A video showing an India TV report, which talks about a mosque in Lucknow "training" Muslims to apply for arms licenses, has gone viral on social media.
The claim: Those sharing this video are sharing it as a recent clip, with the following text accompanying the video:
"Lucknow: Mosques are openly telling Muslims to get guns and they are training them to file for licenses. Meanwhile Hindus, wow Rahul Gandhi said he will give me 1L Khatakat so I will vote for him (sic)."
An archive of this post can be seen here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
Its description mentioned that it showed lawyer Mehmood Pracha on conducting "a training camp" at a mosque in Lucknow, to assist people with filing gun license forms.
The report dates back to July 2019.
(Source: India TV/YouTube/Altered by The Quint)
Using the same keywords, we looked for news reports on the incident.
According to a report by The Hindustan Times, Pracha spoke to people at Lucknow's Tile Wali Mosque after Friday prayers.
Prominent cleric Maulana Jawad had initially requested Pracha to conduct the camp at the Bada Imambara mosque, but "deferred the plan" after meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured him that the Centre "would soon enact a law to combat mob-lynching and hate crimes (sic)," it added.
Pracha went ahead with the plan anyway, saying that he had told people about their Constitutional right to life and self-defence.
He opined that "Muslims and SC/STs have been left with no option" but to defend themselves, claiming that the authorities had "failed in their duty to protect them."
Probe initiated: After the video went viral in 2019, Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister and spokesperson Srikant Sharma told India Today that mob lynchings were "highly condemning," however, "there shouldn't be any politics."
Sharma added that the police had taken note of the "attempt being made to incite people, " and would take strict action against people "trying to flare up tension in the society."
Lucknow Police took cognisance of the video and initiated a probe against Pracha, as seen in a reply to a video of the incident shared by Times Now on X.
Lucknow Police had initiated a probe against Pracha.
(Source: X/Screenshot)
Conclusion: An old video report about lawyer Mehmood Pracha talking to people about applying for arms licenses is being falsely shared as a recent event.
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