A disturbing video depicting a mob humiliating individual has been circulated with false claims, suggesting that a 14-year-old Muslim child was recently bullied and tortured by Hindu extremists in India. However, this video is actually old and does not involve any Muslim individual. The victim, identified as Rajesh Kumar, is a 30-year-old Hindu daily wage labourer. He was assaulted and humiliated over allegations of theft, and there is no evidence to support claims that the incident is related to religious hate crimes.
Sharing the video on X (Formerly Twitter) propagandist and terror sympathizer account @Vigilante2801 wrote. “14-year-old Muslim child bullied and tortured by Hindu extremists”. As of now, the post has received nearly 1 million views, 14k likes and a significant number of engagements.
Several other users, influencers and propagandists have also shared the video and made similar communal claims. Their posts can be seen here, @Sh56788Sheeraz, @khanimtoo.
The truth about the viral video of mob humiliating an individual, Fact Check
As soon as the posts containing the sensitive video and claims came to our notice. Subsequently, we conducted research and analysis of the video and found that the video was old and unrelated to religion-based hate crimes against Muslim individuals.
To verify the claims made by the users. We performed a reverse image search of some key frames from the viral video on Google Lens. This led us to several media reports containing the same visuals published in October 2022. According to the media reports(NTDV, India Today), A 30-year-old daily wage earner Rajesh Kumar was assaulted, his face blackened and his head shaved after being accused of stealing a toilet seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich.
During research, we also found the police statement regarding the incident, according to the police. On October 19, 2022, a video went viral on social media showing a person being paraded around the village with his head shaved by some individuals. Upon receiving information about the viral video, the Hardi police registered a case based on the victim’s written complaint under Case No. 395/22, sections 323, 504, 506 of the Indian Penal Code, and sections 3(1)3 & 3(1)10 of the SC/ST Act, against the accused Radheyshyam Mishra, Renu Bajpai, and Rakesh Tiwari, residents of Kotiya, Hardi police station, Bahraich district. The accused have been arrested and legal proceedings are being ensured.
Therefore, it is evident from verified sources that the video was not related to a religion-based hate crime against Muslims. But an old video showing people humiliating an accused of theft in Bahraich.
Intent
Anti-India propagandists are circulating old videos with misleading claims to set their narrative based on religion.
Conclusion
Claim– In a recent incident, a 14-year-old Muslim child was bullied and tortured by Hindu extremists in India.
Fact– The video is not related to religion-based hate crimes against Muslim individuals. But an old video showing people humiliating an accused of theft in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich in October 2022.
Related Article: Fact Check: Video of man attacking police in Assam’s Dhing falsely linked to Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura – D-Intent Data (dintentdata.com)
