A video showing people attacking police personnel with sticks has gone viral.

Those sharing the video claim that it shows police in Bihar being stopped and assaulted by people who were protecting a criminal. They claim that the assaulters come from the Muslim community.

A social media user shared the video and wrote, “In Motihari, Bihar, the police team which had gone to arrest the accused in a kidnapping case was attacked by Jihadis; two policemen received serious head injuries.”

SouthCheck found that the claim was false. We found that the people in the video are relatives of the accused, who is a Hindu, and there is no communal angle involved.

On doing a Google reverse image search, we found the same video published by Dainik Bhaskar. The report stated that the police personnel were attacked when they went to arrest an alleged kidnapper and rescue a girl who he had kidnapped.

Aaj Tak also reported the incident on November 1, 2024. The report stated police personnel went to rescue a girl who had been kidnapped when they were attacked by people with sticks and other weapons in Motihari, Bihar.

The report stated that the police had gone to arrest the person accused of kidnapping two girls. They were assaulted by the family members of the accused. The incident was also reported by India TV on November 2.

We also found a tweet by the Motihari police which refuted the viral claim that the accused belonged to the Muslim community.

As per the police statement in the tweet, the officials had gone to Sareya Lipni village to rescue a girl who was kidnapped by a resident of the area. In the village, the police were confronted by Shambhu Prasad and his family members to protect his son. They attacked the police team and injured sub-inspector Sonu Kumar and home guard Munna Kumar Paswan. The tweet further suggested that a case was registered against 20 persons. One of the accused Anita Devi was arrested immediately after the incident and sent to jail.

Hence, we can conclude that the viral claim is false.