The country is currently witnessing coronavirus lockdown and amid the scare, there is a lot of misinformation being spread on social media.
In a recent, a photograph of a policeman beating a Hindu priest has been doing rounds on social media and is shared by several prominent social media users.
A Facebook user Vinay Pandey shared several other photographs of the incident and wrote, “Policemen of Rewa SP Abid Khan beat up a priest who was only praying during Navratri.” He suggested that the police action was unprovoked as the curfew imposed to tackle the coronavirus pandemic was being followed. Pandey’s post drew over 3,000 shares.
Check out the post:
National spokesperson of Vishva Hindu Parishad, Vijay Shankar Tiwari, claimed that the cop was Superintendent of Police (SP) of Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, Abid Khan.
Fact Check:
When a fact check was conducted, it was found that a tweet by the official handle of the department of public relations, government of Madhya Pradesh verifies the truth that it was not SP Abid Khan.
Check out the post:
This tweet carries the statement given by the inspector general (IG) of Rewa district which was initially shared on Facebook. According to the IG, the police officer in the photograph is not SP Abid Khan but inspector of police (TI) Rajkumar Mishra.
Check out the post of IG of Rewa:
Final Verdict:
The police officer seen thrashing the priest was not SP Abid Khan but TI Rajkumar Mishra.
The priest was not praying alone but among a gathering of at least 50 people
The police have not only been cracking down upon Hindu gatherings but the action has also been taken against several Muslim places of worships flouting curfew.
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