Woman beaten up by police in viral video falsely identified as RJD spokesperson Priyanka Bharti

A video showing police personnel beating up a woman on the streets even as she screams and cries was viral on social media recently. It is claimed that the woman in the video is Priyanka Bharti, a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesperson. An image of Bharti is also used in the video.

A verified user named Rajesh Singh posted this video, claiming that the police in Bihar had beaten up RJD spokesperson Priyanka Bharti. (Archived link)

Similarly, a user named Riddhi Sharma shared the video, claiming that the video was from Bihar and that the woman being beaten by the police was RJD spokesperson Priyanka Bharti. (Archived link)

लिल्लाह तेरे होते यह जुर्म हो रहे है।😭
राजद प्रवक्ता प्रियंका भर्ती की दोनों लालटेन 🏮 फोड़ दी बिहार पुलिस ने और पूरा तेल निकालकर डंडे पर रट्टा मारकर फिर उसके टमाटर भी सूजा डाले 😢😢😖
मैं इसकी कड़ी निंदा करती हूँ लिल्ला 😏 pic.twitter.com/0PUFqFnA1s

— SanataniRiddhi (@Ridhu417Sharma) September 26, 2025

A user named Kajal Kushwaha also shared the video with the same claim. (Archived link)

Fact Check

Alt News performed a reverse image search using a few frames taken from the viral video. This led us to a post from News18 Kannada dated September 11, 2025. The media outlet reported about an incident in which Maddur police had filed an FIR against a woman named and also beaten her up with sticks. The post includes a link to a News18 Kannada article about the incident.

According to the report, during a Ganesh immersion procession in Maddur, Karnataka, stone-pelting occurred near a mosque, prompting protests from several Hindu organisations, including the BJP. During this incident, police resorted to lathi charge. The woman in the viral video was among the crowd which faced the music. This clearly indicates that the viral video is not from Bihar and the woman seen in the visuals is not RJD spokesperson Priyanka Bharti.

News18 Kannada also published a video report covering the incident:

ಲಾಠಿ ಏಟು ತಿಂದಿದ್ದ ಜ್ಯೋತಿ ಮೇಲೆ ಎಫ್ಐಆರ್! ಮದ್ದೂರು ಪೊಲೀಸರಿಂದ ಸುಮೋಟೋ ಕೇಸ್ ದಾಖಲು#Maddur #Maddurriot #MaddurViolence #MaddurJyothi #Jyothi #KannadaNewshttps://t.co/pX8njSbLtD

— News18 Kannada (@News18Kannada) September 11, 2025

Furthermore, we also came across a report related to the video on the Times Now Kannada website, published on September 11, 2025. The report states that Inspector Shivkumar of Maddur police station had filed an FIR against Jyoti, a resident of Shivapur, Maddur. Jyoti was making offensive remarks against the Muslim community during the protest. The FIR also alleged that Jyoti had abused Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah.

To sum up, several social media users shared a video of a woman being lathicharged during a protest in Karnataka, falsely claiming that she was Priyanka Bharti, a spokesperson for the RJD.