This Photo Is Unrelated to Recent Prophet Muhammad Protests
The Claim
The image depicts recent protests against offensive remarks about the Prophet Muhammad in Kolkata, India.
News posted on
Emerging story
Social media users across the MENA region have shared an image of a crowd holding posters and banners, claiming it depicts the most recent protests in Kolkata, India, against offensive remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the claim and found it to be misleading. The photo was taken on February 9, 2022, in New Delhi, rather than Kolkata, and depicts protests against the decision to ban the hijab in numerous schools in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
India Bans Hijab in Schools and Colleges
Protests have sparked in the Indian state of Karnataka and other states last February 2022 after the government upheld a ban on hijab in schools and colleges, saying the Muslim headscarf is not an essential religious practice of Islam.
According to news outlets, the high court of the Karnataka state delivered a verdict upholding a ban on wearing hijab in class after considering petitions filed by Muslim students challenging a government ban on hijabs that some schools and colleges have implemented in the last two months.
Reposts mentioned that “the dispute began in January when a government-run school in the Karnataka's Udupi district barred students wearing hijabs from entering classrooms, triggering protests by Muslims who said they were being deprived of their fundamental rights to education and religion.”
Offensive Comments on the Prophet Muhammad
Many demonstrations have sparked in different Indian cities after two members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have recently made insulting comments about the Prophet Muhammad. Several Arab and Islamic countries have also condemned these offensive remarks. Meanwhile, the BJP responded by suspending the two members stating that the party respects all religions and denounces insults of any religious personalities.
Translated by Khadija Boufous
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