Video of Meerut boy & girl shared with false ‘Love Jihad’ claims, cops initiate action against users

[The story uses only screenshots of relevant social media posts, instead of embedding the actual posts, to withhold the identity of the minors involved.]

Last week, a video from Meerut went viral on social media with claims of ‘Love Jihad’. While sharing it, users claimed that a Muslim boy and a Hindu girl were caught together in the girl’s room. The users also claimed that apparently, the girl’s family had told the police that the boy had repeatedly threatened their daughter that he would make her photo viral.

In the video, one can see a boy and a girl surrounded by a few men who supposedly ‘caught’ them and recorded the now-viral video. The girl can be seen asking them not to film them, but the group refuses and goes on recording. As per the social media posts, the incident occurred in Shastri Nagar, Meerut, which falls under the Nauchandi police station area.

Twitter Blue user Sanju Tiwari 🕉️ (@SanjuTiwarri) shared this video on June 5 with a Hindi caption that can be translated as: “Cases of #love_jihad are happening daily all over the world but girls are not ready to understand. This is a case from Meerut, this Hindu girl was caught in her room with a Muslim boy. Hindu organizations are calling it love jihad. The girl’s family told the police that the Muslim boy repeatedly threatened their daughter to make her photo viral. Shamelessness and filth beyond limits. Lies and unrighteousness are the way to be now. Terrorists and Jihadis have been friends. People are even ready to sell off their country and religion.” The tweet has received over 1.2 lakh views and has been retweeted over 300 times. (Archive)

Another Twitter user, @Anandkumar_IND, shared the same video on June 5 with a similar claim. The caption in Hindi says, “Sector 8 Shastri Nagar, Meerut. Both of them were found in the same house. Hindu girl Muslim boy. The people of the neighbourhood caught them”. The tweet has received close to 1.5 lakh views and has been retweeted over 2,000 times. (Archive)

Several other Twitter users, including @ajaychauhan41, @ManishThadhani1, and @rajanikumari21, shared the same video with similar claims.

Twitter accounts @WokePatroller and @Theintrepid also shared the videos. At present, both the accounts stand deactivated.

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‘Love Jihad’ is a conspiracy theory propagated by the Right Wing ecosystem, according to which Muslim men are trained to trap Hindu women and marry them to convert them to Islam.

Fact Check

We noticed a comment from the Meerut police on June 5 under @ajaychauhan41‘s tweet and a few others who had shared the video. It said that the boy and the girl in question were both minors and that they were studying together for medical exams. Both of them hailed from the same place and had known each other for some time. The comment from police added that these details had been confirmed by their parents and that there was no criminality in the whole incident.

Further, we reached out to Nauchandi SHO S K Saxena. He confirmed the same. “False claims were shared on social media about this incident. There is no criminal or communal angle here. Both the boy (16-and-a-half-year old) and the girl (16) are minors. They were studying together for NEET. Their families have confirmed this. Since the boy was Muslim some people misunderstood it and shared such false information. We have taken action against those who made the videos viral. We have registered a suo moto FIR against them.”

A relevant keyword search led us to a report by The Indian Express which says that Meerut police has registered FIR against the two now deactivated Twitter handles — @WokePatroller and @Theintrepid — under IPC sections 469 (Forgery for purpose of harming reputation) and 505(1) (Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report). The report also mentioned that if the minor’s family members filed any complaint and the boy and the girl recorded their statement, action would be taken against the group of men seen in the video.

As per a report from The Print, police mentioned that some people of the locality and local office bearers of the Hindu Jagran Manch reached the spot where the boy and the girl were studying and caused a ruckus since they belonged to different religions.

Therefore, the ‘Love Jihad’ claim with which the video of two minors was being shared is false. The boy and the girl, residents of the same locality, knew each other and were simply studying together for NEET and their families were aware of the same.