Fact Check: Mob tries to break into Hindu homes in Telangana’s Hyderabad? No, video from Pakistan

Hyderabad: A video claiming to show communal violence in Hyderabad is going viral on social media. The video shows a group of men trying to climb a building while another tries to break down its entrance.

Those sharing the video claim that it shows a mob trying to break into homes of Hindu families in Hyderabad while slogans saying ‘separate head from body’ can be allegedly heard in the background.

The video was shared on Facebook with the caption, “This scene is not from Afghanistan or Pakistan but from Telangana. They are forcefully entering the houses of Hindus with the ‘head will be separated from the body’ slogans. One has to protect ourselves, otherwise the situation will become like that of Hindus in Kashmir.” (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video is from Hyderabad, Pakistan, not Telangana.

We did not find any credible reports or social media handles providing information regarding the incident in the video. We also found no news reports about any communal incident taking place in Telangana’s Hyderabad concerning the events in the viral video.

Using a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes we found the viral video shared by an X user on August 25, 2022. The video was uploaded with the caption, “A Hindu sanitation worker #AshokKumar was hounded in Rabia Centre, Sadar, Hyderabad of Pakistan in a false case of Blasphemy. There are a total of 18 Hindus living in the area, Extremists tried to harm them. Mob seeking ‘SAR TAN SAI JUDA’.”

Using a keyword search, we found a Hindustan Times report from August 22, 2022, which used various visuals similar to those in the viral video. The report confirmed that the video is from Pakistan and the incident took place in August 2022.

“A Hindu sanitation worker in Pakistan was booked in a fake blasphemy case over alleged desecration of Quran, according to local media reports. The police had to disperse a charged mob which gathered around an apartment building to get hold of the worker, identified as Ashok Kumar,” stated the report.

Hindustan Times further added that the blasphemy report was lodged by a resident after a brawl with Ashok Kumar. A tweet by Pakistani journalist and columnist Naila Inayat was used in the report.

In the tweet, Naila Inayat said, “Hindu sanitary worker Ashok Kumar booked under 295B of blasphemy over alleged desecration of the Quran in Hyderabad. The allegation came after a brawl with a shopkeeper Bilal Abbasi who then lodged the complaint against Kumar.”

She stated that a charged mob gathered around the building to catch hold of him but the local police managed to disperse the crowd in time.

Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the claim is false. The video is from Hyderabad, Pakistan, not India.