A video of a mob assaulting naked men has gone viral. Those sharing the video claim that it shows upper-caste men assaulting people from marginalised communities for entering a Shiva temple in Kashi, Uttar Pradesh.

A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “People in Uttar Pradesh of the Chamar community who went to visit Mahadev temple in Kashi were stripped naked and beaten by people of upper caste.” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)

SouthCheck found that the claim was false. The video is from Madhya Pradesh and it shows men being thrashed for bathing nude in the Narmada River.

On searching with relevant keywords, we found a video report by a local news channel on YouTube, uploaded on September 12, 2024. It was titled ‘Video of youth bathing naked in Narmada in Maheshwar goes viral on social media.’ This hinted that the video may not be from Uttar Pradesh.

Expanding the search using keywords from the links found so far, we found a statement by the Varanasi Police Commissionerate. In an X post shared on October 10, 2024, the police stated that the video was not from Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi but from Madhya Pradesh. The incident occurred at Maheshwar in the Khargone district of MP on the banks of the Narmada River.

SouthCheck also spoke to Maheshwar police. The official confirmed over the phone that the viral video has no caste angle. He said that some people were bathing in the Narmada River nude which angered the locals who thrashed the youth and sent them away.

The same was also published in a Dainik Bhaskar report which stated that the video is from Madhya Pradesh and showed men being thrashed for bathing naked in the Narmada River.

Hence, we conclude that the viral video of naked men being thrashed has no caste angle to it.