Video of assault from Pakistan falsely shared as Hindu girl beaten up - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
12th December 2019 / 3:56 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2021
A disturbing video of a young woman being pushed and kicked has been posted on social media with the claim that the video is from Pakistan and the woman is a Hindu. The message accompanying the video claims that the woman approached the court after her elder sister was forced to enter into a marriage. Police personnel are also seen in the video, failing to act to stop the violence. Alt News is not posting the video in this article.
The video has been shared by several users on Twitter.
The video was shared two years ago with the claim, “This is how women are being treated in Pakistan. इस लड़की का गुनाह सिर्फ इतना है की ये हिन्दू है और वो भी शान्तिधूर्तो के देश पाकिस्तान में।” (This girl’s only fault is that she is Hindu and that too in the land of peacefuls, Pakistan.)
This was against the backdrop of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill, passed recently by Parliament, which provides for citizenship to persecuted Hindus of Pakistan who sought refuge in India.
The video in the above post was uploaded by a Facebook user on December 1, 2019. Since then, it has been viewed over 1.2 million times and shared a whopping 38,000 times. The video has been edited to create a dramatic effect. It was posted with the same message by several Facebook users.
The video was shared on Twitter as well.
Alt News found that while the video is indeed from Pakistan, the woman is not a Hindu as claimed on social media.
After breaking up the video clip into multiple frames, we reverse-searched one of the frames and found an article published on Dunya News, a Pakistani Urdu news channel. According to the report of October 29, 2019, the incident took place in Shakargarh district of Punjab in Pakistan, and the name of the woman is Amrat Bibi. Amrat Bibi had gone to the local court for a hearing, where she was beaten up by lawyers who got into a verbal altercation with her. We found another report according to which the woman’s name is Amrat Shahzadi.
Moreover, Alt News found a tweet by Tahir Imran, a Pakistani journalist with BBC Urdu. The tweet has put out the FIR which was filed in the case, and also a photograph of the lawyer who was seen assaulting the woman.
This is lawyer who was seen on video kicking a woman In Shakargarh. pic.twitter.com/N8oivB6vHO
— Tahir Imran Mian ✈ (@TahirImran) November 1, 2019
The FIR, which is in Urdu, reads, “Mai (Abdul Qayum) aur meri Chachazad behen (cousin) Amrat Shahzadi doqtar (daughter of) Mohammed Suleman, zaat (caste) Ansari…” (translated from Urdu). This portion of the FIR is underlined in the image of the report posted below. The name of the victim is Amrat Shahzadi, daughter of Mohammed Suleman. She is from the Muslim community. The FIR was filed by Abdul Qayoom, who claims to be the cousin of Amrat Shahzadi, the woman seen assaulted in the video. Qayoom’s name is mentioned in the report.
It may be noted that while the video is from Pakistan, the accompanying narrative is false. The woman seen in the video is not from the Hindu community.
Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming.
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