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| - Fact Check: No, Rajasthan Police didn't offer holy 'Chadar' in Ajmer Sharif while temples were closed
The first part of a 26 second video shows a procession of some policemen on a narrow road. The second part shows policemen carrying a holy "Chadar".
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India Today Fact Check
The first part of the video is from June 2020 when Ajmer Police organized an awareness march on Covid-19. Ajmer DSP Sanjay Sharma said this video was not recent and Rajasthan Police offers ‘Chadar’ in Ajmer Sharif, especially during the annual Urs festival.
At a time when the Centre has asked states to lift additional Covid-19 restrictions, a video has gone viral on social media with some questionable claims. In a 26 second video, the first part shows a procession of some policemen on a narrow road. While in the second part, a few policemen are seen carrying a holy “Chadar” used for Islamic ritual.
While sharing this video, many have charged the Rajasthan government with appeasing “a community”. A Facebook page shared this video alongside a Hindi caption that roughly translates, “The same Rajasthan Police that obeyed the state government and shut down religious offerings at temples inside police stations is now offering a Chadar (in a mosque).”
Another Facebook user shared this video saying, “This is the cruelty of the Rajasthan government. To appease a particular community by forcefully pushing the police to offer a Chadar.”
Archived versions of similar claims can be found here and here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found this claim to be misleading as the first part of the video does not show police offering a ‘Chadar’. Although the second part of the video does so, it is not recent at all.
AFWA Probe
Looking closely at the first part of the video, we didn’t notice the holy “Chadar” that was later seen being offered. But several burqa-clad women were visible. We also noticed the names of hotels, like “Kamal Palace” and “Baba Sagar.”
After a keyword search for these hotels, we found similar pictures of “Kamal Palace” on Yatra.com, which is in the Dargah Bazar of Ajmer. It confirmed that the video is indeed from Ajmer.
But did the police really offer ‘Chadar’ in Ajmer Sharif as it has been claimed? With the help of the InVid tool, we took a few screenshots of the video and ran the reverse-image search. Which led to a Fact-Check story published by The Quint on July 9, 2020.
This Fact-Check story debunked a claim that stated that police officers in Ajmer visited Ajmer Sharif Dargah the day it opened and prayed for the welfare of everyone. The Ajmer police neither prayed nor offered a “Chadar” — rather, it ran a Covid-19-awareness march on June 29, 2020. When this happened, the Dargah was indeed closed.
Now let us come to the second part of the video where several policemen are carrying a “Chadar”. Upon reverse search of the frames, we didn’t find anything which would suggest that the video was recent, or from Ajmer Sharif. Further, not a single policeman in the video can be seen wearing a mask.
For further confirmation on the location of the video, we went through several videos from the inside of Ajmer Sharif. While searching, we came across a vlog of Ajmer Sharif Dargah uploaded on 26 September 2020.
At 6.37 seconds of the vlog, a small area can be seen guarded by silver-colored railings with a lined design on the floor. When we compared this frame with the viral video’s frame, it became evident that both videos are indeed from Ajmer Sharif.
To get further details on the video of the police, we spoke to Ajmer DSP Sanjay Sharma. He couldn’t confirm to AFWA when this video was recorded, but since there was no sign of masks, he asserted that it must be before March 2020. He added, “Rajasthan Police often offers ‘Chadar’ in Ajmer Sharif, especially during the annual Urs festival, but this one is certainly not from recent times.”
We also reached out to the keyholder of Ajmer Sharif, Syed N. Hasan Chishty. He confirmed to AFWA that currently masks are mandatory to enter the Ajmer Sharif and this video is a few years old.
Therefore, we can conclude that the claims alongside the viral video are misleading. Neither video is from recent times.
(With input from Sanjana Saxena)
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