Fact-Check: Video of Boys Assaulting Muslim Classmate Is From Indonesia

The video shows an incident from Indonesia and dates back to February 2020.

The video shows three boys hitting and bullying their classmate, a Muslim girl.

(Source: WhatsApp/Altered by The Quint) 

A video showing three boys assaulting and bullying a hijab-wearing classmate is being shared on social media, claiming that it shows a Muslim student being mistreated by Hindu classmates in India.

An archive of this post can be seen here.

The Quint received queries for this claim's verification on its WhatsApp tipline.

(Archived versions of more claims can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the video dates back to 2020 and shows an incident of bullying in Purworejo, Indonesia.

How did we find out?: Using InVID, a video verification tool, we divided the viral video into multiple keyframes and ran a reverse image search.

This led us to a news report by an Indonesian news organisation, TribunNews, published on 13 February 2020.

The incident took place in Purworejo, Indonesia in 2020.

• A translated version of the article mentioned that the incident took place at Muhammadiya Need Middle School in Purworejo, Indonesia (SMP Muhammadiya Butuh Purworejo), where a girl studying in the eighth standard was bullied and hit by three male classmates.

• In another article, TribunNews mentioned that the three perpetrators had been questioned and arrested by the police.

• The incident was also covered by other Indonesian media organisations. Their reports can be accessed here and here.

Conclusion: An old video from Indonesia is being shared with a false communal claim, which says that boys from the Hindu community assaulted their Muslim classmate in India.

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