Old Unrelated Image Shared to Falsely Claim Wreath Placed on Doorsteps of Kerala College Principal

Last week, Muslim students staged a protest against the Principal of Nirmala College in Muvattupuzha, Kerala, after the Principal denied them permission to pray inside the college campus. Following the protests, the college authorities called a press conference and reiterated their stance that prayers cannot be allowed on the college campus. A joint delegation from local Muslim worship places met with the college authorities and expressed regret over the incident. A report in Kerala Kaumudi quotes the delegation as saying, “If there are flaws, they will be resolved. Nothing will be allowed to harm the religious-communal harmony in Muvattupuzha.”

In this context, a photo is being shared on social media showing a wreath placed on a banana leaf in front of a house door. It is being claimed that this wreath was placed by Islamists at the doorstep of the Principal of Nirmala College. A post by an X user about this can be seen below:

Archived

However, this news is false. We did a fact check and found that the claim being made that no such incident has occurred. Here’s the fact check.

Fact Check

We did a reverse image search and found that the image that is being shared on social media platforms claimed to be of the wreath placed in front of the Principal’s door is old. The image is available on the internet since 2018. In the screenshot given below, you can see the image in a news article published by an online website named Rashtra Deepika.

Read full article here – Rashtra Deepika | Archived

According to the news article, this image is of a wreath allegedly placed at the doorsteps of a BJP supporter in Mattannur, Kannur. The article states that on the morning of 5 May 2018, N. Sudhir a BJP supporter and a driver in KSRTC found the wreath lying in front of his door. After this discovery, he immediately informed the police who then removed the wreath. The same image was also shared by many BJP supporting Facebook pages, a screenshot of one such post can be seen below.

Facebook

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The post also claims that the wreath was found at the doorsteps of a BJP worker in Mattannur. Similar posts can be found here and here. Thus, it is evident that the image being shared has no relation with the Nirmala College incident. 

To verify whether this incident actually took place, we contacted the authorities at Nirmala College. We spoke with Fr. Emmanual A.J., the vice-principal of Nirmala College, regarding the narrative circulating on social media He responded, “No such incident has occurred here. The news being shared on social media is fake.”

Read this article in Malayalam | നിര്‍മ്മല കോളേജ് പ്രിന്‍സിപ്പലിന്‍റെ വീട്ടുമുറ്റത്ത് വാഴയിലയില്‍ റീത്ത് വെച്ച് പ്രതിഷേധം എന്ന തരത്തില്‍ സമൂഹ മാധ്യമങ്ങളില്‍ വ്യാജപ്രചരണം

Conclusion

From the above investigation, we can conclude that no wreath was placed in front of the Nirmala College Principal’s door. The image being shared with this false news is an old one and has been available on the internet since 2018. The vice-principal of the college also confirmed that no such incident has occurred.