Claim: A video shows Sahar Bandial, the daughter of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, dancing with a group of young women.
Fact: The video does not show Sahar Bandial, who confirmed to Soch Fact Check that she is not any of the women in the viral clip.
On 1 April 2023, Facebook page ‘چوہدری زمان گجر’ posted a video (archive), claiming it showed the daughter of the Pakistani jurist Umar Ata Bandial — the 28th Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) — dancing with a group of young women.
The clip, which also features the women holding the Pakistani flag and raising slogans in favour of Imran Khan, the former prime minister and chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is captioned as follows:
“چیف جسٹس عمر عطا بندیال کی بیٹی سحر بندیال …
[Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial’s daughter, Sahar Bandial]”
Sahar Zareen Bandial is a lawyer who currently works as an associate at the Hamid Law firm in Lahore, according to her LinkedIn profile. She previously served as a member of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s (PEMRA) Council of Complaints on a volunteer basis. However, she resigned (archive) from the electronic media watchdog’s complaints body in April 2022.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reached out to Sahar Bandial, who denied the claim, saying, “This is entirely false. I am not in this video.”
Virality
The video posted on the Facebook page ‘چوہدری زمان گجر’ has been viewed more than 120,000 times, while the ones shared by Facebook users ‘Shamsa Noor’ (archive) and ‘جمعیت کا دیوانہ’ have been watched over 80,000 and 10,000 times, respectively.
The clip was also shared on Twitter here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. It was posted on Wasaib Info tv, a YouTube channel that has 111,000 subscribers, here.
Conclusion: The video does not show Sahar Bandial, who confirmed to Soch Fact Check that she is not any of the women in the viral clip.
Background image in cover photo: Wikimedia Commons
