Social media posts claiming the Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government has given compensation of Rs. 1 crore to only Muslim families of deceased Covid-19 warriors, are misleading and false.
Tweets from several verified Twitter handles, including those of politicians belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party, have claimed that while 100 doctors and 92 teachers have died fighting Coronavirus in Delhi this year, the chief minister has given Rs 1 crore compensation only to Dr. Anas Mujahid's family.
BOOM found that while the deadly second wave of the Coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 400 doctors across India with 100 casualties being reported from Delhi alone so far, according to the Indian Medical Association; claims of discrimination in giving out financial assistance by the state government are misleading.
BOOM also found news reports from 2020 and 2021 which show Kejriwal giving compensation of 1 crore rupees to Hindu families who lost Covid warriors. However, the deaths of these Covid warriors took place in 2020.
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Dr Mujahid, a 26-year-old junior resident doctor at the GTB Hospital, had succumbed to COVID on May 9 this year. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had provided a financial assistance of Rs 1 crore to the family members of the deceased doctor on May 22.
BOOM found that Dr Mujahid's family is not the only one to be extended a financial support of Rs 1 crore. News reports show that other families too have been given a compensation of Rs 1 crore by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government. However, the casualties reported in these cases are from last year when the first wave of Coronavirus was raging in the country.
National vice president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Atul Kumar had on May 23 tweeted 'Hindus who voted for Kejriwal's party, if you are slightly ashamed then go drown. Kejri met the family of deceased Dr Anas Mujahid and handed over a cheque of one crore rupees. Anas had died of corona. In Delhi, 70 doctors have died of corona, 69 of them were Hindus so nothing for them?'.
(Hindi: केजरीवाल की पार्टी को वोट देने वाले हिन्दुओ जरा भी शर्म हो तो चुल्लूभर पानी में डूब मरो..केजरी मृतक डॉ अनस मुजाहिद के परिवार से मिले और एक करोड़ रुपये का चेक उसे सौंपा अनस की कोरोना से मौत हुई थी दिल्ली में 70 डॉक्टरों की कोरोना से मौत हो चुकी है, 69 हिन्दू थे इस लिए कुछ नही?)
The claim was tweeted from several verified Twitter handles including Major Surendra Poonia, Ashwini Upadhyay among others.
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The claim is quite viral on Facebook too.
Fact Check
BOOM found several news reports which show that the claim about discrimination in providing financial assistance to family members of deceased Corona warriors is false.
In April of 2020, the Delhi CM had announced that the state government would provide a financial assistance of Rs 1 crore to kin of those who died during dealing with Coronavirus patients.
A Times of India report published on May 20, 2021 states that Arvind Kejriwal had provided a financial assistance of Rs. 1 crore to the kin of Covid warrior Sheoji Mishra, an English teacher at a Delhi government school. According to a report in Indian Express, Mishra had died of Covid on June 7, 2020 and almost a year after his demise, the Delhi CM provided a financial assistance of Rs one crore to his family members on May 20.
The strap of the Indian Express article wrongly mentions that Sheoji Mishra contracted Covid-19 in May 2019. Mishra had contracted the deadly virus in May 2020.
A Tribune report published on May 22, 2021 states that the Delhi government had extended a financial assistance of Rs 1 crore to the kin of a government teacher Nitin Tanwar who had succumbed to Coronavirus after getting infected while on Covid duty last year.
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A report published in the Hindustan Times on March 13 earlier this year states the Delhi CM had met with the family members of deceased Corona warrior Rakesh Jain, a lab technician at Hindu Rao hospital, who had succumbed to the deadly virus on June 18, 2020.
Similarly, another report published in Aaj Tak on January 13, 2021 mentions about a Rs 1 crore financial assistance extended to the family members of Dr Hitesh Gupta who had lost his life to the deadly virus in November 2020. Doctor Gupta was posted at a dispensary in Kadkaddooma where he contracted Coronavirus. He died on November 3, 2020.
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This apart, BOOM also came across reports from 2020 when family members of Covid warriors Doctor Aseem Gupta, pharmacist Rajesh Bhardwaj, sanitation worker Raju, Lok Nayak hospital technical staff Charan Singh, and doctor Joginder Chaudhary were extended financial support of Rs one crore each.
The Delhi CM had tweeted about some of these meetings.
Archives of the news reports can be accessed here, here, here, here, here and here.
BOOM was also able to get a list of names of beneficiaries, from a source within the party who did not wish to be named. The list has the names of beneficiaries whose family members received a financial assistance of Rs 1 crore between May 2020 and May 2021.
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