Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
A disturbing video claiming to show religious conversion of a young Hindu girl in Pakistan has outraged several social media users. The video, which shows a young girl being electrocuted is going viral on social media platforms with the claim that the man is “torturing a Hindu girl by giving her electric shocks to convert to Islam”. Newschecker found this claim to be misleading.
In the forty-second-long video, a man sporting a beard and a skull cap can be seen asking the child questions in Pashto, to which she replies in a frenzied manner, before he yanks her by the leg and electrocutes her while she is trying to escape, writhing and screaming.
The video has also been shared by multiple users in both Twitter and Facebook.
The plight of religious minorities in Pakistan has been under international scanner. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF), in its Annual Report 2021 stated that the “issue of abduction, forced conversion to Islam, rape, and forced marriage remained an imminent threat for religious minority women and children, particularly from the Hindu and Christian faiths.”
According to a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Pakistani Minorities, around 1,000 girls (Hindus and Christians) between the ages of 12-25 are forcibly converted to Islam every year and married to their abductors.
The report added, “The police are usually reluctant or fail to investigate the cases properly. Instead, after a few days, the parents are often handed the conversion certificate, as well as the marriage certificate, and told that the girl has voluntarily converted to Islam, married and is living with her new husband.”
Also Read: Video Of Domestic Violence Goes Viral As Hindu Woman Being Abducted In Pakistan
Fact Check/Verification
Newschecker conducted reverse image search on Yandex by using keyframes of viral video claiming to show a man “electric shocks to a Hindu girl convert to Islam” and found a link to a YouTube channel of one ‘Haji Muhammad Ullah.’
The Urdu description about the channel roughly translates to “Spiritual Healing of Magic and Giants.” We carefully analysed several videos uploaded on the channel and could conclude that the man seen in the viral video electrocuting the young girl is Haji Muhammad Ullah.
The description on his YouTube channel reads, “Allah ki Fazal sa yaha per hur Qisam ka illag Quran our Hadees ki roshni main hoti hain. JO B Bemari ya masla ho tou hamari sath Rabra ker liya karo. yaha per kala jado , seher, jinnat our hur qisam ki bamari ka illaj quran sa kiya jata hain. our Allah ka Fazal sa yaha sa hazaro log mustafid our Sihatyab ho jaty ha,” which roughly translates to “We heal any kind of disease, black magic or Jinn as per the Quran and Hadees. Several people have benefited from it.”
We looked up Haji Muhammad Ullah on Google and found his Facebook and Instagram profiles. According to his Facebook profile, Mohammad Ullah identifies himself as a “public figure” involved in “spiritual healing.” We found several videos of alleged exorcism on his Facebook page too.
Newschecker reached out to Mohammad Ullah regarding the viral video who told us, “The bearded man with the child is her own father. The child is a Muslim at birth. Djinns have been harassing this child for four months.”
We continued our research and found that Mohammad Ullah was arrested in 2020 for “Electrocuting A Boy To Take Out His Jinn.” According to a report by Parhlo, “A fake peer finally got arrested in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) for electrocuting boys and girls to make them get rid of their jinn.” It added, “this man used to torture all the children by electrocuting them and also educating them that this is the right way of ridding one of the jinn.” The report carried an image of Mohammad Ullah behind the bars.
Another report by Baaghitv stated, “The day before, a video went viral on a social networking site in which a man was seen torturing and electrocuting a young child. The accused claimed that he was attempting to rid the child of a supernatural possession by performing an exorcism through electric shock.”
It added that according to a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police spokesman, “Peshawar police in an operation in the Achini Bala area arrested a fake saint identified as Muhammadullah son of Qudratullah.”
We also came across a tweet by Peshawar police about his arrest.
Newschecker further contacted Pakistan-based journalist Kamran Saqi, to decipher the conversation taking place in the video which is in Pashto, who translated the conversation between the girl and man in the viral video as follows:
Girl is seen crying and saying something indecipherable
Man: What is the age of you three?
Girl: We are children.
Man (gives electric shock) and asks: will you come again?
Girl: Please leave, please leave. Don’t trouble us
Man: asks to recite Kalma (prayer)
Girl recites the prayer
Newschecker also reached out to the Peshawar police on the issue whose response is awaited.
Conclusion
The viral video shows the man performing an ‘exorcism’ on the girl and has nothing to do with forced religious conversion.
Result: False Context/False
Sources
YouTube Channel Of Haji Muhammad Ullah
Direct Contact With Haji Muhammad Ullah
Direct Contact With Journalist Kamran Saqi
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
