[Indore Attack] Viral Video Said Muslim Were Injected With Coronavirus Blood; WhatsApp Limits Message Forwarding To Stop Fake News

As we have reported before on Indore attack, people in Tatpatti Bhakal area of Indore attacked medical staff and police when they tried to look for a suspected Covid-19 patients.

Instead of co-operating with the authority, residents here pelted stones at them, which was recorded in the viral video.

 WhatsApp Message Caused Paranoia With Fake News

Tracing back the reason why people in Indore slum behaved like that, we found a shocking answer.

On the last days of March, a WhatsApp message was circulated among Muslim communities. It evokes paranoia about “a big conspiracy against Muslims in the name of tackling corona” in which Muslim people were taken to unknown places for quarantine while they were not infected at all.

There, they were deliberately infected with the virus and killed by a “poisonous injection.” No one would question their deaths because they were made to believe they died of coronavirus.

Here are some extracts from that WhatsApp message.

“People from Muslim slums are taken for checkups and given fake corona positive reports. Instead of hospitals, they are taken to some other places where they are injected with corona positive blood. Indore has such a huge population, then why are only names of Muslims being revealed as Covid patients? Because they want to scare Muslims in the name of corona and take them away,…After being made corona positive, when that person reaches the last stage of the disease, he is given a poisonous injection and his body is thrown away.”

Urging Muslims to “be careful” and insist on staying at home, the message was the culprit of Indore attack on April 1.

“In case any doctor or cop comes to your area, tell him to check you at your home only. Tell him that if your test is positive, you will lock yourself inside your own home. Now matter how hard they insist, don’t go with them, for God’s sake.”

A social worker in Tatpatti Bhakal also shared about the incident:

“The fake message of killing Muslims by poisonous injection and that video of the family had created fear in the minds of the people. So, they said they won’t let them take away any resident. An argument ensued between the cops and the residents which culminated into an attack on the healthcare officials and the cops. It all happened because people got influenced by those fake messages. Those who spread those messages did a shameful act and should be punished. This happened because of illiteracy within the community.”

Refuting the fake message, a lot of quarantined residents in Muslim community have voiced their opinions.

“I am requesting you, my brothers, not to believe the message that says coronavirus is being spread among Muslims as part of a conspiracy. The Indore administration is taking good care of all its citizens, Muslim or Hindu,” one of them appeals. “Please do not believe rumors. There are 70 Muslims in the quarantine center, and our Hindu brothers are taking care of us.”

A person who shared the fake video also apologized for the misleading message and stated that the authorities were taking good care of his quarantined family. However, the apology video didn’t reach as many people as the fake one.

Cops are also investigating the source of the message and promise they will arrest the culprit soon.

Latest Action From WhatsApp To Stop Fake News

Regarding WhatsApp latest announcement, they will limit the number of times a message is forwarded or shared. This is to reduce the negative impacts of possible fake news on this platform.

Instead of being able to forward a message 5 times, now WhatsApp users can only pass a message to one person at a time.

Till now, this is the strictest limits from this Facebook-owned application.

Be a sensible readers and avoid spreading uncertain news you see on social media!

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