A video showing policemen beating a group of men with a stick in a room is doing rounds on social media with the claim that it shows the aftermath of the communal clashes in Mira Road, Mumbai, on the eve of the inauguration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 23.
Those sharing the video claim that it shows police beating up Muslim men in custody accused of instigating violence on Mira Road. A social media user shared the post with a caption, “Sad moment for Muslims of Mira Road. (translated from Hindi)”
Following the clashes, misinformation has gone rife on social media with false narratives. One such piece of misinformation was debunked by SouthCheck.
SouthCheck found that the video is old and from Uttar Pradesh.
On doing a Google Reverse Image Search with one of the screenshots, we found the same video uploaded by NDTV on July 5, 2022.
The video was shared with the caption that eight men were brutally assaulted by police in custody in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur. They were taken into custody for protesting against BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s remarks against Prophet Muhammad.
The caption associated with the video read, “Eight men assaulted in custody by the police in a viral video after protests in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur last month have been cleared of any charges. After the police said there was no evidence against them, and the local court discharged them, they walked out of jail yesterday. This means their names are no longer in the FIR initially filed against 85 people for a violent protest over now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s remarks against Prophet Muhammad.”
We also found a screenshot of the video published by India Today. The report said that after the video went viral, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ordered a reply from the SSP Saharanpur about claims of police brutality and inhumane treatment of members of a minority community.
News portal Maktoob also reported about the incident. The report said, “According to the complaint, on 10 June 2022, a team of police officers from Thana Kotwali Nagar, Saharanpur arrested some protestors who were protesting against the inaction of police against Nupur Sharma, who made derogatory comments against Prophet Mohammad.”
Hence, we can ascertain that the video showing police brutality is shared with a false claim.
