Video of personal dispute in Mirzapur shared with false communal spin

by Kinjal

A video of a man attacking a group of women is circulating widely on social media. It shows some of the women fighting amongst each other and the man attacks them with an iron rod. Another man tries to stop him. In the end, the assailant also charges at a person recording his video.

It has been claimed on social media that two Muslim men attacked a Hindu family in Mirzapur. The viral message furthers that the men were enraged that the women asked them to not throw garbage outside their homes.

Tushar Srivastava of Zee Hindustan (archive link) and Sagar Kumar of Sudarshan News (archive link) also amplified the claim. BJP Uttar Pradesh spokesperson Prashant Umrao quote-tweeted Srivastava’s post.

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Twitter handle ‘@BlueEyed_Demn_’ also promoted the video with the same claim. (archive link)

The visuals and accompanying claims are widespread on Facebook and Twitter.

Fact-check

Upon taking a closer look at the video, we noticed that the woman donning the pink dupatta is shouting, ‘Allah, Allah’ after the 0:10 mark.

Replying to the viral tweet, Mirzapur police clarified that all those involved in the violence hailed from the same religious community. The incident occurred on January 16, 2022, in Kunjalgir Bagh.

Alt News performed a keyword search which led us to a report by Dainik Jagran dated January 17, 2022. It states that a dispute broke out between two parties in Katra police station’ Imambara locality over garbage disposal. During the scuffle, a young man attacked a woman with an iron rod. The police filed a complaint on behalf of the woman against three others. The article identifies the main accused as Salman.

Dainik Bhaskar’s report quoted victim Nasreem Begum as saying that she was living with her five daughters in a madrasa while her house was being constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. She got into an argument with another woman and two young men reached the scene when they heard yelling. They attacked the victim and her two daughters.

Katra police station SO Rajesh Kumar told Alt News that the incident occurred on January 16, 2022, and confirmed that the victim and accused hailed from the same community. He said the victim’s name was Nasreem Begum and identified one of the accused as Baba alias Salman.

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About the Author

Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.