A video of burqa-clad women escaping from the first floor of a building is massively viral on messaging platforms. It is being claimed that Muslim women caught shopping in the middle of the nationwide lockdown were trying to flee from the police. A Facebook page ‘Jabir Hayaat Ansari AIMIM’ shared the clip with the caption, “Drama drama and only drama. These women had stepped out for shopping during the lockdown. Police took out the shop owner and locked these women inside the shop.” He has now deleted the tweet however the same caption was used by several other users.

[Translated from: *तमाशा तमाशा और सिर्फ तमाशा* ये औरते lockdown में शॉपिंग करने गयी थी पुलिस ने दुकान मालिक को बाहर निकाल कर उन सब औरतो को शॉप में लॉक कर दिया!!]

 

*तमाशा तमाशा और सिर्फ तमाशा*

ये औरते lockdown में शॉपिंग करने गयी थी पुलिस ने दुकान मालिक को बाहर निकाल कर उन सब औरतो को शॉप में लॉक कर दिया ओर फिर ,,, आपके सामने है विडियो देखे

Posted by Shakir Hussain Ansari on Tuesday, 5 May 2020

Another page ‘Like All Page’ shared it with the following message, “khawateen shutter bnd kr k shopping kr rhe the, time khtm hva to police ne bahar s seal kr dia, ab khawateen chalang mar rhe h ….. dekheaye.” However, the most widely circulating claim reads, “Aaj ki taza khabar yeh aourton ko shopping ke baghair mout ajaty, lock down mein police ne owner ko baher karke showroom ko lock kardiye, lekin yeh ladies ooper store mein chup gayee thein baad mein balcony se tamasha dekho.” Alt News had received multiple fact-check requests that carry the same message.

Video shot in Pakistan

A shop hoarding – ‘Tariq book store’ – is visible towards the end of the video. A restaurant ‘Hot N Spicy’ can also be spotted.

According to Google maps, Tariq book store is located in Commercial Area Defence V Defence Housing Authority, Karachi, Pakistan. It is right beside Hot N Spicy. As per Google maps, both stores are located in Khadda market.

Images on Google street view further corroborate the exact location where the video was shot.

1. Red box – Hot N Spicy restaurant

2. Blue box – Aerosoft hoarding

3. Yellow box – Wall advertisement of Zen Academy

4. Orange box – Street light

Old video

A keyword search ‘Khadda market’ on Facebook led us to videos from 2015. One Jibran Waghani from Karachi, Pakistan had shared the same video on June 13, 2015. The clip has 1.8 lakh and over 5,000 shares. He wrote, “FIA chapa (raid) in Khadda market.” FIA stands for Federal Investigation Agency.

 

Fia chapa in khadda market

Posted by Jibran Waghani on Saturday, 13 June 2015

A YouTube channel uploaded the video and wrote that sex workers were fleeing after FIA raid at a brothel in Karachi. The same caption was used by video-sharing app Daily Motion which credited the footage to Pakistan media outlet Ary News.

A 5-year-old video from Pakistan is therefore being shared with the false claim that Muslim women were caught shopping during lockdown in India.

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About the Author

Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.