Unrelated video of a brawl in Surat shared as Radicalized Hindus attacking Muslims after watching The Kashmir Files…

The incident took place in Surat where two groups of people belonging to the Muslim community clashed with each other over some personal issues. The incident has no relation with the film the Kashmir Files.

A video showing two men attacking a shopkeeper is widely circulating on social media with a claim that the incident shows hate crime against the Muslim community because of the film the Kashmir Files.

The film The Kashmir Files based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir valley has been polarizing people ever since its release. Many hailed the movie as a first honest attempt to highlight the plight of the Kashmiri Pundits, who were kicked out of their homes during the insurgency in 1990. However, critics have called the movie selective and biased against the Kashmiri Muslims and alleged that the movie has communal and political undertones. Many have also expressed concerns after videos of people giving hate speech against minorities in theatres during the show of The Kashmir Files emerged on social media.  

Some posts are going viral on social media. The post contains a video in which a sword wielding youth attacking a shopkeeper and then more people get involved transforming the situation into an all-out brawl! The caption of the post says, “All this is happening after people watched the Kashmir Files. The Muslims will now have to protect themselves and be ready with weapon because the terrorists are everywhere. #MuslimLivesMatter #Muslims.”

https://twitter.com/afzal_zulekha/status/150600220151629005

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The video is widely circulating on Facebook.

Fact Crescendo has debunked several misinformation related to the film the Kashmir Files that can be seen here. 

Fact Check-

We started our investigation by running a reverse image search and keyword search on the screenshots of the viral video. The results led us to a news report published by News 18 Gujarati on 20 March 2022. The headline of the news says that the incident is from Surat, Gujarat where a man attached a shopkeeper with a sword who protested against extortion.

According to the report, the incident took place in Salabatpura area of Bhathena in Surat. The incident took place as the shopkeeper refused to pay extortion money to the attackers who were anti-social elements.

Fact Crescendo contacted Police Inspector A. Chaudhuri from Salabatpura Police Station who confirmed to us that the video is being shared with a false communal narrative. This was not an incident motivated by communal hatred. Out of the 11 accused, ten were Muslim and one was Hindu. It was a case of extortion and all the accused knew each other.

Fact Crescendo also spoke with Ajay Kumar Tomar, Commissioner of Police, Surat, who confirmed to us that this incident did not take place because of the film The Kashmir Files. The attacker and the victim both belonged to the Muslim community and only one of the accused belonged to the Hindu community. 

Thus, it is clear that the brawl seen in the video is a case of extortion and not a communally motivated incident as the viral posts claim.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video on social media to be False. The incident took place in Surat and it is a personal brawl between two groups of people belonging to the same community. The brawl broke out after one party refused to pay money to extortionists. The attackers were not provoked after watching the Kashmir Files as claimed in the viral posts

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