MP mob beats up Hindu boy believing ‘love jihad’, video viral to further false spin

A video of a group of people beating a boy in police presence over an alleged case of ‘love jihad’ is widespread on social media. It is being claimed that a Muslim boy had convinced a Hindu girl to elope with him in Bhopal. Facebook user Geetam Singh Chahar posted the footage with the same claim. It garnered 36,000 views at the time of writing. (Archive link)

Another Facebook user shared the visuals and accompanying claim.

The clip is also widely circulating on Facebook. (Link 1, Link 2)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Fact-check

Alt News performed a keyword search and found an article by The New Indian Express dated September 4, stating that a 16-year-old boy was thrashed in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh where he had eloped with a 12-year-old girl. Locals thought that he was Muslim and had taken her under false pretences. Alleging ‘love jihad’, the mob beat him up. The police were quoted as saying that both the boy and girl were Hindus and residents of Uttar Pradesh.

The report also mentioned that after this incident, both of them were handed over to the Uttar Pradesh police. Dewas police identified four people from the video and filed a complaint against 15 unidentified persons.

The Quint also covered the incident, and the outlet carried a screenshot of the viral video. Jansatta wrote a story as well.

Alt News contacted Dewas SP Shiv Dayal Singh for more information on the case. “There is no ‘love jihad’ angle to this incident. Both the boy and the girl were minors and Hindus. The police have begun taking action by registering a complaint against the people who beat up the boy. Both the minors were handed over to the Uttar Pradesh police.” he explained.

To sum it up, a Hindu minor was thrashed by a mob in Madhya Pradesh that mistakenly believed he was a Muslim who abducted a Hindu girl. A video of this entire incident was also shared on social media with the same false ‘love jihad’ angle.