Video of Ghaziabad domestic worker 'mixing urine' in food given communal spin

What's the claim?

Several posts on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook have shared a video from a recent case in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, where a woman is allegedly seen mixing urine into food. In the 37-second video, seemingly captured by a hidden camera, a domestic worker identified as Reena Kumar is allegedly seen urinating in a corner of a kitchen before mixing it into a bowl of food.

Kumar was arrested on October 16, 2024, after reportedly engaging in this behavior for several months. The hidden camera installed by her employer reportedly captured her in the act.

However, viral social media posts claim the woman in the video is not Reena Kumar but "Rubina Khatoon," implying that she belongs to the Muslim community. One such post states, "The real name of the maid 'Reena' who kneads flour with urine in Ghaziabad is 'Rubina Khatoon.'"

The claim was also shared by Qaem Mehdi, co-head of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit, whose post has garnered 385,000 views on X, with more than 7,500 likes and nearly 4,000 reshares. Archived links to these posts can be found here, here, here, and here.

  Screenshots of posts on X and Facebook claiming that the woman in the viral video is named Rubina Khatoon, not Reena. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, our research indicates that these claims are false. The woman in the video is indeed named Reena Kumar and belongs to the Hindu community.

How did we check this?

A Google search using relevant keywords led us to multiple news reports detailing the incident. Articles from The Economic Times and The Times of India identified the woman in the video as 32-year-old Reena Kumar from Shanti Nagar. 

According to these reports, the family residing in Crossings Republik (a township in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh) who employed her, experienced persistent health issues that aroused their suspicion. When they placed a hidden camera in their kitchen, they caught their domestic worker allegedly mixing urine into their food.

A post by the news agency ANI (archived here) announcing the arrest in this case also identified the suspect as Reena Kumar.

We noted that the news reports contained screenshots from the viral video. Through a reverse image search, we found that the video was posted on X (archived here) by Uttar Pradesh-based journalist Sachin Gupta, who also identified the suspect on October 16, 2024.

On October 21, 2024, he responded (archived here) to the misinformation surrounding this video, clarifying that the woman’s name is indeed Reena Kumar and attaching a copy of the First Information Report (FIR).

Logically Facts obtained a copy of the FIR, which clearly identifies the accused as Reena Kumar, the wife of one Pramod Kumar. The name Rubina Khatoon does not appear in the report. 

The highlighted portion of the FIR names the accused as Reena, wife of Pramod Kumar, who stays in Shanti Nagar, Ghaziabad. (Source: Ghaziabad Police/Modified by Logically Facts) 

Furthermore, Preeti Garg, Station House Officer (SHO) of the Crossings Republik police station, told Logically Facts, "The name of the culprit is Reena; she belongs to the Hindu community." The SHO confirmed that the accused was not working under an alias and is neither named Rubina Khatoon nor is she Muslim.

The verdict

Our research and independent verification from the police confirm that the woman in the viral video is not Rubina Khatoon, but rather Reena Kumar, a Hindu woman. The viral posts propagate a false communal claim, misidentifying the suspect as a Muslim.