Fact Check: Muslim female students were NOT sent back home for participating in Onam celebrations
A short video clip of high school students with Hijabs celebrating Onam has gone viral on social media across the country. The video of the students wearing hijabs and sarees, dancing to music, as part of Onam celebrations has attracted the attention of netizens.
Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala. It is also called the festival of rain flowers and is a ten-day long fete celebrated with fervour.
A short video clip of high school students with Hijabs celebrating Onam has gone viral on social media across the country. The video of the students wearing hijabs and sarees, dancing to music, as part of Onam celebrations has attracted the attention of netizens.
Meanwhile, another video showing girl students with hijabs being harassed as they walk back home from their school is also in circulation with a claim that these girls are being punished for participating in the Onam festival.
The claim which has gone viral on Twitter says Islamic jihadis in Kasaragod, Kerala, kicked out girls who were celebrating Onam in a government school as they believe that 'celebrating Onam is Haram'.
The viral tweet got shared by users on Facebook too.
Archive links:
https://web.archive.org/web/
In the video, we can hear people comment on the girls 'They are to be married, now who will marry them? They have no shame and hesitance.'
Fact check:
The claim that the hijab-wearing students were harassed by people of a community for participating in Onam festivities is FALSE.
When we searched for the keyframes extracted from the video with the keywords hijab-clad students harassed in Kerala, we found an article in Malayalam, sharing the clipping from the same video, stating it as fake.
When we searched further, we also found a post by the Kasaragod police Facebook account stating: 'ജില്ലയിലെ സമാധാന അന്തരീക്ഷവും
When translated, it mentions 'It has come to the notice of the district police chief that some anti-social elements are spreading false news on social media about students of a specific community being harassed for celebrating Onam with an intention to disturb the peaceful atmosphere and religious harmony in the district. The cyber patrolling wing is on the lookout of the culprits. The district SP has also instructed the cyber cell to initiate strict legal action against such elements.'
The office of the district collector, Kasaragod, also took to Facebook on September 5, 2022, to refute the claim that Muslim female students were sent back from school for celebrating Onam. Their statement in Malayalam states: കാസർകോട് ജില്ലയിലെ ഒരു സ്ഥാ
When translated, it says: "The propaganda on social media that a group of students who came to celebrate Onam at an institution in Kasargod district were abused is unrealistic. Strict action will be taken against those who spread fake news."
According to a fact check article on boomlive.in, the school management, when contacted, said that the students were sent back home as they were not wearing the school uniform on Onam. While they were leaving, some of the residents nearby shot the video and shouted comments about the girls. Later, a few of the girls returned to school wearing uniforms.
Hence, the claim that the hijab-clad students were sent back home from school for participating in Onam celebrations is FALSE.