A video of a young man holding a schoolgirl at knifepoint as she pleads with him in Marathi was widely shared on social media with communal claims that the perpetrator, a Muslim, was threatening the girl after his attempts at enticing her into ‘love jihad’ failed. In the video, the girl says in Marathi, “I am not interested in you, let me go”.
‘Love jihad’ is a conspiracy theory believed by many hardliner Hindus, according to which Muslim men seduce Hindu women and coerce them to convert to Islam. Meanwhile, passers-by manage to save the girl and beat the man.
X handle ‘Mahaveer_VJ’, a user often found spreading communal misinformation, shared the video, calling it an incident from Maharashtra where a “jihadi” was killed while trying to slit the throat of a schoolgirl with a knife because he was unable to trap her in ‘love jihad’. The caption reads, “Keep an eye on jihadi mullahs (pejorative term for Muslims). Warn your sisters and daughters.”
Maharashtra incident.
Jihadi killed while trying to slit the throat of a school girl with a knife after failing in his attempt to trap her in love jihad.
Keep an eye on Jihadi Mullahs, warn your sisters and daughters!!! pic.twitter.com/VMI8QCPxwg
— महावीर जैन, ಮಹಾವೀರ ಜೈನ, Mahaveer Jain (@Mahaveer_VJ) July 25, 2025
X user ‘@Akhand_Bharat_S‘, which has also been found spreading communal misinformation on several occasions, shared the video with similar claims. The user blamed the Congress government for introducing the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act in 2010, enabling large-scale conversions with foreign funding.
भारत में बड़े पैमाने पर धर्मान्तरण, लव जिहाद हो रहा है इसका मूल कारण है
👉 विदेशी फंडिंग
इस Funding के लिए कांग्रेस ने 2010 में FCRA कानून बनाया था।
FCRA खत्म होना बहुत जरूरी हो गया है।
Bharat में Love_jihad विकराल रूप ले रहा है, महाराष्ट्र की घटना स्कूल की लड़की को… pic.twitter.com/y1T52pm77L
— अखण्ड भारत संकल्प (@Akhand_Bharat_S) July 25, 2025
Several other social media users, including X handles @Ramith18, @Kamlapatitri and @Mahakalbhakt428, along with some Facebook users also shared the video with similar claims.
Fact Check
Alt News performed a reverse image search using key frames from the viral video. This led us to a report by Aaj Tak from July 22, 2025. The article featured the same video and said that on July 21, around 4 PM, a youth named Aryan Waghmale held a minor girl at knifepoint in the Basappa Peth area of Satara city in Maharashtra. Soon, bystanders managed to rescue her and thrashed the man.
In addition, the report said that according to Satara Superintendent of Police Tushar Doshi, a case had been registered against accused, Aryan Waghmale, at the Shahupuri police station under the POCSO and Arms Acts on charges of molestation and intent to cause harm. It was also said to be a case of “one-sided love”. However, the report does not mention that the bystanders killed the youth.
A Hindustan Times report covering the incident said, “According to the police, the accused Aryan Waghmale, threatened a girl returning home from school at knifepoint in the Basappa Peth Karanje area and tried to thwart locals trying to help her by brandishing the weapon at them. Some passersby, with the help of two off-duty policemen nearby, intervened and stopped the attack.” It also mentioned that the accused was taken into custody.
As is evident, the accused, Aryan Waghmale, is not Muslim. He threatened a minor girl at knifepoint and a video of the incident was shared with misleading communal claims and ‘love jihad’ controversies.
On several occasions, Alt News found that videos of unrelated persons or incidents have been misused to target a particular community with communal claims.
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