Photo of people offering namaz outside Bandra Railway Station is from 2012 – Alt News

An image that shows people offering namaz outside the Bandra Railway Station in Mumbai has gone viral amid the ongoing Hanuman Chalisa row and on the occasion of Ramadan.

The image has been shared by several users on Twitter.

Alt News also received several fact-check requests on WhatsApp about the image.

Fact-check

Through a reverse image search of the image in circulation, Alt News found it on Getty Images and it is dated August 17, 2012. It was taken during the month of Ramadan in 2012 outside the Bandra Railway Station.

An article dated August 17, 2012, published by The Atlantic had also used the image.

It must be noted that in 2012, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra was Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan. The image is thus being falsely linked to the ongoing Hanuman Chalisa row in Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra.

‘Hanuman Chalisa’ Row

Politician Raj Thackeray’s public ‘ultimatum’ to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to remove loudspeakers from mosques sparked a controversy in the state. Raj Thackeray warned the government to remove the loudspeakers by May 3 or his party would play Hanuman Chalisa outside mosques.

This was supported by MP-MLA couple Navneet Kaur Rana and Ravi Rana who then publicly announced that they would chant Hanuman Chalisa outside Uddhav Thackeray’s residence, Matoshree. This was met with a lot of protests by Shiv Sena workers who even flocked outside the couple’s residence to prevent them from going out. The couple later withdrew their plan but an FIR was filed against them, and they were arrested on April 23 under multiple IPC sections, including sedition and charges of creating enmity between groups.

Related