Old video from Karnataka shared as women fighting in a bus in Telangana

By: Rajeswari Parasa
December 12 2023

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Screenshot of the claim circulating online (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim?

After recently forming the government in the south Indian state of Telangana, the Indian National Congress (INC), under Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, launched the Maha Lakshmi scheme on December 9. Under the scheme, women can travel for free in non-luxury state buses.

A video on various social media platforms has since been shared claiming that women are fighting in the Telangana  State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) buses after the scheme's launch. A user on X (formerly Twitter) shared this clip with a Telugu caption that roughly translates to: "Revanth Reddy first scheme success. Women are fighting in the free bus." Archived versions of the posts and similar others making the claim can be viewed here and here.

Screenshot of the claim circulating online. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the video is from Karnataka and not Telangana. 

What did we find?

Firstly, the language being spoken in the video is Kannada—the official state language of Karnataka. Secondly, on conducting a reverse-image search, we found that the video had been circulating online since July, months before elections were held in Telangana, where Congress emerged victorious. 

News First Kannada's X account had shared this video on July 1 with a Kannada caption that read, "There was another fight for a seat in the free bus. Women fight each other for seats in KSRTC bus (translated)."

Local media had also reported on the incident when the video first surfaced. News website Kalyana Voice had published a report with the headline, "Women fight for bus seats in Raichur. The video went viral" on July 2. The report carried a clearer version of the viral clip and mentioned that the brawl broke out in a bus going to Raichur from Sirawar city. 

Local journalist Neelakantha also told Logically Facts that the incident happened in Raichur, Karnataka, soon after the Shakti scheme, which provided free public transport to women, was introduced in the state. 

Logically Facts also reached out to aKSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) depot manager, who, on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the video is from Karnataka. "It is an old video from Karnataka. Several similar incidents happened in the state, and videos of women fighting went viral when the free bus initiative, the Shakti scheme, was implemented. However, these kinds of incidents were common in the initial days, and eventually, the number of (bus) services increased and such issues reduced," the official said.

Soon after Congress came to power in Karnataka, it implemented the Shakti scheme—one of its poll promises— in mid-June. A similar scheme titled 'Maha Lakshmi' was also promised by the party in the run-up to the Telangana elections, under which women could travel for free ordinary state buses. 

The verdict

An old video from Karnataka, where some women are seen fighting in a KSRTC bus, is being circulated as a recent clip from Telangana. Hence, we rate this claim as false.