Video of Child Crying in a Bus in Kerala's Sabarimala Shared With False Context

The local authorities confirmed to The Quint that the child was seen crying because he could not find his father.

Fact-Check | The video is being shared without giving a proper context.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video which shows a child crying in what appears to be a bus is being shared on social media platforms as a recent incident from Kerala.

The claim: Those sharing the video have said, "We Hindus are Majority in this country and this is happening in Kerala with our children for following the Hindu Dharma."

An archive of the post can be found here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(More archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)

Are these claims true?: No. A longer version of the video shows the child shouting for his father in Sabarimala, Kerala. The child was later reunited with his father.

• The local authorities confirmed to The Quint that the child was seen crying for his father, when the bus started moving.

What led us to the truth?: We noticed that the viral video had a watermark of Asianet News on the top-right side.

The video carried a watermark on the top-right side.

(Source: Viral video/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

Longer version of the viral video: Taking this as a hint, we performed a keyword search and found a longer version of the viral clip uploaded on the official YouTube channel of Asianet News.

• The video was shared on 12 Dec and its title when translated to English said, "Kunjaiyappan screamed "Daddy...Daddy...'' to the police."

• The child could be heard shouting "Appa" (father). Soon, a police personnel attempts to console the child.

News reports: A report published in Asianet Newsable said that a child, who had lost his way in Sabarimala, was seen crying and looking for his father.

• The child's father was reportedly lost in the crowd at Nilakkal. He was screaming in front of the police with folded hands.

• The report further mentioned that the child finally saw his father and waved his hands at the latter.

The report was first published on 12 December.

(Source: Asianet Newsable/Screenshot)

What about the vehicle?: While going through the longer version, Team WebQoof noticed that the bus carried a logo which resembled the original logo of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation.

The bus carried the logo of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation. 

(Source: YouTube/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

What did the local authorities say?: The media cell of Kerala Police told The Quint that the child was in the bus with his father. However, his father went out to buy a few things and the bus started moving. The child panicked and started crying for his father. They were later reunited.

• We reached to Maheshkumar S, Inspector of Police in Pampa, who said that the viral claim is "fake news." He said that the child was crying because his father could not get in the bus when it started moving.

Huge rush in Sabarimala: As per recent reports, Sabarimala has witnessed unprecedented rush where it is estimated that over one lakh people came to Sannidhanam since Friday, 8 December.

• An NDTV report said that protests have broken out across Kerala over the 'mismanagement' at the Sabarimala temple. The protests comes a day after an 11-year-old child died after falling unconscious.

• It further mentioned that since the number of pilgrims have increased, it has led to massive queues at the temple. Some visitors claimed that they had to wait for more than 18 hours.

Kerala HC asks govt to provide necessary support: A report published in Deccan Herald said that the Kerala High Court directed the authorities to ensure necessary support to the pilgrims. The court was hearing the complaints of lack of basic amenities and safety measures in Sabarimala.

• It asked the police to prevent overcrowding of devotees in the queue complex and to keep it clean.

• The court mentioned that a sufficient number of security personnel should be deployed on each parking ground to ensure maximum parking of vehicles can be done.

• It further stated that more facilities should be arranged for pilgrims, including children.

Conclusion: It is clear that the video of the child crying in a bus is being shared on the internet without proper context.

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