An old video showing a group of people heckling two girls has now been circulated with a false communal claim that it shows a Muslim girl influencing a Hindu girl to wear a burqa and accompany a Muslim boy.
BOOM found that the video shows a confrontation which took place when two Muslim girls tried to collect their burqas from their Christian friend. However, some individuals from a Hindu group mistakenly believed that the Muslim girls were handing a burqa to a Hindu girl and created ruckus.
In the 2 minute and 19 second video, a group of individuals can be observed harassing the girls by shouting questions at them, inquiring about their origin and the reason for wearing burqas.
Several verified X handles posted the video with a Hindi caption that translates to, "Wake up Hindus. This girl in burqa brainwashed that Hindu girl who is also in the video frame. She was caught asking the Hindu girl to wear a burqa and go with the peace-loving boy (who is seen standing in the corridor in the video)...This is love jihad..."
(Original Text in Hindi: जागो हिंदुओं इस बुर्के वाली लड़की ने उस हिंदू लड़की का ब्रेन वॉश किया जो वीडियो फ्रेम में भी है वह हिंदू लड़की को बुर्का पहनने और शांतिप्रिय लड़के (जो वीडियो में गलियारे में खडा दिखाई दे रहा है) के साथ जाने के लिए कहती हुई पकड़ी गई। ..लव जिहाद ये है...)
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BOOM had earlier fact checked the @ajaychauhan41 handle several times for spreading misinformation on social media. Read here, here and here.
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Fact Check
BOOM first ran a keyword search in Kannada related to 'Burqa' to verify the claim with the video and found a X post sharing the same footage from November 19, 2021.
The video was posted with a Kannada caption that translates to, "Somwarpet (Kodagu) is now turning into a terror hub for the Sangh Parivar. This is the 3rd incident that took place today, and the most horrifying is that 2 Muslim students were assaulted and assaulted by Sangh Parivar goons after making a video of them for giving a burqa to a Hindu friend."
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Additionally, we found a news article from the Karnataka-based news outlet Kannada Prabha, covering the incident on November 19, 2021.
The report in Kannada stated that, around 4 pm on November 18, 2021, a gathering of more than 40 individuals attacked students from Sacred Heart School at KRC Circle in Shanivarasanthe, Somwarpet. It further added that the burqa of a girl was torn during the altercation, the students suffered injuries, and were later admitted to a hospital in Kodlipet.
According to the report, the father of the victim mentioned that on November 18, 2021, his daughter removed her burqa before going to college and gave it to a fellow Christian student who was left college early that day. He further explained that the ruckus occurred when his daughter and her friend attempted to collect their burqas later.
As per the report, the victim's father recounted, "In the evening, my daughter's friend waited near the college to return the burqa. However, while returning the burqa, both my daughter and her friend were attacked by more than 40 goons. The girls were also locked, beaten, abused and assaulted."
Moreover, the Kannada Prabha report also mentioned that the Shanivarasanthe police had filed an FIR under the POCSO Act following the incident. Shanivarasanthe SI Parashiva Murthy was also cited in the report, stating that two individuals named Prajwal and Kaushik were arrested in connection with the case.
The News Minute, in its November 23, 2021, report, featured an image of the altercation and mentioned that Karnataka's Kodagu experienced five hate crimes in a span of two weeks during that period.
On December 14, 2021, The News Minute reported that Prajwal and Kaushik, earlier arrested for assaulting two Muslim girls on November 18, were released from Madikeri district prison on December 4. The report also added that the two prisoners were later driven to Shanivarsanthe, where they were adorned with saffron shawls, and BJP leader SN Raghu joined them for photographs.