Fact Check: Viral video of child hung upside down in madrasa is from Pakistan, not India
NewsMeter found that the claim is false as the video is from Pakistan.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 18 July 2024 1:31 PM GMT
Claim: The video shows a girl being punished in an Indian madrasa by being hung upside down.
Fact: The claim is false as the incident occurred in Pakistan in 2018.
Hyderabad: A video showing a child wearing a blue kurta pyjama being hung upside down with their legs tied with a rope is circulating on social media. The video also shows several boys wearing Muslim praying caps, one reportedly reading the Quran.
The accompanying claim suggests that the video shows a girl being punished in an Indian madrasa.
Sharing the video, a user on X wrote, āI donāt need to tell you which school this is. But is there any fear of law in our country when a small girl is tied upside down like this? The reason for this Talibani punishment is that she did not understand the heavenly book. I believe such schools should be completely banned across India, and action should be taken against those responsible for beating a small girl like this. (translated from Hindi)ā (Archive)
A Facebook user has also shared the video, making the same claim.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false as the video is from Pakistan.
Upon conducting a reverse image search of the videoās keyframe, we found screengrabs from the video in a report published by the Pakistani news outlet Geo News on June 30, 2019, titled āRawalpindi āqariā who assaulted student sent on 14-day judicial remand.ā
According to the report, after the video went viral, Sadiqabad police arrested Qari Noor Muhammad, who had tied the student upside down from the Dhoke Kashmirian area, a neighbourhood in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The report also mentioned that Noor Muhammad was sent to 14 days of judicial custody.
We also found the video in a report published by The Tribune on June 28, 2019. The report mentioned that the suspect, Noor Muhammad, was arrested from the seminary in Dhok Kashmirian, Sadiqabad. He, along with the victim and his father, was taken to the Sadiqabad police station for interrogation.
According to the report, the initial investigation revealed that the incident occurred in the winter of 2018, and a settlement had been reached between the seminary management and the aggrieved party.
Gulf Today and Ary News had also reported the incident with the same details.
Hence, we conclude that the video does not show a girl being punished in an Indian madrasa.
