The Quint rebuts BBC’s story on ‘India police officer threatened for saving Muslim man from mob’

An equally disturbing and a good news had come from the Uttarakhand’s Nainital district earlier this May. A Muslim man who was allegedly found in an objectionable position with a Hindu girl inside the famous Girija Devi Temple was beaten up by a few temple visitors. The mob was allegedly infuriated at the non-religious activities being done by the couple inside temple premises. The Muslim man was saved by from a hearty public thrashing by a Sikh police officer. The Sikh police officer Gagandeep Singh showed courage and acted as a human shield to take out the 24 year old Muslim guy out of the temple premises away from the angry people. The act of the police officer was commended throughout India and he was praised by all sections from the society. The leftist newspapers however could not help themselves from stopping at just bad and good news; they added what they call fake news to make the story more appealing. An article titled “India police officer threatened for saving Muslim man from mob”, came out on British Broadcasting Corporation  News (BBC) yesterday. But according to the recent development today the BBC has changed the headline from ‘threatened’ to ‘abused online’. According to the article the co-workers of Gagandeep Singh said that the police officer had received death threats for saving the Muslim guy. The article also stated that after the incident the police officer was forced to go on a leave as well.

There is as much truth in this article published by the BBC News as there is in the fact that Britain is a pious nation and colonized countries for carrying out charitable work.

The BBC article is full of lies, according to the official sources police officer Gagandeep Singh has been sent on a leave as he was being over flooded with praise and congratulatory messages. Not used to social media attention the cop had been sent on a leave for coping up with the overwhelming love and warmth he had received from all sections of the society. But BBC saw his leave differently, they did not let any chance of maligning the image of India to pass, hence the story. But what hurt more was probably how the article was used by fake news peddlers like Caravan in India to suit their narrative. The Caravan is basically an Indian English-language, magazine which covers politics and culture. They were in the news when they almost single-handedly built up the whole Justice Loya murder story. The Caravan’s entire story was debunked by investigators and the judiciary.

Hartosh Singh Bal, Editor of Caravan shared the article by the BBC blaming PM Modi and his people for the fictional threats received by Gagandeep Singh. The foolishness of Hartosh Singh Bal knows no bounds as he used a story published by media house abroad without even verifying the facts. 

BBC’s story and Hartosh Singh Bal’s backing would have been rebutted in a day or two. But surprisingly the rebuttal came from The Quint. This role reversal from a portal like The Quint, which is not known for standing behind our men in uniform is a welcome move.

In an article published by The Quint, Kritika Goel rebuts BBC’s story in full detail. The story quotes Gagandeep Singh saying, “There’s no such thing. In fact, I got to know about this (that I have been receiving death threats) from other people. I have been enjoying my holiday. There is no question of me receiving death threats”. The article by The Quint writers rebuts the tall baseless claims made by the BBC News. The hopes to give this incident a communal angle and spread fake news by the Caravan and others of their ilk too have received a dashing blow. 

Well done The Quint, after having rebutted so many of their stories, we never thought that we’ll praise The Quint one day. But credit must be given where it is due. This is a welcome change, and we hope it continues like that.