By Sk Badiruddin
A staged video showing a man in a burkha kidnapping a child and later releasing him after getting caught is viral as a real incident on social media.
The captions further tries to communalise the incident and call for a ban on the burkha, based on the dramatised video.
The video shows a man, disguised as a woman wearing a burkha, being chased by a car. A few seconds into the video, one can see that the accused is hiding a child inside the attire. After getting caught, it is revealed that the child was lured with chocolates. He is later reunited with his mother, while the kidnapper is handed over to the police.
The video has been shared onFacebook widely with a caption in Hindi, that reads, "In the guise of burkha, what kind of things are being fed and what kind of work is being executed. See for yourself. This is a mask over terrorism. Burkha hides terrorist activities. Burkha promotes crime. Burkha should be banned in India"
See two Facebook posts here and here.
(Original text in Hindi: बुर्के की आड़ में क्या-क्या गुल खिलाए जा रहे हैं कैसे-कैसे कामों को अंजाम दिया जाता है खुद ही देख लो आतंकवाद पर नकाब है बुर्खा आतंकवाद की गतिविधियों को छुपाता है बुर्खा क्राइम को बढ़ावा देता है बुर्खा बुर्के पर बैन लगना चाहिए भारत में)
BOOM also received the video on its WhatsApp helpline (+917700906588) for verification.
Also Read: Cropped Video Of President Kovind Greeting PM Modi Viral With Misleading Claims
Fact Check
BOOM observed the video and was able to ascertain that it is a scripted content. An alert below the video read, "Watch more original films by Sonu Choudhary Films". We then searched Sonu Choudhary Films on Facebook and it led to a Facebook profile by the same name.
The Facebook page has over 35 lakh followers and bio of the page reads, "Prank video funny videos expose video Sonu Choudhary". The Instagram bio of Choudhary also states the same.
Taking cue from this, BOOM searched the Facebook page of "Sonu Choudhary Films" and found that the video was posted on the page and its YouTube channel on July 14, 2021.
Additionally we saw a disclaimer message at the 4.48 minutes time stamp, which reads, "The content made in this video should be considered for entertainment purpose only".
"… we respect every individual, profession and organization any roleplay we perform is solely to entertain you and not intended to hurt the sentiments of any person or community", the disclaimer further stated.
Choudhary, who is also seen acting in the viral video, went LIVE from his Facebook page on July 13 and July 15,
BOOM has reached out to Chaudhary, the article will be updated when we get a response.
BOOM has earlier fact checked several such staged videos, which were passed off as real incidents and given a communal twist. Read here.
Also Read: News Outlets Misidentify Partha Chatterjee's Aide, Use Photo Of Namesake
