Police Assaulting Burqa-Clad Women in Ghaziabad Falsely Shared as From Karnataka

The claim comes in the backdrop of the hijab row in Karnataka.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video showing police personnel assaulting and beating women wearing hijab and burqa is being shared on social media claiming that the incident happened in Karnataka.

The claim comes in the backdrop of the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka, which started with six students being denied entry to their classrooms in Udupi for wearing hijab.

However, we found that the incident took place at Khoda area in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on 13 February, when pro-hijab protesters were thrashed by police with lathis.

CLAIM

The video is being shared along with the claim in Hindi that reads, "ये मीडिया कभी कुछ सही नही दिखा सकती भाईयो लेकिन आप लोग आप दिखा सकते हो आपके जितने भी दोस्त है या ग्रुप है ये वीडियो हर ग्रुप और हर दोस्त को शेयर करे ताकि आपकी जो आज कर्नाटक में हो रहा है कल वो आपके सात ना हो प्लीज जादा से जादा शेयर करे इन सब बहनों की मदद करे ताकि इन सब को इंसाफ मिल सके."

(Translation: The media would never show this. Please share this widely so that everyone can see what is happening in Karnataka, so that it doesn't happen to you.)

An archive of the tweet can be seen here.

Several social media users have shared the video along with the same claim and the archived links can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

The incident was covered by The Quint in a news report published on 16 February.

It was reported that Muslim women protesting against the hijab ban were allegedly beaten by police personnel in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad on 13 February.

The incident had taken place in Ghaziabad.

The Quint's Piyush Rai had also tweeted the video.

The caption read, "Police in UP's Ghaziabad seen using force to disperse protestors, mostly women, agitating against the hijab ban. According to police, the protestors misbehaved and beat up police following which a case has also been registered."

Responding to the incident, Ghaziabad police issued a statement on Twitter.

"On 13 February, Inspector in-charge of Khoda received information about demonstration by some people at Shani Bazar road. Upon receiving information, the inspector reached the spot and found some women were protesting on the road," the Ghaziabad police said in the tweet on Wednesday.

"However, when the police personnel asked from the protestors to show permission, the women didn’t show the permission letter and they assaulted police personnel present there," it added.

“A case was registered for protesting without permission, beating up policemen, obstructing police on duty, hurling abuses etc. On 15 February, two persons were called for interrogation at Khoda police station after serving notice to them," the tweet read in Hindi.

Tweet from 16 February. 

Clearly, a video from Ghaziabad is being shared falsely claiming that it is from Karnataka.

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