Fact Checking: Does a Meat Shop Operate Under a Temple in Kerala?

The abandoned temple is located in Pakistan. This is the temple square, and that building there is the Sita Ram temple. A video from Pakistan has been shared with the false claim that it shows a Sita Ram temple in Wayanad, Kerala.

The temple shown in the vlog is located in Ahmedpur Sial, a town in the Jhang district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, and no Hindus live around that area. We reviewed the YouTube channel and found that several vlogs from Pakistan have been posted. This reel was circulated with false claims that the temple is in Wayanad.

The post caption states that the Sita Ram Mandir is in Punjab, Pakistan. Upon comparing the image with a video, we observed that both depict the words “om” and “Sita Ram” inscribed in Hindi atop the temple. The report stated that the Sita Ram temple in Ahmadpur Sial tehsil of Jhang district is one of the landmarks in architecture from the 19th century in that region.

Ahmedpur Sial, a sub-district of Jhang district, was once a Hindu-majority town with several temples and other places of worship. It no longer functions as a temple and is now a marketplace. Most of the valuables inside the temple were stolen by locals.

We compared the images to confirm that it is the same temple. The temple is permanently closed and is located in Ahmedpur Sial of Jhang district in Punjab, Pakistan. The structure in the video is located in the Punjab province of Pakistan and is unrelated to India.

Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.