Recently a historic 19th-century church in the French town of Saint-Omer was damaged by a fire. A screenshot of BBC News has gone viral on social media, the screenshot of the BBC article reads, Indian man arrested for church arson in France. It also contains the image of Bollywood actor Salman Khan. However, D-Intent Data has found that these claims are false and self-invented.
Sharing the screenshot on X (Formerly Twitter) @Babygravy9 wrote, “France is now losing an average of one church every two weeks, a significant proportion of which fall victim to fire. We’re supposed to believe these fires are all just coincidences, even when, as in the case of the latest high-profile fire, a non-French arsonist is arrested.”
Several other users, influencers and propagandists have also shared the screenshot and made similar claims. Their posts can be seen here, @HPhobiaWatch, @liftocracy83
The truth about the viral screenshot from France, Fact Check
As soon as the posts containing the screenshot of BBC news about the arrest of an Indian man for church arson in France came to our notice, we conducted research and analysis of the news and found that the screenshot was fake and fabricated.
To verify the claims made by the users. We performed a relevant keyword search on Google and BCC news. But we couldn’t find any BBC news article regarding the viral screenshot. During research, we found that when the screenshot went viral, at that time the investigation was started to find the cause of the fire.
Additionally, a recent report says that a man was taken into police custody after a major fire broke out at a 19th-century church in northern France, causing its bell tower to collapse. The prosecutor’s office said that a suspect had been taken into custody on Monday evening. The man, who was born in 1985, has been known to authorities “for similar acts” in the past. The identity of the accused was not revealed.
Therefore, it is evident from D-Intent Data’s Fact Check that the viral screenshot of BBC News was fake and fabricated.
Intent
Propagandists are circulating false and self-invented screenshots of BBC News to set their narrative against India.
Conclusion
Claim– According to BBC news, an Indian man was arrested for the recent Church arson in France.
Fact – The screenshot was fake and fabricated. There are no reports of an Indian man being arrested for church arson in France.
Related Article: Fact Check: An old image of a man attacking a naked female statue in Algeria was falsely shared as France – D-Intent Data (dintentdata.com)
