Manipuri Muslim woman beaten up by UNLF for drug peddling: Video shared with communal spin

A 61-second-long clip has gone viral on social media with users claiming that it shows a Muslim woman being beaten to death in the state of Manipur by Hindutva activists or cow-worshippers. In the viral clip, a woman is being surrounded by at least four other people, brandishing sticks. They can be seen at various points trying to pin the woman down to the ground, while another person thrashes her with the stick.

A verified X account, @Afcq1954, posted the viral clip on July 21, with an Arabic caption, which, when translated to English, reads: “A video that the whole world should watch: A Muslim woman was brutally beaten by filthy cow worshippers in Manipur state, India.” At the time of this article being written, the post has managed to accumulate almost 20 lakh views and has been re-shared more than 15,000 times. (Archive)

Another X user. @BabaG512, shared this viral clip with an Arabic caption, alleging that a Muslim woman had been attacked for her faith in Manipur. (Archive)

ایک ایسی ویڈیو جسے دنیا کو ضرور دکھانا چاہیے
بھارت کی ریاست منی پور میں ایک با پردہ مسلمان خاتون کو غلیظ گائے پرست بے دردی سے پیٹ رہے ہیں ۔۔۔ pic.twitter.com/fGHefl8O5v

— Baboo G (@BabaG512) July 21, 2024

X user (@chandnii__) also shared the viral video with the same claim, which has accumulated more than 2 lakh views and close to 6,000 re-shares. (Archive)

The video is also viral on Facebook, with several users alleging that the Muslim woman was beaten to death in Manipur by cow-worshippers.

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Alt News received multiple requests for fact-checking the video on its WhatsApp helpline (7600011160).

Fact Check

We noticed that the viral clip had a watermark, as well as the screenshot of a caption, attributing it to an Instagram account by the name of ‘@shariaflix.v2‘. We looked through the account and came across the viral clip, captioned as “A Muslim woman was mercilessly beaten to death by Hindutvavadis in Manipur…”

Looking for more context, we went through the comment section of the viral clips on X, and came across a comment by a user named @YamnaPendrey, which said that the Muslim woman shown in the video was being beaten up by members of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), a separatist group active in the northeast. According to this allegation, the woman was being beaten on charges of peddling drugs.

We cross-checked and could verify that the clothes worn by the attackers in the viral video matched those worn by UNLF members.

Taking a cue from this, we ran a relevant keyword search, which led us to a YouTube video, uploaded on July 10, which is the same clip that went viral on social media. The caption of the video says, “there is many drug dealers, business in Meiteiland”.

Another video from the same YouTube channel also features the woman, who is seen pleading with men in the same uniform, before being thrashed with sticks. Her interrogator in the video asks her where she “procured it from”, to which she exclaims that she “didn’t take it”.

Further, we ran a reverse image search on the picture of the woman as procured from the tweet mentioned earlier, and came across a post on Facebook, reporting on the arrest of drug peddlers by the UNLF-MPA Ningol Macha. Among those arrested, the woman from the viral video can also be spotted. (Archive)

For further confirmation, Alt News contacted the Manipuri Meitei-Pangal Social Unification & Upliftment Organisation, an autonomous non-profit organisation based in Imphal. Speaking to us, a representative confirmed that the woman seen in the viral video was a drug peddler named Mumtaz Ebem. The representative  further informed us that she had been arrested by the women’s wing of the UNLF on drug peddling charges at Hatta Golapati, East Imphal. The communal angle to the incident was fabricated, he added.

We also came across a Facebook post carrying a press release in the Meitei language issued by an organisation called Manipur Meitei Pangan Revolutionary Army. Dated July 17, it talks about measures to curb drug peddling in Manipur. (Archive)

‘Pangan’ is a Meitei word derived from ‘Bengal’, which refers to Manipuri Muslims.

We got the document translated into English. The press release is a declaration calling for an end to drug peddling and other illegal activities. It is asserted that the Manipur Meitei Pangan Revolutionary Army shall handle the problems of their community, and that other communities, whether militant or not, should keep their distance from their affairs.

On inspecting the press release, we could locate the name of Mumtaz Ebem as one of those accused involved in drug peddling.

Moreover, the official X handle of Manipur Police posted about the viral clip, clarifying that the woman had been beaten up on alleged charges of drug peddling, and the incident had no communal angle to it. (Archive)

#FAKE

Miscreants beat up a woman alleging to be involved in drug peddling.
Police have taken up a case in this regard.
There is no communal angle in it. https://t.co/8OxbqVeF6f pic.twitter.com/IgFXA8wnxi

— Manipur Police (@manipur_police) July 24, 2024

To sum up, we can confirm that the viral video does not show a Muslim woman being killed by cow-worshippers. The woman, who was a Muslim, was arrested and beaten up by UNLF members in connection to drug-peddling charges. The woman was not beaten to death. And there was no communal angle to the incident.

Prantik Ali is an intern at Alt News.