Various cases of people being forced to chant Jai Shri Ram and assaulted when they refused have led to public outcry. One of the most brutal and notorious of these cases was that of the killing of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand.
While all these incidents have been highly condemned across the country and beyond, multiple fake cases have only resulted in creating a sense of hysteria and panic.
Recently, a 15-year-old boy was set on fire by four people in Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh after he allegedly refused to chant Jai Shri Ram. However, the survivor gave two different statements, fueling suspicion over the allegation.
Earlier the boy said that he went for a run to Maharajpur village where four men dragged him into a field and set him on fire when he refused to chant Jai Shri Ram. However, he later changed his statement and claimed that he was kidnapped by four men on a motorcycle kidnapped and taken to Hateeja village.
The matter is still being probed.
Here are some false cases that have been reported earlier:
Hotel employee Imran Ismail Patel that a gang of about 10 hooligans stopped him near Hudco Corner in Begumpura area on his way back home on a motorbike, beat him up and forced him to chant Jai Shri Ram. However, eye-witnesses who helped him said that the fight was a result of a personal feud and that he was not forced to chant the slogan.
A few days ago, a fight over cricket was given communal colour in Unnao. A report that went viral on social media claimed that a group of Madrassa students was brutally attacked in Unnao, allegedly forced to chant Jai Shri Ram, beaten up with a cricket bat and had their kurtas torn. In fact, even Ravish Kumar covered this incident in his prime time show on NDTV. However, the investigation into the case revealed that the children were not forced to chant the slogan, but it was a dispute between two sides over playing cricket.
On July 4, media houses like The Telegraph, Caravan Daily and News central reported that a Muslim auto driver in Kanpur was beaten up for refusing to chant Jai Shri Ram. The driver later himself confirmed that the claim was not true.
News platforms like the Indian Express and Scroll published an article that claimed that 12 people were booked for forcing an Imam to chant the slogan. The Superintendent of the Baghpat police station later confirmed that none of these allegations was true and that a ‘petty fight’ led to the assault.
A man named Mohammad Momin claimed that some men in a car forced him to chant Jai Shri Ram and hit him with the car in Rohini Sector 20 on June 20, when he refused. However, eye-witnesses confirmed that the claim was false.
A piece of news claiming that a Muslim youth was beaten by BJP and RSS workers in Karimnagar for not chanting Jai Shree Ram went viral on social media. However, the Commissioner of Police VB Kamalasan Reddy later confirmed that this was not a communal issue.
In Aurangabad, a man called Sheikh Aamer alleged that he was beaten up by four men and forced to chant Jai Shri Ram. However, a day after filing a complaint, he admitted that he had fabricated the story in a bid to raise his stature among his community members, and teach a lesson to people who dare to challenge people from his community.
Besides these major incidents, various small images and videos were circulated on social media, falsely painted with communal colours. While it is true that several true incidents have been reported, it is important to verify whether the cases are true before they are put forward.
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