Fact Check: Old video of a woman being thrashed by colleague in Nellore resurfaces with political allegations

Hyderabad: A video of a man brutally thrashing a woman in what appears to be an office is being shared with multiple claims on social media. Supporters of political parties Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh are sharing the video with contradicting claims.

“A YCP officer bashing out a lady in her office... This is the governence that is in Andhra Pradesh... AP beware of YCP, (sic)” wrote an X user who shared the video on January 3, 2024.

On the same day, a premium X user shared the video and captioned it as “Without even considering that they are women, TDP leaders are torturing them (translated from Telugu).”

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that no media reported any political motive behind the attack on the woman.

On closely analysing the viral video, we found it contained the logo of the Hindustan Times YouTube channel.

Taking this as a cue, we performed a keyword search and found the extended version of the viral video on the Hindustan Times YT channel titled ‘Andhra Pradesh: Man beats up woman colleague in Nellore over verbal spat’. It was published on June 30, 2020.

According to the description of the video, it shows a man beating up a woman colleague with a chair handle over a verbal brawl in Andhra Pradesh. The accused is identified as Bhaskar, a deputy manager at AP Tourism Hotel. The woman, Usha Rani, is a senior assistant in the same hotel. The incident took place on June 27, 2020, in Nellore town. A complaint was filed against the accused and the police have registered a case under sections 324 and 355 of IPC.

Moreover, we also found the same video on multiple media handles like Times Now and India TV.

Moving forward, we also found media reports on the same case in India Times, India Today and India TV News published on June 30, 2020, carrying the stills from the same video.

According to the India Times report, the man is an employee of a hotel under the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department along with the woman. The man allegedly lost his temper after the woman asked him to wear a mask while at work. A case has been registered against the accused and he has been taken into custody by the police.

It should be noted that no media reports mention his affiliation with any political party.

Taking to X, AP Police also confirmed the man’s arrest stating, “A case vide Crime No 362/2020 u/s 354, 355 and 324 IPC was booked on 27.06.2020. The accused was arrested and is being sent for judicial remand. Nellore District Police is extremely sensitive to any violation or crime against women. Women Safety is our top priority. (sic)”

Hence, we can conclude that any claim making the incident political is false.