A video of students bursting firecrackers in a precarious way is circulating with false and communal claims that Hindus in Odisha retaliated after being attacked by Muslims while celebrating Diwali.
BOOM found that the viral video is from Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Science and Research in Sambalpur, Odisha where students of two hostels of the medical college were firing firecrackers and rockets at each other.
The visuals show a student wearing a helmet and aiming at buildings with a box which launched firecrackers and rockets. The student walked towards several buildings, as others accompanied him and cheered him on.
Sharing the viral video on X, a user wrote in Hindi, "This incident happened in Odisha, Muslims attacked Hindus celebrating Diwali, but this is how Odiya Hindus retaliate 😂 fun to watch ! Terminator Mode, activated!"
Click here to see post and here for the archive.
The video is also viral on Facebook with the same claim.
Click here to see post and here for the archive.
ALSO READ: Photo Of Stones Laid On Prayagraj Railway Track Peddled With Communal Claim
Fact Check: No Communal Angle to the Incident
BOOM performed a reverse image search on different keyframes of the viral video and found an X post featuring the same video. In the comments section we noticed a user stating that the location of the video is Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Science and Research in Burla, Odisha.
Taking a cue, we ran a related keyword search on Google which led us to a report published on the news website Online Sambalpur.
The news report stated that students residing in two different hostels of Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Science and Research took inspiration from online games and fired rockets and firecrackers at each other. They termed one hostel group as 'Bharat' and the other group as 'Pakistan' and attempted to create a real-life battle zone using firecrackers. The students, wearing helmets, fired firecrackers and rockets at the other residents of the hostels.
While talking to Sambalpur Online, the director of the medical institute had expressed disappointment over the incident. "Such behaviour is unacceptable. After this incident, the need for strict measures to prevent such activities in the future has been discussed," he said.
Odisha-based news outlet Kanak News also uploaded a video report on this incident. The caption of the report reads, "Burla VIMSAR Students At Boys Hostel Launch Skyrockets At Each Other On Diwali."
BOOM also reached out to Inspector AK Pradhan of Burla police station in Sambalpur. Pradhan told BOOM, "The viral video is from a medical college and the people in the video are students studying there. We have spoken to the director of the medical college and he has said this video is old but we are still investigating the incident. There is no communal angle in this."
Shishupal Khameri, a Kalinga TV journalist from Sambalpur, told BOOM, "Most of the students involved in the incident were second and third year students. On the day of Diwali, these students residing in the two hostels had hurled firecrackers at each other."
Jugal Kishore Mishra, a journalist associated with Odiya newspaper Sambad, also denied any communal angle to the incident. He confirmed that it was a case between students of two hostels.
ALSO READ: Cropped Video Falsely Peddled As Rajnath Singh Supporting Lawrence Bishnoi
