Another Scripted Video of Attempted Child Kidnapping in Delhi Shared as Real

The scripted video was created by a content creator who makes such videos to "spread awareness".

Fact-Check | The viral video was a scripted one created to "spread awareness".

(Photo: The Quint)

A video showing a group of people apprehending a person who is trying to escape with a child in a suitcase has gone viral as an incident from Delhi's Dwarka area.

However, we found that the video was yet another scripted video created to "spread awareness" that went viral as real. The Quint's WebQoof team has debunked several such scripted videos in the last month.

CLAIM

In the viral video, the people apprehending the alleged kidnapper say that he was caught near Dwarka Mor metro station in Delhi.

Several social media users who shared the video also used that bit of information in their captions. One person said, "This is an incident from Dwarka Mor, child kidnapper, issued in public interest".

An archive of the post can be found here.

Several such posts were seen being shared on Facebook, archives of some of which can be found here, here, and here.

Another claim being shared with the video said that the incident was from Azamgarh and was shared close to 6,000 times.

WHAT WE FOUND

We noticed that several people in the comments section of the video called the video scripted/fake and one person identified one of the people in the video, wearing a red cap, as a YouTube content creator who shot prank videos.

Comments calling the video fake.

A Punjab-based fact-checker helped fact-checking organisation Alt News in identifying the source of the video, which was first posted by a Facebook user Raju Bharti on 27 December.

The caption of the video carried a disclaimer that said, "This page features fictional videos; All characters appearing in the video are fictitious. The videos made are inspired by true events and are made with a motto to spread social awarness. We anyhow don't mean to defame, disrespect any religion, caste, nationality, sex, gender or any individual in any manner.(sic)".

An archive of the post can be found here.

The Facebook page, which has over 3.7 lakh followers, had several other videos where the person wearing the red cap can be seen.

Raju Bharti's Facebook page had several other videos where the person wearing the red cap can be seen.

The viral video had over 22 million views and 2,41,000 shares while this story was being written.

This story follows a recent trend of scripted/dramatised videos created for "spreading awareness" being shared as real. Team WebQoof has been working tirelessly to debunk the claims, which are usually misleading and sometime communal in nature.

Clearly, a scripted video showing people apprehending a kidnapper was shared by several social media users as a real incident from Delhi.

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