A video has surfaced online purportedly showing some Muslim women engaging in a verbal dispute with a Hindu lady on a Bus. Users on social media are fiercely sharing this video and claiming that the video belongs to Kerala. Moreover, they are attempting to give this incident a communal angle by stating that Muslim Women will not allow women without Burqa on Buses in Kerala.

Purported Video Claims

Sharing this video on X(Twitter), a user named Anandi Nair wrote: “Congrats hindus, Kerala. Muslim women passengers say they will not allow women in bus without burqa. Now, Hindus have to cover their head to travel by public transport. Surprisingly, this incident is not covered by the news media. Goods own country is now allah’s own country”

Users also shared this video on X as well as on Meta

We found that the video was shared by several users on X(Twitter) as well as Meta(Facebook) with similar claims.

Fact-Check

A reverse-image search of the keyframes obtained after converting the purported video led us to the extended version of this video which was found on Meta(facebook).

Video Shared By ‘MediaoneTV’

We found that the extended version of this video was shared by the page of the Digital media portal named ‘MediaoneTV’ with the caption written in the regional language (Malayalam) i. e “students blocking the bus on the road. The bus was blocked by the students of a private women’s college in Kumbala, Kasargod”.(English Translation)

The viral part can be seen at 1 minute 31 seconds in the shared video on Meta(Facebook).

What did the Media Reports say?

 Upon further investigation, we discovered some media reports from the Regional News websites ‘True News Malayalam’ and ‘Reporters Live’ covering this incident in Malayalam.

According to a news article published by Reporters Live on October 23, 2023, as the buses are not stopping at the bus stop, female students stopped the bus. The incident took place yesterday evening at Bhaskara Nagar on Kumbala-Mulleria KSTP road. The students of Kansas Women’s College blocked the bus and protested. Further, they got into a verbal argument with the bus staff. After the incident, the police arrived and promised to solve the problem. (English Translation)

Another news article published by True News Malayalam on Oct 21,2023, also reveals similar facts about this incident: “It is common for female students to get into verbal arguments with the bus staff because buses do not stop regularly at the bus stop, the students who came to question this blocked the buses later, the female students reached Kumbala town and shouted at the bus staff. The police arrived and after talking to both groups assured that the problem would be resolved”.(English Translation)

Conclusion

It is clear from DFRAC’s Fact-Check that the purported video claiming Muslim women will not allow women without Burqa on Kerala Buses is completely misleading. The video is indeed related to the recent incident of the girls’ protest in Kerala. Additionally, no communal angle was found in our probe. Therefore, the claim of social media users is false.