Fact Check: Did Karnataka police arrest burqa-clad protestors?
A video claiming that the Karnataka police arrested burqa-clad protestors is widely being shared on social media.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 22 Feb 2022 5:04 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video claiming that the Karnataka police arrested burqa-clad protestors is widely being shared on social media.
It was further being claimed that these agitators were protesting against the hijab ban in educational institutions. Forty percent of these protestors were boys in women's attire.
The video is viral on Facebook and can be viewed here
The video was also shared by journalist Rakesh Krishnam Simha and State social media chief of BJP Mahila Morcha, UP, Suchitra Pathak Kakkar on their Twitter handles.
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Fact Check
The claim is False.
NewsMeter began its investigation by performing a Google Reverse Image Search. The search led us to a video news report aired on the YouTube channel of ETV on August 08, 2020.
According to the description of the video, "Several arrested for transferring illegal liquor by wearing Burqa at Kurnool District."
We can also see the visuals from 0:05 seconds.
Taking a cue from this, we found a post on Facebook page of Bengaluru city police on February 21, 2022. According to the post, "Video claiming Karnataka police arresting burqa-clad agitators and 40 percent of them being boys in women's attire: True facts – Karnataka State Police FactCheck."
The post also included a link, which led us to the official website of the 'Karnataka State Police FactCheck'. The website had published a report titled 'Video claiming Karnataka police arresting burqa-clad agitators and 40 percent of them being boys in women's attire: True facts'.
The report had further stated, "On verification, it is found that the incident took place on August 18 2020 in Telangana state and not anywhere in Karnataka as is being claimed in the viral video now. The man in the video was arrested while trying to smuggle liquor from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh. He had put on a burqa to disguise himself. This incident took place at the Panchalingala check post in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and not in Karnataka."
Karnataka Director General of Police, Praveen Sood had also tweeted about the viral video on his official handle.
Apart from this, we found that the viral video had earlier been viral with a claim that he is an RSS man who was caught waving the Pakistani flag in a burqa to defame Muslims. The claim was then debunked and reported by websites including OneIndia, India Today, and Alt News in 2020.
We lastly compared the visuals of the viral video and that of the original video.
Hence, it is evident that the claim is False. The viral video has no relation to the hijab controversy. The viral video is of 2020 when police officials had arrested people smuggling illegal liquor in Kurnool district.
