Video from Sri Lanka viral as burqa-clad man caught in polling booth in India

A previously debunked video of a burqa clad man has resurfaced with a different narrative. A Twitter user who goes by the name of Renuka Jain Chowkidar has tweeted the video of a man taking off his burqa in front of police personnel. Jain has tweeted this with the message, “मतदान में आयी एक सुन्दर महिला अब इस्लाम खतरे में नहीं है! कहां मर गये सेकुलर के तलवे चाटने वाले” (A beautiful woman at the polling booth. Is Islam not in danger now? Where are the bootlickers of the seculars).

मतदान में आयी एक सुन्दर महिला😜 अब इस्लाम खतरे में नहीं है! कहां मर गये सेकुलर के तलवे चाटने वाले pic.twitter.com/0s0TbJeSx0

— #RenukaJain Chowkidar 🇮🇳 (@RenukaJain6) April 28, 2019

The video was first shared with the same narrative by a Facebook page, ‘The Kanpur’ on April 25th.

The video is now viral on Facebook with many users sharing it with a text identical to Jain’s tweet

The same video was viral a few days ago as that of a Buddhist man masquerading as Muslim woman caught by Sri Lanka police after the Easter Sunday bombings.

Fact Check

The video is from Sri Lanka and was originally shared by a Sri Lankan news website, Neth News. When this video became viral after the Sri Lanka bombings, Alt News approached the website through a local journalist for details. The Facebook page of the website immediately published a clarification stating that it was an old video from August 2018.

According to the Nethnews article published in August 2018, the man dressed in a Burqa, was arrested by the police in Welikada, a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He was arrested at Welikada plaza after the driver of a tuk-tuk (rickshaw) tipped off the police. The report also said that the police were investigating the matter further.

In the span of one week, this the third instance of misinformation shared by Renuka Jain. The other instances were debunked by Alt News here – 1, 2. Jain is followed by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on twitter.