Viral tweets claiming a woman protester at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh tested positive for Coronavirus yet refused treatment and returned to the protest venue, are false.
BOOM contacted one of the organisers of the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests at Shaheen Bagh and two hospitals in Delhi that are designated to treat Coronavirus patients. The organiser rubbished the message as fake meanwhile the two hospitals said they have not received any Coronavirus patient from Shaheen Bagh so far.
The screenshot of a tweet that is being shared on WhatsApp reads, "Big Breaking: Nazma begum ( 43 ) sitting in # ShaheenBaghProtest was not feeling well. Doctors found her coronavirus positive. She denied the treatment and again went to ShaheenBagh, What kind of moron are these people? # CoronavirusReachesDelhi"
BOOM received the viral screenshot on its WhatsApp helpline number (7700906111) from a reader.
Viral on Twitter
The same misleading piece of misinformation is viral on Twitter
Just heard that Nazma Begum aged 43 was tested positive for #Coronavirus, but she refused treatment and went back to Shaheen Bagh to protest...
— Vibhor Anand 🇮🇳 (@vibhor_anand) March 4, 2020
Can anyone confirm this information???
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#WomenofShaheenBagh#BigBreaking :
— Shwet Suman Sharma (@shwetsuman1991) March 4, 2020
Nazma begum (43) sitting in #ShaheenBaghProtest was not feeling well fainted. Doctors found her #CoronavirusReachesDelhi positive.
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Nazma Begum (43) sitting in #ShaheenBaghProtest was not feeling well. Doctors found her #coronavirus positive. She denied the treatment and again went to #ShaheenBagh.
— Prabhat Kumar (प्रभात कुमार) (@Prabhat93078075) March 4, 2020
What kind of moron are these people?#CoronavirusReachesDelhi
Click here to view, and here for an archive.
Also Read:Video Of Relief Aid To Riot Victims Shared As Shaheen Bagh Women Being Paid
FACT-CHECK
We searched using the keywords 'Nazma Begum', 'Coronavirus', 'Delhi', 'Shaheen Bagh' and did not find any news report stating the viral piece of information that a woman protester at Shaheen Bagh had tested positive.
BOOM contacted one of the organisers of the Shaheen Bagh protests, who confirmed that the message was fake.
The Twitter account (@TheIntelWirathu) that had tweeted the viral tweet does not exist anymore.
BOOM also contacted Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi which are treating Coronavirus patients. Both hospitals denied receiving any Coronavirus patients from Shaheen Bagh so far. India has reported 30 cases of Coronavirus at the time of writing the article, follow BOOM's live blog here.
The continuing sit-in protests at Shaheen Bagh since mid December last year led mainly by Muslim women have been a frequent target of disinformation. Multiple false claims accusing protesters of taking money to participate in the sit-in demonstrations have been debunked earlier. (Read here and here)
Also Read:No, This Is Not Ravish Kumar Disguised As A Woman At Shaheen Bagh
Additional reporting by Sumit Usha