A video of a man recording a video of a lost child brought to a Gurudwara has been shared on social media. The man requests people to share the video so that the child is reunited with her parents. Actor Divya Dutta was among those who shared the video with the message, “This little girl was found with a bunch of beggars in Mangalore, S. India. She calls herself Sonal Bipin Patel. The beggars claim that she was found in a train coming from Mumbai.”
It is also circulating on WhatsApp.
The clip is widespread on Facebook as well.
Old video, child was reunited with her parents last year
The video was also viral last year. Alt News found several posts that claimed the child was found in Jaitpur, New Delhi.
Alt News contacted Sandeep Singh Rai from Jaitpur Gurudwara who said that the lost child was brought to the place of worship. He informed that she was reunited with her parents last year. Rai shared a video with us where another Gurudwara official Harjeet Singh clarifies the misinformation around the incident.
“We found a missing child last year in November. I made an announcement from the Gurudwara that the parents need to show identification proof and take the child. Her uncle had come but we didn’t hand over the child. Later, he came back with the child’s mother who showed both their Aadhaar cards. We then handed over the child to her mother on the same day,” said Singh. He also requested people to not circulate the child’s video.
Zee News journalist Tejpal Rawat had also tweeted last year that the child had safely reached home.
अत्यधिक खुशी की बात है बच्ची सुरक्षित अपने घर पहुँच चुकी है सहयोग हेतु आभार सभी प्रयत्नशील लोगो का।
कृपया पोस्ट को अब शेअर न करें pic.twitter.com/iZyk5TcqIM— Tejpal Rawat (@TejpalRawat14) November 13, 2020
Versions of the same message frequently viral
The claim that a child named ‘Sonal Bipin Patel’ lost her way and was found in Mangalore frequently circulates. In December 2019, another video of a little girl who went astray was shared with the claim that she was found with “Tamil beggars in Mangalore”.
Ghaziabad police had tweeted back then that the child was returned to her parents.
Alt News Fact Check on the video can be read here.
The same message was earlier used to share the pictures of another child.
Alt News had found that an incident from Bangladesh was being shared with false messages in India.
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