A video is viral on social media in which one can see several burqa-clad women walk through a gate even as they are hailed or heckled by some people. A police official can be seen in the video directing the women to walk. The video is being shared with the claim that the Karnataka government has lifted the ban on wearing hijab inside educational campuses and hence, women are entering a university in Karnataka dressed in hijabs.
Twitter user @Aafrin7866 1 , who has over 24,000 followers, shared the video on May 22 with the claim that hijab was now allowed in all Karnataka colleges. The user also tagged the newly elected chief minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar and Rahul Gandhi, thanking them for the same. The tweet has received over 30,000 views and has been retweeted over 160 times. (Archive 2 )
Hijab ALLOWED To All Colleges In KARNATAKA From TODAY.❤️
Thank You So Much @DKShivakumar 3 @CMSiddaramaiah 4 @RahulGandhi 5 pic.twitter.com/OcSHbFuHkC 6— Aafrin (@Aafrin7866) May 22, 2023 7
Another user, @putin_pandit 8 , shared the same video on the same day with a similar claim. The caption in Hindi can be translated to: “From today onwards there will be no ban on wearing hijab in any Karnataka college”. The tweet has received over 22,000 views and has been retweeted over 400 times. (Archive 9 )
आज से कर्नाटका के किसी भी कॉलेज में हिजाब पर कोई रोक टोक नहीं होगा.!!pic.twitter.com/sDoW03v1fX 10
— 🚩पुतिन पंडित (रशिया वाले)🚩 (@putin_pandit) May 22, 2023 11
@ShihabChoturfan 12 , whose Twitter bio says the account is a parody fan page of YouTuber Shihab Chottur 13 , also shared the video in question with a similar claim and the tweet has received over 18,000 views and has been retweeted over 150 times. Shihab Chottur 14 is a man from Kerala who last year set out on a journey to Mecca on foot to perform Haj. (Archive 15 )
आज से कर्नाटका में किसी भी कॉलेज में हिजाब पर रोक टोक नहीं।
Hijab ALLOWED To All Colleges In KARNATAKA From TODAY.❤️
Thank You So Much .. pic.twitter.com/ZiZL2iuoe7 16— Shihab Chotttur Officiall (Parody) (@ShihabChoturfan) May 23, 2023 17
More such posts with similar claims can be found below:
Click to view slideshow. 18Fact Check
Under @ShihabChoturfan 19 ‘s tweet, we came across a few comments that said the video was old and some even mentioned that the video was from the time when the hijab ban controversy erupted in Karnataka.
Click to view slideshow. 20Further, we broke down the video into several key-frames and ran a reverse image search on a few of them, which led us to several social media posts. We noticed that all these posts were made in February 2022.
Click to view slideshow. 25আলহামদুলিল্লাহ🥰🥰
অবশেষে হিজাব পড়েই পরীক্ষার হলে
প্রবেশ করলো হযরত সুমাইয়া রাঃ এর
বাঘিনী উত্তরসূরীরা… #HijabRow 21 #AllahuAkbar 22 pic.twitter.com/mx5X31NaY2 23— Abdullah Vai (@abdullahvai01) February 9, 2022 24
This proves that the video is old and not recent as claimed in the viral posts.
In February 2022, a college in Karnataka banned hijab inside classrooms and then the BJP government issued an order to ban hijab 26 saying that “any clothing that would disturb equality, integrity and public law and order” will not be allowed. The order was challenged and the Karnataka high court upheld it. The matter was again challenged in Supreme Court and the apex court passed a split verdict 27 in October 2022. The court has said that it will consider listing the plea in front of a three-judge bench 28 .
On May 23, Amnesty India appealed to the newly formed Congress-led Karnataka government to revoke the hijab ban. (Archive 29 )
KARNATAKA: The incoming state government must prioritize and uphold human rights for all in the state. We call on @INCKarnataka 30 to take three priority actions for human rights. 👇🏾
1/5
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) May 23, 2023 31
Responding to the same matter, state minister G Parameshwara told ANI, “We will see in future what best we can do. Right now, we have to fulfil the five guarantees we made to the people of Karnataka”. (Archive 32 )
We will see in future what best we can do. Right now, we have to fulfil the five guarantees we made to the people of Karnataka: State minister Dr G Parameshwara on Amnesty India demanding hijab ban in Karnataka be rolled back pic.twitter.com/6jt63uXaf3 33
— ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2023 34
Besides, there was no available news report that suggested that the Karnataka government had lifted the ban.
Therefore, the viral claims around the said video, that the Congress-led government in Karnataka has lifted the ban on hijab, are false.
The post Old video shared with false claim that Karnataka govt has revoked hijab ban 35 appeared first on Alt News 36 .
This content originally appeared on Alt News 37 and was authored by Oishani Bhattacharya.