Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Mob thrashing a man amid the communal violence in Haryana.
Fact
Unrelated video from Bangladesh that dates back to April 2017.
Several social media users are circulating a video of a group of people mercilessly beating up a man, claiming it to be from the recent communal violence in Haryana, which erupted in Nuh district on July 31 before spreading to neighbouring areas, resulting in at least seven deaths. We received this claim on our Whatsapp tipline (9999499044), too, requesting it to be fact-checked.
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here and here.
Also Read: Scam Watch: Beyond The Hullaballoo Around The Deepfake Scam
Fact Check
Newschecker ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to this tweet, dated April 15, 2017, with a different claim, clearly indicating that the viral video is not of a recent case.
We then came across this The Print news report, dated June 26, 2019, stating that the video was actually shot in Bangladesh in April 2017, in which a murder-accused named Abu Syed was killed by some miscreants in Comilla district. Syed, 28, was accused of killing Awami League leader Monir Hossain.
We also came across this Jansatta report, dated July 25, 2017, stating that the video is from Bangladesh and dates back to April 2017. A further search led us to this local media report, dated April 3, 2017, stating that Syed, an accused in a murder case in Comilla’s Daudkandi, was beaten to death in an act of revenge, while another man, Muhammad Ali, 35, was injured. A similar report can be seen here.
We learnt from these reports that the viral video had been repeatedly misused in the past with various false communally charged claims. “Once the video was shared by claiming that a CRPF jawan was being attacked by Kashmiri students in the Valley. The next time it was claimed that Muslims in Nawada, Bihar, were thrashing a Hindu, and another claim was that a Hindu man was being beaten up by Muslims in West Bengal,” read The Print report.
Also Read: 2019 Video Of Surat Bus Vandalised Falsely Linked To Nuh Violence
Conclusion
Video of a mob beating a man to death is neither recent, nor did it happen in Haryana amid the communal clashes. The video was found to be of an April 2017 incident in Bangladesh
Result: False
Sources
The Print report, June 26, 2019
Jansatta report, July 25, 2017
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
