Fact-Check: Old Video Shared as ‘Hijab Ban Lifted in Karnataka Institutions’

The video could be traced back to at least February 2022 and is being shared with a misleading context.

Fact-Check | The video is old and not recent as claimed.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video which shows several women wearing burqa coming out of a gate, which is surrounded by a huge crowd, is going viral on the internet.

What are users claiming?: People sharing the video claimed that hijab is now allowed in all colleges in Karnataka.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

At the time of writing this report, the video had garnered more than 32,000 views on Twitter. (More archives of similar posts can be seen here, here, and here.)

Are these claims true?: No.

• Firstly, the video could be traced back to February 2022 and is not recent as claimed.

• No reports or documents are available in the public domain to support the claim on the hijab ban being lifted in Karnataka while this story was being written.

• The matter is still pending in the Supreme Court.

How did we find out about the video?: Using a Google Chrome extension, InVid WeVerify, we extracted several keyframes from the video and performed a reverse search on them.

• A Yandex search led us to the same video uploaded on Instagram.

• A user named 'halaldizworld' uploaded the video on 9 February 2022.

• It did not carry any music as heard in the viral clip, and lacked the filter.

• On performing a keyword search, we came across a better quality version of the same video.

• We found several other posts which dated back to 9 February 2022. Their archives can be found here and here.

What is the case about?: In February 2022, the Karnataka government passed an order banning clothes that "disturbed equality, integrity, and public order in schools and colleges."

• Several girl who belonged to the Muslim community filed pleas challenging the order, asserting that it was their right to wear hijab inside classrooms.

• The Karnataka High Court had dismissed the pleas on 15 March 2022.

• The matter was then heard by the Supreme Court, which delivered a split verdict and referred the matter to a larger bench.

Has there been any recent updates?: The Quint did not come across any information or news reports that supported the claim that the ban has been reversed. The matter is still pending in the apex court.

Congress mulling on lifting ban?: Kaneez Fatima, who recently won in the state elections on a Congress ticket, told The Quint that the party will remove the "hijab ban and bring back the 2B reservation for Muslims" after forming the government.

• Other news reports suggest that the Congress is planning on reversing several laws in Karnataka, including the hijab law.

Conclusion: While we could not independently verify the location or the context of the video, it is clear that the video is old and is being shared with a misleading context.

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