Viral Report on Lucknow Muslims Being Told How to Apply for Arms License Is Old!

The video dates back to July 2019 and is not a recent one.

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)."

The Quint also received a query for this video's verification on its WhatsApp tipline.

(Archived versions of other posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

But...?: The video is five years old, dating back to July 2019, and is not recent.

How did we find out?: We ran a keyword search on YouTube, using the words 'Lucknow mosque arms license'.

• The first results showed us India TV's report, which was published on 27 June 2019.

• 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.

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.

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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