CLAIM
A poster of a women’s protest march, organised by the Mumbai Citizen’s Forum, was shared by multiple handles on social media, claiming that the dress code for the event was hijab or burqa.
The march was against the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.
An archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Various handles shared the same poster, calling out the ‘mandatory’ outfit. Most of the tweets were from Friday, 17 January.
BJP members, including media panelist Yashveer Raghav, tweeted saying that the protesters were pushing the country towards sharia law.
The same poster was also shared on Facebook by Postcard English, a website which has been caught peddling fake news multiple times in the past.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim that the women protesters have to wear a burqa or hijab is false. The content of the poster has been manipulated to discredit the protest.
WHAT WE FOUND
The Quint found a poster of the event, tweeted on 15 January, two days before the false claim went viral.
The tweet was by Aamir Edresy, one of the organisers of the protest march.
The poster did not mention any dress code for women participants of the march.
Further, The Quint got in touch with Edresy, who said that there was no dress code for people who attend the protest.
“People are trying to sabotage our protests. We condemn the false poster. This protest march is open for everyone, cutting across religion, caste. People can come in any dress code.”Aamir Edresy, Mumbai Citizens Forum
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