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No, Viral Video Does Not Show Muslim Man Attempting To Feed Meat To Elephant
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Kerala, 22 April 2022 9:54 AM GMT | Updated 22 April 2022 12:58 PM GMT
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As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Social media users are sharing a video of an elephant attacking a kid with the claim that the kid and his father tried to feed meat to an elephant, so to convert the elephant into Islam. The Logical Indian Fact Check team verifies the claim.
A shocking video that shows a child being grabbed and tossed by an elephant has gone viral across social media. The video has gone viral with the claim that the Muslim man in the video and a boy tried to feed meat to the elephant.
The video has gone viral in the context of the rapid spread of misinformation based on communal prejudices. Following the violence in Jahangirpuri, there has been a lot of misinformation spreading on social media, targetting Muslims.
Claim:
The video shows a man and a child approaching an elephant. They attempt to offer an item to the elephant as food. However, the elephant grabs the child with the trunk, and the man is able to take the child away from the grasp of the elephant.
The caption of the viral social media posts claims that the man is a Muslim from Kerala. The captions allege that the Muslim man attempted to feed meat to the elephant. The social media users mock this alleged action stating that the man is attempting to convert the elephant into Islam.
A Facebook user wrote, "This Kerala Muslim fellow tried to give meat to the elephant....see what happened. Are these fellows born idiots or are they trying to convert even animals to Islam? Shame on them."
It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The man in the video was attempting to feed coconuts to the elephant.
We conducted a keyword search with the relevant terms such as "father and son being attacked by an elephant." We came across a report by Asianet News that talks about the incident. The video report was uploaded on April 6th, 2022, which indicated the incident took place recently.
The translated title of the video reads, "Elephant attack on father and son while feeding". Following this, we conducted a keyword search, through which we came across a report on Manorama Online.
This report states that the name of the father is Nabeel and the child is his 4-year-old son. The report mentions that Nabeel was feeding coconut to the elephant. Following this, his son began to insist that he wanted to feed the elephant, which led to the incident. The report also states that the elephant's name is Kolakkadan Mini.
We conducted another keyword search with this information and came across several videos featuring Kolakkadan Mini, the elephant.
The Elephant Database carried more details about the elephant such as the name of its owner, Abdul Nassar Kolakkadan. He is a private elephant owner, living in Keezhu Parambu, Areekode in Malappuram.
We searched across Facebook for more information on the incident using this information. We found the Facebook profile of Nabeel Kunhappu, the father shown in the video. He had uploaded a statement that gave all the details about the incident.
We took the help of our Malayalam friend to translate the caption with the video. In the statement, Nabeel shared that his family had been feeding coconuts to the elephant. He says that the incident took place in Malappuram, Kerala.
"My son was insisting that he wanted to see the elephant. We went to see the elephant and gave it a coconut piece. The son became adamant and demanded that he also wanted to feed the elephant. Then the incident took place. My son was harmed but I pulled him away from the elephant. He got minor bruises which were healed within a week. My son is okay now and is suffering from no other problems."
In the statement, he also shared a video that shows him approaching the elephant and dropping a coconut for the elephant to eat without any incident of violence.
We found the contact number of Nabeel on Facebook through which we contacted him. On asking about the details of the incident, he replied, "Hi... Thanks for seeking the truth. The video has gone viral... We regularly give sweets and fruits to the elephant. The elephant behaved naturally that day and my son and I miraculously escaped... Some people with racial hatred misinterpreted it and shared posts that defamed me ... It hurts me to emphasize secular values".
Conclusion:
The viral video was shared with the claim that the Muslim man from Kerela attempted to provide the elephant with meat to consume. Social media users mocking alleged that it was an attempt to convert the elephant into Islam. In actuality, the video shows Nabeel Kunhappu with his son who was attempting to feed Kolakkadan Mini with coconuts. The incident took place in Malappuram, Kerela.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
Also Read: 2019 Video From Pro CAA Rally Falsely Passed As Recent Video From Jahangirpuri
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