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After Hindu man is set on fire in UP, fake video with communal overtones goes viral

A 22-year-old was set ablaze by four men in UP last week. Now, a 14-second video from 2010 is doing rounds on social media claiming to be of the incident.

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New Delhi: A week after a 22-year-old man was set ablaze in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district, an old video has gone viral on social media falsely claiming to be of the incident.

The young man, Vishnu Goswami, was reportedly set on fire over a “petty dispute” in Gonda by four men on 14 May. Four accused, identified as Imran, Ramzan, Nizamudeen and Tufail, have been arrested in the case since, reported Hindustan Times.

Now, a 14-second fake video is being widely circulated on social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp with communally-charged captions. The video shows a man on fire running outside a building as a couple of onlookers try to douse the flames.

On Monday, a Twitter handle called ‘Akhileshthakurs’ posted a communally-charged tweet in Hindi saying those who were ‘crying’ over the Mohd Akhlaq lynching case are silent over the murder of Goswami. The post named the four accused in the case, derogatorily calling them “apostles of peace”.

The post was retweeted over 2,500 times and liked by over 2,100 users. Similar posts carrying the same video are being widely shared on several online platforms. However, some users have deleted their posts after a warning was posted by the Gonda police.

https://twitter.com/Akhileshthakurs/status/1130530606427697152

Actual video

The man on fire in the video is not Vishnu Goswami, and neither is the location Uttar Pradesh.

The original video, from 2010, is of a Kalpesh Mistry who set himself on fire in Mehsana, Gujarat. The entire incident was recorded by two local journalists who were then charged with abetting suicide, The Indian Express had reported at the time.

Almost a decade later, the video recorded by the journalists is being shared as one from last week’s Gonda incident.


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Gonda case

According to reports, Goswami and his brother were trying to take their “drunk” father home when they got into a disagreement with the four accused.

The accused then took petrol from a nearby tanker and doused Goswami with it. Suffering 65 per cent burns injuries, Goswami was admitted to a Lucknow hospital for treatment.

The local police has vehemently countered the communal colour being given to the incident. In a tweet posted last week, the Gonda Police called the social media activity “illegal and irresponsible”.

In collaboration with SM HoaxSlayer.


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