Video of Armed Man Accused of Stalking in Maharashtra Shared With Communal Spin

Satara Police's PC Babar denied any communal angle, stating that the man belongs to the Hindu community.

A video of a knife-wielding man holding a schoolgirl hostage in Satara, Maharashtra is being shared with a false communal angle on social media.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A video showing a knife-wielding boy holding a schoolgirl hostage while a crowd surrounds them before people take him down has gone viral on social media.

The claim: The video is being shared as an incident of a Muslim man attempting to kill a girl after "failing in his attempt to trap her in love jihad" in Maharashtra.

• Those sharing this claim added that the man was killed.

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.)

Is it true?: No, there is no communal angle to the incident.

• Several news reports have identified the man as Aryan Waghmale, a Class 12 student from Satara, Maharashtra.

• Satara Police clarified to The Quint that the man and the girl both belong to the Hindu community.

How do we know?: We ran a reverse image search on the video using Google Lens.

• The search led us to a report by Marathi news organisation Saam TV, which said that the incident took place in Satara.

• A relevant keyword search showed us an X post by the news organisation Mid Day, which carried the same video.

• It identified the man as an 18-year-old Aryan Waghmale, a class 12 student, who reportedly threatened a schoolgirl who was on her way back from school after she refused his advances.

• The crowd surrounded them and freed the girl before disarming and assaulting the accused, when police intervened to take him into custody, and a case was registered at Satara's Shahupuri police station.

• More reports corroborating these details can be seen here, here, and here.

• The Quint reached out to the Assistant Police Inspector at Shahupuri police station, PC Babar, for more information.

• She rubbished the communal angle given to the incident, confirming that Waghmale belongs to the Hindu community, as does the girl who was subjected to stalking.

Conclusion: A video of a knife-wielding man, accused of stalking a schoolgirl, has gone viral with a false communal angle.

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