A video purportedly from Bengaluru is going viral on social media, claiming to show Bengaluru police apprehending a popcorn vendor for allegedly using urine to make popcorn. Many social media users are using the word 'peaceful' to describe the accused, which is a sarcastic jibe often used by the Right Wing to refer to the Muslim community.
Premium subscribed X (formerly Twitter) user हम लोग We The People 🇮🇳 (@ajaychauhan41), who has been found sharing and amplifying communal misinformation several times in the past, shared the aforementioned video on June 22 and wrote a caption Hindi that can be translated as: "In Bengaluru, the 'peaceful' owner of a popcorn stall was caught red-handed making popcorn with urine instead of salt!" The tweet has received more than 1.44 Lakh views and has been retweeted over 3,700 times. (Archive)
Several other users on X and Facebook also shared the same video with the claim that the popcorn stall owner had used urine to make the popcorn.
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Fact Check
On running a relevant keyword search we came across several news reports from 2022 which carried screengrabs from the viral video.
We came across a June 14, 2022, report from The News Minute titled, "Bengaluru cops prevent lynching of Muslim popcorn vendor in Lalbagh". The report stated that Nawaz Pasha, a popcorn vendor in Lalbagh for nearly ten years, was accused by passersby of spitting into the oil used to prepare the popcorn. The crowd was on the verge of assaulting him when a police inspector passing through the area intervened, took control of the situation, and prevented the attack.
The report further mentioned that police had apprehended Nawaz and seized his popcorn-making machine based on the allegations levelled by the locals. They, however, refused to come to the police station and file an FIR. The cops eventually filed a suo moto case against him under sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale) and 273 (sale of noxious food or drink) of the IPC. However, Nawaz said that he did not spit into the oil he only bit the oil packet to tear it.
Another report by the news Minute stated that Nawaz was later released on bail. When the cops were requested to drop the charges against him, they said, "It has become a big issue and is in the media, and they have no option but to file a case against him".
This report quotes Nawaz as saying that he "tore open an oil packet with his hand and put the torn fragment of the packaging in his mouth while filling the empty oil bottle at his stall and spat it away later." This was noticed by another man, a jogger. "He walked towards him and asked for his name. As soon as he heard, "my name is Navaz," he gathered a mob by shouting, "look, this Muslim boy has spat in the oil thrice."
Based on the findings, it is clear that the viral video is old, and the claim that the popcorn vendor was arrested for using urine to cook the popcorn is false. The actual allegation against Nawaz Pasha, the popcorn seller, was that he had spat into the oil. However, other than the complainants who refused to file an FIR, there is no evidence to support the claim.
'Thook Jihad' or the theory that Muslim cooks or vendors spit into the food that they sell is an allegation often made by the Right Wing in an attempt to demonize the community. Earlier, it was falsely claimed that Muslims had admitted in court that spitting was a way to ensure the food is halal.
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