As the Karnataka hijab row continues to grab headlines, a disturbing video is being widely shared on social media. In the viral video, four women can be seen climbing on a water tank and later a woman, engulfed in flames, comes running down the steps. Social media users are sharing this video linking it to the recent hijab controversy.
An article by The Hindu explains the Karnataka hijab row as, “Six female students belonging to the Government PU College for Girls in Udupi, Karnataka were not allowed to attend classes wearing hijab. The students protested on December 31, 2021, claiming the college was not allowing them to attend classes for the past 15 days. Following this incident, a group of boys at the Government Pre University College in Kundapur went to college sporting saffron shawls in protest against some girls attending classes wearing hijab.”
The video is being shared on Facebook with a caption in Hindi that can be roughly translated in English to, “Went out to destroy the hijab, they themselves are getting destroyed.”
(Original Text: हिजाब को फना करने निकले थे खुद फना हो रहे है)
Here’s the link to the above post.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim and found it to be FALSE.
Using the InVid Tool, we extracted keyframes from the viral video and performed a Reverse Image Search and found glimpses of the video uploaded on the YouTube channel of Zee News on February 8, 2010. The video description reads, “Protesting against the Punjab government in support of their demands, a teacher climbed atop a 100-foot high water tank here and tried to end her life by setting herself on fire. Kiranjeet (27), a resident of Faridkot district, suffered 90 per cent burns. The incident took place near Punjab Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur’s residence in Kapurthala.”
Taking a cue from this, we searched further and found a news report by The Times of India on February 8, 2010, that reported the same incident. According to the report, a group of protesters, which included five women and one man, carrying petrol canisters climbed onto the roof of the water tank and threatened to immolate themselves from there. As reported, they were members of EGS (Employee Guarantee Scheme) teachers union and among them a woman named Kiranjeet set herself on fire.
We came across another news report published by NDTV on February 8, 2010. “A 27-year-old teacher, who set herself on fire in this Punjab town during a protest, died in a private hospital in Ludhiana early on Monday, doctors said. The state government has announced a grant of Rs.5 lakh for the family of the teacher,” reads the report.
Thus, it is evident from the above information that a 10-year-old video is being linked to the recent hijab controversy with false claims. Therefore, the viral claim is false.
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