A collage of two images is viral with claims that a Muslim boy, beaten up in Ghaziabad for entering a temple to drink water, was photographed serving water to railway passengers during lockdown.
The collage shows an image of a group of minors with a tray of water and a screenshot from the video showing the 14-year old, who was thrashed for entering the temple. BOOM found that the image of minors serving water is old and not taken during the lockdown.
According to reports a 14-year-old Muslim boy was thrashed for allegedly entering a temple to drink water. The incident was filmed on camera and the accused circulated the video of the assault, which showed the boy being slapped and kicked repeatedly on his genitals. Ghaziabad Police has so far arrested the two main accused after the video went viral.
The collage has been captioned in Bangla as, He is the same *** who quenched thirsts of people during the lockdown. Now the same boy was beaten when he went to a temple to quench his thirst. Two such posts can be seen here and here.
(Original text in Bangla: যেই * লকডাউনের সময় তৃষ্ণার্ত মানুষের তৃষা মিটিয়ে ছিল। সেই * নিজের তৃষা মেটানোর জন্য মন্দিরে গিয়ে মার খেল।'' ওই গ্রাফিক ছবিত এক নাবলকতে লাল তির চিহ্ন দিয়ে চিহ্নিত করা হয়েছে)
The image is also doing the rounds on Twitter. While the boys have not been identified as the 14-year-old victim, it has resurfaced after the incident.
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Fact Check
BOOM cropped the collage and ran a reverse image search on the photograph showing boys serving water.
We found the same image that was shared in a blogpost in Tamil in May 2016. The blog used the image as a representative one to state the 'true meaning of Islam'. "This is what Islam teaches us. It is such actions that inspire the idea of helping others at an early age," an excerpt from the blog reads.
The image has been on the internet since 2016, four years before the lockdown was announced to contain the spread of COVID-19 in 2020. The same photograph was earlier viral in 2018 with claims that Muslim boys were photographed distributing water during the lockdown.
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