Surat Video Viral As ‘People Gathering Near Mosque in Delhi’

The video is from Surat in Gujarat where several people had gathered near the Madina Masjid on 26 April.

A video showing huge crowd gathering near a mosque, violating lockdown rules is being circulated on the internet with a claim that it’s from Delhi’s Daryaganj area.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder Sirsa on 29 April shared a video showing a large number of people gathering near a mosque and violating lockdown rules with a claim that it’s from Delhi’s Daryaganj area.

Tagging Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal, he took a jibe at the AAP leader and said that by allowing a huge gathering like the one seen in the video, he is risking the lives of all Delhi's citizens.

An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Although Sirsa later took down his tweet, the video is viral on several social media platforms with the same claim.

An archived version of the post can be found here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

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To access these videos click here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

TRUE OR FALSE?

False.

Contrary to the claim the video is not from Daryaganj in Delhi but from Surat in Gujarat where several people had gathered near the Madina Masjid on 26 April 2020.

WHAT WE FOUND

We were able to identify the incident as one from Surat where several people violated lockdown for shopping. The incident was reported by several news outlets on 27 April after a video showing people flouting lockdown rules went viral on the internet on 26 April.

Although the video shared in the news reports was shot from a different angle, we were able to match some frames.

Video shared by News Outlets (L) and viral video (R) (Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video shared by News Outlets (L) and viral video (R)(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

We then followed it up with a keyword search using “Surat mosque gathering” on Twitter and came across a Tweet by Surat MLA Harsh Sanghavi which carried the same video.

According to a report by Business Standard dated 27 April, “Amid coronavirus lockdown imposed across the nation, a huge crowd was gathered outside a mosque for shopping in Gujarat's Surat on 26 April.”

Hence, a video showing people violating lockdown in Surat was falsely circulated with a claim that the incident happened in Delhi.

(With inputs from SM HoaxSlayer and Business Standard)

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