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| - Fact Check: False communal twist added to Chennai video of two college groups pelting stones at each other
Several social media users shared a video with a claim that a group of Muslims were pelting stones at a train after its horn interrupted their prayers. The India Today AFWA found the claim to be misleading with a false communal twist added to the Chennai video.
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India Today Fact Check
The video shows a fight between two groups of college students from Chennai. At the Perambur Railway station on April 11, students of Pachaiyappa’s College and Presidency College pelted stones at each other.
After violence broke out in multiple states during Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti celebrations, photos and videos of stone-pelting have been shared widely on social media. Some of these videos and photos did not have any connection with the recent spate of communal violence.
A video of a few people pelting stones at a train has gone viral amid all this. In the video, the train appeared stationary at first. Later, however, it started moving. But the group kept throwing stones at it till it gained some speed.
Facebook and Twitter users in large numbers shared the 28-second-long video alongside the claim that a group of Muslims started pelting stones at a train after its horn interrupted their prayers.
pic.twitter.com/ImKxs2YR5e — $g (@BlueEyed_Demn_) April 22, 2022
Archived versions of similar posts can be seen here and here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found the claim was misleading. The viral video of the stone-pelting shows a clash between two groups of college students that took place in Chennai a few days back.
AFWA Probe
A reverse search of keyframes of the video led us to a YouTube video uploaded by Sathiyam News, a Tamil News channel that carried a longer version of the same video.
When we compared it to the viral one, it became clear that both the videos are of the same incident.
However, there was no mention of Namaz in the video’s description or title. The caption of the video described the incident as a “Clash between college students” near the Perambur railway station in Chennai.
We then ran a search with relevant keywords and came across reports from ETV Bharat and India Today. Both reports stated that the clash broke out near Chennai’s Perambur station on April 11.
According to the reports, Presidency College students were travelling on the Thirupathy Express and Pachaiyappa’s College students were travelling on the train which was on its way to Arakkonam. Students from Presidency College then allegedly behaved in an unruly manner that forced passengers to complain and get the train stopped.
The students then reportedly got down and began to pelt stones at the train travelling towards Arokkanam, targeting Pachaiyappa’s College students, which led the train driver to stop the train. Following that, a fight broke out between the two groups.
More reports revealed that clashes between the students of these colleges weren’t new. As per a 2016 report in The New Indian Express and another 2018 report, students of both colleges have engaged in ugly fights over a long period. However, we found no communal angle to it.
Thus, we conclude that the video of clashes between students of two different colleges was circulated with a false communal angle.
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You can also send us an email at factcheck@intoday.com
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