Old, Unrelated Images Peddled As Bhainsa Violence

As many as five old and unrelated pictures are viral on social media with captions falsely linking them to the recent communal clashes that have rocked Bhainsa town of Telangana.

BOOM traced the images to incidents of communal violence in Delhi and Bhainsa that took place in 2020.

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The images are viral in the backdrop of communal clashes that rocked Bhainsa town in Nirmal district of Telangana. On March 7, 2021 communal clashes broke out between two communities following an argument over a bike accident. According to a report published in The News Minute, the clashes resulted in 'two houses and nine vehicles being set on fire'. As many as six persons were injured in the stone-pelting.

Meanwhile, the old pictures have been shared in separate social media posts with captions misleadingly linking them to the recent violence.

A tweet sharing a set of four images, claims '19 H!ndu houses set on fire, but no one is talking about it. Why? Because we are neither peaceful nor we take law & order in our hands and start riots. Surprised to see the silence of BJP on #BhainsaRiots Might be cause WB election is more important than H!ndu life in Telangana'.

Another Facebook post shares a set of four images with a caption 'In a case of deliberate, large-scale violence, a Muslim mob attacked members of the Hindu community and looted and burnt their property in Bhainsa town of Telangana. The Muslim mobs on a rampage also pelted stones at police who rushed to the spot. #SaveHindusOfBhainsa'.

Another Twitter post shares two old images with a caption '18 Hindu houses set on fire.But no one is talking about it. Why ? Because we are neither peacefools nor we take law of the land in our hands and start riots. Even Magsaysay awarded are sleeping bcoz isme Darr ka koi mahol nahi hai inke liye #BhainsaRiots'.

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Swarajya magazine, in its March 8, 2021 article titled 'Fresh Communal Clash In Bhainsa, Telangana: Nizamabad MP Alleges AIMIM Behind Riots To Cause Hindu Exodus' uses an old image from Bhainsa crediting it to The Hindu.

Fact Check

BOOM ran reverse image search on the different images that are being shared in the backdrop of the communal tension in Bhainsa and found that as many as five of them were old and not related to the recent incident.

Image 1

The picture shows policemen in riot gear standing at what looks like a site of violence.

A reverse image search on this picture led us to several news reports from 2020 carrying the same image. An article published in the National Herald on March 5, 2020 credits the photo to wire agency Press trust of India (PTI).

Further keyword search led us to the same picture published in Outlook's photo gallery with a caption 'Security personnel stand guard near a neighbourhood vandalised by rioters during clashes between those against and those supporting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in north east Delhi. PTI Photo/Ravi Choudhary'.

Image 2

The picture shows a man standing amid debris.

A reverse image search on this picture led us to an article published on the website NPR.org on February 26, 2020. The article uses the same image with a caption 'A resident surveys the damage following clashes in New Delhi on Wednesday. At least 20 people have died in three days of violence. Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images'.

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Images 3, 4 and 5

A reverse image search on these images led us to separate news reports from 2020. While the pictures are from incidents reported in Bhainsa, they are not related to the recent violence in the town.

We found image 3 published in The News minute on January 15, 2020. The report stated that communal clashes had broken out in the town on January 13 followed by stone pelting and burning of vehicles.

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Image 4 was traced to a report published in The New Indian Express on January 13, 2020.

The report states that Bhainsa town was in a grip of tension in January last year 'following an attack on people of one faith by those of another'.

Similarly, a reverse image search on image 5 led us to an article published in The Hindu on January 13 last year.

Bhainsa 2020 Incident

According to several news reports, Telangana's Bhainsa town had been in a grip of communal violence in January 2020 after clashes broke out between members of two communities late on the night of January 12. Reports state that police had to camp in the town and impose Section 144 to bring the situation under control.

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