An old video from Sri Lanka, showing a group of men throw water at women wearing burqas as they try to escape, has been revived with false claims that the incident took place in India.
The Hindi caption accompanying the video claims the miscreants are supporters of a 'radicalised Hindutva government.'
'These are the supporters of a radicalised Hindutva government. We are sure that this government will push the country into a civil war-like situation for its vested interests. This will be dangerous for everyone,' the caption claims.
(Hindi: ये है उन्मादी हिन्दुत्व सरकार के समर्थक।हमे पूरा विश्वास है कि ये सरकार अपने स्वार्थ के लिए देश को सीरिया और सूडान की तरह ही गृह युद्ध में धकेल कर बर्बाद करने पर अमादा है। जो कि निःसंदेह सभी के लिए विनाशकारी साबित होगा !!
The clip, which was viral earlier from multiple Facebook pages has been revived ahead of the festival of Holi which fell on March 10,2020. While a tweet from the handle of one Sanjay Tripathi sharing the same video has now been deleted, BOOM was able to archive the page. You can view the archived version here.
Fact Check
With the help of reverse image search on a screenshot from the clip, BOOM was able to trace the clip to 2019. The video had been shared on the Facebook page of Alamshoora News on February 24, 2019. The description with the video mentions that the incident is from 'Vandharumoolai University in the East'.
BOOM looked up for the said university and found that Vantharumoolai University or the Eastern University is located in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Watch the video below.
We came across another Facebook post which had the same video and claimed it to be a ragging incident from Eastern University. The post was shared on February 23, 2019 by one Mohamed Sarjoon.
BOOM also found more videos on YouTube claiming that the incident was from Sri Lanka.
Another video uploaded on the Facebook page of Lanka Sun News shared on February 24, 2019, claims that the video is that of a ragging incident from Eastern University.
The video had gone viral with false claims around the same time last year when the Pakistan government had decided to release wing commander Abhinandan Varthaman as a peace gesture. Varthaman had been held captive by the Pakistani army after his aircraft was shot down in Pakistan in the backdrop of the 2019 India-Pakistan standoff.