hindu houses being attacked amid protests in Telangana.
According to reports, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA T Raja Singh was arrested on August 23 after his derogatory remarks on Prophet Mohammad. Raja Singh's comments sparked massive protests in Hyderabad, demanding his arrest and condemning his statement.
The video shows visuals of a violent mob trying to break into a building, as swelling crowds protest. In the later half, security officials can be seen dispersing a crowd.
The caption with the tweet reads, "See the reality of #Hindus in Independent India (?) .... Not only #HindusUnderAttack here we are not moving but running towards Islamic country.... Sir tan se juda batane wale #ArrestOwaisi free @TigerRajaSingh"
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search with keyframes of the video and found several reports on the video.
On August 22, 2022, ETV Bharat Urdu had the same video with the caption, "Blasphemy in Pakistan: Hindu sanitation worker arrested for blasphemy in Pakistan".
According to reports, a Hindu sanitation worker named Ashok Kumar has been arrested for allegation of blasphemy in Hyderabad, Pakistan. Members of extremist group Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan held several protests against Kumar. A video of the incident is going viral on social media, showing an angry mob trying to climb the building of Kumar demanding his arrest.
The article also cited tweets by Naliya Inayat, a Pakistan based Journalist, who originally posted the video of the incident on the same day. Inayat tweeted that mob gathered around the apartment building to get Kumar. Police dispersed the mob and arrested the him later.
We saw a logo showing "Mani Pathan Hyd" on the later half of the viral video.
We then looked up Mani Pathan Hyd on Facebook and found that the same video was posted by a Pakistani user Mani Pathan on August 21.
According to a Facebook post by Sindh Police Hyderabad, Ashok Kumar was arrested following an FIR on August 21, 2022.
Pakistani media outlet The Dawn reported on August 23, 2022 that Hindu families living in Rabi Plaza was mobbed by enraged people on last Sunday evening following alleged desecration of the Quran by someone inside.
A total of 48 suspects were arrested during the disturbances; they were granted bail by a court later. The FIR mentioned 150-200 as unknown suspects and stated that the arrested suspects were involved in ransacking and aerial firing on roads while carrying lathis, iron rods and weapons; they had damaged private and public properties and created obstruction in the discharge of official duties of police, the Dawn reported further.
Read the Independent Urdu's report.