Fact Check: Madhya Pradesh Police thrashes Muslim youth protesting against Waqf Act? No, find the truth here

The Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025, passed by the Indian Parliament in April 2025, sparked widespread protests across India, particularly in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, where demonstrations turned deadly. In Murshidabad, protests escalated on April 11, fueled by provocative speeches and rumours of a protester’s death, leading to clashes with police, arson, and vandalism. Three people were killed, including a father and son hacked to death, and many were arrested.

In this context, a disturbing video has been circulating on social media, showing a man in police uniform ruthlessly caning and kicking a youth who collapses to the ground. He is later dragged away by two other policemen and taken into a police van. Social media users sharing the video claim that the victim is a Muslim youth who was allegedly beaten by the Madhya Pradesh police for protesting against the recently passed Waqf (Amendment) Act 2025.

Sharing the video, a Facebook user wrote, “In India’s Madhya Pradesh, the police are beating a minority Muslim boy mercilessly for protesting against the Waqf Bill. The persecution of minorities in India has now reached an all-time extreme.”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim misleading, as the video is from 2020.

A reverse image search of keyframes from the video led us to the same footage posted by several Facebook accounts in May 2020. According to these posts, the video shows an incident of police brutality in Pipla Narayanwar village, located in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh. (Click here, here and here to see the posts.)

Taking the investigation further, we conducted keyword searches and found that several media outlets had reported on the same video back in 2020. According to an NDTV report dated May 24, 2020, the video is from Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh. The report states that the man being beaten was allegedly creating a disturbance in the neighbourhood and was apparently intoxicated. Senior police officer Shashank Garg was quoted as saying, “Two cops — Krishna Dongre and Ashish — are seen in the clip. The man was seen creating a ruckus. We have ordered a probe.”

According to an ETV Bharat report dated May 24, 2020, the incident occurred on May 10 in Piplanarayanwar village under the jurisdiction of Lodhikheda police station in Saunsar tehsil of Chhindwara district. Following the viral circulation of the video, Head Constable Krishna Dongre and Constable Ashish were suspended. The report also stated that, based on preliminary information, the man was intoxicated and causing a nuisance near a bank branch, prompting the bank staff to alert the police.

Nav Bharat Times reported on May 23, 2020, that the individual seen being beaten in the video is Vaman Saryam, a resident of Piplanarayanwar village in Saunsar tehsil, Chhindwara district. He is reportedly addicted to alcohol. Locals had repeatedly complained that Vaman would often abuse and assault villagers while intoxicated. He was also accused of obscene behaviour, with villagers alleging that he would frequently strip in public after consuming alcohol.

We also found the video published by the YouTube channel Punjab Kesari MP on May 24, 2020, stating that the video is from the Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh.

Therefore, we conclude that the claim is misleading. The video is from 2020 and not related to the recent protests against the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025