2022 Photo From MP Falsely Linked to Haryana Demolitions

An old photo of a man looking at a structure being demolished is viral online with the false claim that it is from Nuh, Haryana, and that the man is witnessing his house being razed by authorities following the violence in the area. BOOM found that the claims are false-- the photo is at least as old as 2022 and was most likely taken in Khargone, Madhya Pradesh.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 7 questioned if the authorities in Nuh were indulging in "ethnic cleansing" after reports of more than 1,200 structures, most belonging to Muslims being demolished, emerged. The demolitions came after deadly clashes in Nuh on July 31 that led to the death of at least seven people and left many more injured.

The photo of the man staring at his house being razed is being shared in this context. A caption on Twitter reads, "An helpless muslim man from Nuh, Haryana watching his home's demolition by government."

Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.

Click here to view the post and here for an archive.

FACT-CHECK

BOOM found that the photo is from Khargone, Madhya Pradesh and is at least old as 2022.

A reverse image search of the photo on Google led us to a report published by Scroll on October 19, 2022, that carried the same image.

On August 10, 2022, communal clashes broke out in Khargone after alleged stone-pelting at a Ram Navami procession. One person died in the violence, and 24 were injured, following which the Madhya Pradesh government demolished houses and shops belonging to Muslims claiming they were involved in the stone-pelting.

Several other news outlets used this image in their reports about the Khargone violence, however, none of them mentioned their source. See here and here.

BOOM could not independently verify the source of this image, however, it is at least as old as August 2022.