No, Karnataka government’s self-defense training is not limited to Muslim girls

The Verdict [Misleading]
The self-defense training program is for girls from all minority communities — Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs and Parsis.

What is the claim?

A post featuring a collage of Siddaramaiah, the chief minister of the Indian state of Karnataka, and a young girl posing with a cow has gone viral online with claims that Siddaramaiah announced self-defense training “only to girls from the Muslim community.”

The collage also has text overlaid on it, reading, “Hindu girl Swati brutally murdered in Karnataka. One culprit Nayaz arrested by police (sic).” Another text at the bottom, against a yellow background, states: “Irony is, in his budget, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has announced to give self-defense training only to girls from the Muslim community!!”

A Facebook user shared the image (archived here) with the caption, “Will Nayaz be rewarded? Thank God if that doesn’t happen—it’s a secular state!” Several other Facebook posts accused Siddaramaiah of appeasing the Muslim community.

Archived links to such posts can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here.

*Screenshot of viral posts circulating on social media. (Source: Facebook/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)*

The claim surfaced after Swati Byadgi, a 22-year-old, was murdered by her former partner, Niyaz Bennigere, in Karnataka’s Haveri district on March 3, 2025. Bennigere was reportedly arrested on March 13.

However, the viral claim that self-defense training has been introduced only for Muslim girls is misleading.

What did we find?

A Google search led us to a report by The New Indian Express, published on March 8, 2025. The report stated that the Karnataka government’s recent budget included self-defense training for girls from minority communities. However, it did not specify that the training be limited to Muslim girls.

Logically Facts reviewed the Karnataka state budget presented by Siddaramaiah on March 7, 2025. Point number 221 in the budget document, available on the government’s Finance Department website, stated, “Self-defense skills training will be provided to 25,000 girl students studying in 169 residential schools/colleges run by the Directorate of Minorities.”

*A screenshot of the budget document highlights point number 221. (Source: Finance Department, Government of Karnataka.)*

According to Karnataka’s Directorate of Minorities, minority communities include Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Parsis. This confirms that the training is for girls from all minority communities, not just from the Muslim community.

Furthermore, in 2022, the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai launched the “Obavva Art of Self-Defense Training” program for 50,000 girls from SC, ST, and OBC communities. During the event launch organized by the Social Welfare Department, Bommai announced that police training schools would provide “self-defense training to women.”

A spokesperson from the government’s Backward Classes Welfare Department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed to Logically Facts that the “Obavva Art of Self-Defense Training” program remains active, with girls continuing to receive self-defense training.

The verdict

The Karnataka government has announced providing self-defense training to girls from all minority communities, including Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Parsis. It is not limited to only Muslim girls, as claimed in the viral posts.

This article is written by Ankita Kulkarni and republished from Logically Facts. Read the original article here.