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Was This Lower Caste Man Beaten By BJP Member? No, Video Viral Is Misleading!
Writer: Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
Uttar Pradesh, 21 April 2022 11:53 AM GMT
Editor : Bharat Nayak |
As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
Creatives : Jakir Hassan
A journalist at heart loves the in-depth work of reporting, writing, editing, research, and data analysis. A digital and social media enthusiast.
We spoke of Sanjay Kumar, Additional SP, Shahjahanpur who refuted the viral claim. He told us that assault was due to an internal dispute related to the non-payment of dues. He also clarified that both the victim and the accused are from the same Brahmin caste hence there is no angle of casteism.
A video of a person beating a kneeling man with a stick has gone viral. The video is being shared in the context of allegations of caste atrocities against a BJP member. The posts claim that a BJP member is assaulting a person of a Scheduled Caste. In our fact check, we found that the video has gone viral with several misleading claims, which allege that the victim died after the beating and that the incident took place in Banda, Uttar Pradesh.
Claim:
The viral video with the duration of 45 seconds, shows a man kneeling with his head between his legs. After being hit, the man cringes in pain but is made to kneel again.
A Facebook user shared this video and wrote a caption in Hindi which reads, "बांदा जिले में शुद्रो की पांच किलो अनाज दे रहे भाजपा विधायक."
[English Translation: BJP MLA giving five kg of food grains to Shudras in Banda district.]
The caption claims that the incident is from Banda, Uttar Pradesh, where a BJP member is assaulting a person from the Scheduled Caste in the act of caste violence.
We learned that the video has gone viral with multiple claims.
After conducting a keyword search on Facebook, we came across the following post. Another Facebook user wrote, "देखो बीजेपी के इस भगवा धारी गुंडे ने कैसे एक युवक की जान ले ली ये वीडियो उत्तर प्रदेश के शाहजहाँपुर जिले का है। पिटाई करने वाला सख्स पूर्व विधायक पुरषोत्तम नरेश त्रिवेदी का पारिवारिक भाई प्रतीक तिवारी बताया जा रहा हैं। इस युवक की पिटाई बीजेपी नेता अग्निवेश गुप्ता के घर पर की गई है| शुभम गुप्ता उर्फ अतुल की बेरहमी से पिटाई के चलते जान चली गई उसके बाद उसके मृत शरीर को रेलवे ट्रैक पर रख दिया जाता है ताकि इसे आत्महत्या का रूप देकर हत्या के आरोप से बचा जा सके। लेकिन रेलवे कर्मचारियों के सक्रियता की वजह से पटरी पर ट्रेन गुजरने से पहले ही मृत शरीर को रिकवर कर लिया गया था। वीडियो आ जाने के बाद पिता ने अपराधियों पर हत्या का मुकदमा दर्ज कराया हैं लेकिन योगी के रामराज्य में अपराध करने के बाद भी अपराधी खुला घूम रहे हैं."
[English Translation: Look how this saffron-clad goon of BJP took the life of a young man. The video is from the Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. The person who beat up is being told as Prateek Tiwari, the family brother of former MLA Purshottam Naresh Trivedi. This young man has been beaten up at the house of BJP leader Agnivesh Gupta. Shubham Gupta, aka Atul, is brutally beaten to death, after which his dead body is kept on the railway track to avoid the charge of murder by giving it the appearance of suicide. But due to the activeness of the railway employees, the dead body was recovered before the train passed on the track. After the video became viral, the father filed a murder case against the criminals, but even in Yogi Ram Rajyam, a criminal is roaming freely after committing a crime.]
A more extended 1.45-minute version of the same video is attached within this post. The caption of this post claims that the video is from the Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh and shows a BJP member beating a young man to death.
The caption also claims that the person who beat the victim is Prateek Tiwari, the brother of former MLA Purshottam Naresh Trivedi. Additionally, the caption claimed that the victim is Shubham Gupta, aka Atul, who was brutally beaten to death, after which his dead body was kept on the railway track to avoid the charge of murder by giving it the appearance of suicide.
It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the viral claim and found it to be misleading. The incident took place in Shahjahanpur, and no angle of casteism was involved.
We conducted a keyword search to check if an incident of violence depicted in the viral video took place in Banda, Uttar Pradesh. We couldn't find reports indicating the same.
We conducted a keyword search for the posts which claim that the incident is from Shahjahanpur and came across this report by The Quint. The report confirms that the viral video shows an incident in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The Quint report also stated that the accused's name is Prateek Tiwari.
We then came across a report by AmarUjala that detailed the action taken by the police against six people, which included Prateek Tiwari.
The report also led us to the following tweet by the Shahjanapur police. In the tweet, Sanjay Kumar, the Additional Superintendent of Police, clarifies the context of the video. He states that the main accused, Prateek Tiwari, assaulted Rajiv Bharadwaj. The victim was beaten as he could not explain to the boy who used to work for Tiwari. Since the case is under investigation, additional details for a reason for the crime have not yet been provided.
The Shahjahanpur police arrested one of the accused while the main accused is still absconding. The Additional Superintendent of Police also states that the video had not led to the victim's death.
The Logical Indian team contacted Sanjay Kumar, the Additional Superintendent of Police, Shahjahanpur. He clarified that the main accused was Prateek Tiwari, and the victim was Rajiv Bharadwaj. The assault was due to an internal dispute related to the non-payment of dues. The assault took place in the house of a BJP member, and the main accused is not a part of the BJP. He also clarified that both the victim and the accused are from the same Brahmin caste; hence there is no angle of casteism.
Conclusion:
The caption on the viral video claims that the incident is from Banda, Uttar Pradesh, where a BJP member is assaulting a person from the Scheduled Caste in an act of caste violence. Other posts claim that the victim is Shubham Gupta, aka Atul, who was murdered.
However, in actuality, the incident occurred in Shahjahanpur, and the main accused in the case are absconding. The violence was caused due to a dispute between Rajiv Bharadwaj and Prateek Tiwari. The reason behind the assault is still under investigation.
As per the statement of the Shahjahanpur police, the victim did not die following the assault as is falsely claimed. There is also no angle of casteism in this issue as both the accused and the victim belong to the same caste.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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