A set of images has gone viral on social media, claiming that a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and member of legislative Assembly from Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha was recently beaten up by women with slippers and sticks.
However, The Quint’s WebQoof team found out that the claim is false, as the man seen in the images, Madan Verma, is not the BJP MLA from Amroha. Further, the said incident took place in 2018 when Verma, now BJP president of Didauli mandal, was beaten up by women.
CLAIM
The claim shared by Congress’ Mobin Pathan in Hindi reads, “उत्तर प्रदेश में अमरोहा के बीजेपी विधायक की महिलाओं के द्वारा जूते-चप्पल व डंडे से पिटाई की खबर आ रही है!” However, he later added that he can’t confirm the veracity of the news.
(Translation: News is coming that BJP MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha is being beaten up by women with sticks and slippers.)
(Source:Twitter/Screenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Using relevant keywords on YouTube, we came across a video by News18 India that was published on 6 June 2018 and carried the viral visuals.
The man had been identified as BJP worker Madan Verma, who had gone to the collector's office to pacify the women who had gathered at the office to complain about irregularities in ration distribution. The women called him a “dealer” and started beating him up.
We found another news report by Lallantop from 6 June 2018, that mentioned that when he went to calm the situation and tried to talk to the women, they started attacking him.
Speaking to The Quint’s WebQoof team, Verma confirmed that the incident is old and said that it happened a month after the Palaula Sahkari Samiti election, of which he is the chairman now.
His Facebook page identifies him as the chairman of Palaula Sahkari Samiti, Amroha and the BJP president of Didauli mandal.
Further, the incumbent MLA representing Amroha is three-time MLA and Cabinet minister Mehboob Ali from the Samajwadi Party.
Clearly, a set of old images from 2018 made it to the internet with the false claim that the BJP MLA from Amroha was beaten up by women recently.
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