Fact Check: Pakistan’s flag not hoisted in Bihar’s Purnea, viral claim is fake
The claim that Pakistan’s flag was hoisted in Bihar’s Purnia district is false. An Islamic flag was displayed on the house of a Muslim in the district. The viral post’s report was a false and inflammatory claim.
- By: Abhishek Parashar
- Published: Feb 2, 2023 at 03:12 PM
- Updated: Feb 8, 2023 at 12:52 PM
A video clip from a Hindi news channel is going viral on social media, through which it is being claimed that Pakistan’s flag was hoisted in Bihar’s Purnea on the occasion of Republic Day.
Vishvas News in its investigation found this claim to be false propaganda. It was an Islamic flag and not Pakistan’s flag which was hoisted in Purnea. Also, this flag was not hoisted on the occasion of Republic Day, but had been there for the last several days.
Claim:
According to the viral post (archive link) given by social media user ‘News State Bihar Jharkhand’, it said: “Breaking: Pakistani flag hoisted on Republic Day in Purnea. Republic Day 2023PurneaNews #BiharNews #republicday2023”
Several other users on Twitter have also shared the video with the same claim.
The matter has also been reported by the official Twitter handle of news agency ANI.
Investigation:
News search found many such reports in which the viral claim is mentioned. According to Dainik Jagran’s January 27 report, the claim of hoisting the Pakistani flag in Purnea turned out to be false and the police are on the lookout for the person who made the video viral.
According to a report of Prabhat Khabar, dated January 27, 2023, on Republic Day in Bihar, a news went viral that the flag of Pakistan was hoisted in Purnea. The news took the people of that house by surprise. Following the news, the local police took down the flag to examine it, and found that it was not the flag of Pakistan, but the Islamic flag, which had been hanging on the roof of the concerned person’s house for about a month.
Information about this incident has also been shared from the official Twitter handle of Purnea Police.
It is clear that the Islamic flag was hoisted in Purnea district of Bihar, not the Pakistani flag. Vishvas News contacted Purnea Police regarding the viral video clip.
Purnea SDPO Surendra Kumar Saroj told Vishvas News, “The Pakistani flag was not hoisted in Purnea, but the Islamic flag was hoisted. We found in the investigation that it was not a flag associated with any country.” He said the police are identifying those who have spread wrong information on social media on this matter and action will be taken against them.
Earlier, another video went viral, claiming that a Hindu youth was stabbed to death by Muslims during Saraswati Puja in another district of Bihar, Gopalganj. In our investigation, we found this claim to be misleading and communally inciting, which had nothing to do with Saraswati Puja. In Gopalganj’s Basdila village, an incident of stabbing between two groups was reported after a dispute over playing cricket. In the scuffle, a young man died on the spot, and four others were seriously injured. Our fact check report can be read here.
The page sharing the viral video clip is followed by over 51,000 people on Facebook.
Conclusion: The claim that Pakistan’s flag was hoisted in Bihar’s Purnia district is false. An Islamic flag was displayed on the house of a Muslim in the district. The viral post’s report was a false and inflammatory claim.
- Claim Review : Pakistan's flag hoisted in Bihar's Purnia
- Claimed By : FB Page: News State Bihar Jharkhand
- Fact Check : False
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