Viral Newspaper Clipping Claiming Gwalior Collector Banned Deity Images in Govt Offices is Fake

A newspaper clipping is going viral on social media with the claim that a collector has issued an order stating that deity images not be seen in any government offices. The headline of the newspaper clipping reads, “Collector’s order: God should not be seen in offices!”

Sharing the newspaper clipping, the handle Ashok Bauddha wrote, “It is a punishable offense to display photos of deities in government offices, schools, and colleges. Legal action will be taken against senior officials of such government institutions and offices.” (Archived link)

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Fact Check

In our fact-check research, we searched related keywords on Google and found a report by Punjab Kesari dated March 26, 2019. This report revealed that the officer mentioned in the viral news was Gwalior District Collector Anurag Chaudhary. The report clearly stated that the news being circulated was false and that Anurag Chaudhary never issued any such order. The viral newspaper clipping also did not include a copy of the alleged order. In fact, the same clipping contained a small column with Anurag Chaudhary’s response, where he denied the claim and clarified that he had never issued such an order.

We also found a Facebook post by Anurag Chaudhary dated March 26, 2019, where he expressed his disappointment over the false news. He wrote, “I have a question for all citizens—what if someone attributes something to you that you never said, presents it in a way that makes it seem like you said it, and publishes it using your name? What if that statement is highly sensational and deeply hurts many people? Is it right to twist and manipulate the truth just to create sensation? I am a religious person in my personal life. I respect all religions. Whenever you try to start something new or do something good, there will always be someone who tries to bring you down.”

In conclusion, the newspaper clipping attributing a statement to IAS officer Anurag Chaudhary, claiming that during his tenure as the Collector of Gwalior he issued an order stating that deity images should not be seen in government offices, is false. In March 2019, Anurag Chaudhary himself refuted this fake news, calling it a conspiracy aimed at tarnishing his reputation.

Claim	Collector has issued an order stating that God should not be seen in any government offices.
Claimed by	Social media users
Fact Check	The claim that IAS Anurag Chaudhary banned deity images in offices is false; he denied it in 2019, calling it a conspiracy to defame him.

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