Video From Leprosy Shelter In Meerut Falsely Shared As Muslims Hoarding & Wasting Food

A video of a group of men inspecting a leprosy shelter has gone viral on social media, with a false claim that Muslims are hoarding and wasting food distributed by the government during the coronavirus outbreak.

The clip shows the men barging into the leprosy shelter and making the video of the food being wasted there. The video shows food lying on the floor and cooking oil cans stacked up against the wall.

The video, shared by journalist Pushpendra Kulshrestha on his Twitter handle was shared with the caption, “ये देखो शांतिदूतों द्वारा क्या हो रहा है, खाना लूटो और उसे खराब कर दो …किसी गरीब को खाना ना पहुँचने दो, ताकि सरकार बदनाम हो और गरीब भूखा मरे! #कैसीकौमहै_ये ???? (Translation: Look what the peacekeepers are doing, hoard the food and then spoil it. Do not let the food reach the poor, so the government is blamed and the poor die. What kind of community this is?)

Also read: India TV Shows Old Video Of An Islamic Speaker Quoting Hadith & Falsely Claims Tablighis Were “Inspired To Spit By Him”

The word “शांतिदूतों” or “peacekeepers” is a term used mockingly against Muslims by the far-right.

The video, at the time of writing this story, had more than eight thousand views. Although the video makes no reference to Muslims, the caption and the ensuing comments in response to it blames the community.

Fact Vs. Fake

The Cognate’s Fact Vs. Fake searched for the keywords ‘leprosy shelter wastage food’ and did the same exercise in Hindi words ‘कुष्ठ आश्रम’, which lead us to a news report by one Jan TV.

The news report titled, “कुष्ठ आश्रम और गांधी आश्रम में खाने की बर्बादी (Food wastage in leprosy and Gandhi ashram)” was uploaded on YouTube on Apr 11. That is only two days before the video was circulated with false and anti-Muslim claims.

The news report is about the incident that occurred in Shri Vivekanand Kusht Ashram in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, and has nothing to with Muslims. Some stray incident that occurred in an ashram was given an anti-Muslim angle and spread on social media to evoke hatred and contempt against the community.