Fact Check: Video of child pushing another into pond shared with communal spin

Hyderabad: A video of two children talking beside a pond, and minutes later, one pushing the other into the pond, is going viral on social media.

Users claim that a Hindu child pushed a Muslim child into the pond.

A Twitter user shared the video and wrote, “Hindu & Hindutva Terrorists hate for Muslims is beyond imagination. Lucknow: In Thakurganj, a HINDU Kishore took 7-year-old Abdul Samad from his home & pushed Abdul Samad into a pit dug for beautification. The crime was captured in CCTV camera, murder case on 6, 4 in custody.”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim misleading. Both children belonged to the same community.

We ran a keyword search and came across a report by The Times of India from July 24, 2023, which said that the incident took place in the Thakurganj area in Lucknow on July 22. It mentioned that a 13-year-old boy had pushed a 7-year-old boy into the pond.

After the deceased child's father, Ahmad Saifi, got hold of the footage, a case of murder and criminal conspiracy against his neighbors Huma, Atiq, Saiqa, Arif, and Khalid was registered. In the complaint, Saifi accused the family of holding a grudge against his family and intending to harm him and his children. He also alleged that his neighbors sent the minor boy to lure his son to kill him.

We also found that Hindi Newspaper Hindustan and ETV Uttar Pradesh reported the incident with the same details. There is no mention of any communal angle in both reports.

Speaking to NewsMeter, Chiranjeevi Nath Sinha, the additional DCP for West Zone, Lucknow, said that the family of the deceased and the accused are neighbors, and there was no communal angle to the incident. He confirmed that both families belong to the same community. He also said that the deceased father’s name is Ahmad Saifi, and the accused father’s father's name is Mohammad Jaheen.

Hence, we conclude that the claim of communal angle to the incident is false.