A video depicting men climbing a mosque’s minaret and attempting to raise a saffron flag has been widely circulated on social media, falsely purporting to show Hindus vandalizing a mosque during religious unrest in southern Nepal in late July 2026. However, investigations reveal that the footage dates back to February 2020 and actually depicts a mosque vandalized in Delhi’s Ashok Nagar area during sectarian clashes in India.
The misleading Facebook video, shared on August 1, 2026, included a Hindi-language caption stating, “After Muslim jihadist extremists pelted stones at a Hindu procession, Hindus became furious and vandalized a mosque before setting it on fire.” The video shows individuals removing the muezzin’s loudspeaker from the minaret and then placing a Hindu religious flag and an Indian flag.
This video has also appeared on Instagram and X, being falsely linked to recent violence between Hindu and Muslim communities in several towns in southern Nepal. This violence, which began on July 26 in the Sunsari district bordering India, resulted in at least three deaths and dozens of injuries, reportedly sparked by an argument over loud music and religious flags during a Hindu procession. Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah, who had maintained a low profile since his election in March, addressed the nation for the first time, urging citizens to be “responsible” and dispel the unrest.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the circulating video revealed that the same clip was posted on X on February 25, 2020, with the caption: “Update Ashok Nagar, Delhi 6.00pm: A mosque has been vandalized by Hindutva terror forces, as they brazenly revisit their demolition tactics.”
Media reports from February 2020 also featured similar visuals related to sectarian violence that erupted in Delhi. These clashes, which began on February 24, 2020, were fueled by escalating religious tensions surrounding a controversial citizenship law, which critics argued was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda. The unrest led to pitched battles between opposing groups, resulting in at least 27 deaths and over 200 injuries, making it one of the capital’s worst communal violence incidents in decades.
Local fact-checking organization BOOM Live reported on February 27, 2020, that the mosque shown in the video is indeed located in Delhi’s Ashok Nagar area. AFP photos from that period also confirm the damage to the mosque. AFP has previously debunked other false claims related to religious violence in Nepal.
