The story was first published by Altnews.in (read the original post by clicking here.)

On April 16, three men were lynched by an armed mob near Gadchinchale village which comes under the Kasa Police jurisdiction in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. Three days later, videos of the incident on social media were amplified with an insinuation that it was a communally-motivated crime committed by members of the Muslim community.

One such video of the gruesome incident was tweeted by some individuals with the claim that the mob can be heard saying, “Maar Shoaib Maar”.

Film director Ashoke Pandit twice claimed that the accused involved in the incident is “Shoaib”.

Suresh Chavhanke, the editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News, also claimed that he is able to hear the word “Shoaib” in the video.

Delhi BJP’s Richa Pandey Mishra tweeted the video with the text, “Hit Shoaib Hit, Kill them”. Similar tweets by handle ‘Yana Mir‘ and ‘This Posable‘ has garnered close to 2,700 retweets combined. Facebook page Our India posted the same video with a similar communal narrative. It has been shared more than 2,200 times.

Also viral with a Christian angle

An image of the two deceased men was also shared on social media with a graphic that accuses “the goons of Christian missionaries” for the attack.

No “Shoaib” in the video

After listening to several videos of the same incident taken from different angles, Alt News found that the men are saying,  “Bass oye bass (Stop hey stop)”.  In the video posted below, the same can heard. Thus, the claim that one of the perpetrators involved in the incident was Shoaib is baseless.

No communal angle

Maharastra’s Home Minister took to Twitter and informed that the incident has no communal angle and that the accused and the victim were not from different faiths.

CM Uddhav Thackeray has also ruled out any communal angle in the incident and said that it had occurred as rumours about thieves roaming in the area were making the rounds.

The incident took place on the night of April 16 when three men were attacked by a mob of local tribals near Gadchinchale village. They were reportedly on their way from Mumbai’s Kandivili to Silvassa to attend a funeral when they were stopped by a vigilante group that was set up by locals to patrol during the night. The mob questioned these men who were travelling in a van. They pelted stones at them and later beat them up with sticks. The police have detained over 100 people and nine minors in connection with the lynching.

Alt News reached out to PRO of Palghar police who reiterated that there is no communal angle to the incident. We were informed that both the accused and victim are from the same faith. The accused belong to the tribal community. The PRO said, “There was a rumour circulating in the area and the police had also issued a message regarding it.” There were reportedly rumours about migrants robbing the tribals village in Palghar district.

Palghar SP Gaurav Singh informed The Indian Express that the investigation into the incident has so far focused on identifying the sources of the rumours spread in the tribal village.

Moreover, according to the 2011 census data of the Gadchinchale village of the Dahanu Taluka, it has over 248 households and of which majority of them belong to the scheduled tribe.

Days before the incident, four police personnel were left injured in an incident where the SUV of a skin specialist Dr Vishwas Walwi of Thane was destroyed at Saarni village by a mob. “At least 250 people had attacked them when Dr Walwi was returning home after distributing food grains and conducting a small door-to-door thermal screening of tribals,” said a report Hindustan Times published on April 17, 2020.

Prominent social media users like Suresh Chavhanke and Ashoke Pandit attempted to give the incident a communal colour by claiming that the men involved in the lynching were members of the Muslim community. The accused and victims both hail from the same religion. There is no communal angle to the incident.

The story was first published by Altnews.in (read the original post by clicking here.) 

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New Delhi (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday hit out at the government for tweaking an election rule to prevent public inspection of certain electronic documents, alleging it is part of the Modi government's "systematic conspiracy" to destroy the institutional integrity of the Election Commission.

Kharge also said the Modi government's "calibrated erosion" of the ECI's integrity is a frontal attack on the Constitution and democracy.

The government has tweaked an election rule to prevent public inspection of certain electronic documents such as CCTV camera and webcasting footage as well as video recordings of candidates to prevent their misuse.

Based on the recommendation of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Union law ministry on Friday amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to restrict the type of "papers" or documents open to public inspection.

Reacting to the development, Kharge said, "Modi government's audacious amendment in the Conduct of Election Rules is another assault in its systematic conspiracy to destroy the institutional integrity of the Election Commission of India." "Earlier, they had removed the Chief Justice of India from the Selection panel which appoints Election Commissioners, and now they have resorted to stonewall electoral information, even after a High Court order," he said in a post on X.

Everytime the Congress party wrote to the ECI, regarding specific poll irregularities such as voter deletions and lack of transparency in EVMs, the ECI has responded in a condescending tone and chosen not to even acknowledge certain serious complaints, Kharge said.

"This again proves that the ECI, even though it is a quasi-judicial body, is not behaving independently," he said.

"The Modi government's calibrated erosion of ECI's integrity is a frontal attack on the Constitution and Democracy and we will take every step to safeguard them," Kharge said.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh had said the party would legally challenge the amendment.

Lok Sabha MP and Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said the poll panel had chosen opacity and a pro-government attitude in its dealings thus far.

According to Rule 93, all "papers" related to elections shall be open to public inspection.

The amendment inserts "as specified in these rules" after "papers".

Law ministry and ECI officials separately explained that a court case was the "trigger" behind the amendment.

While documents such as nomination forms, appointment of election agents, results and election account statements are mentioned in the Conduct of Election Rules, electronic documents such as CCTV camera footage, webcasting footage and video recording of candidates during the Model Code of Conduct period are not covered.

"CCTV coverage, webcasting of polling stations are not carried out under Conduct of Election Rules but are the result of steps taken by the ECI to ensure a level playing field," a former ECI official explained.