Lighthouse Journalism found a video being shared on a social media platform where people were seen pelting stones. The video was being shared with communal claims. During the investigation we found that the video is from Uttarakhand’s Bagwak fair. Viral claims are misleading.
Claim:
X user @indian47khan shared the viral video on his profile.
Other users too are sharing the video with same claim.
Investigation:
We uploaded the video in the InVid tool and obtained certain screenshots from the video. We then ran a reverse image search on the keyframes from the video.
During the reverse image search we found a reel on Instagram uploaded on October 9, 2024.
The video was captioned: Jay maa devi dhura #Uttarakhan
The text on the video said: Bagwal 2024. Barahi Dham, Devidhura
We then ran a Google keyword search on the words mentioned in the video.
This is what we found out about Devidhura Mela, which is termed as a unique festival in Uttarakhand.
The article mentioned: Two groups from different clans engage in a mock battle, hurling stones at each other while protecting themselves with large wooden shields. This age-old practice, known as Bagwal, is believed to appease the Maa Barahi Devi, the presiding deity of the Devidhura temple.
We also found news reports about the same.
Conclusion: Video from Uttarakhand’s Devidhura Mela of a stone-pelting festival called Bagwal is being shared with communal claims. Viral claims are misleading.
