What is the claim?
Social media users are sharing a video of a mob trying to climb the sides of a building, claiming that it shows people trying to forcefully enter Hindu homes in the southern Indian state of Telangana.
A Facebook user (archived here) shared this clip with a Hindi caption roughly translating to: “This scene is not from Afghanistan or Pakistan but from Telangana.” “who are forcibly entering the houses of Hindus with the slogan ‘separate head and body’. Protect yourself, otherwise the situation will become like Kashmir. No leader, organization, media will come to save you just like no one went to save Hindus in Kashmir (sic),” the caption added.
Archived versions of similar posts shared on Facebook can be viewed here, here, and here.
The video has also surfaced on X with similar claims, with links to those posts available here and here.
Screenshot of viral posts circulating on social media. (Source: X/Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)
However, we found that the video dates back to 2022 and was recorded in Pakistan, not India.
What did we find?
A reverse image search of the viral clip led us to a YouTube video (archived here) uploaded by Hindustan Times on August 22, 2022. In the video, we can observe similar visuals from a slightly different angle. According to the video’s description, it shows a violent mob in Pakistan’s Hyderabad chasing a Hindu sanitation worker, Ashok Kumar, attempting to lynch him over alleged blasphemy.
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Comparison between the viral clip and the video shared by Hindustan Times. (Source: X/YouTube/Screenshot)
Pakistani journalist Naila Inayat also shared the now-viral clip (archived here) on August 22, 2022, stating that it was captured in Pakistan’s Hyderabad when a mob gathered outside the residence of a Hindu man accused of blasphemy.
Furthermore, a Google search led us to multiple news reports from Pakistani media outlets, including Dawn and The Express Tribune, which reported that Hyderabad police arrested a sanitation worker named Ashok Kumar for allegedly desecrating the Quran.
Dawn stated that the complainant, Bilal, found the sanitation worker with burnt pages of the Quran at Rabi Plaza and handed him over to the police. It added that following the news spread, an angry mob tried to break into the building to get hold of the man. The Express Tribune quoted Hyderbad SSP Amjad Ahmed Shaikh, who stated, “The sentiments of all Muslims are hurt, but it shouldn’t mean that we harm the innocent people.”
Several Indian media outlets, including The Indian Express and ANI, also reported on the incident in 2022, confirming that it happened in Pakistan’s Hyderabad, not in Hyderabad, India.
Additionally, multiple videos from the incident were shared on Instagram (archived here) by an account named ‘pakistanihindu’ on August 22, 2022. One of the videos shows a shop called “Al Waheed Fabrics” against a blue background, which, upon conducting a Google Maps search, confirmed the existence of the same shop in Pakistan’s Hyderabad. This further proves that the video is not from India.
Comparison between the video shared on Instagram and the shop name visible on Google Maps. (Source: Instagram/Google Maps)
The verdict
A video of a mob attempting to break into a home in Pakistan’s Hyderabad is now viral as an incident from Hyderabad in Telangana, India.
(This story was originally published by logicallyfacts.com, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
