Fact Check: The Video Of Uttarakhand’s Bagwal Fair Misrepresented And Shared As Stone Pelting During A Protest
The video of the Bagwal fair, an annual event on Raksha Bandhan in Uttarakhand’s Champawat district, is being misrepresented with false claims. This ritual is based on an age-old custom.
- By Vishvas News
- Updated: August 26, 2024
New Delhi (Vishvas News). A video clip of people dancing and throwing stones in a field is going viral on social media, with some users using it to criticise the government for alleged inaction.
Vishvas News investigated the clip and found that the video clip is from the Bagwal fair held in Uttarakhand. This fair is organised at Barahi Dham Devidhura in Champawat district every year on Raksha Bandhan and is part of an age-old custom.
What is the viral post?
X user Payal Gupta (archive link) shared this video clip on August 24, 2024, with the caption:
“Should the homes of stone pelters be demolished based on their identification through clothing????”
Facebook user Md Esahak Biswas shared this video (archive link) on August 25, 2024, criticising the government.
Investigation
By extracting key frames from the viral video and searching them using Google Lens, we discovered that the video was also posted on the Gaurangi Dholgai YouTube channel on August 20, 2024. The video is described as being from the Bagwal fair of Devidhura.
On August 19, 2024, a video of the Bagwal fair was uploaded on the YouTube channel ‘Raibar Uttarakhand Devbhoomi’ from a different angle, also depicting the event at Barahi Temple Devidhura.
Additionally, a video of the Bagwal fair, dated August 13, 2022, is available on Deepak Singh Mehra’s YouTube channel.
According to the news published on Dainik Jagran’s website on August 12, 2022, the Bagwal fair, organised at Barahi Dham Devidhura in Champawat district, involves participants in a traditional war with fruits, flowers, and stones. This event, also known as Asari Kautik, is celebrated on Raksha Bandhan and is an age-old tradition.
Devendra Sati, the editorial lead at Dainik Jagran, Dehradun, confirmed that the video shows the Bagwal fair. He explained that this event is organised on Raksha Bandhan and people hit each other with fruits, flowers, and stones. The ritual lasts for about 15 minutes.
We scanned the profile of the X user who shared the video with the misleading claims. The user has 4323 followers and is inspired by a particular ideology.
Conclusion: The video of the Bagwal fair, an annual event on Raksha Bandhan in Uttarakhand’s Champawat district, is being misrepresented with false claims. This ritual is based on an age-old custom.