Fact Check: Video of a man kicking goddess Saraswati’s portrait going viral with a false claim
A video of a man kicking goddess Saraswati's portrait in rage at a school is being shared with a communal narrative on social media. Netizens claim that the man is a Muslim and is kicking the portrait of a Hindu god.
A video of a man kicking goddess Saraswati's portrait in rage at a school is being shared with a communal narrative on social media. Netizens claim that the man is a Muslim and is kicking the portrait of a Hindu god.
The video is being shared with the caption, "Our God should not let this Jihadi who kicked Saraswati's leg alone.. Fearmongers who say "Sir tan se juda”, if they talk about their religion.. God himself will make his leg tan se juda.."
FACT CHECK:
In the video, we can hear the man and the person shooting the video conversing in Gujarati. Taking this as a hint, we performed a keyword search and found the complete video on YouTube. A report by ABP Asmita describes the incident in detail.
According to the report, the man in the video is Yogesh Rathwa, a guest lecturer at Gelesar Primary School located in Nasvadi, Chhotaudepur, a district in Gujarat. The incident took place on December 28, 2022. Rathwa, in an intoxicated state, kicked the portrait of Saraswati violently. He was later detained by the police after a complaint was filed by one of the school administrators.
The same information was also found in reports by ABP News Gujarati, Aaj Tak and News 18 Gujarat.
As reports mention the full name of the man as Yogesh Rathwa, it indicates that he is not a Muslim and that the communal claims are false.
Moreover, the Chhotaudepur SP Dharmendra Sharma refuted the viral claim to a particular media organization. The man in the video was identified as Yogesh Rathwa who is a Hindu Adivasi and does not belong to the Muslim community. (Read more here)
With this, it is clear that the viral claim is false.