Viral Msg Indicating Muslims Attacked Gurugram School Bus is Fake

A mob protesting the release of ‘Padmaavat’ attacked a school bus with children in Gurugram on 24 January.

The viral messages claiming Muslims attacked school bus in Gurugram are fake.

(Photo: ANI/Altered by The Quint)

“गुड़गांव में स्कूल बस पर पथराव में करणी सेना के सद्दाम, आमिर, नदीम, फिरोज और अशरफ पकड़े गए। (Translation: In the case of stone-pelting on a school bus in Gurgaon, Karni Sena’s Saddam, Aamir, Nadeem, Firoz and Ashraf have been apprehended).

This message is currently viral on social media. In a shocking incident, during the ongoing protests against the movie ‘Padmavat’, a school bus was attacked on Wednesday, 24 January on Sohna Road in Gurugram.

A video of this attack went viral, showing young kids cowering in fear as the bus was being pelted by stones. This caused outrage across the nation.

Gurugram police have now arrested 18 people for this attack on the school bus.

Following the arrest, a message went viral on social media claiming that five of the accused in this case were Saddam, Aamir, Nadeem, Firoz and Ashraf.

One of the earliest people to circulate this message was someone by the name of Shalini Kapoor, who claims herself to be “Kshetriya Prabhari” of “Kanya Shakti Kranti” of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of BJP.

Among the prominent accounts, at least three, whom PM Modi follows on Twitter (Jay @Saffron_Rocks, Jitendra Pratap Singh @jpsin1 and Kunwar Ajaypratap Singh @sengarajay235) circulated this message.

Alt News spoke with Sandeep Khirwar, Commissioner of Police, Gurugram, to verify this information. He stated that the information that is being circulated on social media is absolutely false, and that none of the names of the accused, as being circulated on social media, matches with the actual names.

This rumour is currently viral on social media and is being circulated multiple times per minute on various mediums such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.

Putting out Muslim names for any upheaval in the country has become a standard diversionary tactic for many in the right-wing.

In recent times, this same strategy was deployed when a Swiss Couple was attacked in Fatehpur Sikri, Agra and when an e-rickshaw driver was murdered in Delhi.

Any claim that is spread on social media following sensitive events should always be reconfirmed via official news sources and not circulated without verification. This not only makes the job of the law enforcement agencies tougher but also polarises the society further.

(This article was originally published on AltNews. It has been republished with permission.)

(We Indians have much to talk about these days. But what would you tell India if you had the chance? Pick up the phone and write or record your Letter To India. Don’t be silent, tell her how you feel. Mail us your letter at [e-mail]. We’ll make sure India gets your message.)