On Thursday, IFCN signatory news and fact-checking sire Newschecker.in posted a tweet saying that the call for boycotting the second season of TV Mirzapur was based on false information. While netizens have decided to boycott Mirzapur 2 on Prime Video over the show’s actor Ali Fazal’s comments celebrating anti-CAA violence, the so-called fact-checking site claimed that the actor’s comments were not linked with the riots.
In a video posted on Twitter, the Newschecker.in also mentioned an OnIndia report on the call to boycotts, saying it is misleading. The site claimed although Ali Fazal supported the anti-CAA protests, he didn’t support the violence that accompanied the protests. Supporting Fazal’s claim that his tweet on 20 December last year was misinterpreted, the side claimed that the tweet was edited to claim that he was supporting violence.
As a proof of this claim, the IFCN signatory site said that the tweet by Ali Fazal was posted in December 2019, while the riots in Delhi took place in February 2020, therefore, he was not talking about the Delhi riots.
The claim by Newschecker.in is hilarious, because nobody claimed that Fazal was celebrating the February riots in his December tweet. In an attempt to shield the actor, the site conveniently forgot that the February riots were not the only riots during the anti-CAA protests in the country from October 2019 to February 2020, several incidents of riots and violence across the country.
On 20 December 2019, Ali Fazal had tweeted “Protests: Suru Majboori mein kiye they, ab maja aa raha hai!!” (started in compulsion, now enjoying it). The tweet that he had deleted later, it is evident that he was referring the violent protests against the CAA that had taken place just days ago in several areas in Delhi. Although the February riots were the most violent riots during the anti-CAA protests, riots had also taken placed in Delhi in December also, which the so-called factcheker seems to be denying now.
In the week before Fazal’s tweet on 20th December, violence during anti-CAA protests had erupted in Seelampur, Trilokpuri, Jamia Nagar, Jamia Millia Islamia University and several other places. The rioters had clashed with police, and had destroyed a large number of public and private properties. Buses and other vehicles burnt by the anti-CAA rioters had gone viral on social media. Riots were still going on in several states even after 20th December, including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal etc. In fact, the largest number of riots took place across the country during this period in the name of anti-CAA protests.
Therefore, those who are boycotting Mirzapur 2 are associating Ali Fazal’s comments with the anti-CAA riots in December, they are not linking the same with February riots as Newschecker.in is claiming. Therefore, the IFCN signatory ‘fact-checker’ is actually spreading fake news by making the false allegation.
