Social media posts claiming local Muslims in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district threw pieces of raw meat at a temple, are false with the police itself debunking the communal rumour.
Dismissing any communal angle to the incident, Hathras police clarified that a local chicken shop owner had discarded poultry waste in a dustbin and stray dogs in the area had dragged the carcasses out.
A 30-second clip showing a stray dog pick at pieces of raw meat strewn across a street as police officials and people gathered nearby look on, is doing the rounds of Twitter and Facebook with the false claim.
The claim in Hindi, translates to the following: "Muslims have thrown pieces of meat at a holy temple site of Hindus in Nai Ka Nagla colony, Janpad Hathras where the population is mixed. Till when will Hindu temples will be treated this way?? @Banswal_IPS @dgpup @igrangeagra @digrangealigarh @Uppolice @myogiadityanath"
(In Hindi: नाई का नगला मोहल्ला जनपद हाथरस में जहां मिश्रित आबादी रहती है वहां मुसलमानों द्वारा हिन्दुओ के पवित्र स्थल मंदिर के आसपास माँस के लोथड़े फेंके गए है| हिन्दुओ के मंदिरों के साथ ये व्यवहार आखिर कब तक ?? @Banswal_IPS @dgpup @igrangeagra @digrangealigarh @Uppolice @myogiadityanath)
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The post can be accessed below.
नाई का नगला मोहल्ला जनपद हाथरस में जहां मिश्रित आबादी रहती है वहां मुसलमानों द्वारा हिन्दुओ के पवित्र स्थल मंदिर के आसपास माँस के लोथड़े फेंके गए है
— Navneet Gautam (@navnret) February 13, 2020
हिन्दुओ के मंदिरों के साथ ये व्यवहार आखिर कब तक ??@Banswal_IPS @dgpup @igrangeagra @digrangealigarh @Uppolice @myogiadityanath pic.twitter.com/xtplDOmzWl
The screenshot of the above tweet has been shared on Facebook as well.
Video is viral on Facebook.
Fact Check
BOOM looked at the comments section of the tweet and found a reply of UP Police tagging Hathras Police to take action on the incident mentioned in the viral tweet. In response, Hathras police replied that it had taken cognizance of the incident and deployed a team to investigate the same.
Uttar Pradesh's tweet can be seen below, which translates to @hathraspolice this is to inform and to take immediate action.
@hathraspolice - कृपया सूचनार्थ एवं तत्काल आवश्यक कार्यवाही हेतु।
— UP POLICE (@Uppolice) February 13, 2020
The probe, however, found no communal angle to the incident and the Hathras police tweeted refuting the viral claim.
The Hathras police wrote, "The above information has been refuted by Hathras police"
हाथरस पुलिस द्वारा उक्त खबर का खंडन किया जाता है। pic.twitter.com/Ov0O0thAKe
— HATHRAS POLICE (@hathraspolice) February 13, 2020
Below is a translation of police's statement
Denial
A video is being circulated on social media in which a claim accusing Muslims has been made that the Muslims have thrown pieces of meat at a holy temple site of the Hindus in Nai Ka Nagla colony in Hathras Janpad. When the area in-charge visited the incident site, they found that it was not meat but chicken pieces that have been dragged by dogs from a dustbin. No information from any source has been received regarding that the Muslims have thrown meat at a holy temple of Hindus. Police also found waste material thrown by someone (a shopkeeper) in a dustbin.
Therefore, Hathras police are denying the claim.
Social media cell,
Hathras
It is not clear whether there is a temple in the vicinity as the video does not show the same.
The visual investigation by BOOM shows and one can see a pile of garbage later in the video. This substantiates the police verification that stray dogs dragged the pieces of meat on to the road.
The photo above shows that the pieces of raw meat are in fact discarded poultry. The photo below is a screengrab of the viral video when the person who shot it turned around. It shows garbage and a stray dog in the frame.
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