Fact Check: Old video of mob attacking man in Bihar shared as Uttar Pradesh incident
A video of a man being brutally beaten up by a mob chanting "Jai Sri Ram" is being shared on social media. The Uttar Pradesh police and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are tagged in the post indicating that the video is from UP.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 3 Oct 2021 6:15 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of a man being brutally beaten up by a mob chanting "Jai Sri Ram" is being shared on social media. The Uttar Pradesh police and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are tagged in the post indicating that the video is from UP.
Twitter users shared the video with the caption, "The country is not walking but running towards ruin. If someone is running away from this truth, then he has become the cause of the country's ruin. In the name of #Shri_Ram and the blood of innocents, the day is not far when the homes of those who are absorbed in blind devotion will burn in this fire." (translated)
Fact Check
The claim is false.
NewsMeter performed a Google reverse image search which led us to an India Today article from 5 October 2019 titled "Bihar: Mob chants Jai Shri Ram, brutally thrashes Bhabua ward councilor's son in front of police for killing a man". A screenshot of the video of the attack was similar to the video being shared on social media.
According to the report, a young man was shot by the son of a ward member in Bhabua, Bihar. When the young man was taken to the hospital, the doctor declared him dead. The ward member's son was brutally thrashed by the local people and the video was from the same incident. Later, he was taken to Kaimur Sadar Hospital.
"On hearing that the victim died at the hospital, outraged people started demanding the police to kill the accused, who is undergoing treatment there. Following which, the matter escalated and angry locals broke the gate of the emergency," said the report.
Taking a cue from this, we ran a keyword search and found a report by TV9 Hindi published on 5 October 2019. It also had screenshots from the viral video. According to the report, the incident took place in Shivaji Chowk in Bhabua, Bihar, where a ward member's son shot dead a youth. Local people then beat up the accused man.
Further, in a tweet from 29 September 2021, the UP police fact check had clarified that the video is not from UP. The tweet read, "The viral video is not related to Uttar Pradesh, but to Thana Bhabua, District Kaimur, Bihar. Please tweet by tagging the concerned state only after complete verification." (translated)
It is therefore evident that the claim that the video is from Uttar Pradesh is false. It is from a 2019 incident that took place in Bihar's Bhabua.
