Fire-stunt accident during Muharram procession falsely shared as attack on Muslims in India
A video was circulated on Facebook with the claim that Muslims in India are being burned alive. However, a Dismislab fact-check found that the incident did not involve anyone being intentionally set on fire. The video shows a young man being injured while performing a fire stunt during a Muharram procession in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, India.
A Facebook page named “oli vai page-10” posted the video. The video shows a person whose body has caught fire, while several people nearby try to pull him away from the flames. At the bottom of the video screen, a person can be heard saying, “…in India, our Muslims are being burned with fire.”
As of the publication of this report, the video had been viewed more than 36,000 times. The post had received more than 2,200 reactions and had been shared more than 2,300 times.
A reverse image search using several keyframes from the video led to an Instagram post. The post, published on June 27, states in its description that a young man was injured while performing a fire stunt during a Muharram procession in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, India. The injured man is identified there as Saddam Khan. He is a resident of the Deoria area and had participated in a Tazia procession organized by the Five Star Club.
According to the description of that post, while the procession was taking part in a fire stunt, the fire suddenly spread to the young man’s clothing as he was inside an iron drum. Members of the akhara (a traditional group associated with the procession) and spectators nearby then quickly came forward and extinguished the fire. The injured young man was subsequently taken to a hospital for treatment. In other words, a person was affected by fire while performing a fire stunt during a Muharram procession in Uttar Pradesh.
Using relevant keywords, a video report by India’s news outlet Dainik Bhaskar was found. The video report states that a young man was injured while performing a fire stunt during a Muharram procession in Deoria. The scene is shown from a different angle in this report.
A video report published by the Indian news-collection app Public is also available regarding the incident. The video report states that a member of the Five Star Club akhara was injured while performing a fire stunt during a Muharram procession on Malviya Road in Deoria city.
In other words, although the incident of a person being affected by fire shown in the video is real, it is not footage of someone being intentionally burned. Rather, a video showing a young man accidentally injured while performing a fire stunt during a Muharram procession in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, is being circulated with a different claim.
