Fake Report of 'Human Faeces Found Near Hindu God Statue' in Brampton Goes Viral

This screenshot has been altered. The original report talks about a statue of Hanuman being built in Brampton.

Fact-check: An altered screenshot of a report about a statue of a Hindu deity in Brampton, Canada is going viral with false claims.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

A screenshot of a purported news report is going viral on social media, which alleges that human faeces were found near the statue of a Hindu God in Brampton, Canada.

What's the backdrop?: This comes amid strained relations between the two countries.

• In September this year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of being involved in the killing of pro-Khalistani Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

• However, India has denied this allegation.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: This screenshot is edited.

• The original headline has been altered.

• No other reports were found about this incident that allegedly happened in Brampton.

How did we find out the truth?: Some of the claims showed the name of the publication as Toronto Sun. So we performed a relevant keyword search but did not find the same news report.

• However, we came across another headline with the same image of Hanuman, a Hindu deity, the same byline, picture credits and the same publishing date.

• This article was posted by a Canadian news portal, Toronto Sun, on 15 December, and the headline read, "Massive statue of Hindu god being built in Brampton".

• Only the headline and the introduction of the story did not match.

An archive of the story can be seen here.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

What does the original report say?: According to this report, a 55-foot-tall statue of the Hindu deity Hanuman is being constructed in Brampton which will be completed by 2024.

• This statue is said to be Canada’s largest statue of a Hindu god but is yet to be officially inaugurated.

• It is crafted by an Indian sculptor, Naresh Kumawat.

• Other Indian news outlets like The Indian Express and Hindustan Times also published about this statue.

• On checking the archival pages of the same report, no other edits were noticed.

Response from the editor and the reporter: We reached out to the reporter, Denette Wilford, who dismissed the viral claim and clarified that the original article's headline reads, "Massive statue of Hindu god being built in Brampton".

• Adrienne Batra, Editor-in-Chief of the Toronto Sun, also refuted the claims.

• “There is an appalling edited version of this article circulating online. It is a disturbing trend where online users edit content they disagree with, making it appear as original work from trusted media outlets," she added.

Conclusion: An altered screenshot of a report about a statue of a Hindu deity in Brampton, Canada, is going viral with false claims.

(Editor's Note: The story has been updated to include the response from the Editor-in-Chief of the Toronto Sun.)

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