A video from Gurugram showing a policewoman trying to restrain a burqa-clad woman who allegedly stabbed a cab driver, is being shared online falsely linking it to the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka.
The video is being shared on WhatsApp and YouTube with a false claim that the police assaulted her because she was wearing a burqa.
BOOM found that the woman is an Egyptian national who was attempting to flee after allegedly stabbing a cab driver in Rajiv chowk area of Gurugram and the viral video shows a policewoman trying to nab her.
We contacted Delhi police who said that the video is not connected to the ongoing to Hijab row in Karnataka and that the accused woman had also punched the police woman attempting to restrain her.
The video is being shared amid a raging controversy in several districts of Karnataka after the government disallowed the wearing of the hijab to colleges. The protests have seen educational institutions in the state to be shut down till the high court passes an order in the matter.
The video is being shared with a caption in English that reads, "Hijab Ban Update Most Viral Video From India | Hijab Row" with an audio overlaid in Hindi and Urdu that claims the woman is Nazreen who is being threatened by the police. The audio says, "A Muslim woman is being threatened and tortured. This is one of the most horrifying videos that shows how the Indian government is torturing Muslim women. See how the police woman is beating up the Muslim lady and is asking her to go back home. This kind of torture is only strengthening the resolve of Muslim women because the Hijab is a jewellery for them and without it she feels vulnerable. One day the Indian government will have to answer to this torture..."
It is also being shared on YouTube with the same caption and the audio.
The viral video initially shows the scene from the incident in Gurugram and later adds visuals from protests by students in Karnataka against the hijab ban in colleges in the state.
FACT CHECK
We noticed a board in the video which said, Civil Lines road and using that as a cue, we ran a search and found several news reports from Gurugram about the incident.
According to reports, the incident is from February 15 morning when a woman allegedly stabbed a cab driver in the shoulder and attempted to flee. The reports identify the woman as Rihana alias Noor Ali and add that she is an Egyptian national. The Hindustan Times reported, "Raghu Raj (37), sustained a stab wound to the right shoulder, as well as injuries to his face and was taken to Civil Hospital in Sector 10 for treatment. Raj said he was waiting in his car for passengers around 11am when a burkha-clad woman walked up to his window, stabbed him in the shoulder with a long knife, and fled."
The report further quoted a police source and said, "When the police team finally detained her, we managed to make out that she was demanding to meet the Egyptian ambassador..."
We also found a longer version of the same video posted by the official Twitter handle of Hindustan, the Hindi language paper of Hindustan Times.
We then contacted the Civil Lines police station and an officer confirmed that the video was from the Gurugram incident. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officer said, "The woman who is a foreign national stabbed the taxi driver in the shoulder without any reason and then attempted to flee the scene. Hearing the commotion, a patrol car reached the area and tried to stop her but she was extremely agitated and also speaking in a language we did not understand. In the process, she attacked the police personnel trying to restrain her. We eventually managed to get her to the police station where too she scratched another police woman."
He added that they had registered a case and were trying to get a translator to know what triggered her actions. "The video has no connection to the Hijab row protests and is not from Karnataka. We are still investigating the case further."