Hapur Lynching: How a Cow Slaughter Rumour Destroyed Several Lives

Watch our special ground report to understand how fake news and rumours can lead to serious consequences.

The first episode of this special series talks about the mob lynching case in Hapur.

(Photo: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

Have you ever thought how big the consequences of sharing fake news or spreading rumours can be? The effect of fake news is not only limited to social media platforms now, but also has visible effects on the ground level. It can also result in someone’s death.

To bring such stories to you, The Quint's fact-checking team WebQoof has worked on a special series named 'Fake News, Real Impact'. The first incident from this series is from Uttar Pradesh's Hapur, where a man named Qasim was killed on 18 June 2018 due to rumours of cow slaughter.

Qasim was involved in animal husbandry and was taking some goats to a nearby village, when a rumour spread that he was slaughtering a cow. A farmer named 'Samiyuddin' from a nearby village Madhapura, who was present at the incident site, tried explaining to the mob that the rumours were untrue but they did not listen to him. Instead, Samiyuddin was brutally beaten up as well.

This incident serves as an important example of how dangerous rumours can prove to be. In this WebQoof's ground report, we spoke to the victim Qasim's family and Samiyuddin. You can support this special series by The Quint by becoming our member.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)