The Waqf Amendment Bill was recently passed by both houses of the Indian Parliament, with the Lok Sabha approving it on 2 April 2025 after a 12-hour debate, 288 in favour and 232 against, followed by the Rajya Sabha’s approval in the early hours of 4 April 2025 with 128 in favour and 95 against. President Droupadi Murmu gave her assent to the bill on 5 April 2025. Amid this, a video (here, here and here) surfaced on social media showing a group of people standing beside a dead body, claiming that the body had been kept outside a cemetery for three days as permission for burial was being denied. Users are circulating this video with the claim that the incident occurred after the passage of the Waqf Amendment Act. Let’s fact-check this claim.
Claim: The video shows a recent incident where a Muslim man’s body was denied burial due to the Waqf Amendment Bill passed in April 2025.
Fact: The video is not recent and has no connection to the Waqf Amendment Bill. It has been available on the internet since at least December 2017. The clip shows people alleging that a body was not being allowed burial. The clip relates to an old land dispute in Uttam Nagar, Delhi, not the recently passed Waqf Amendment bill. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
To verify the truth, we performed a reverse image search on Google, which led us to the same video uploaded by Indian actor Ajaz Khan on 22 December 2017. In his caption in Hindi, he urged viewers to wake up and stand against injustice, questioned the silence of Muslim leaders, and warned about the consequences of ignoring oppression, reminding people to fear Allah.
We also found several uploads of the same video on Facebook with almost identical captions in December 2017. In the video, it’s mentioned that the incident took place at Kakrola Mor in Uttam Nagar. So, we did a keyword search on Google using the time filter, which led us to a report by Live law about a Delhi High Court ruling. The court stated that no one can use government land as a cemetery without permission and dismissed a petition filed by an NGO named Kabristan Intizamia Association against the construction of a cemetery on government land in Uttam Nagar, West Delhi.
We also found a Jagran Josh report dated 28 December 2017, which states that the Delhi High Court ruled no one has the right to use open land, especially government land, as a burial ground without proper authorisation. The judgment came in response to a PIL challenging a sub-divisional magistrate’s order regarding the use of land in Uttam Nagar by an NGO. The court found no legal basis for the NGO’s claims and upheld the magistrate’s decision, also directing local authorities to take strict action against violations. This confirms that the viral video is related to this older incident, not to the recent Waqf Amendment Bill.
Additionally, we did not find any credible reports supporting the viral claim.
To sum up, an old and unrelated land dispute video from Delhi is being falsely shared as a recent incident linked to the Waqf Amendment Bill.
