With news of violent clashes between protesters and police at the Jamia Milia Islamia in New Delhi, a photograph has been shared widely on social media, showing a young man in a burqa.

#जामिया_मिल्लिया की एक प्रदर्शनकारी महिला जब आगजनी और पत्थरबाजी करते हुये पकड़ी गई।
तो अंदर से ऐसी निकली।

बड़ा टेलेंट है यार

Posted by Mukesh Sharma on Monday, December 16, 2019

#जामिया_मिल्लिया की एक प्रदर्शनकारी महिला जब आगजनी और पत्थरबाजी करते हुये पकड़ी गई। तो अंदर से ऐसी निकली।बड़ा टेलेंट है यार (A female protester of Jamia Milia caught indulging in arson and stone pelting. What talent- translation). This is the message with which the photograph has been posted by numerous Facebook users.

Apart from Facebook, the photograph has been shared widely on Twitter with the same text. It has also been shared with a different message- जो सलमा बनकर जामिया दिल्ली में दंगे करवा रही थी वो अंदर से सलीम चचा निकले ।.

The below tweet, by a verified account, has been retweeted over 1800 times so far.

Several users of the official Alt News app have requested verification of this image.

The photograph has also been shared along with photos of one of the female protesters, claiming that the two are the same.

FACT CHECK: OLD IMAGE FROM EGYPT

Alt News found that the photograph in question in not recent thus does not pertain to the protest at the Jamia Milia Islamia.

Using the reverse-image search technique, Alt News found this photograph along with a set of similar photos showing this young man in a burqa. These images were found on a news website from Egypt, Sharkia Today. It may be noted the report is dated August 25, 2017, and is titled, ‘A young man disguises himself as a woman to kidnap children in the gathering, and the people hand him over to the police’ (translated from Arabic). The incident had occurred in Cairo. Alt News found another news report on the same incident.

In this report, Alt News found the same photograph which has been doing the rounds.

It may thus be noted that the above image dates back to at least 2017, and is not related to the recent protest at the Jamia Milia Islamia.

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About the Author

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.