An image of a woman carrying a placard which reads “will take off my clothes but will still not show my documents,” is being widely circulated on social media in connection which the anti-CAA protests which erupted across India in December 2019.
However, we found that the image is morphed to change the text visible on the placard.
CLAIM
The aforementioned video is being shared with a claim in Bengali which translates to “They will take off their sari clothes but they will not show their valid identity documents !! But are they the children of illegitimate fathers so afraid? (sic)”
The video is viral on Facebook and Twitter with the same misleading claim.
WHAT WE FOUND
On taking a close look at the placard seen in the viral image, we found that the font and colour of the second line differs from the rest of the text.
This raised our suspicion and we ran a reverse image search on the said photo, following which we found a photo of the same woman with a similar placard uploaded by a Facebook page ‘Kolkata Pride’.
However, the text on the placard in this image, when translated from Bengali, reads: “Won't take off my saari and my clothes. Won't give my documents. No NRC CAA NPR. No TG Bill.”
Further, a user in the comments section had tagged one Dipanwita Paul. We checked out Paul’s Facebook profile and found a post where she had clarified that the viral image is morphed.
Paul had also shared the original image, where she can be seen carrying a placard which reads: “Won't take off my saari and my clothes. Won't give my documents. No NRC CAA NPR.”
Clearly, a morphed image was used to claim that an anti-CAA protester used a placard to say that she will disrobe but won’t show her documents.
After Parliament of India passed the Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019, protests erupted across the country. This led to massive circulation of fake posts and disinformation on social media.
You can read our fact-checks debunking claims which were used to discredit anti-CAA protesters here and here.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)