Fact Check: Video of UP police lathi-charging Muslim women protesting hijab ban circulated as from Karnataka
India Today
A video of police officers beating a group of burqa-clad women has gone viral on social media, with the claim that it shows Karnataka cops hitting Muslim women protesting the hijab ban. India Today's Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the video to be misleading.
As the hijab row in Karnataka continues, social media continues to witness misinformation related to the issue. In the many viral posts surrounding the matter, one is a video showing police officers beating a group of burqa-clad women.
The video has been widely shared with the claim that it shows Karnataka police hitting Muslim women who were protesting against the hijab ban in educational institutions. A burqa-clad woman could also be seen trying to stop a policeman from lathi-charging her.
One such post can be seen below.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the claim along with the video was misleading. While the women were indeed protesting against the hijab ban, this incident happened in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, not Karnataka.
With the help of a keyword search, we found the same video shared by multiple media outlets on February 16, 2022.
According to these reports, the video was from a protest against Karnataka’s hijab ban held in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad.
