A video showing a man being bullied into handing out saffron stoles to young women, is viral with a false claim that Raj Thackrey-led Maharashtra NavNirman Sena (MNS) workers compelled a Muslim teacher to distribute saffron scarves after he forced his female students to offer namaz in a Christian school.
BOOM found that the video was shot at a film theatre in Maharashtra's Nashik district and not in a school, as viral social media posts claim. The video shows an incident during the screening of the film 'The Kashmir Files'.
The Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri directed film has generated a buzz online but has also led to misinformation and disinformation. The video is also viral adding to the burst of incidents of Hindu-Muslim polarisation reported in India.
The clip is being shared with the following caption. 'A Muslim teacher forced girls to offer namaz in a Christian school in Maharasthra. Then Raj Thackeray's MNS worker compelled the same Muslim to put saffron scarves. Jai Shri Ram'.
(Original Text in Hindi: महाराष्ट्र के ईसाई स्कूल में एक मुस्लिम टीचर ने जबरन लड़कियों को स्कूल में नमाज पढ़वाई थी। फिर राज ठाकरे की मनसेना के कार्यकर्ता ने उसी मुस्लिम के पास से केसरिया खेस पहनवाया जय श्री राम)
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Fact Check
BOOM broke the viral video into several key-frames and analysed each frame. We noticed a few frames from the video where elements like movie posters and the entrances of a cinema hall can be seen.
The screenshots can be seen below.
Keyframes From Viral Video
Taking a cue, we performed a keyword search words such as "film theatre", "saffron" and found an ANI's tweet from March 23, 2022.
Click here to view the tweet.
The tweet carried several pictures which include similar visuals compared to the viral video. The comparison can be seen below.
The caption with the tweet reads, "Maharashtra | A scuffle broke out at a film theatre in Nashik after some women who arrived to watch 'The Kashmir Files', wearing saffron stoles, were allegedly made to remove the same before entering the hall. Police say "There was a brawl that later ended. It's peaceful now".
A relevant keyword search led us several media articles and videos reporting about the matter. A Times Now Navbharat video report published on the incident on March 25, 2022 can be seen here.
According to the video, the incident is from when a group of women wearing saffron stoles and who had gone to watch 'The Kashmir Files' at a theatre in Nashik, Maharashtra were allegedly asked to remove the stoles by a theatre employee following which a row ensued. A woman who spoke to ANI called the group 'Mahilla Mandal' (women's group). However, it is not clear whether the group has any political affiliation.
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