Fact Check: Old photo of large Muslim family from Bangladesh shared to push for Uniform Civil Code
India Today
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room probe found that this photo is not from India, and has been on the internet since 2017.
Amid talk of implementing a Uniform Civil Code by some Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states (like Uttar Pradesh), and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board calling it an “anti-constitutional move”, social media has seen a flurry of posts on UCC, either for or against.
Of these was a photo of a Muslim man riding a two-wheeler along with five children and a woman in a burqa. The photo was shared by many with captions that claimed that without the Uniform Civil Code in India, large Muslim families like this one will reap all the benefits of taxpayers’ money.
The text in the photo read, “Please pay your taxes on time to ensure this family gets all benefits in time.” It was shared on Twitter and Facebook along with the hashtags #UniformCivilCode, #OneNationOneLaw.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that this photo was not from India, but from Bangladesh, and has been on the internet since 2017, at least.
The viral posts are archived here and here.
A reverse image search of the photo revealed it has been on the internet since 2017, at least. We found a Facebook Page named “Electric Bikers Association Bangladesh” that shared the image on December 7, 2017.
In this photo, we noticed a signboard in the background that said in Bengali “Hanif Enterprise, Bhatiapara-Dhaka-Chattogram.” The board also contained a photo of a bus in the bottom-right corner.
