A video of Hindutva activist Kajal Shingala talking about "Love Jihad" is being shared on social media misidentifying her as an Indian Police Service (ISP) officer and falsely claiming that a Gujarat IPS officer is warning Hindu girls to stay away from Muslim men.
Love Jihad is a term used by right-wing handles to describe a supposed conspiracy theory in which Muslim men target non-Muslim women for conversion to Islam by feigning love.
In the video, Shingala alleges that Muslim men are paid to get married to Hindu women; the pay varies depending on the girl's caste-- a Brahmin or Rajput woman fetches the man 6 lakhs, a Jain woman 8 lakhs. "These men don't love you. They are jobless people living in slums," she is heard saying in the video while urging girls, "to not go from becoming a "Sita" to a "Sultana"."
Kajal Shingala is a Hindutva activist and on several occasions been called out for her hate speech against Muslims. She was arrested by the Gujarat Police in April this year for inciting communal clashes that were allegedly caused due to her speech on Ram Navami in Gujarat's Gir Somnath district.
The 6-minute long video is being shared with the caption, "This IPS officer of Gujarat is Kajal Singhala and is warning girls by giving complete information regarding love jihad. I want to warn all of you Sanatanis that you must watch the whole video, whether you study in any city or job."
(Original text in Hindi: "ये गुजरात की आईपीएस अधिकारी काजल सिंघाला है और लव जिहाद के संबंध में संपूर्ण जानकारी देकर कर लड़कियों को आगाह कर रही है। आप सभी सनातनी को आगाह करना चाहता हूं कि पूरी वीडियो अवश्य देखें चाहे आप किसी भी शहर में पढाई करते हो या नौकरी 😡😡😡😡😡"
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BOOM also received the viral claim on its WhatsApp Tipline (7700906111).
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the woman in the video is a Hindutva activist Kajal Shingala, and not an IPS officer as falsely claimed on social media posts. We watched the entire video and found that towards the end, the woman asks viewers to message her on '@officialkajalshingala'.
Taking a hint from that, we looked for the handle on Facebook and found Kajal Shingala's verified account. Shingala had identified herself as an entrepreneur and social activist on the page's 'About' section. In brackets, she mentions her other name as 'Kajal Hindusthani.' This page also carried links to her other social media profiles, including Instagram.
We then looked at Shingala's Instagram account and found that here, too, she called herself a social activist. Nowhere does she mention that she is an IPS officer.
We also found the same viral video uploaded on her Instagram account on June 24, 2021, with the caption, "#lovejihad"
Taking a cue from this, we looked for the video on her Facebook page and found that the viral video was uploaded on the same day on her Facebook account as well.
Shingala verified Twitter account alos carries a bio where she calls herself an entrepreneur, social activist, and research analyst.
We found several photos of Shingala on her Facebook profile and compared them to her visuals in the video which shows that both are the same woman.
We then looked for additional information on Kajal Shingala and found this news report by The Indian Express published on April 6, 2023. The report stated the communal clashes that took place in Gir Somnath were after Shingala's provocative speech. The police had registered a case against Shingala in April 2023 in connection with this speech and she later surrendered before the police.
According to The Indian Express, Kajal originally hails from Rajasthan, and her maiden name was Kajal Trivedi. She changed her last name after her marriage to Jwalant Shingala, a Jamnagar-based businessman. Kajal started voicing her pro-Hindutva opinions on social media from 2015-16 onwards, after which she was even invited to events hosted by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
The story further reported that Shingala has a huge following on social media, and is followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She has several times posted provocative statements against Muslims and Christians and in 2022, a case of hate speech was registered against her in Udupi, Karnataka.