Suresh Chavhanke makes misleading claim about offering Namaz in UAE bus, read, fact-check

A video with a watermark of Sudarshan News is going viral on social media. In this video it can be seen that an elderly man is offering Namaz inside the bus and some people are waiting at the door of the bus.

Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News shared the video and wrote, “Muslim driver is offering Namaz in A/C bus so passengers are standing outside in the sun. #Wake up #Secularism

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Many other social media users too shared this video with similar claims.

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Fact Check :

To know the reality of the viral video, the DFRAC team first observed the video carefully, there was Arabic language written on the bus. After this, the team reverse-searched the video with the help of Google by converting it into some key frames.

During this, we got published news by some news website in this context.

According to the news published by the website latestly.com Sheikha Hend bint (daughter) Faisal Al-Qasimi, a princess of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), criticized Sudarshan TV editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke over a tweet on secularism. Chavhanke had alleged that passengers were made to wait in the sun outside a bus in the UAE while a Muslim driver offered prayers inside the bus with its doors closed.

Responding to Chavhanke’s claim, Sheikha Hend shared a tweet from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) which clarified the incident. According to the RTA, the bus was outside its service hours at that time and no one was allowed to enter the bus before or after the scheduled journey due to security reasons.

Sheikha Hend wrote on Twitter, “The man was praying in the bus after working hours. He is responsible and tolerant of other religions in a Muslim country. Just to remind you to get your facts right, UAE is not a secular country, it is not killing people, driving them out of their homes and shops, like some Neo Nazis have done And are still doing today. He (the bus driver) had done his job and was allowed to offer prayers in the bus, especially since he was not hurting anyone. Learn from the religion of peace how to respect others, even if they don’t follow your religion or politics.”

Other media sites too shared this report.

varthabharati, clarionindia & flipboard.com

Conclusion:

It is clear from the Road and Transport Authority of Dubai that the bus was not in service when the driver was praying. It is not that the driver kept the bus doors closed to offer prayers, hence the claim of Suresh Chavhanke and other social media users is misleading.