Fact Check: Old image from Bhopal goes viral with a communal angle
An image of a group of youngsters is widely being shared on social media with the claim that 30 people were detained during a raid
By Tejal Sinha Published on 18 Sept 2021 9:31 AM IST
Hyderabad: An image of a group of youngsters is widely being shared on social media with the claim that 30 people were detained during a raid at a hookah bar in Madhya Pradesh. It is further being claimed that 15 of them were Hindu girls from well-to-do families while the 15 boys detained were all Muslims. None of the girls present there were from the Muslim community, it is claimed.
The image was also shared on Facebook. Click here to view the posts.
Fact Check
The claim is false.
NewsMeter performed a Google reverse image search which led us to a report by MP Breaking News from 24 July 2020. According to the report, 26 boys and seven girls were detained by the police in Bhopal. The city was under lockdown from 24 July and the group was arrested for flouting lockdown norms as they were partying at the Trilogy Hookah Lounge in the Shahpur area, it said, adding that pub manager Ravi Rai and owner Manoj Ramchandani were also arrested for violating Section 144.
The party was thrown by a person named Naved Khan, an alleged history-sheeter.
We found a similar image on the website Live Hindustan from 24 July 2020. The report said that the police had received information that some boys and girls were drinking at Trilogy Pub near Aura Mall in the Thana Shahpura area. The police and crime branch team raided the pub and found that pub manager Ravi Rai and owner Manoj Ramchandani were illegally serving liquor and hookah to customers in violation of Section 144 and lockdown norms.
NewsMeter also found a video uploaded on the YouTube channel INH News on 24 July last year.
It is evident that the claim made through the viral post is false. The incident has wrongly been given a communal angle. The image was taken after a raid conducted by the police at a hookah bar where 26 boys and seven girls were partying in violation of the lockdown rules.
