Footage of brawl at Indian temple falsely linked to clashes over Eid celebrations

"Muslims threw meat at devotees at the Kolhapur Mahalaxmi Temple, shouting 'Allahu Akbar'. About 20 priests responded by hurling coconuts at Muslims," reads a Hindi-language Facebook post shared on May 23. 

The attached 19-second video shows a group of men attacking a person. It has been viewed more than 43,000 times since it was posted to a Facebook page with more than 58,000 followers.

The page has previously posted other false claims debunked by AFP.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken on May 29, 2026, with a red X added by AFP

The clip appeared in similar Facebook and Instagram posts in the lead-up to the Eid al-Adha celebrations as police were deployed to several areas in Mumbai in May to settle disputes between Hindu and Muslim residents over a ritual to sacrifice animals. 

Indian media reported that police arrested a person and detained at least three others at a housing complex in northern Mumbai, where clashes had broken out over a temporary bamboo shed where goats purchased for ritual sacrifice were kept (archived link).

Permission to slaughter sacrificial animals for the festival in another area was cancelled following a similar clash (archived link). 

The country has a long and grim history of sectarian clashes between the Hindu majority and its biggest minority faith around religious festivals such as Eid and Ram Navami (archived here and here).

Comments from users suggest they believe the video genuinely shows a brawl between Hindus and Muslims.

"Jihadis do not celebrate any of their festivals without insulting Hindus," a user wrote -- a word translated as holy war but commonly used by Hindu hardliners as a pejorative term to refer to Muslims.

Another commented: "This is the only solution for this community, the insult to our religious places will not be tolerated".

But the video is not linked to the disputes over Eid celebrations.

No communal angle

A keyword search on Google found the same footage shared on March 23 on Indian broadcaster NDTV's X account, whose logo appears at the top right corner (archived link). 

The post's caption reads: "Priests go on rampage at Jyotiba temple, brutally beating devotees", and goes on to say it was filmed in Kolhapur in Maharashtra.

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Screenshot comparison of the false post video (L) and the NDTV video

Another outlet Times of India also included a screengrab of the video in a report on March 24 about the fight, and said police detained 17 priests and 17 devotees after the scuffle (archived link). 

It said the dispute began when some devotees allegedly hurled pieces of a coconut at a priest, triggering an argument that later escalated into a brawl.  

A local assistant police inspector at the Kodoli police station, Chetan Masutage, confirmed to AFP on May 29 that "no Muslims were involved" in the clash.

"The incident took place on March 22 when a minor altercation broke out between priests and a group of devotees at Jyotiba temple. Several people were detained, and a case was registered under relevant sections. The issue was later settled through mutual agreement," he said.

A priest from the temple, Nitin Lade, also told AFP that claims of "Muslims carrying beef to the temple" were false.

He said a group of people entered the temple allegedly drunk and started abusing the priests, which led to an argument. 

"One of the drunk men attempted to hit a priest, following which other priests intervened and a scuffle broke out," Lade told AFP on May 29.

AFP has debunked other false claims around Hindu-Muslim tension in India.

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