2020 video from Andhra Pradesh misrepresented to claim “RSS defaming Muslims” in Karnataka

Context

As the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections concluded on May 10, most exit poll surveys predicted a victory for the Congress party and some predicted a hung assembly. The official results are to be announced this Saturday.

A video circulating on Twitter claims: “A group of Hindus caught pelting stones at police wearing Hijab in #Karnataka just to Target 1 Religion (sic).” Another tweet in the thread includes an image of exit poll results that predict Congress' victory, and the user shared it with the caption, “Results of Hatred are obvious.”

In the video people are speaking in Telugu and police are asking a person to remove their burqa. 

Several other posts on Twitter sharing the same video claimed that to defame Muslims, “#RssTerrorists” were wearing burqas and pelting stones at police amid Karnataka polls. 

The video is shared with the narrative since some exit polls predict Congress’ win in Karnataka, RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), a Hindu right-wing group is allegedly trying to “defame Muslims by pelting stones at police in #Karnataka wearing a burqa.”

However, the video is old and unrelated to Karnataka state polls. 

In Fact

A reverse image search of a screenshot taken from the viral video lead us to a YouTube report posted by ETV Andhra Pradesh, a local media house from August 8, 2020. As seen in the viral post, the exact visuals are in the YouTube video close to the one-minute mark. The video description reads, “Several Arrested | for Transfer Illegal Liquor with Wearing Burqa.”

The report adds that a burqa-clad man traveling in a two-wheeler was found under suspicious circumstances by the Andhra Pradesh police at a check post, and police seized a total of 304 liquor bottles and arrested six involved in the smuggling operation. 

At the 0:33 minute mark in the video, we can see a person removing the burqa and sitting in front of the liquor bottles that were confiscated by the police. 

However, stone pelting scenes can neither be observed in the original video, nor in the viral post as it claims. 

Logically Facts also found a tweet posted by Dr. Fakkeerappa Kaginelli, dated August 16, 2020, who was serving as Superintendent of Police in Kurnool. He wrote, “The burqa clad man in this video was found carrying liquor bottles illegally across the state from Telangana to Andhra Pradesh. Stop spreading misinformation.”

Further research showed us that the video has been in circulation since 2020 with various unrelated narratives, with one of them linking it to the hijab controversy in Karnataka in 2022. 

The Bengaluru City Police also produced a fact check on its official website clarifying that the incident happened in Andhra Pradesh in 2020. 

The Verdict

An old video of police arresting burqa-clad men smuggling liquor in Andhra Pradesh is falsely claimed as Hindu men impersonating Muslim women and pelting stones at the police in Karnataka. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.