A video showing a brawl taking place near a Ganesha idol is being peddled on social media with a false communal angle claiming Muslims protested against installing the Hindu deity's idol in Hyderabad.
BOOM confirmed with Hyderabad Police that the incident has no communal angle as claimed by social media posts.
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The clip is viral as the 11-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festival began on August 22, 2020.
The video shows a group of men thrashing a person while policemen try to separate them. Towards the end of the clip a cop takes the person being attacked toward a Ganesha idol.
A Hindi caption with the clip translates to 'Muslims attacked Hindus who were installing the idol of Ganesha in Hyderabad. It's the religion that teaches hatred'.
(Hindi: हैदराबाद में गणेश जी की मूर्ति लगाने पर मुसलमानो ने हिन्दुओ के साथ मारपीट किया. मजहब ही सिखाता है हिन्दुओ से बैर रखना..)
Note: The video (archive) contains violence, discretion is advised.
हैदराबाद में गणेश जी की मूर्ति लगाने पर मुसलमानो ने हिन्दुओ🚩 के साथ मारपीट किया.😠😠👇
— कपिल वर्मा (@kapilverma73) August 23, 2020
मजहब ही सिखाता है हिन्दुओ🚩 से बैर रखना..🤔@Rajput_Ramesh pic.twitter.com/S0FPf3j5r3
The same video has been shared from several Twitter handles with similar communal claims.
Several Facebook pages have also shared the same video or its longer versions with communal claims.
The Facebook post (archive) shared below shows the same video with a Hindi caption which translates to 'Some youth who were protesting the installation of Ganesha idol in Hyderabad were thrashed on the spot. Hindus, stay united like this'.
(Hindi: हैदराबाद में कुछ युवक गणेश प्रतिमा की स्थापना का विरोध कर रहे थे, मौके पर ही कूट दिए गए। हिन्दुओ ऐसे ही एकजुट होकर रहो)
Another Facebook post with same video has a caption in Hindi reading 'Some Muslims were protesting the installation of Ganesha idol in Hyderabad. They were thrashed on the spot'.
(Hindi: हैदराबाद में कुछ muल्ले गणेश प्रतिमा की स्थापना का विरोध कर रहे थे, मौके पर ही कूट दिए गए)
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Fact Check
We did a keyword search with 'Hyderabad, fight, Ganesha idol' and found a news article by The News Minute about the same incident.
The incident took place in Lal Darwaza locality in Mughalpura of Hyderabad, the News Minute reported.
BOOM then contacted Mughalpura police station where the Station House Officer (SHO) told BOOM that there was no communal angle in the incident.
"The incident took place during the beginning of the Ganesh chaturthi festival. The fight happened between distant relatives and all involved in the fight were Hindus. The matter did not involve anyone from another community," the SHO said.The SHO also said that there were claims doing the round that the idol was vandalised.
"While transporting the idol, its hand was broken. No case was booked as both the parties had resolved the issue among themselves," the Mughalpura SHO said.
BOOM also contacted sub-inspector Sandeep Reddy, Mughalpura police station who reiterated the SHO's claims. The sub inspector said that the incident took place on August 22 when the deity's idol was installed closer to the gate of one of the party's house.
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"Both sides involved in the fight were Hindus and are relatives. Since the issue was resolved outside the police station, no complaints were filed," Reddy told BOOM.