Sambhal is witnessing protests over a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Chandausi in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district, police made dozens of arrests in the first week of December and registered cases against over 400 people. UP government too ordered a judicial probe into the violence.
Amidst this violence, misinformation is rampant about Sambhal on social media websites. Lighthouse Journalism came across one video being widely shared that is claims to show clashes at Sambhal’s Jama Masjid. During the investigation, we found that the video is actually old and that of a mosque in Tripura. The viral claim is misleading.
Claim:
Instagram user firo.jkhan9913 shared the video on his handle claiming it was from Jama Masjid in Sambhal.
Other users are also sharing the same video on different social media platforms.
Investigation:
We started the investigation by running a reverse image search on keyframes obtained from the video after uploading it to the InVid tool.
This led us to a post on X on October 9, 2024.
The post stated: Tripura: Kadamtala Bazaar mosque vandalized in communal violence
We then ran a Google keyword search on the same. This led us to a news report.
The report mentioned: Almost a week after a communal clash in Kadamtala, North Tripura district, left one person dead and nearly 17 injured, tension erupted on Tuesday in Pekucherra, Panisagar area, of the same district. The unrest began after a Shiv temple was found damaged this morning, followed by an attack on an under-construction building within a mosque complex.
We also found a similar screenshot from the viral video on siasat.com’s news report.
A keyword search on X led u to the X handle of Sambhal police, it said that the video is not related to the Jama Masjid of Sambhal district but is related to the incident in Kadamtala, Tripura.
Conclusion: A video of vandalism of a mosque in Tripura’s Kadamtala during communal violence is being falsely shared as recent from Sambhal’s Jama Masjid. The viral claim is misleading.
