Fact Check: Hindu girl thrashes Muslim harasser in UP’s Unnao? No, video’s communal angle is fake
A video of a girl thrashing a man on the road has been circulating online, claiming a Muslim named Aleem Sheikh was beaten up by a Hindu girl for harassing her.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:The video shows a Muslim man, Aleem Sheikh, being thrashed by a Hindu girl for harassing her for several days.
Fact:The claim is false. The accused has been identified as Akash. There is no communal angle to the incident.
Hyderabad: A video circulating on social media shows a girl grabbing a man by his t-shirt, using abusive language and thrashing him on a public road as bystanders watch the scene unfold.
The video is being shared with the claim that the man, allegedly identified as a Muslim named Aleem Sheikh, had been harassing the Hindu girl for several days and she eventually retaliated by beating him. The users claim that the video is from Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao.
An X user shared the video with the caption, “Aleem Sheikh from Unnao had been asking for the girl’s number for days, hurling abuses while passing by. Today, the Hindu daughter was possessed by Chandi—she gave him a number right on the street. Now every Hindu daughter will have to respond to love jihadis like this, and brothers will have to stay vigilant.” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the accused’s name is Akash, not Aleem Sheikh. The accused does not belong to the Muslim community.
A reverse image search of the video’s keyframes led us to the same footage shared by a media outlet, True Story Uttar Pradesh, on X on July 20. According to the post, the man seen in the video is a three-wheeler driver identified as Akash, and the incident took place in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh.
He had allegedly been stopping the girl on her way to college, passing lewd remarks and attempting to molest her over the past several days. After enduring continuous harassment, the girl confronted Akash in public. She grabbed him by the collar and gave him a thorough thrashing. Bystanders stood around watching the incident unfold.
Similarly, according to a TV9 report dated July 20, a female student from a locality under the Gangaghat police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao was returning home on the afternoon of July 19 after attending classes at Juhari Devi College in Kanpur. Near Neelam Sweets on Pony Road in Shuklaganj Bazaar, she was allegedly harassed by a youth identified as Akash, who had reportedly been troubling her for several days, leaving her deeply distressed.
Fed up with the continued harassment, the girl confronted Akash, grabbed hold of him, slapped him repeatedly and even beat him with her shoe. India TV, on the same day, reported the incident with the same details.
Aaj Tak, in its report dated July 21, stated that local residents caught the eve-teaser and handed him over to the police. The accused was identified as 20-year-old Akash, a resident of Brahmanagar under the jurisdiction of the Gangaghat police station. He works as a water supply e-rickshaw driver. According to the Unnao Police Media Cell, the girl chose not to file a formal complaint. As a result, Akash was booked under Section 151 and a challan was issued against him. Notably, the news channel made no mention of any communal angle in the incident.
Therefore, we conclude that the video does not show a Muslim man, Aleem Sheikh, being thrashed by the girl, but a man identified with the Hindu name Akash. The claim is false and is being shared to target a specific community.
