A video shot by minor students in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, making offensive remarks at a female teacher, is being shared on social media with a false and communal claim that it shows Hindu students harassing a Muslim teacher.
Meerut Police confirmed to BOOM that the four minor accused booked in the case and the female teacher are all Muslims and that there is no communal angle to the incident.
In the viral video, a student can be heard eve teasing and verbally harassing a woman wearing a hijab walking by. The students are heard passing lewd comments such as addressing her as 'jaan' and shouting out 'I love you'.
The viral video of the incident is being quote tweeted with misleading captions like, "A normal day in India. From a student being targeted by his Hindu nationalist teacher with hate & called a terrorist to a Muslim female teacher being targeted & harassed by her Hindu nationalist students"
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that both the four accused minor students and the female teacher being harassed in the viral video are all Muslims and that there is no communal angle to the incident.
Four minors, including a girl, were booked by Meerut police on November 26, 2022, for allegedly passing obscene comments, molesting and harassing a teacher of an intermediate college in Kithore area of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh reported the Times Of India on November 28, 2022. It further added that the accused had uploaded a video of their offensive behavior on social media a few days prior to that.
The report further quoted a police officer stating that the teacher, who is in her late twenties, lodged a complaint on November 25, 2022, against four Class 12 students, alleging that they have been harassing her for the past few weeks.
"None of the accused are Hindus:" Meerut Police to BOOM
BOOM contacted Circle Officer, Kithore, Suchita Singh who denied any communal angle to the incident saying, "None of the accused are Hindus. Both, the four accused minor students and the victim woman are Muslim."
"We have booked the accused under section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 500 (defamation) of the Indian penal code (IPC) and under 67 of the IT act," added CO Singh.
Note, the names of the accused have been withheld as they are minors.