Old Pakistan video falsely claimed to be from Haryana amid unrest

(Trigger Warning: This story contains mentions of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.)

In the backdrop of Haryana violence, a video of a person consoling an older man in tears is going viral with the claim that it shows the “plight of Hindus" amid the current unrest. A user on X (formerly known as Twitter), Prabhakar Singh Parihaz posted the video stating, "Look at the pain of #Mewat victim Hindus who saved their lives by hiding in the temple yesterday. This video is not from Syria, Afghanistan or France but from #Mewat located in the Indian state of Haryana (translated from Hindi)." The user also said that houses and vehicles belonging to Hindus were burnt in Mewat and that Muslims are assaulting Hindus. The post had more than 4,500 views while writing this story. The same video was also shared on Facebook.

However, this video is not recent, and not from India.

In fact

Through a reverse image search, we found that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Kunri's Facebook page posted the video on November 20, 2020. PTI is a political party founded by the country’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan. 

The video's caption reads, "Twenty-two-year-old (name redacted) was abducted at gunpoint on November 2 and abused for ten days (translated from Urdu)." The post also mentions that three of five suspects were arrested, while the other two were not named in the FIR. 

While searching for local news reports, we found that NNK NEWS PAKISTAN, a TV channel in Pakistan, had shared a video on November 20, 2020, of an interview with the old man seen in the viral video. The caption reads, "PTI leaders met (name redacted), who was sexually assaulted a few days ago, and her relatives. (Translated from Urdu)." 

PTI leader Haleem Adil also posted a video of his visit to the victim’s home on his social media profile on November 20, 2020. The victim's father is the same person in the viral video. He was grieving in front of the PTI during his visit. 

The verdict

Two year old video from Pakistan's Sindh province was falsely shared with communal narratives. It is unrelated to Haryana's violence. 

(Note: Logically Facts has redacted the name of the victim of the alleged sexual assault.)