A disturbing video showing a group of men brutally assaulting a woman is being shared on social media with a claim that it shows "Hindu men beating a Dalit woman."
Some users also claimed that the incident is from Uttar Pradesh.
(Note: Due to the highly distressing nature of the video, we have refrained from using links to the video or its archives.)
A screenshot of the viral claim.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
The Quint also received a query about this video on its WhatsApp tipline.
So, what's the truth?: Well, the incident did happen, but...
It's from Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district and not Uttar Pradesh.
Secondly, there is no caste angle to it. As per news reports, the video dates back to July 2021 and the girl was beaten by her relatives for talking to boys in the Kukshi region.
Kukshi Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDOP) Dilip Singh Bilwal confirmed the same to The Quint, adding that a case had been filed in connection to the incident.
How did we find out?: Using InVID, a video verification extension on Google Chrome, we divided the viral video into multiple keyframes.
This led us to a tweet by venture capitalist Tehseen Poonawalla from 4 July 2021, which carried the viral tweet.
In the replies of this tweet, we came across journalist Ranvijay Singh's comment that mentioned that it showed a girl being thrashed by her relatives for speaking to a boy on the phone in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar.
The tweet mentioned that the incident was from Madhya Pradesh.
(Source: Twitter/Altered by The Quint)
A report in Amar Ujala mentioned that two girls were thrashed by their relatives for talking to their cousin. News18 MP Chattisgarh also reported on the incident.
Police deny caste angle: Speaking to The Quint, Kukshi SDOP Dilip Singh Bilwal said that the video was from 2021 and showed a girl's family members thrashing her for speaking to a boy.
UP police issues clarification: Uttar Pradesh Police's verified fact-check account also quote-tweeted one of the claims and said that the video wasn't from their state.
The Uttar Pradesh Police said that the video was from MP.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
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