The Wire journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani took social media by storm after she posted photographs of herself with a beautiful white goat. In her tweet, she hailed nature as the greatest healer and said that few days spent in nature’s vicinity was replenishment for her soul. However, the post led to inadvertent consequences which nobody could have predicted.
Images started doing the rounds on social media where it was alleged that Arfa Khanum Sherwani had later killed the same goat and ate it for food. The images were also accompanied by unsavoury texts that opined on her alleged hypocrisy. OpIndia came across such texts which made the claim that The Wire journalist had later feasted upon the same goat.
However, after consulting experts on the matter and evaluating the facts at hand, we can now confirm that Arfa Khanum Sherwani did not, in fact, feast upon the same goat she was seen holding in the photographs. We can further confirm that there is no evidence to suggest that The Wire journalist consumed the goat she was petting.
The love for nature vanished in this air in flat one hour and the lamb that was the one to replenish the soul, ended up on dining table! What a replenishment, or refreshment! pic.twitter.com/p40noraprd
— Adv.Vivekanand Gupta 🇮🇳 (@vivekanandg) November 25, 2020
Expert ‘Kasai Zubair’ weighs in on Arfa Khanum Sherwani Goatgate
In the photographs that are doing the rounds on social media, it can be seen that the time stamp for the beautiful goat photo is 5.10 pm on the 22nd of November while the feasting dinner photo carries the time stamp of 6.10 pm on the same day. We believed that it was not possible to cook the goat in such a short time but just to be sure, we consulted an expert on the matter, Kasai Zubair.
We consulted Zubair, a Chef who works part-time as a ‘Kasai’ (butcher), for his opinions on the matter. He confirmed that it was not possible to cook a goat in such a short time. He said that it is “simply impossibly” for any goat to make the journey from the loving arms of a human to the dinner table within an hour.
To be doubly sure, we asked Kasai Zubair what if the Masala and other ingredients had been kept prepared beforehand. He said that even in that scenario, it wouldn’t be possible because the dish that can be seen in the photograph requires a good deal of time to prepare, plus the goat would also have to be chopped into pieces which takes a great deal of time in itself. All of this will not be possible in an hour.
Final Verdict
Furthermore, the photograph that is doing the rounds to claim that Arfa Khanum Sherwani ate the same goat she was holding in her hands appears edited and there is nothing on timeline to suggest that she posted such a photograph. She might have deleted the tweet even if she posted but it extremely unlikely that she did such a thing.
Therefore, we can assert with a great deal of certainty that these are morphed images that are being circulated to make the false claim. And there is no evidence in public domain to suggest that the journalist ate the goat she was petting. The possibility that the goat was eaten, however, cannot be entirely ruled out.