UP: Video of injured, pleading man and woman shared with false, communal claim

#लखनऊ यह घटना #इंटोजा थाना क्षेत्र की कल की है, #शांतिप्रीय_कोम के #इस्लाम,और चार पांच लोग और, इसकी बहन का रेप करने आए इसने रेप नही करने दिया तो इसकी बहन और दोनों को बुरी तरह पीटा, #जागो_हिंदू_जागो आप लोगों का अंत निश्चित है, और इस घटना में क्या पुलिस वाले इन्हें अस्पताल पहुंचा सकते थे, पर दुर्भाग्य देखिए हमारे देश के शासन का”

(#Lucknow This incident is of yesterday, from Intoja jurisdiction, Islam and four-five people from the peaceful community had tried to rape his sister but he didnt allow them to, so he and his sister were beaten up mercilessly, Jaago Hindu Jaago, your end is certain, and in this incident, the police could have taken them to the hospital but look at sad condition of the nation’s administration- translated).

A disturbing video showing a man and a woman in bloodied condition, is being circulated on social media with the above claim, that siblings were beaten up after the brother of the girl resisted ‘people belonging to the peaceful community’ from sexually assaulting her. The term ‘peaceful community’ is used derisively to refer to the Muslim community. The slogan “Jaago Hindu Jaago” in the claim suggests that the victims were members of the Hindu community.

The above video, posted by an individual user, has been viewed more than 1.2 million times since it was posted on June 24. The share count is massive for an individual post- over 34,000 and counting. Another post featuring the same video and message has been shared over 7500 times. It was also posted by ShankhNaad, but later deleted. The video has practically gone viral, with several individual users posting it on their timelines.

The conversation in the 45-second long video is in Hindi. The male victim in the video, when asked who assaulted them, replies, “Islam and Younus”.

Alt News found that this claim had also featured on a website www.breakingtube.com. It may be noted that this website, in the past, had published communally charged fake news.

A tweet by an individual user, which has quote-tweeted another tweet featuring the video, has been retweeted over 4400 times so far. The original tweet has been deleted.

धन्य है रे तू मेरे भाई अकेले होकर भी अपनी बहन कि अस्मत जिहादियों से बचा ली
बहनों की राखियों का असली हक़दार तुम जैसे भाईयों कि कलाई ही है ! नमन है 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 https://t.co/7i3aoTR3uc

— Riniti Chatterjee (@Chatterj1Asking) June 25, 2019

It was also retweeted by popular right-wing Twitter user Sonam Mahajan.

UP POLICE RUBBISHES CLAIM

The incident occurred at Itaunja in Lucknow, and not Intoja as claimed in the viral message. Alt News spoke to Ashish Kumar, Media Relations Officer, Lucknow police, who dismissed the claim. “There is no Hindu Muslim angle. Both parties are Muslim. The claim that there was an attempt to rape, is also false. There was a fight between children and elders got involved. This is what had happened.” (translated from Hindi).

Moreover, Uttar Pradesh police took to Twitter to clarify that the incident in question occurred between members belonging to the same community. The tweet, in Hindi, reads,

“In Itaunja jurisdiction, there was a fight between children/youngsters which led to violence between two parties (belonging to the same community). In this connection, the persons seen in the video had filed a complaint, which was filed under sections 308, 323, 504, 506 of the IPC. A team was formed to nab the accused. Investigation has been handed over to CO, BKT” (translated).

pic.twitter.com/Xh84wMbp9G

— LUCKNOW POLICE (@lkopolice) June 25, 2019

Later on June 25, in response to a Twitter user who had posted this claim, UP police said that four accused- Usman, Shakil, Younus and Islam have been arrested.

https://t.co/adzQueRyAL

— UP POLICE (@Uppolice) June 25, 2019

It may be reiterated that the video pertains to violence which had broken out between members of the same community. A communal narrative was woven around this video by misrepresenting it.