DigitEye India Fact Checkers
As the controversy over wearing hijab in Karnataka pre-university colleges is widening across the country, a video is being shared on WhatsApp and Twitter with a claim that a group of Muslim women are being harassed by a right-wing Hindutva group.
While the hijab controversy is being taken up by the state high court, colleges and schools are shut until Feb 16 due to the communally sensitive issue.
आपका नया भारत मैं स्वागत है जहा आज एक मजहब की बच्चियों को हिजाब की वजह से परेशान किया जा रहा है सिर्फ इसलिए किया जा रहा की तुम मुसलमान हो आप इस पर खुश हो रहे हो क्योंकि वह आपकी बच्चियां नही तो याद रखना यह दरिंदे हैवान कल आपकी बच्चों को भी परेशान करेंगे pic.twitter.com/o3Lzkl8Ntl
— waseem rana laliyana (@wrana716) February 9, 2022
The video in circulation shows some men throwing water on women wearing hijab. The video has gone viral with the following caption in Hindi: “आपका नया भारत मैं स्वागत है जहा आज एक मजहब की बच्चियों को हिजाब की वजह से परेशान किया जा रहा है सिर्फ इसलिए किया जा रहा की तुम मुसलमान हो । आप इस पर खुश हो रहे हो क्योंकि वह आपकी बच्चियां नही तो याद रखना यह दरिंदे हैवान कल आपकी बच्चों को भी परेशान करेंगे जब आप जागोगे बहुत देर हो चुकी होगी ये आरएसएस के दरिंदे आज सब मर्यादा भूल चुके हैं” The translation in English reads: [“Welcome to your new India where girls from a particular religion are being harassed because they are Muslim. You are rejoicing over this because they are not your daughters, but remember that these rascals will trouble your daughters tomorrow as well. Till the time you wake up, it will be too late. These rascals have forgotten all their dignity.”]
Here’s another on Twitter:
In the name of Allah
What’s happening in India ? @narendramodi @ZeeNews @asadowaisi @TheDeshBhakt @UNOCHA @hrw
Why Muslim womens are targeted ? Is this safety in India for women ? Is this allowed to torcher or tease women and put a bucket filled with water on hijabi sisters pic.twitter.com/yVcNcrhszm— Qari Abul Qasim (@Qari_Abul_Qasim) February 10, 2022
It’s being shared on Twitter here and here.
FACT CHECK
When the frames of the video were checked on Google Reverse Image Search and on Youtube, the results showed that the video was an old one and from Sri Lanka.
It was originally taken at an initiation ceremony of the Eastern University located in Vantharumoolai, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, where old students were seen throwing water at new burqa-clad students. It was uploaded by Puhithu news channel on Feb 24, 2019. See the video here.
A YouTube channel called Now News had uploaded the video on March 2, 2019, with a narrative “Ragging by racist students.” Hence, the video was falsely used in the context of the current Hijab row in Karnataka and elsewhere in India.
Claim: Viral video shows the ill-treatment of Muslim women by right-wing Hindutva men.
Conclusion: The viral video is three years old and falsely pushed again with a wrong connotation.
Rating: Totally False — 
