Fact Check

Old Video Of A Student Disrespecting The National Anthem Revived With False Claim

While the Congress-affiliated KSU had registered complaint against the student last year claiming he was a SFI member, viral post claims the student belongs to Congress

By - Sumit Usha | 30 April 2019 3:45 PM IST

kerala student disrespects national anthem

An old video of a student walking around recording a video on his mobile phone while the national anthem of India plays in the background has gone viral with a false caption.

The caption with the video reads, "A Jihadi student of Kerala making fun of our national song...look at the patriotism of Congress students in South India."

(Hindi: केरल के जिहादी छात्र हमारे राष्ट्रगान का मजाक उड़ा रहे हैं, .. देखें दक्षिण भारत में कांग्रेस के छात्रों की देशभक्ति..)

kerala student insults national anthem

The post can be viewed here and its archived version can be accessed here.

The video clip shows a youngster laughing and walking around shooting other students on a mobile phone inside, what seems to be, a classroom. The other students, meanwhile, stand at attention as the national anthem plays in the background.

Fact Check

BOOM ran a reverse image search and found that the video is from March 2018. Several news reports used screenshots of the same video.

The incident took place in Muvattupuzha, Kerala. The youngster shown moving around in the video, Aslam Salem, was a student of Nirmala college. He was suspended from the college and booked by the police after the video went viral.

Report published in The Week
Report published in The News Minute
Report published in Manorama

According to several newspaper reports, Congress-affiliated Kerala Students Union (KSU), filed a complaint with the Kerala police against Salem. KSU members has also alleged that Salem was a member of Students Federation of India, students wing of the Communist Party of India.

SFI, meanwhile, had denied the allegations and claimed that Salem was a member of the federation in the past. News reports about the incident can be read here and here.

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