A video of a large crowd, including police vehicles and personnel, walking down a road is being shared on social media to claim that it shows Bhim Army members in Rajasthan's Jalore, ahead of founder Chandrashekhar Azad's visit.
The claim comes after Azad was set to meet the parents of a nine-year-old Dalit boy, who was allegedly thrashed by his school teacher for touching a water pot.
However, the claim along the video is false. The video shows a crowd gathered around Shihab Chottur, a Muslim man from Kerala who has embarked on a foot journey to Mecca, Saudi Arabia for Hajj. This video shows visuals of Chottur in Ajmer, walking amid police protection.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Under one of the posts, we saw social media users mentioning that it showed one 'Shihab,' who is on a journey to Mecca.
Taking a cue from this, we used relevant keywords to look for more information regarding the individual mentioned. We came across news reports of a man named Shihab Chottur, who started his journey from Kerala's Malappuram district on 3 June, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage.
We looked for his social media profiles and found visuals of him in the same outfit and skullcap as the viral video on Facebook, and with men dressed in pink shirts.
(Note: Swipe right to view both photos.)
Chottur was seen in the same clothes in a video on his account.
(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)
On his verified YouTube profile, we came across a video of him dressed similarly, with visuals showing him walking amid a crowd, surrounded by people in pink shirts and police personnel. This video noted that it was shot in Ajmer, Rajasthan.
We then got in touch with a local journalist Pankaj Soni, who confirmed that the viral video showed Chottur near Sursura village in Ajmer on 17 August, where massive crowds had gathered to see him. Soni mentioned that Roopangarh police's senior inspector (SI) Ayub Khan was present among the police seen in the viral video.
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN RAJASTHAN?
Bhim Army and Azad Samaj Party leader Chandrashekhar Azad had attempted to meet the family of a nine-year-old Dalit boy, who passed away after being assaulted by his schoolteacher.
However, he was detained at the airport by the police, who did not allow him to visit the family and was sent back.
Evidently, the video shows one Shihab Chottur on his foot journey from Kerala to Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage, and is not related to Bhim Army or the death of a Dalit boy in Rajasthan's Jalore.
(With inputs from Pankaj Soni.)
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