Fact Check: Indian man harasses Western woman tourist? No, video is from Sri Lanka
A video has been circulating online, claiming it shows a Western woman tourist being harassed by a man in India.
By - Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:The video shows a minor casting a vote for the BJP during the recently concluded 2025 Bihar polls.
Fact:The claim is misleading. The video shows BJP’s Bhopal District Panchayat member Vinay Meher making his minor son cast a vote in May 2024.
(Disclaimer: The report contains visuals showing harassment of a woman. Viewer discretion is advised.)
Newsmeter Network
Hyderabad: A video has been circulating on social media claiming to show an Indian man harassing a Western woman tourist. In the footage, the woman recounts her ordeal of being followed and propositioned for sex by the man. She manages to escape him by leaving in an auto.
Sharing the video, an X user wrote, “Some men are really sick… Harassing female Western tourists in India has practically turned into a trend now. (sic)” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the video is from Sri Lanka.
A reverse image search of the video’s keyframe led us to a screenshot showing the same man posted by the Sri Lankan media outlet News Wire on November 15 on X.
The post stated that police have appealed for public assistance to identify a suspect, alleged of attempting sexual assault on a foreign woman in Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka.
According to police, the woman had posted a video online showing the suspect engaging in indecent sexual behaviour, which prompted the Pottuvil Police to begin investigations into the incident.
Following this lead, we conducted a keyword search and found the incident reported by Sri Lankan news portal Adaderana on November 16.
According to the media outlet’s Instagram page, a man was arrested on charges of attempted sexual assault of a foreign national woman in the Thirukkovil area, after a video of the incident was widely circulated on social media.
The arrest was made on November 16 during a special search operation carried out in the Marandamadu area of Kalmunai by the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Thirukkovil Police and a team of officers.
Another media outlet, Asian Mirror, also reported on November 16 that the suspect accused of sexually harassing a foreign woman in the Thirukkovil area has been arrested by police during a special search operation. The report features the image of the accused.
Therefore, we conclude that the incident shown in the viral video is from Sri Lanka, not India. The claim is false.
