A screenshot of a Twitter post on Dr Vandana Tiwari
A screenshot of a Twitter post on Dr Vandana Tiwari
Text Size:

New Delhi: A social media post has emerged claiming a doctor in Uttar Pradesh had died of the Covid-19 infection after contracting it from “Islamic Jihadi patients” who attacked her.

According to the post, which was put up on Twitter and Facebook, Dr Vandana Tiwari contracted the virus while trying to test patients, and insinuated that the patients were among those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin last month. The post includes a photograph of an injured woman lying on a hospital bed.

The post was shared by the Hindu Yuva Vahini Surat in-charge Sumer Chaudhary and was liked 1,700 times and shared over 700 times.

Another Twitter user ‘Bindiya Rajput’ also shared the post, which was liked 4,000 times. Similar posts about this alleged incident have been shared on Facebook and Twitter.

The Tablighi Jamaat congregation, held in New Delhi mid-March, has become the largest vector of the Covid-19 infection in South Asia, resulting in a controversy targeting Muslims.

There have also been reports of some of the Tablighi patients ‘misbehaving’ with medical personnel, abusing and harassing them at quarantine camps.

Fact check

The woman in the photograph is Dr Vandana Tiwari, and it is true that she passed away. However, she died of a brain haemorrhage on 1 April at a hospital in Gwalior.

Tiwari was a pharmacist in Shivpuri Medical College in Madhya Pradesh and was part of a Covid-19 containment team. According to a report in a local newspaper, she was brought to the hospital on 31 March as her health deteriorated while on duty. She was later referred to a hospital in Gwalior.

The post began making the rounds on social media on 8 April. The Uttar Pradesh Police put out tweet clarifying that the incident had nothing to do with the state, while police in Agra also tweeted that their cyber cell will further investigate the matter.

While some of the tweets have since been deleted, others are still available on Facebook and Twitter.

Many fake posts criticising and attacking the Tablighis have emerged. Among them are claims of a ‘corona-jihad’ being waged by Muslims.

(In collaboration with Hoax Slayer)

ThePrint is now on Telegram. For the best reports & opinion on politics, governance and more, subscribe to ThePrint on Telegram.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel.