6 days ago
Fact Check: Did a Kerala college mandate Quran reading before major events? Here's the truth
Amid the Karnataka government's move to form a special task force to tackle communal violence in districts like Mangalore, Udupi, and Shivamogga, a circular from Kerala has gone viral on social media. The circular, allegedly from a medical college in Kerala, mandates the recitation of the Quran at the start of all major campus circular mentions that major events such as convocations, annual days, and induction ceremonies should begin with a Quran recitation and that no other prayer song should substitute it. An X user shared the circular claiming that secularism in India was under threat because of shared this notice with hashtags like 'Breaking news'. The archives of two such posts can be seen here and here.
India Today Fact Check found that the viral circular is not recent. It was issued by the Azeezia Medical College Hospital in Kerala's Kollam in 2019 and was retracted the very next day due to ProbeOne can clearly see that the date mentioned in it is April 18, 2019. A subsequent keyword search revealed that it was shared by many social media users in 2019. This makes it clear that the notice isn't recent at Times of India published a detailed report about this circular and the ensuing backlash on May 1, 2019. It said that the notice was withdrawn on April 19, 2019, just a day after it was issued, and the medical superintendent who issued it was removed from his post following the to The Times of India, Dr Hashim Azeez, the director of the Azeezia Group of Medical Institutions, clarified that the circular was issued without the concurrence of the management. He said that the college management did not impose religious restrictions on students and teachers, adding that their general practice was observing a silent Dialogues, a medical and health news platform, also reported the same information in its article about the incident at the time. The issue regarding the circular was reported by other websites as it's clear that an old circular, which was retracted by a Kerala medical college the day after it was issued, was falsely shared as InTrending Reel
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