A video of a boy tearing the Indian flag and saying, “Pakka Musalman hoon” is being circulated widely on social media. A Twitter handle, @AnuMishraBJP , posted the video stating, “भारत के राष्ट्रीय ध्वज को फाड़ के फेंक दिया इस लड़के ने कह रहा है…. कि “पक्का मुसलमान हूँ” ये मानसिकता कहाँ से पैदा हो रही है? @sardanarohit @KapilMishra_IND @TajinderBagga” (Tearing and throwing away the national flag of India, this boy is saying that … “I am a true Muslim” where is this mentality being born? -Translated). It has been retweeted more than 2100 times and ‘liked’ more than 2300 times.

Another variant of the video with subtitles was posted by a Twitter user @pokerhash and has been viewed more than 20,000 times. In this video, people can be seen beating and abusing the boy while making him apologise for the act.

Suresh Chavhanke, CMD and Editor-in-Chief of Sudarshan News, has also tweeted a longer version of the video in which the boy is abused, made to apologise and forced to say “Pakka Hindu hoon”. The tweet has received more than 1200 retweets and more than 2200 ‘likes’.

A Facebook user, S.K. Choudhary also shared the above two videos, which have been viewed more than 3 lakh times.

Dainik Bharat, a fake news website, had also posted an article in relation to this issue on August 20,2018.

What is the truth?

This incident is from Surat, Gujarat. An article published by The Times of India on August 20, 2018, stated, “A young boy, who claimed to be from minority community, is seen tearing a paper tricolor in the video. Police traced the boy and another teenager from Amroli and called them to police station along with their family members.”

In a statement given to Alt News, G.A. Patel, Police Inspector, Amroli police station(Surat) clarified, “Both the teenagers are friends and belong to the Hindu community. The boys have also apologised for acting childishly.”



As it turns out, two boys from the Hindu community, as part of a prank, made a video of themselves tearing the Indian flag and proclaimed that they are from the Muslim community. The video has been widely shared, which is not surprising considering the provocative nature of the content. Teenagers indulging in such divisive pranks is a reflection of the religious polarisation in the Indian society.

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