DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A screenshot on X showing a priest carrying a severed buffalo head on his head inside a temple is being shared with a claim that a Hindu priest is carrying it following recent communal tensions in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh where some persons were arrested for throwing cow parts into a temple on Friday, June 14, 2024.
That chopped head of cow was thrown by 2 MusIim guys in a temple, Pujari ji had to do this to maintain the sanctity of temple and then see how this IsIamist is making fun of it….
Bloody secularism….@BJP4India @HMOIndia @VHPDigital @AnandaRamPoudel #repost @MrSinha_ pic.twitter.com/8PV9vME4Nt
— tweetkrishna (@krishnapaudel78) June 17, 2024
The post can be accessed here and here. The trigger came when an X user with the handle @realwajidkhan shared the same image on the occasion of the Muslim festival of Bakrid with a caption, “बकरीद मुबारक” on June 16, 2024. The response alleged that the photo was of a severed cow in Ratlam which led to communal tension.
FACT-CHECK
When Digiteye India received the claim for fact-checking, we took the image and ran a quick Reverse Google Image Search. The results showed an old image of September 2017 in which a devotee was seen participating in ritualistic animal sacrifice in Assam’s Belsor, on the occassion of Durga Puja. The original photo is available on Getty Images stock.
The caption of the original photo reveals that it was part of a buffalo sacrifice at the Billeshwar Dewalaya in Assam, dedicated to Hindu goddess Durga. The dateline also shows that the photo was taken on 29 September 2017, in Assam’s Belsor, near Guwahati. News reports also authenticate that the ritual is typical to the 500-year-old Billeshwar Dewalaya in Belsor where several people book buffaloes for the sacrifice, despite criticism against animal slaughter.
Claim: Image shows a man carrying the chopped head of cow thrown by 2 MusIim guys in a temple.
Conclusion: The claim is false. An old photo of a ritualistic animal sacrifice in Assam’s Belsor Durga temple is linked to a recent incident of people throwing cow parts in a temple in Madhya Pradesh.
Rating: Misrepresentation — 
