The Viral Posts on Ranu Mondal Demanding Land for Church in Ayodhya are Fake

Not everything on the Internet is true, but most people seem to overlook that every so often.

On November 9, the Supreme Court pronounced in a historic judgement on Saturday that a temple be constructed for Hindus on a 2.77-acre site in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya town, which has been the epicentre of independent India’s biggest religio-political wrangle, while Muslims should get an alternative land to build a potential mosque.

The five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, ruled unanimously that the spot, where frenzied right-wing mobs destroyed the four-centuries-old Babri Masjid in 1992, should be handed over to a trust that the Centre must constitute in three months to oversee the construction of a temple, subject to conditions.

The verdict which had been the talking point for a lot of people, also came with fake news attached to it. While many were very critical of the judgement, and many were in praise of it, fake quotes on the subject started spreading on social media attributing them to someone speaking on the topic.

Singer and viral sensation Ranu Mondal who recently shot to fame for her covers of Lata Mangeshkar, and more recently for allegedly misbehaving with her fans, became the subject of one such ‘comment.’

The fake news that circulated said that Ranu Mondal has allegedly asked for a church to be built on the disputed land in Ayodhya. Several people on Facebook copy pasted the same message with the exact same text, making it go viral.

The truth? This ‘news’ was posted by a satirical website, called The Fauxy which is known for its parody stories of real-time recent events which happen. It was first shared on Twitter with similar text, but with the link being from The Fauxy.

So while the news is definitely fake, people started treating a satire website’s story with just the headline as authentic news.