A distressing video showing a man brutally assaulting a girl has gone viral on social media with a claim that the abuser belonged to the Muslim community and the victim was a Hindu.
The video was shared with a caption that read, "Mera Abdul aisa nahi hai" (My Abdul is not like that), a phrase that has been repeatedly used over the years to push the 'Love Jihad' narrative.
A claim with the viral video.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
(Note: Due to the highly distressing nature of the video, we have refrained from using links to the video or its archives.)
The truth: According to the Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP), Naveen Dubey, both parties were from the Hindu community and also belonged to the same caste. He dismissed the false communal claims being spread with the video.
How did we find that out: We fragmented the video into multiple keyframes using the InVID WeVerify Google Chrome extension, and conducted a reverse image search on some of them.
While going through the results, we came across a tweet by Times Now journalist, Govind Gurjar, who said that case was from Rewa and that a case under section 151 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (disturbing public peace) was registered and the accused was let go.
Tweet from Times Now journalist.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
Taking a cue from the tweet, we conducted a keyword search and found several news reports talking about the assault and the subsequent arrest.
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the accused was identified as one Pankaj Tripathi, a resident of Dhera, Madhya Pradesh.
The report further added that the accused and the victim were in a relationship and he beat the girl after she asked him to marry her.
The accused was later arrested on Sunday, 25 December under 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 366 (abduction) and other relevant provisions of the IPC, and the IT act.
In a tweet, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's office wrote, "Accused Pankaj Tripathi has been arrested and his house has been demolished. His driving licence has also been cancelled."
What did the police say: The Quint's WebQoof team spoke with Mauganj SDOP, Naveen Dubey, who dismissed the communal claims and said that the both the accused and the victim were from the Hindu community and the same caste.
Conclusion: A video showing a person assaulting a woman in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa has gone viral with a false communal claim.
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