Rumour

A verified Twitter handle Prashant Kanojia who was once associated with Indian Express and The Wire tweeted a video to claim that Muslims labors were attacked by Hindutva brigade when they were having food. He called this incident a terrorist attack. His tweet reads:

Goons of Hindutva brigade attacked Muslims labors, when they were having food. They were thrashed with belt and shoes. The terrorist attack took place in Bareilly's Bahedi Thana. This is the signal from RSS that more such attack would take place and Muslim will be targeted.

In the video, the youths can be seen beating the four labors with belts. The youths also hurled abuses at the group, asking them what they were eating. One of the workers could be heard apologising with his hands folded and saying that the meat they were eating was of a buffalo. You can watch the video tweeted by him here:

His tweet was retweeted by the Chairman of Pakistan's Central Film Censor Board, Danyal Gilani who called it the face of Hindutva Terrorism and justified the partition. His tweet reads:

India’s Reign of Terror! If someone asks why Pakistan was necessary, please show him this video. Hindutva brigade making life miserable for Muslims, with no justice for the oppressed. The ugly face of Hindu terrorism shows that Two-Nation Theory has always been relevant!

A shorter version of this video was first tweeted by TOI journalist Piyush Rai who was had earlier published a highly biased report to claim that a college girl was harassed for not wearing BJP's cap. However, this was proven wrong later on. You can read our fact check on this here and here.

His tweet reads:

Warning: Disturbing video, abusive language Daily wage workers about to have their meal abused and assaulted by assailants in Baheri area in UP's Bareilly. Attackers can be heard abusing victims for eating meat at a religious site.

Gulf News covered this story with a headline "four workers beaten up in India for eating meat".

Our Investigation

The story has been widely covered by Indian media. The incident happened in Bareilly, UP. Police have confirmed that only two labors were from the minority community as reported by Indo-Asian News Service.

As per the report, they were eating the meat inside a temple which made locals angry. ANI tweeted: 

Four people were beaten up allegedly for eating meat inside a temple in Bareilly on 29th May. SP Rural says, "A case has been registered, all accused will be arrested shortly. Locals who thrashed them said they were eating inside a religious place."

Station house officer (SHO) of Baheri station, Dhananjay Singh told news agency ANI that the four men had been hired to work for the construction of a private home. They had gone to a nearby 'devasthan' to eat their food. A 'devasthan' is a makeshift shrine with idols of god, usually near or under shady trees.

The victims of this attack had arrived at Baheri on the request of a mason who had hired them to work as labourers on a construction site.

However, the men who were attacked claim that they were consuming a vegetarian meal when a group of unidentified goons arrived at the spot and began assaulting them. However, in the video, one of the labors can be heard saying that it is buffalo meat.

Uttar Pradesh police have booked seven persons and the accused will be arrested soon as reported by Times Now.

Fact

The claim that Muslim labors were attacked while eating their food is misleading since only two of them are from the minority community. They were beaten by locals for eating the meat inside a temple. Hence, Gulf News' headline that they were beaten for eating meat is also misleading.