Part-time journalist, full-time propagandist, C.J. Werlemen, took to Twitter recently to wrongly claim that the BJP had banned the slaughter of livestock during Eid. Werlemen also claimed that the Police Officer was forcing an Imam to declare “Qurbani is a punishable crime” to his followers in the video that he had attached.
India: BJP ruled Uttar Pradesh bans Muslims killing livestock for Eid celebrations.
A police officer forces an Imam to declare “Qubani is a punishable crime” to members of his congregation. pic.twitter.com/WLgU80ZFNm
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) August 21, 2018
The first part of his claim is patently false as we have reported that the BJP had only banned the slaughter of animals in public and imposed a total ban on cow slaughter. In the video, it could be seen that the Policeman was merely standing beside the Imam and he cannot be seen uttering a single word during the entire length of the video. Although the audio in the video is not quite clear, the Imam appears to be appealing to his followers to follow the directions issued by the administration and warned them of the consequences if they didn’t.
Uttar Pradesh Police, who are quite active on Social media, refuted Werlemen’s claims and took a jibe at him over a previous occasion on which Werlemen had spread falsehood on social media and requested him not to spread rumours.
Dear @cjwerleman – You had earlier mistaken an incident of Rajasthan to be in UP which was brought to your notice. Again we see a fictional tweet from you, maligning UP. Pls do not spread rumours. Bakrid is being peacefully celebrated across the state as per the traditions.
— UP POLICE (@Uppolice) August 22, 2018
We had reported the incident which the Uttar Pradesh Police spoke of in their tweet. A migrant worker had been lynched in Jaipur on suspicion of being a child lifter, Werlemen had claimed that the incident had happened in Uttar Pradesh and used it to further his narrative of Hindu extremism.
C.J. Werlemen appears to have a special grudge against Uttar Pradesh, probably because a saffron-clad monk is the Chief Minister of the state. On another occasion, Kasganj Police had to refute his allegations after Werlemen accused them of teaming up with ‘Hindu extremists’ to target Muslims. In a separate instance, this time not involving Uttar Pradesh, Werlemen used a video depicting the violence during the Bhima-Koregaon clashes in Maharashtra and claimed that it, in fact, showed Hindus destroying Muslim property.
It appears Uttar Pradesh Police’s request to not spread rumours will once again fall on deaf ears.
