Right-wing attempts to add communal colour to Manipur case with false claims.

Photo of YouTurn Editorial YouTurn EditorialJuly 21, 2023
1,346 6 minutes read

Claim

Abdul Khan, Main accused of Manipur case arrested by Manipur police

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Rating

Explanation

Ethnic clash between the Kuki and Meitei communities that is happening in Manipur since May has created huge outrage in the country. A distressing video of an incident that happened in May surfaced recently in which two Kuki women were paraded naked by a group of Meitei men.

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India spoke on Manipur violence for the first time in the last three months, after the video emerged. People from Manipur and other states were asking to break his silence since the beginning of the violence.

The shocking incident of two women paraded naked and sexually assaulted, happened in May and a complaint was also registered in May for which the action was taken only after the public, opposition parties, and others including Supreme Court condemned the incident seeking strict action.

The video surfaced on July 19. Suo-Moto cognizance of the incident was taken after the video emerged. Manipur police arrested one person on July 20 morning and three more in the evening. Twitter was flooded with tweets claiming Abdul Khan as the main accused in the Manipur viral video case. Some quote it as Manipur violence, some as Manipur case and some tweeted it as breaking news.

https://twitter.com/mrsinha_/status/1682085278121607168?s=46&t=kIszbQH_arRSG8kPbuGeZw

ANI tweeted it initially and BJP members amplified it. Later, the same was also reported by other media channels including NDTV and Puthiya Thalaimurai. The media channels deleted their tweets one by one but by that time the information is already viral. The tweets shared by the right wing also claim that Abdul Khan is from Bangladesh. Some of the tweets can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

https://twitter.com/indiansinghh/status/1682075864216006657?s=46&t=kIszbQH_arRSG8kPbuGeZw

What is the truth?

When searching the official Twitter handle of Manipur Police, we found a tweet that mentions Abdul Hilim. The tweet says “One PREPAK Pro Cadre Arrested: Today one cadre of PREPAK Pro namely Md Ibungo @ Abdul Hilim (38 yrs) s/o (L) Tomba Khan of Khumidok Epum Mapan Imphal East was arrested by Imphal East District Police.” Nowhere in this tweet Abdul Hilim is mentioned as the main accused in Manipur viral video case or Manipur case.

We also checked further to know the details of the four accused arrested in the viral video case. Another tweet from Manipur Police reads “Four main accused arrested in the Viral Video Case : 03 (three) more main accused of the heinous crime of abduction and gangrape under Nongpok Sekmai PS, Thoubal District have been arrested today. So total 04 (four) persons have been arrested till now. The State Police is making all out efforts to arrest the other culprits at the earliest. Raids are continuing.”

These two different tweets are seen published in a press note dated 20, July 2023. The press note mentions it as two different pieces of news numbered 2 and 4. But it appears that ANI deliberately merged both to create disinformation.

The first accused arrested is identified as Huirem Herodas Meitei, 32, reported India Today NE. A tweet by journalist Pooja Mehta mentions that he was arrested in Thoubal district. The other three accused are also said to be arrested from Thoubal district as per the tweet if Manipur police.

Abdul Hilim was arrested from Imphal East district. When searching for the distance between Imphal East and Thoubal in Google maps we found that both are 34 km part from each other.

ANI clarified and apologised for the tweet regarding Abdul Hilim’s arrest. It reads “Note on Story retraction and APOLOGY: Yesterday evening, inadvertently a tweet was posted by ANI regarding arrests undertaken by the Manipur Police.  This was based on an erroneous reading of tweets posted by the Manipur police as it was confused with an earlier tweet regarding other arrests made by it in relation to the incidents shown in the viral video. Shortly afterwards, within a few minutes, on realising the error the tweet was promptly deleted and a corrected version was immediately put out. Error regretted.”

But as soon as a Muslim name was seen, the right-wing amplified the information with false claims to bring in false communal angle in the viral video case. This is not the first time right-wing spreads such false claims to affect communal harmony. They found possibilities to add communal colour to the Odisha train accident in multiple attempts. Youturn fact-checked and published articles on the false claims related to the incident.

Read More: Old video from Mexico shared as Odisha train accident SM Sheriff hiding in a Madrasa in WB.

ISKCON temple near the Odisha train accident site shared as Mosque to create communal disharmony.

Old and unrelated image shared to lie that a Muslim station master is absconding in Odisha train tragedy.

Signal Engineer Amir Khan is not absconding or missing. Many news outlets reported incorrectly.

Conclusion

It is found that the claim that Abdul Khan is the main accused in the Manipur viral video case is false. He is arrested in Imphal East district whereas the four main accused in the viral video case were arrested from Thoubal district.

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Photo of YouTurn Editorial YouTurn EditorialJuly 21, 2023
1,346 6 minutes read
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