Zee News shares misinformation; man offering namaz did not cause traffic jam in J&K

On March 4, Zee News aired a video showing a truck driver offering namaz (Islamic prayers) atop his vehicle in the Ramban area of Jammu and Kashmir. The channel claimed that the driver’s act of offering prayers in the middle of the road, instead of pulling over to a side, caused a massive traffic jam, resulting in inconvenience to commuters.

The anchors hosting the news segment played the video on repeat and said that the road ahead of the truck had no traffic because, unlike this truck driver, nobody else stopped there for prayers and held up the passage of other vehicles. They also added that while Zee News itself did not verify the video, everyone who saw the clip on social media demanded strict action against the truck driver. 

Fact Check

To verify the authenticity of the clip, we searched with key words and found several related posts on Facebook from March 2. Among them was a video shared by Facebook user Bhat Sajad. The accompanying caption said, “Amid traffic jam on national highway a truck driver offering zuhar prayers on the top of his truck at Ramban on first day of Ramzan 2025.”

A similar video was shared by others too. A Facebook page called National Highway updates NH also posted this with the caption: “#Mashallah Man offering Namaz on the top of truck on National Highway During Traffic Jam”.

However, when we examined the video closely, we saw that there was traffic congestion even ahead of the truck, whose driver was praying.

Below are screenshots from the video that highlight this.

So, clearly, the traffic jam was not caused because the driver stopped for prayers. Rather, he, himself, was stuck in the congestion. 

To be sure, we checked for traffic updates in the Ramban area around March 2 and found several advisories shared by the Jammu and Kashmir traffic police’s X handle. Since February 27, traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway saw several disruptions due to adverse weather conditions and landslides. On February 28, the handle even posted that part of a road in Ramban had caved in. The following advisories make it clear that there was some suspension of vehicular movement and a hold-up in traffic between March 1 and 3 due to restoration work and single-lane passage of traffic.

Source: J&K Traffic Police

Source: J&K Traffic Police

Hindustan Times, ANI and some local news outlets too had reported on the road closures and traffic. 

Alt News also found more videos on the incident by a Facebook profile named National Highway updates, which regularly shares traffic updates in J&K.

In one of these, the account also responds to the video and claims made by Zee News and explains that the empty stretch of road that Zee News’ anchors are referring to is the one that has been shut for repair.

The job of a news outlet is to check and verify the information it is sharing because media is a key part of the information ecosystem. If it simply resorts to resharing viral content carelessly, there is a risk of the system turning into an echo chamber of misinformation and hate. Zee News has irresponsibly shared misinformation in the past as well. 

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To sum up, Zee News broadcasted a viral video without any verification and, as a result, amplified baseless communal claims that a truck driver offering namaz caused a major traffic jam. In reality, the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway was closed due to poor weather conditions and landslides, which led to the traffic congestion.