A disturbing video showing a mob assaulting individual is being shared with claims that it depicts Hindus attacking a Muslim man in India as part of a religious hate crime. However, this claim is misleading. The video is from February 2020 and is unrelated to any religious violence. Reports indicate that the incident occurred in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, where villagers attacked six farmers on suspicion of being child-lifters.
Sharing the video on X (Formerly Twitter) propagandist account @Sheikhalfaris wrote, An Indian Muslim was beaten by dozens of Hindus. Beaten with wood, pelted with stones. How heartbreaking. Far different from the treatment of Islamic countries towards minorities.
Several other users and Influencers have also disseminated the visuals and made similar claims. Their posts can be seen here, @mdmasumice, @EKSaZu1
The truth about the video of mob assaulting 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 incident and found that the video was old and unrelated to religious hate crimes.
To verify the claims made by the users. We performed a reverse image search of some key frames from the viral video using Google Lens. This led us to several media reports containing the visuals from the same incident. According to reports (NDTV, TOI), the incident occurred in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, where villagers attacked six farmers on suspicion of being child-lifters. One person, identified as Ganesh Khasi, was killed, while five others were critically injured. Police later clarified that the attack stemmed from a transaction dispute between the accused and the victims.
Therefore, it is evident from D-Intent Data’s Fact Check that the video was not related to religious hate crimes against Muslims as claimed by the users.
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— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) December 13, 2024
ANALYSIS: Misleading
FACT: A disturbing video showing a mob brutally attacking a defenseless individual is being shared with claims that it depicts Hindus attacking a Muslim man in India as part of a religious hate crime. However, this claim is misleading. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/EvXbjat83A
Intent
Propagandists and Influencers are circulating old videos with misleading claims to set their narrative based on religion in India.
Conclusion
Claim– The video depicts a Muslim individual being assaulted in a religious hate crime in India.
Fact– The video is old and has nothing to do with religious hate crime. The victim was a Hindu and the incident occurred when the villagers thrashed the man over allegations of child theft.
Related Article: Fact Check: An old video of a man publicly assaulting a naked man circulated with communal claims – D-Intent Data
