Old Video From Bihar Shared as 'BJP Goons' Killing Person in Uttar Pradesh

The incident was linked to the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

(Trigger Warning: Description of the incident, given its heinous nature, can be triggering for some readers.)

A video of a man mercilessly attacking a person, whose face is covered in blood, and shouting 'Jai Shri Ram,' is being shared on social media while pinning the blame on the "goons" of the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttar Pradesh.

The claim comes in the backdrop of the Uttar Pradesh elections results and states that violence has begun under the BJP government right after it returned to power.

The results were declared on 10 March with the BJP securing a clear majority in the state, for the second term.

However, we found that the video is from 2019, from Bihar's Kaimur district, when the son of Bhabua's ward councilor had allegedly shot a man, following which he was brutally thrashed by locals in broad daylight in the presence of police.

The Quint's WebQoof team had debunked the video earlier in 2019 when it was being shared with the false claim that the incident had taken place in West Bengal, while some also claimed that he was beaten up because he was a ‘Christian evangelist.’

CLAIM

The 45-second video is being shared with the claim in Hindi that reads, "नई सरकार बनने पर एक बेकसुर की जान लेकर बिजेपी के गुण्डों ने मनाया जश्न।"

(Translation: Upon forming the new government, the BJP goons celebrated by taking the life of an innocent person.)

In the video, one can see a man punching a person lying on the ground with another man stomping on his chest, while onlookers watch on and record the heinous crime.

(Note: We have refrained from including any links to the video due to the distressing nature of the visuals.)

Several social media users have shared the video along with the same claim on Twitter and Facebook.

WHAT WE FOUND

We scrolled through the comments of the video, and one user replied saying it is an old video, and that it is from Bihar's Kaimur district.

Taking a cue from here, we searched for news reports on Google using relevant keywords and found an article on the website of English news channel India Today, published on 5 October 2019.

The report says that the incident was from Shivaji Chowk area of Bhabua, in Bihar's Kaimur district.

According to the report, Bhabua ward councilor's son had allegedly shot a man, who succumbed to injuries at a hospital. After this the accused, ward councilor's son, was brutally thrashed by locals.

We also found the report on Hindi daily Dainik Jagran that was published on 2 October 2019.

The report read that the man who was thrashed is identified as Shahid Raine, who had allegedly shot one person named Madhav Singh in Bhabua Nagar. Raine can be seen lying down in the hospital bed wearing the same clothes.

Further, we found a tweet on the official handle of 'Uttar Pradesh Police fact check' on 11 March, saying the video is from Bihar.

VIDEO SHARED EARLIER CLAIMING TO BE FROM WEST BENGAL

The video was shared in 2019 by Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and former member of Lok Sabha, Md Salim, who claimed that the video was from West Bengal.

Speaking to The Quint back then, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Kaimur district, Dilnawaz Ahmed, had said that the man was thrashed because he had allegedly shot somebody, adding he was was sent to jail after he was given due medical attention.

“An FIR has been registered against the person seen beating him in the video,” Ahmed had said.

Clearly, an old video from Bihar's Kaimur is being shared now falsely claiming to be from Uttar Pradesh.

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