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| - Fact Check: Horrifying child abuse video is NOT from Indian madrasa! 2018 clip is from Pakistan
Several people on Twitter and Facebook shared the video and praised Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, who recently announced a survey of unrecognised madrasas in the state.
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India Today Fact Check
The viral video is from 2018 and was shot by a Pakistani teacher sexually assaulting a minor student. He was arrested soon after by authorities in Pakistan.
A disturbing video of a man molesting a young woman, possibly even a minor, has been shared widely online. This video was supposedly shot inside an Indian madrasa.
While the video is of very poor quality, one can still see a bearded man embracing a young woman, while sitting on a cot. Several people on Twitter and Facebook shared this video and praised Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, who is often called “Maharaj ji” by his supporters.
People shared the video with captions like, “Maharaj ji has taken the right decision. Stop these madrasas that have become places of obscenities. Everyone knows what happens there and what is the quality of education.”
Earlier in September, the Uttar Pradesh government announced that it would survey unrecognised madrasas to gather information on the number of teachers, curriculum, basic facilities available there and their affiliation with any non-government organisations. The government said that the survey will be held in accordance with the requirement of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in connection with the availability of basic facilities to students in madrasas.
AFWA’s investigation found that the viral video is not from India at all. It’s from Pakistan. The viral posts have been archived here and here.
AFWA PROBE
A reverse image search of the frames of the video led us to several news reports on Pakistani portals published in 2018. Several of these had published screenshots from the viral video.
Per the news reports, Anwar-ul-Qamar, a school teacher, was arrested for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old student and recording it on video. This happened in Jhang in the Punjab province of Pakistan in October 2018. Reportedly, Qamar’s mobile phone went missing and the person who got hold of the device uploaded the video on social media.
The then Minister of Human Rights in Pakistan Shireen Mazari also spoke about the case on social media, stating that she sought a report from her ministry over the incident. The accused absconded from Jhang and was later he was arrested in Lahore. Qamar then reportedly confessed to his crime before the police.
It is noteworthy that there have been cases of child abuse in Indian madrasas. As recently as June, a case was registered against the 50-year-old maulana of a madrasa in the Agra district of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl who was staying at the institution. However, the video being shared online is neither recent nor from India.
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