A viral video showing a man arguing with a group of people over slaughtering of cows in an open space is viral with misleading captions claiming that the man is a Kashmiri Pandit who stopped Muslims from sacrificing cows in the area.
BOOM tracked down the man who can be heard speaking in the video and confirmed that he is a Kashmiri Muslim from Srinagar. Moreover, the video was recorded earlier in July this year on the occasion of Eid-al-Adha. The disagreement shown in the video was not communal.
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The video is being shared widely on several right wing Facebook pages and Twitter handles with claims that the man is a Kashmiri Pandit.
In the viral video, the man can be heard saying 'I'll see moulvi saahb how do you slaughter 20-22 cows here this time. Is this a slaughterhouse? Do you have a licence for this? Show me the licence and slaughter. Moulvi saahb I am telling you I have a problem. I will not let you slaughter 20-22 cows here. It stinks when you leave behind all the blood'.
At the end of the video the man turns the camera towards himself showing his face.
The caption with the video on a Facebook post translates to 'Finally a lone Kashmiri Pandit stood in front of the peacefuls and did not let them sacrifice a cow. Come, let's stand in solidarity with him'.
(Hindi: आखिर अकेला कश्मीरी पंडित शांतिदूतों के सामने छाती तान कर कहने लगा अब यहां गाय काटने नहीं दूंगा आइए हम सब भी मिलकर उनका साथ दें)
View the video here.
The same video is viral from multiple Facebook pages and Twitter handles with similar claims.
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Did a Kashmiri Pandit stop Muslims from slaughtering cows?
BOOM went through several replies on the video posted on multiple Facebook pages. One of the replies by Arif Jan was an appeal to avoid turning the issue into a political one. We checked Jan's Facebook page and found a screenshot of the same video on one of his posts from September 16.
A long caption with the post reads 'Ghanta gar Kashmir and other social media sites are making this video viral and tying to make it religious and political issue the metter was totally deferent I was opposing the place of slaughter not against slaughtering animals on Eid becose the place darulaloom selected was near my kitchen wall it was really hard to ignore semil of blood because thay has to slaughter 20 to 30 animals one can understand how hard it was in summer ignore semil the matter was solved by masjid commity and there is no issue now i apologise if I have heated sentiment (Sic).'
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View the post below.
The screenshot shared in the post is from the same video.
BOOM then contacted Jan, a resident of Ganderbal in Jammu and Kashmir, over WhatsApp and phone. Jan confirmed to us that he is a Muslim and the video was recorded by him earlier in July this year.
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"The video is from Eid-al-Adha in July this year. The issue was basically related to hygiene. My house shares a common wall with the Darool Uloom. Due to the ongoing lock down everything is shut down here. They have been slaughtering the animals here for past two years and I have been telling them not to do so. I have no issue with the sacrifice but the residual blood and leftovers leave behind a stench," Jan told BOOM.
Jan added that when people came for sacrificing animals again on Eid-al-Adha this year, he objected and made a video. "The issue was resolved on the same day by the mosque committee and the sacrifice spot was shifted to the mosque compound 200 metres from my home," Jan said.
He clarified that he had no problem with the sacrifice but the place where the animals were being slaughtered as it created hygiene related issues for him.
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