Fact Check: Old video of girl whose house was demolished in Delhi falsely linked to Nuh demolitions

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 7 ordered a stay on the demolition drive in Haryana's Nuh district, which was launched following recent communal clashes in the area. The court questioned if the move was an “exercise of ethnic cleansing". Amid this, a video of a girl crying about her demolished home was widely shared.

In the video, the girl could be seen telling a reporter that her future was ruined and her books got buried in the rubble. One tweet containing the viral video said, "A poor Muslim girl from Nuh, Haryana talking about her pain after her house was demolished by the authorities." Its archived version can be seen here

India Today, however, found that the viral video shows the victim of the demolition drive carried out by the Delhi Urban Slum Improvement Board in Priyanka Gandhi camp near Vasant Kunj, Delhi, in June.

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We began our investigation by searching for the video on social media. We found the most viral tweet containing the video. In their responses, one person shared the link to the extended version of the video and wrote in Hindi that this was an old video from Vasant Kunj in Delhi.

The link directed us to a video posted by The Lallantop on its YouTube channel on June 19, 2023. The description provided with the video noted that several makeshift homes were demolished in the Priyanka Gandhi camp near Vasant Kunj on June 16, leading to the displacement of over 500 people living there for almost a decade. It further reported that after the demolition exercise by the Delhi Urban Slum Improvement Board, the land was allocated to the National Disaster Response Force.

In the extended video, the reporter also spoke to other affected residents, who also described their ordeal. Around the one-minute mark the reporter stated that the camp was located in Vasant Vihar, around four kilometres from Jawahar Lal Nehru University.

Indian Express, in its report published on June 17, stated that the demolition by the DUSIB came two weeks after the Delhi High Court refused a stay on the exercise. The report that as bulldozers made their way into the area on the morning of June 16, residents and members of the CPI (ML), the All India Central Council of Trade Unions, and the All India Students Association were seen protesting.

Thus, it’s clear that this video has no links to the demolition drive in Haryana’s Nuh.