A video of a young girl crying while pleading not to be evicted from her home in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, is viral online with the misleading claim that it is a recent video.
BOOM found that the video is from January 2023 and unrelated to the recent violence in the region.
At least 5 people have died in the violence in Haldwani so far, which erupted after authorities began the demolition of a mosque and madrasa in the Banbhoolpura area on February 8. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami issued shoot on sight orders following reports of vandalism, stone pelting, and a police station being surrounded by a mob emerged.
Amid this, a video of a young girl saying, "I want to give a message to the PM. Please don't demolish our houses. You took away our colleges and schools. We have brothers and sisters. Where will we take them in this cold?" is viral online as a recent video. A caption on X reads, "The situation in Haldwani is distressing; it's important to promote unity and respect for the rights of all individuals, including Indian Muslims, to live peacefully in India."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The video is being shared with a similar caption on Facebook.
Click here to view the post.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the viral claims are misleading, the video is from January 2023 and is unrelated to the recent violence in Haldwani.
We ran a keyword search of the incident on Google using "young girl requesting not to be evicted" and found a video report published by The Free Press Journal on January 5, 2023. The video was an exact match of the viral video and was shared with the title 'Little Girl's Emotional Plead To Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Haldwani Evacuation'
We then ran a reverse image search of the clip on Google and found that an X post by Brut India also carried the same video.
Brut had credited the footage to journalist Ghazala Ahmad, and we found the same video on the journalist's X page with a longer version that carried statements from other residents of Haldwani.
The video was shared on January 4, 2023, a day before the Supreme Court stayed the eviction order against Haldwani's residents.
In December 2022, the Uttarakhand High Court ordered evictions of over 4,500 homes in Haldwani and directed authorities to conduct anti-encroachment drives to remove houses that were allegedly built on land that belonged to the Railways. However, the evictions were halted following protests in the area and a stay order by the Supreme Court on January 5, 2023. The apex court's order said, "There cannot be uprooting of 50,000 people overnight. There has to be segregation of people who have no right on the land and the need to rehabilitation while recognising the need of the railways."