Protests broke out across India after the parliament passed a bill that sought to change the way Muslim donations were managed, but videos shared in multiple posts did not portray one of them. The clip first published a demonstration in a news report about a demonstration conducted by lawyers to amend the law that could prohibit them from going on strike.
“The lawyers are protesting by blocking the road to WAQF Board of Directors Act! The lawyer's slogan is, 'Dict do not base on the strength of MPs to get your picky laws back,” wrote on the Hindi title shared on Facebook on April 5, 2025.
The blurred clip shows the lawyer raising his fists while clapping his hands.
Screenshot of fake posts, taken on April 15, 2025
Videos from fake posts have also surfaced as well as X and Instagram.
It was widely shared after the Indian Parliament passed a bill, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government believes it will increase transparency to the powerful WAQF board (archived link).
There are about twenty-two Muslim land-owned organizations in the entire South Asian country, with about 900,000 acres (364,000 hectares), a multi-billion dollar property empire that makes them one of the largest landholders tied with railways and defense forces.
Indian media reported that protests broke out across the country after the bill was passed. Opposition criticized the government for 200 million Indian Muslim minorities at the expense of India's Muslim minorities.
But the clip shows protests against another bill.
Non-related gatherings
Reverse image searches on Google using keyframes of wrongly shared videos resulted in the same footage (archive link) posted on HNP News' YouTube channel on February 22, 2025.
“Thousands of lawyers block the roads in Delhi? The Modi government was shocked to see this! Look at it quickly.” Its Hindi language title.
The exact visual effect can be seen in the video after the 1:36 timestamp.
The video shows lawyers holding placards saying “dictatorship will not work” and “back to the Advocate (Amendment) Act 2025”. People can also hear chanting of scriptures, “The government will have to withdraw this cunning law.”
Comparison of screenshots of fake posts (L) and videos in YouTube videos
Nitin Ahlawat, formerly the former head of the Hazari District Court, told AFP at the rally that the protests were amendments to the Advocates Act and had nothing to do with the WAQF reform demonstrations.
Indian news website Hindus also reported on February 18 protests (archive link).
The Department of Law and Justice said the amendments were intended to align the legal community and education with global best practices (archive link).
But the government announced on February 22 that the bill would put the bill on hold after lawyers criticized it for violating the right to boycott or waive court work (archive link).
AFP debunked other false claims related to the WAQF reform.
