Video of a girl abducted in Sri Lanka goes viral with a false communal angle

This video is from Sri Lanka and there is no communal angle in this incident.

A CCTV footage showing a man forcefully dragging a girl into a car, while a pedestrian rushed forward to stop him in an attempt to save the girl is going viral on social media. Users claimed the video showed the girl being kidnapped by two Muslim youths named Afroz and Imran, but that she was rescued by a Hindu man named Harshvardhan, who risked his life despite not knowing her.

The caption states, “He is a real hero. Afroz and Imran were kidnapping a girl named Ayesha. A boy named Harshvardhan was passing by. To save her, he risked his life and saved the girl whom he did not even know. This is the eternal Hindu tradition. Harshvardhan is injured but out of danger. Salute”

Let’s check the truth.

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The same post is going viral on Facebook as well.

Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by conducting a reverse image search on Google and the results led us to a post by Colombo Gazette on Twitter featuring the similar video with a caption, “A teenage girl was abducted in broad daylight on the street in Gelioya, Sri Lanka on Saturday and the abduction was captured on CCTV”.

Using these hints, we conducted further searches and found several news reports regarding this incident. As per the report published by Asian Mirror, “According to CCTV footage, the victim and another schoolgirl were walking along the road when a black van approached. One of the individuals in the van forcibly grabbed the girl and pushed her into the vehicle. A bystander attempted to stop the abduction, but the van sped off. The Daulagala Police Station stated that the incident is related to a family dispute. The girl’s parents had arranged her marriage to one of her cousins, but the engagement was later called off. The suspect, the cousin, abducted the victim in retaliation”.

Another report states, Police apprehended Mohammed Nassar, a 31-year-old resident of Kahatapitiya in Gampola, who abducted an 18-year-old schoolgirl at Daulagala, Kandy, on 11 January. 

Next, we conducted additional keyword searches to find out the identity of the individual seen in the video running towards the van in an attempt to save the girl. The results led us to a post shared by the official Instagram account of the Sri Lanka–based news portal NewswireLK on 13 January, 2025. The post identified the man as 25-year-old Mohamed Isadeen Arshad Ahmed, not a Hindu man named Harshvardhan as claimed in the viral video. The caption of the post states, “Sri Lanka Police has commended 25-year-old Mohamed Isadeen Arshad Ahmed for his bravery in attempting to rescue a schoolgirl from being abducted in Davulagala”.

As per Asian Mirror report, Sri Lanka Police have commended Mohammad Izadeen Arshad Ahmed, a 25-year-old electrician, for his courageous attempt to rescue a schoolgirl who was abducted in Daulagala on 11 January.

Conclusion- 

Fact crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video to be False. This video shows the abduction of a teenage girl over a personal dispute in Sri Lanka in January 2025, and the man attempting to rescue her has been identified as 25-year-old Mohamed Isadeen Arshad Ahmed, not Harshvardhan.