Old video of mob pelting stones at houses shared with false communal spin

Context

A video of some young men pelting stones from a street is circulating on social media with the communal claim that Muslims in Kerala threw stones at Hindu houses to get them to vacate their homes. Last week, one user shared the video on Twitter with the caption, "Muslim boys throwing stones on Hindu bungalows in Kerala threatening them to vacate, same like Kashmir situation is going to come in future #Kerala #keralastory." This post had gained nearly 202,000 likes and 7, 720 shares at the time of publishing. An archived version of the post can be found here.

However, the video is from 2016 and reportedly shows an attack on the houses of political leaders in Kerala. 

In Fact

We ran the video keyframes through a Google reverse image search and found that the clip was featured in a news segment by the Malayalam news channel Manorama News. The segment was shared on the outlet's YouTube channel on August 15, 2016. According to the news outlet, the viral clip shows assailants, some of whom were masked, attacking the houses of leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, Congress, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Nadapuram, Kerala. Manorama News also reported that the mob had pelted stones at several houses, some of which belonged to politically non-affiliated individuals. Auto-rickshaws, bikes, and other vehicles were also damaged in the violence. The police had filed cases against 50 people in connection to the violence, the video report further said. There was no mention of the religious affiliations of the assailants in the report.

We then came across a report by The Times of India, published on August 18, 2016, quoting officials saying that a total of 47 houses were attacked in Nadapuram and Thuneri following the murder of IUML worker K Aslam. Reportedly, 40 houses in Thuneri and seven houses in Nadapuram sustained damages from stone-pelting. Additionally, a few vehicles, including one car, were torched by the attackers. While this report did not carry visuals of stone-pelting, it mentioned similar details, including the location and date of the attack, as reported by Manorama News. This report also made no reference to the religious identity of those involved in the attack.

According to a Deccan Chronicle report dated August 14, 2016, violence erupted in the Kallachi-Kummankode, Vellur-Kodanchery, and Kottembram areas following the killing of Aslam. Houses were attacked, vehicles were torched, and police vans were damaged in the areas around Nadapuram. The report further stated, "Aslam's murder came as a clear indication of vengeance for the murder of CPM worker Shibin..."

On August 12, 2016, Aslam, an IUML worker, was brutally hacked to death at Chalappuram, Nadapuram. He was accused of being involved in the killing of Kuneri Shibin, a CPM worker, in 2015, but was later acquitted by a lower court. 

Aslam's killing was termed an act of "murder politics" by Congress leaders and was condemned by others. According to a report by The News Minute, the police arrested CPM worker Ramesh in August 2016 for Aslam's murder. 

The Verdict

The viral video claiming to show attacks on Hindu houses by Muslims in Kerala has been shared with a false communal spin. The incident shown in the video reportedly occurred in 2016 and was related to political tensions in Kerala's Nadapuram.