Video of a dead cow in the Indian state of Kerala, not in Karnataka

The video was shared alongside similar claims elsewhere on X and on Facebook.

However, the film was shot in a city in the state of Kerala and not in Karnataka as claimed in the posts.

While there is a significant Muslim minority in Karnataka – about 12.9 percent of the population – the proportion of Muslims in Kerala is much larger, making up about 26.5 percent of the population (archived links here and here).

Animal attacks

A reverse image search using the video’s keyframes and subsequent keyword search on Google revealed that the video was posted on Instagram on February 17, 2024, by a page called Wayanad View (archived link).

“When the people of Pulpally took the law into their hands,” The caption referred to a town in Wayanad district of Kerala.

Below you can see a screenshot comparison of the video in the fake posts (left) and the one on Instagram (right):

The location of the video corresponds to the Google Maps imagery of a street in Pulpally.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the fake posts (left) and a Google Street View of the area where it was filmed (right), with the relevant buildings highlighted by AFP:

The second half of the footage corresponds to the same location in Pulpally, filmed from the opposite direction (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the second part of the video in the fake posts (left) and Google Street View of the area (right), with the similarities highlighted by AFP:

The owner of the Instagram page told AFP: “This is not a case of cow slaughter. Three months ago, a tiger killed a human and shortly after, another animal killed a cow.”

“In protest against these incidents, local people went on strike against the administration. In their anger, they tied the dead body of the cow to a forest department vehicle. This video captures this protest.”

The local police also said the video had been doctored.

“This video shows a demonstration by the people in Pulappally, Wayanad, in February, protesting against the local administration for failing to prevent the ongoing attacks by wild animals,” said Police Inspector Subhash told AFP on May 16, 2024.

“During the protest, some angry protesters tied the dead body of a cow that had been killed by a wild animal to the hood of a forest department vehicle. This is not about the slaughter of cows by Muslims,” ​​he added.

Several Indian media organizations such as the Hindustan Times and the Free Press Journal also reported on the incident (archived links here and here).

AFP has debunked further misinformation targeting India’s Muslim minority here and here.