A video filmed in Turkey in 2020 has surfaced in Hindu-majority India ahead of the April 2024 elections, with a false claim that it showed a Muslim man “contaminating a container of milk” by bathing in it. The original video was shot in a dairy factory in Turkey. Turkish media reported that the man – along with the person who uploaded the clip – was arrested over the video, but was later acquitted after a court was told the bath was filled with a mixture of water and milk residue, and not milk .
“In Kerala… Look at this jihadist’s action. Bathing in a tub of milk, spitting and urinating in it before selling the same milk to Hindus,” reads the Hindi-language caption of a Facebook post posted here on 15 April was shared. , 2024.
“Find out if milk companies like Amul and Mother Dairy employ jihadist employees. If so, it’s clear that you drink the same kind of milk.”
The English text on the video read: “Muslim man takes bath with milk. He wants to make it halal. Kerala.”
A voiceover in Malayalam was also heard saying that the video showed “a worker taking a bath in a tank filled with milk in a dairy factory”.
“After the video went viral on social media, both the person taking the bath and the person recording were arrested,” the voiceover continued. “As a result, the dairy unit was temporarily closed.”
The video showed a man sitting in a bathtub filled with a white liquid.
‘Jihad’ is often translated as holy war, but Hindu hardliners in India use the word as a pejorative term for Muslims.
The false claim surfaced ahead of the general elections in India, where voting started on April 19 and was due to last six weeks. Analysts had expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prevail against a fractious alliance of more than 20 parties that have not yet named a candidate for prime minister.
Muslims have often been the subject of false claims in Hindu-majority India. AFP reported that a lot of content was organized to gain views and revenue from platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.
The video was shared with the false claim elsewhere on Facebook here and here, and on social media platform X here.
However, the video was filmed in Turkey in 2020. Turkish media reported that the man – along with the person who uploaded the video – was arrested for deliberately spoiling milk, but was later acquitted after a court was told the liquid was in the video. bath was not milk.
Video from Turkey
A keyword search on Google found the same video published on November 6, 2020 by Turkish news organization Hurriyet Daily News (archived link).
The English-language report was entitled: “Worker’s milk bath causes dairy to close.”
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in the fake post (left) and the footage uploaded on the news channel’s website (right):
Other news outlets also reported on the video, adding screenshots showing the same scene here and here (archived links here and here). The reports did not mention the man’s religion.
Hurriyet Daily News reported that the man in the video – Emre Sayar – was arrested after the video spread online. Ugur Turgut, who uploaded the clip to his TikTok account, was also arrested.
The outlet also reported that the dairy’s owner said the liquid in the tub was a mix of water and cleaning materials, and not milk.
Turkish news agency DHA said the men were cleared of wrongdoing after the court was told the liquid in the bath was a mixture of water and milk residue, and not milk (archived link).
Another court ordered the Turkish state to pay Sayar 1,150 liras ($35) in damages after he sued authorities for unlawful detention in connection with the case, according to a separate report (archived link).
