Video Of Teen Abducted In Sri Lanka Peddled With False Communal Spin

A video showing abduction of a Muslim girl in Sri Lanka has surfaced with a false communal claim on social media that a Hindu man attempted to save her from being abducted.

BOOM found the incident is from Gelioya, Sri Lanka where an 18-year-old schoolgirl was abducted over a family dispute. The victim was rescued two days later by the Sri Lankan police. A pedestrian who attempted to save her was misidentified as one Harshvardhan in social media posts.

The Claim

The video shows a girl being dragged inside a car when a pedestrian tries to intervene and save her. A user posted the video on X with the caption, "He is a real hero. Afroz and Imran were kidnapping a girl named Ayesha. A boy named Harshvardhan was passing by. To save her, he risked his life and saved the girl whom he did not even know. This is the eternal Hindu tradition. Harshvardhan is injured but out of danger. Salute."

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What We Found

1. Video From Sri Lanka: A reverse image search on the keyframes of the viral video led us to a report by Sri Lankan news outlet Colombo Gazette's official YouTube channel. The video was uploaded on January 12, 2025 stating the incident is from Gelioya.

A related keyword search showed several news reports from January, 2025 by Asian Mirror, Colombo Gazette stating that the 18-year-old was abducted over a rejected marriage proposal. Ada Derana reported, the girl belonged to the Muslim community, and she was allegedly abducted by her cousin. Further, a Facebook post by Colombo Gazette from January 13 stated that the police had rescued the girl two days after her abduction.

3. No Communal Angle: BOOM reached out to Sri Lankan fact-checking organisation Factseeker who shared a news bulletin posted by Lankasri News on January 13, 2025. In the report, the youth who tried to intervene can be seen describing his experience with minor injuries he suffered. Taking a hint from this, we ran reverse image searches and found Newswire's Instagram post from January 13, 2025. The post identified the man as Mohamed Isadeen Arshad Ahmed. It read, "Sri Lanka Police has commended 25-year-old Mohamed Isadeen Arshad Ahmed for his bravery in attempting to rescue a schoolgirl from being abducted in Davulagala."

Asian Mirror also reported about Ahmed's attempt at saving the girl. Click here to see.