False: Muslims attacked a Hindu man, a temple priest and his family in a village in Rajasthan.

By: Vivek J
March 2 2023

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Context

A video of a man claiming that a group of Muslims assaulted him and his family has gone viral on social media. In the video, the person, who identified himself as Mahesh Dayma, claimed that the incident happened at the Saleshwar Mahadev temple in Dudu village of Rajasthan when he was preparing for the Maha Shivratri festival. This video was shared widely on Twitter and Facebook, with the claim that Islamic fundamentalists attacked Hindus in Rajasthan. A second video of the alleged incident has also gone viral, with claims that Muslim men also attacked the temple’s priest and his family. In this video, a person can be seen stabbing another man on the road in broad daylight.

In Fact

Upon searching for incidents of violence in the Dudu village of Rajasthan, we did not come across any credible news reports on communal violence. Upon closely analyzing the posts that claimed that some Muslims attacked a Hindu family and a Hindu temple priest, we found that these posts were shared widely between February 18 and February 22, 2023. On February 18, Jaipur Rural Police shared a Facebook post and a screenshot of the first viral video on their verified Facebook page, stating that the claims made in the video posted by Mahesh Dayma on social media were baseless, and that the incident involved a fight between two families. In its statement, the police added that taking swift action into the matter, they had arrested four persons. 

The post by the police also contained a video clip of the police officer-in-charge of Dudu village, who said that the video made by Mahesh Dayma was misleading and that the incident that happened at Indira colony of Dudu village on the evening of February 17, 2023, was just a fight between two neighbors. The fight happened between Mahesh Dayma and his neighbor Bhagchand Khatik over some kids who were sitting outside their houses. The statement also noted that Dayma had shared a video with a false claim and that strict action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Thus, it is evident that there is no communal angle to this incident. 

The second video, in which a person lying on the road is being attacked, has been shared widely with the claim that the priest of the Saleshwar Mahadev temple and his family were attacked by Muslims in Dudu village in Rajasthan. On running a reverse image search on the video's keyframes, we came across news reports of a lawyer being stabbed to death in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. A news report by the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar published on February 19, 2023, contained a pixelated video (most likely CCTV footage) of the incident taken from a different angle. The report said according to the police, 55-year-old lawyer Jugraj Chouhan was attacked in Jodhpur by Anil Chauhan and Mahesh Chauhan over some personal enmity. A news report by NDTV dated February 19, 2023, shared similar details about the incident. This report also did not mention any communal angle involved in the incident.

On February 22, 2023, Bhartiya Janata Party leader Khushbu Sundar shared the same video of the incident condemning the murder of Jugraj Chauhan in broad daylight and questioned the state of law and order in Rajasthan. Replying to the tweet, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), Jodhpur said that the investigation into the matter was ongoing and the police had arrested the accused. The police further clarified that the attack was a result of personal enmity.

The verdict

According to the police, a Rajasthan-based man posted a video online falsely claiming that he was attacked by Muslims at a temple after being involved in a fight with his neighbor. Also, the claim about the temple priest and his family being attacked in a similar fashion was debunked by the Rajasthan Police. There is no communal angle to this story. Therefore, we mark the claim false.