New Delhi: A video has gone viral on social media wrongly claiming that a mob threatened to kill people from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The video was shared on 1 July by news channel ‘Sudarshan News’, but has since been deleted. In the video, a mob could be seen brandishing swords and weapons, and chanting slogans such as ‘Kill RSS people’, ‘Tabrez, revolution will come through your death’, ‘RSS down down’, among others.
“Horrific form of religious fanatics on the road in India. Slogans are being raised with naked swords. Chadda-Chaddi walo ko, goli Maro salo ko (Shoot the ones who wear shorts). Threat to life to workers of @RSSorg and other Hindu organisations,” read the text accompanying the visuals.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, were also tagged in the tweet.
The Twitter handle of Sudarshan News describes itself as the “Official Twitter Account of Sudarshan 24×7 National News by @SureshChavhanke, known as the prominent voice of Nationalism”.
The video has also gone viral on Facebook and has over 9,000 views.
Fact check
The video was actually shot in Dehri-on-Sone city of Rohtas district in Bihar on 11 November 2017 during a Muharram procession, and has been edited to incorporate audio to spread misinformation.
In the original video, there is no sloganeering that threatens any community or workers of any organisation, and only one voice of a man could be heard speaking on loudspeaker, urging the crowd to move slow.
Repeated offender
Sudarshan News has been accused of peddling fake news earlier too. On 30 September 2017, the channel’s owner Suresh Chavhanke had shared a 2014 image of a disabled man being dragged by police as Rohingya criminal. The disabled man in the photo was actually a Bangladeshi activist.
In collaboration with SM HoaxSlayer.
Also read: Old video shared to claim Muslims lynched Hindu man, but it’s from Bangladesh