Claims suggesting Kurnool MLA Hafeez Khan forced nurse to wash Imam’s feet proven false
Several social media users have posted an image of a nurse that appears to be washing the feet of a man wearing a skull cap. Every person in the image can be seen wearing a face mask, except for the man in question. It is also being claimed that the man standing in the center of the image is MLA Hafeez Khan, who is forcing the nurse to wash the man’s feet, who users are claiming is a local Imam. Hafeez Khan is the current MLA from Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, and is a member of the YSR Congress. It is also being claimed that the said incident occurred in ‘Vishwa Bharti Medical College’.
Several twitter users have posted this image, along with varying claims and accusations.
Seems paramedics are being not treated well, person in center of this photo is Kurnool MLA, AP @PMOIndia @rashtrapatibhvn @ndtv @timesofindia @CNNnews18 @IndiaToday @IndianExpress @the_hindu @TV9Telugu @eenadulivenews @abntelugutv @tv5newsnow @NtvTeluguLive pic.twitter.com/8pjfdujnHP
— Ukiranm (@ukiranm) April 21, 2020
The following post claims that the nurse in question is being made to beg for forgiveness by the Imam for ensuring that the attendees of the recent Tabligh Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin are quarantined.
Another post that has since been deleted has also made similar claims.
The caption of the image, written in Telugu, can translated as the following in English:-
“What is happening in the city of Kurnool in the state of Andhra Pradesh? The politics in the city is feeding the businessmen for profits and encouraging religious superstitions for votes. In the middle of these politics, the middle class is getting squeezed and is buying the required food and domestic materials from different people and paying extremely high prices. In a recent incident, an MLA from Kurnool made a nurse touch the feet of a religious head. But why did he do that and who gave him that authority? What wrong did she do to make him commit such an act? According to the recent ordinance brought about by the Central Government, the MLA can be subjected to a trial and the Kurnool politics is not letting it happen. What exactly is happening in Kurnool? The people of Kurnool are perplexed if the government of Andhra Pradesh is completely oblivious of the situation about politics in Kurnool or they do not want to address the issues at all.”
TRUTH
The MLA in question, Mr Hafeez Khan took to Facebook to clarify the ‘fake news’. The following post was made on 23rd April, containing a video of the man in the skull cap, who according to these viral posts is a religious leader. The caption along with video reads, “Fake news alet/Fact news of the incident”. In the video, that man can be seen sitting while resting the foot that users were claiming was being washed by the nurse. The man looks visibly hurt, as a huge quantity of cotton has been applied to the ankle, while blood is dripping from the leg to the floor.
A Facebook post about the misinformation was also made by the Kurnool Police. According to the police, the man in the skull cap is a diabetic patient who had because of weak eye sight hit his foot with a gate and had started bleeding. At the time of the incident, he was at Rayaleseema University. The hostel there has been converted into a quarantine facility. When the bleeding didn’t stop, he was immediately shifted to the Government General Hospital in Kurnool by ambulance. They added that the nurse was just doing her job and tending to the patient. The post also warned users of spreading fake news as it could lead to “strict action” being taken against them.
A video was also made by the nurse in question, and has been posted on Mr. Khan’s Facebook page, where she has clarified what had happened in the incident. She has also claimed that she was just doing her job while attending to the hurt diabetic patient.
Several other videos can also be found on Mr. Khan’s official Facebook page where he is clarifying the misinformation regarding the incident in a press meeting.
Thus, it can be proven that the claims being made with the viral image of a man wearing a skull cap have been found to be untrue. It is an image of a hurt man in a quarantine facility being attended to by a nurse while several people, including the Kurnool MLA Hafeez Khan are observing.
Journalism Student.
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