Fact Check: Harassment inside a Delhi bus caught on camera? No, video is scripted

Hyderabad: A video has gone viral claiming to show two men harassing a girl on a bus in Delhi. Those sharing the video insinuated a communal motive behind the incident and called for strict action against the individuals involved.

An X user shared the video and wrote, “Share in large numbers. These Chhapries should be arrested. The video is being called from Delhi. This is unacceptable.” (Archive)

Similar claims have been found here and here. (Archive, Archive)

Fact Check:

NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video was a fictional skit.

Using a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes, we found the video shared in an article published by Loksatta on November 21, 2024. While the article described the act shown in the video, it did not verify if the incident in the video was real. The video was credited to an Instagram account named @universal_vines01.

Taking this lead, we found more parts of the same incident shared on the same Instagram account. In one of the videos, the man featured identified himself as Aman Baniwal. (The man in the white T-shirt who stood up to the eve-teasers in the video.) We searched for “Aman Baniwal” on YouTube and found an extended version of the video titled ‘Bus’ on his channel, shared on February 23, 2023.

At the beginning of the 13:22-minute-long video, a disclaimer appears briefly, stating, “The content made in this video should be considered for entertainment purposes only.” This indicated that the video was fictional and was not a real incident.

The channel hosts multiple skits featuring the same actor in the viral clip. Additionally, we found other videos on this channel featuring the same girl from the viral video, further proving it’s part of a series of scripted content. The other video can be found here.

Therefore, NewsMeter concludes that the claim is false as the video is scripted.