An old video of a man breaking Sai Baba's idol is viral as a recent incident with a false claim that the idol was broken following a court order that said Sai Baba was a Muslim. BOOM found that the claims are false and the video is from March 2021.
The two-minute long video shows a man using a metal rod to break Hindu spiritual leader Sai Baba's idol as a few others stand by and watch. Towards the end of the video, one man is heard saying that Sai Baba is a Muslim who died in 1918, and that he is not a god. He also says that people should instead worship Chandra Shekhar Azad, Shivaram Rajguru, and Bhagat Singh.
It is being shared with the caption, "Due to the court order that Sai Baba is a Muslim, all Baba's nests..Idols of our Hindu Goddesses..are destroyed."
(Original text in Telugu: సాయి బాబా ముస్లిం అని కోర్టు ఉత్తర్వులు జారీ చేయడం వల్ల అన్ని బాబా గూళ్ళను.. మన హిందూ దేవి దేవతల విగ్రహాలు.. ప్రతిస్టిసున్నరు)
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FACT-CHECK
A reverse image search of some keyframes from the viral video led us to a video report by The Lallantop published on March 31, 2021. The video carried visuals similar to the ones in the viral video.
According to the report, the incident took place at a temple in Delhi's Shahpur Jat where a man was seen removing the idol because he believed Sai Baba was a Muslim. The temple's committee claimed that the idol was not broken, only removed.
According to a report by Scroll published on April 4, Hindu extremists vandalised the idol and called Sai Baba a "jihadi". The report further stated that a member of the temple committee had claimed that the idol was removed on March 25 after it was "broken". Devotees of Sai Baba in the neighbourhood were displeased by this explanation and expressed their grief over the incident. Later, an idol of Lord Ganesha replaced Sai Baba's idol.
We then looked for reports about the alleged court order that declared Sai Baba a Muslim and did not find any results.
An Indian Express report from September 15, 2014 explained how Kandivali-based Sai Dham Temple had approached the Bombay High Court and explained that Sai Baba was a Brahmin, not a Muslim. The temple had also appealed to the High Court to punish individuals trying to defame Sai Baba.
The temple's complaint, filed on behalf of its chief trustee Ramesh Joshi had accused Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati from Madhya Pradesh for calling Sai Baba a Muslim and "hurting the beliefs and sentiments of his followers".
According to a report published by Navbharat Times on October 13, 2014, the Supreme Court refused to get involved in this matter concerning Sai Baba's religion. Mumbai-based Sai Dham Charitable Trust had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court requesting the central and state government to stop those making derogatory statements against Sai Baba. The petition requested the government to deny all permissions to remove Sai Baba's idol from any temple in the country.
A bench of Justice TS Thakur, Justice AK Goyal, and Justice R Banumati had told the petitioner's counsel that they could move the civil court if they felt that somebody had taken the law into their own hands. The bench also stated that every person had the right to choose their faith and that the court could not interfere in such a matter.
