Muzaffarnagar riots: fake video spreads hate on social media

The local police has said that a two-year old video, most likely shot in a tribal area of Pakistan, which was posted online and on social networks and shared by several hundred people was misrepresented to incite violence.

The local police has said that a two-year old video, most likely shot in a tribal area of Pakistan, which was posted online and on social networks and shared by several hundred people was misrepresented to incite violence.

What fuelled the fire was the claim that the clip was an August 27 recording of an incident in Kaval village in Muzaffarnagar wherein two majority community youths were killed after they allegedly murdered a youth of a minority community.

Police sources say two persons were shown brutally murdered in the clip but most likely it was a Taliban propaganda video and it was available on the Internet for last two years.

The police are now looking for a person named Shivam Kumar, BJP MLA from Sardhana assembly constituency Sangeet Singh Som who shared the video and ‘229 others’ who uploaded, shared or liked the video.

We have no idea who this Shivam Kumar but we got the video blocked,” said a police officer. The video however was shared by more than 500 people before the video was removed. “Our FIR was registered at time when only 229 persons had shared it,” he added..

Sources admit that it will be difficult to find 229 others but as far the BJP MLA is concerned, efforts were on to nab him. Infact the police had gone to arrest him on September 6 but had to return empty-handed.

“Later we tried to nab him at the Mahapanchayat on September 7 in which he was present but we decided not to arrest him sensing the mood of the crowd,” said the officer.