The story uses only screenshots and not actual tweets in view of the graphic nature of the video.
Against the backdrop of the shocking video of women being paraded naked and molested in Manipur going viral, another video is being widely shared on social media, which shows a naked woman protesting against the police. In the clip, the woman can be seen threatening to hit a policeman with a stick, as she compels policemen to retreat. In the background, she can be heard cheered on by what appears to be a large group.
Twitter user Maha (@Maha39574742) shared the viral 36-second clip claiming it was an incident in Manipur. (Archive)
Another user, Kesariya Meenu (@Kesariya_Meenu), tweeted the same video and wrote in the caption that a team of naked women was active in Manipur to fight against cops. (Archive)
The video is viral on social media, with almost every user claiming that woman seen in it hailed from the Kuki community. Some of them also claimed that ‘the team of naked women’ was acting at the behest of the Congress.
Fact Check
Towards the very beginning of the viral video, a man can be heard shouting in the background ‘Sonu Kinnar Zindabad’ (Translation: Long live Sonu Kinnar). The timestamp for the same is 0:02 seconds.
On running a Google search on the name Sonu Kinnar, Alt News came across a YouTube video uploaded by UP Tak (@UPTakofficial).
The video, uploaded on May 16, 2023, reports on an altercation in the Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh, between the supporters of Sonu Kinnar, who had contested civic elections as an independent candidate, and a BJP candidate by the name of Malti Sonkar, who lost to Kinnar by a margin of 397 votes. BJP supporters allegedly stormed the counting centre demanding a recount, following which supporters of Sonu Kinnar got embroiled in a physical fight with the police.
In the video, the blurred footage of a naked woman protesting against the police can be made out at various segments. The reporter also comments on how the Kinnar supporters are heckling the police and chasing them away (3:20–3:46)
On running a keyword search on Twitter, we came across this post from Anandvir Singh (@anandvSing32716), from May 14, with another clip that showed supporters of Sonu Kinnar engaged in a brawl with police. From around the 10-second mark of this video, one of the protesters can be seen stripping. (Archive)
The video also shows that the exact location of this protest took place in May at the Kendriya Vidyalaya (which acted as the counting center of the municipal election) in Chandauli, UP.
We geo-located the counting center, and found it to be similar to the one that went viral with the claim that the naked woman was seen protesting against the police in Manipur.
On May 16, another Twitter user, Gyanendra Shukla, (@gyanu999), had posted a longer version of this clip, which showed several protesters stripping and then hurling plastic chairs at policemen. In the same tweet, he also included the 36-second video which has now gone viral with the claim that it is from Manipur. (Archive)
We found that on Facebook as well the now-viral video was shared by several users in mid-May. The posts said that the incident was from Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh. (Link 1) (Link 2)
The incident was also covered by media outlets like Latestly and Navbharat Times.
To sum up, the 36 second clip which is viral on social media with the claim that Kuki women are tactically stripping as a form of protest in Manipur, is actually an incident from the Chandauli district of UP, from two months ago.
Prantik Ali is an intern at Alt News.
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