By Hazel Gandhi
A photo of three women - two from India who observed roza during Ramzan and one of a domestic abuse survivor in Pakistan - is viral with false claims that they are related and show the fate of women in India who marry Muslim men.
The post is a collage - one a newspaper clipping with pictures of two friends Shivani, Riya who observed roza during Ramzan and the second a photo of a woman with injuries on her face. It is being shared with claim text in Hindi that translates to, "Hindu women Shivani and Riya gave an example of Hindu-Muslim unity- News. But let's know why? I'll tell you: Shivani first kept roza, and today this Shivani was beaten up by her religious husband. If you fall in love with a muslim, then suffer. Let's hope we get to see a similar photo of Riya too."
(Original text in Hindi - शिवानी और रिया नमक हिंदू बेटियों ने हिंदू-मुस्लिम एकता की मिसाल दी- न्यूज अरे क्यों दी ये भी तो बताते हैं?? मैं बटाता हूं- शिवानी ने पहले तो रोजा रखा, आज इस शिवानी के मजहबी पति ने ठुकाई कर दी। मुस्लिम से प्यार हुआ तो अब भुगतो... उम्मीद है जल्दी ही रिया का भी ऐसा फोटो आएगा।)
BOOM found that the women in the two pictures are different with one showing two friends in India who observed roza to promote communal harmony and the other shows a domestic abuse survivor in Pakistan.
Click here to view the post.
The post has also been shared with the same claim on Facebook.
Click here to view the post.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM ran individual searches for the photos- the newspaper clipping and the photo of the bruised woman.
Image1: Riya and Shivani
The reverse image search on Google for Riya and Shivani's photo led us to a news report by HP News 24 on YouTube. The video shows the two women speaking about observing a roza (fast) in order to encourage communal harmony. The interview also reveals that the women are from Kanad, a town in Madhya Pradesh.
In the interview, Shivani, while talking about her inspiration to do roza, said that she did it because she learnt from her friends that a person's wishes can come true by doing this fast.
When asked about whether they had any doubts or inhibitions on religious grounds to do this fast, the two refused and said that they were happy with their decision.
Image 2: Bruised woman
A reverse image search on Tineye for the bruised woman led us to an article by geo.tv published on March 29, 2019 that said the woman was from Lahore, Pakistan, and her name was Hajra Bibi.
This story by geo.tv detailed stories of two women in Pakistan who had faced domestic abuse - Hajra Bibi and Asma Aziz.
The article states that Hajra's husband had beaten her up for not arranging more money from her parents, and Asma's head was shaved by her husband and his employees for not dancing for them.
We thus concluded that the woman in the viral graphic was Hajra Bibi.
In 2019, the claim went viral after a page on Facebook called We Support Hindutva shared it with a communal angle.
Click here to view the post.
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