Attack On Seer In Punjab’s Hoshiarpur Viral With Communal Spin
A video of a monk, named Swami Pushpendra Swaroop, receiving treatment at a hospital in Hoshiarpur has been going viral on social media with a Hindi caption claiming that Muslims had led the ‘Palghar-style’ attack. The caption is being given a communal and political angle to the attack.
Hindi caption: पालघर की तर्ज पर पंजाब के होशियार पुर में संत पुष्पेंद्र स्वरूप जी महाराज पर शांतिदूतों ने हमला किया है, जब वो घर पर बेटे के साथ थे!! आखिर ये साधु संत की हत्या कांग्रेस शासित राज्यो में ही क्यों हो रही है.?
Translation: Taking a cue from Palghar, now seer Pushpendra Swaroop attacked by Muslims in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur. Why are the saints being killed only in Congress-ruled states?’
Many others shared the video and the claim on Facebook
पालघर की तर्ज पर पंजाब के होशियार पुर में संत पुष्पेंद्र स्वरूप जी महाराज पर शांतिदूतों ने हमला किया है, जब वो घर पर बेटे के साथ थे!!
आखिर ये साधु संत की हत्या कांग्रेस शासित राज्यो में ही क्यों हो रही है.??😡😡
— Arnab Goswami (@ArnabSpeaks25) April 25, 2020
TRUTH
With the keyword search on twitter that led us to the tweet by Hoshiarpur police shared the video of Swami Pushpendra, explaining about the attack. In the tweet, police mentioned that the “It was a case of robbery for which we have already filed an FIR and are already investigating to look the culprits. Urge all to act responsibly and not engage in rumours. ”
In a video Swami Pushpendra Swaroop states that ‘there has been an attack on me a couple of days ago (April 23), you all know. This attack has been carried out by drug addict looters. I was attacked because I retaliated and tried to remove their masks. It was natural that they would have attacked me. There was a fist fight. However, the attack isn’t connected to politics in any way because there is no possibility involving a political angle here. And there were two boys. They were asking for money and they snatched the money and escaped. Police have been cooperating a lot with me. They are investigating the case properly and I am satisfied. I appeal you to maintain peace and cooperate with the police.’
Punjab police also retweeted and appealed people to not engage in spreading rumours.
We request all to know the truth of the case and avoid spreading any kind of rumours regarding recent Hoshiarpur case of Swami Pushpendra ji. @CMOPb @PunjabGovtIndia https://t.co/XhusHIJ8AM
— Punjab Police India (@PunjabPoliceInd) April 25, 2020
This confirms that the robbery case was falsely linked to a communal and political attack case.
