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| - Fact Check: Fountain pic used to discredit alleged Shivling discovery at Gyanvapi Masjid is actually from Kolkata mosque
The fountain image used to discredit the alleged Shivling discovery at Gyanvapi Masjid is actually from a mosque in Kolkata.
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India Today Fact Check
This photo shows the ablution pool in Kolkata’s Nakhoda Masjid. A Shivling was allegedly found in an ablution pool in the Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi but the UP administration is yet to present a report to the Supreme Court.
As the Gyanvapi Masjid row continued, a photo of a fountain was circulated on social media. Those sharing it claimed that this fountain was falsely contended to be the Shivling supposedly discovered inside the mosque complex.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the image in question was not from the Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi, but from the Nakhoda Masjid in Kolkata.
AFWA probe
With the help of a reverse search, we found the image in question inside a 2015 blog post that claimed it was the ablution pool inside the Nakhoda Masjid. The photo was credited to Wikimedia Commons.
We then searched for Nakhoda Masjid, located in Bow Barracks, Kolkata, on Google Maps and found user-shared photos similar to the viral one. One such photo of the ablution pool inside the mosque taken from an elevated position can be seen below. We noted several similarities between this and the viral photo.
The Google Maps photo was captured from the open skylight seen above the fountain.
Similar images of the ablution pool were also available on the stock photography website Alamy. We also found multiple videos of the mosque on YouTube. One of the videos clearly showed the ablution pool seen in the viral post.
To get to the bottom of it, we shared the image in question with the Imam of the Nakhoda Masjid, Maulana Md Shafique Qasmi, who told India Today that the photo was indeed from the premise of Nakhoda Masjid.
Aaj Tak Kolkata bureau’s Sankha Das also photographed the mosque’s ablution pool. They can be seen below.
The Supreme Court on May 17 asked the Varanasi administration where the Shivling was found inside the Gyanvapi mosque. This was during the hearing of a petition filed by the mosque committee that sought to stop authorities from filming inside the mosque complex. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Uttar Pradesh government, said, "We haven't seen the report," and sought time till May 18 to return with details.
Mehta claimed the Shivling was found in a pond used for purification rituals before namaz. The apex court told the Varanasi District Magistrate to ensure that if the Shivling was found, the area should be protected, but also ordered not to “restrict or impede the entry of Muslims to the mosque for namaz or religious observances."
We, therefore, concluded that the photo of the fountain being shared online to discredit the supposed discovery of a Shivling inside the Gyanvapi Masjid was not from the Varanasi mosque at all. It was from the Nakhoda Masjid in Kolkata.
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