Fact Check: Woman in viral video is victim of domestic violence, communal angle ruled-out
A video of a woman being tortured and humiliated by three men is viral on social media.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 24 Dec 2021 5:22 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of a woman being tortured and humiliated by three men is viral on social media.
Users claim that the woman is a Hindu, who was being abducted in the daylight in Pakistan's Umarkot, Sindh.
Fact Check
The claim is False.
NewsMeter began its investigation by performing a Google Reverse Image Search which led us to a report published on a website 'Sputnik News' titled 'Pakistani MP Rejects Claim that a Hindu Woman in Viral Video Was Targeted Because of Her Religion.'
The report had published a screengrab from the viral video. The report had quoted Vankwani, a member of Pakistan's governing Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and leader of the Pakistan Hindu Council. Vankwani had stated: "There is no Hindu-Muslim angle to that incident. It is not a communal incident as it is being played out to be. The matter was a domestic dispute and the woman was involved in divorce proceedings with her husband, who was also a Hindu."
A similar screengrab was also published on 'The Pakistan Daily' on December 20, 2021. "A married woman who approached the court for dissolution of marriage was dragged on a road when she was returning from court to her home, case registered against 7 persons. Tejhan, 40, wife of Herchand Bheel, a resident of Vehro Sharif, had a dispute with her spouse. She had knocked on the door of a civil court, Umerkot for dissolution of a marriage. After attending the hearing, she was attacked by 8 persons, who dragged her on a road, pulled her hair, and humiliated her," read the report.
The viral video was further published on the website 'Urdu Geo'.
"A woman who came for khula in a local court in Umerkot was publicly humiliated. The victim, who had filed a case in a local court, was dragged away by the accused in public and abducted in a car, and fled. Police said the woman's divorce case is being heard in a civil court," the report said.
It is therefore evident that the viral claim is misleading. The victim is indeed a Hindu. but the claim that she was being abducted is not true. The video is of an incident where the woman was being tortured and humiliated because she filed a divorce case in a local court against her husband.
