Old video from Bihar falsely shared as BJP goons assaulting man after UP win

[Disclaimer: Video depicts violence and has not been embedded in the report.]

After the BJP regained Uttar Pradesh in the recently-concluded assembly polls, a one-minute clip that shows a man thrashing another in front of a police officer was shared by Samajwadi Party member Aditi Yadav. She insinuated that the video depicts post-poll violence by the BJP. She later took it down.

[Viral Hindi text: नई सरकार बनने पर एक बेकसुर की जान लेकर बिजेपी के गुण्डों ने मनाया जश्न.]

Several Twitter and Facebook users have also posted this clip.

Old, unrelated video

In 2019, Alt News had fact-checked this video when it was widespread with a communal claim. The incident took place in Kaimur’s Bhabua Nagar, a district in Bihar on October 2, 2019. The same video was shared on October 5, 2019, by Md Salim, a Politburo member-CPI(M). Salim later took down the clip.

The victim’s name is Shahid Rain. He was thrashed after allegedly killing Madhav Singh, a resident of Sikhathi village. “There is no communal angle to the crime. They had a land dispute,” said SHO Shashi Bhushan to Alt News. Kaimur SP, Dilnawaz Ahmed, also informed that there was no communal angle to the incident. An FIR was lodged against the men who assaulted Shahid. In 2019, India Today published a report on this incident as well.

Last year, UP police had shared India Today’s fact-check and clarified that the video is old and from Bihar.

वायरल वीडियो उत्तर प्रदेश से न होकर थाना भभुआ, जनपद कैमूर, बिहार से संबंधित है। कृपया बिना सत्यापन के भ्रामक पोस्ट कर अफवाह ना फैलाएं।https://t.co/ToOUzgvsfc#UPPViralCheck#UPPolice https://t.co/rHBqiL9Ita pic.twitter.com/UT12e6Iv0f

— UPPOLICE FACT CHECK (@UPPViralCheck) September 30, 2021

To sum it up, a day after the BJP won the elections in UP, SP member Aditi Yadav shared an old video from Bihar to falsely accuse the BJP of post-poll violence.