Fact check: Viral video does not show woman Punjab assistant commissioner slapping man over an illegal stall
Posts from multiple users on social media platforms X and TikTok on July 4 shared a video allegedly showing a woman Punjab assistant commissioner slapping a local man for setting up an illegal roadside stall. However, the video actually shows a woman confronting a scammer and was shared as far back as October 2024.
On July 4, an X user, who appeared to be anti-government based on his past posts, posted a video showing a woman hitting a man while a small crowd of people could be seen gathered around her.
The post was captioned: “Government of Punjab, Pakistan, The assistant commissioner got angry over allegedly setting up a roadside stall illegally. Is an assistant commissioner authorised to slap a citizen like this? Does any law allow such humiliation of a citizen?”
The post was viewed by 674,000 people.
The video with the same claim was also shared here, here, here, here, here, here and here on X, and on TikTok here, here, here, here and here.
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the matter related to an alleged government official’s overreach of authority.
A keyword search for any news reports to corroborate the development did not yield any results.
A reverse image search yielded to a Facebook post by a page named “Viral Kashmir Bazar”, which featured a longer version of the same video.
The post, dated October 5, 2024, was captioned: “Money scam Zahid Mircha from Sopore has taken money from many innocent people. Please be aware of such individuals.”
Sopore is a city in the Baramulla district of India-occupied Kashmir.
In the video, a woman is seen hitting a man, accusing him of swindling 190,000 Indian rupees from her and her ailing brother. The person recording the video also claimed that the man had scammed several others.
Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that a viral video shows a woman Punjab assistant commissioner slapping a local for setting up an illegal roadside stall is false. The video was shared as far back as October 2024 and shows a woman hitting a scammer.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.