Viral video of man confessing to wife’s murder: Accused, victim both are Muslims; ‘love jihad’ claims false

Social media is rife with a video of a bearded man who confesses to a journalist from इंसाफ 24 न्यूज़ that he has murdered his wife in the name of Allah. He states, “I killed my wife because of my love for Khuda…It was a matter of respect for Islam.” He elucidates that they had been married for over a year but he killed his wife out of his respect and love for Islam. He said, “इस्लाम का इज़्ज़त का सवाल था इसीलिए उसे पिटाई भी लगेगी और लाठी भी लगेगी और डंडा भी खाना पड़ेगा। लेकिन मेरी बीबी से मोहब्बत नहीं, इस्लाम से मोहब्बत हैं ।” (Translation: It was a matter of respect for Islam…thats why she was beaten up with a lathi…I don’t love my wife, I love Islam.)

“He killed his wife because she was a Hindu” — these words have been superimposed at the beginning of the viral clip (from 0:00 to 0:28) followed by another message at 0:29 which reads “First he made her fall in love then married her and then killed her after 1 year of marriage”. The 1-minute video ends with pictures of 16 women and the claim that those women were victims of ‘love jihad’, and then calls for Hindu girls to wake up, since “All Abduls are same.”

The video has been shared by several social media users, claiming that this was a classic case of ‘love jihad’ and that Hindu women should be aware of such consequences of inter-faith relationships. A parody account of Manish Kashyap, @BJYAM11, shared the tweet with the caption, “All the girls who left home in love, listen carefully, maybe your eyes will open??” The tweet has received over 60,000 views, 3.7K likes and 2.2K retweets. (Archive)

प्यार में घर छोड़ने वाली सभी लड़कियों खान खोलकर सुन लो, शायद आंखें खुल जाएं ?? pic.twitter.com/1OmvDBaFmz

— Manish Kashyap ( Son Of Bihar ) Parody (@BJYAM11) May 3, 2023

The video was shared several times by users like @nagmakhatun786, @Marwadi99, and @ShaliniKumawat0 on Twitter and is also viral on Facebook.

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Fact Check

First, we broke down the video into key-frames using Invid software and then reverse searched one of them on Google. This led us to the original YouTube video which was posted by इंसाफ 24 न्यूज़, under the title ‘खुदा की मोहब्बत में नई नवेली बीबी का क”त्ल इस्लाम का ऐसा नशा जिसने पहुंचा दिया जेल‘ (Translation: A newly married wife was murdered in the name of Khuda…such is the indoctrination of Islam, which sent him to jail). The man has been identified as Mehboob Alam. In the video, there is no mention of the victim’s name or religious identity.

In the seven-minute-long video, the man repeatedly says that he will continue to kill others in the name of Islam and that he is not afraid of the authorities. At 1:49 mark, he further states, “Kamandal Baba made me do the zina on my wife. I had no other way except to murder her.” It is unclear as to what or whom he is referring to.

At the 4:59 mark, the journalist raises concerns about Alam’s mental stability. He puts the question to a policeman, who refrains from commenting on the issue.

Alt News contacted the investigating officer (IO) in then case, Avinash Kumar of Bangra police station in Bihar’s Siwan district. He said that there was no communal angle to this issue. He said, “Mehboob Alam is mentally unstable. He killed his wife, Yasmeen Khatun, daughter of Abdul Gaffar, who was also a Muslim. Alam was arrested on April 14 and was lodged at Karamandal Samastipur Jail. His family members are absconding.”

According to the police records, Yasmeen Khatun was a resident of Hayaghat, Bihar and had got married to Alam seven to eight months ago. She was murdered on April 14, 2023.

Police did not share with us any medical record of Alam’s mental-health condition. However, the IO said, “Mehboob Alam is definitely mentally unstable. A few days after we arrested him, he said that he would be buying jewellery for his wife on Eid, completely oblivious to the fact that he had murdered his own wife.”

An FIR was filed by the victim’s father, Abdul Gaffar, against Mehboob Alam and his family members under IPC Sections 34 and Section 304(B).

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इंसाफ 24 न्यूज़ also interviewed the victim’s family. In the video, titlted ‘खुदा की मोहब्बत में नई नवेली बीबी का क””त्ल लड़”की के मां ने खोले कई राज़‘, the journalist asks the victim’s father, Abdul Gaffar, at the 0:31 mark about his religious identity. He says he and his family are Muslims.

Alt News also spoke to Yasmeen’s mother, Ovila Khatun, who said her deceased daughter was five-month pregnant. She vehemently refuted police’s claims about Alam’s mental illness. She stated, “Mehboob is pretending to be mentally unstable so that the police is lenient on him. The truth is that he murdered my daughter, Yasmeen who was pregnant. His family members were also complicit because they absconded after Mehboob’s arrest.”

To sum up, a clipped video of a man named Mehboob Alam confessing to murdering his wife “in the name of Allah” is doing rounds on social media with a viral claim that this is a case of ‘love jihad’ and that the victim is a Hindu. However, Alt news found that the victim’s name was Yasmeen Khatun, daughter of Abdul Gaffar. So, the accused and the victim hailed from the same community. According to the investigating officer in the case, Mehboob Alam is mentally unstable.

Abira Das is an intern at Alt News.