On 26 September 2025, violence erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly, allegedly (here, here, and here) during a protest against police action on people who carried ‘I love Muhammad’ posters during an Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi procession in Kanpur on 4 September 2025. Soon after that, security forces were deployed to control the situation. As per the reports, a video of an incident where police chased away people who took part in an ‘I love Muhammad’ procession in Mau District was shared on social media. On 27 September 2025, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested eight persons in relation to the violent clash in Bareilly, including a local Islamic cleric named Tauqeer Raza Khan, who called for a demonstration.
In this context, a video showing a group of men being beaten by police inside a room is going viral on social media (here, here, here, and here), with claims that it shows Bareilly Police thrashing detainees allegedly involved in violence during the ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests. This article aims to verify the authenticity of these claims.
Claim: The video shows Bareilly Police detaining and beating individuals involved in the recent ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests in September 2025.
Fact: This viral video is unrelated to the recent ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests in Bareilly in September 2025. This viral video dates back to June 2022 and shows police at the Saharanpur city police station in Uttar Pradesh thrashing detainees. According to reports, BJP leaders Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal made alleged controversial remarks about Prophet Muhammad in June 2022. Following this, Muslims in Saharanpur staged protests, and some youths arrested during these demonstrations were later assaulted at the police station. Therefore, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to reports from 2022 (here, here, and here) that carry visuals matching the viral footage. The reports revealed that the men were allegedly involved in protests that erupted nationwide on 10 June 2022, in response to remarks made by BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal about Prophet Muhammad, which confirmed that the incident is not recent.
A Google keyword search led us to an NDTV report published on 04 July 2022, revealing that eight men, who were assaulted in police custody after the June 2022 protests in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, have been cleared of all charges. The police stated there was no evidence against them, and the local court discharged them, allowing them to walk out of jail on 03 July 2022. The report also featured an interview with Mohammed Ali, one of the men seen in the viral video, after his release.
Earlier, when a video related to the same incident went viral with different claims, Factly debunked them (here, here).
To sum up, a 2022 video from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, is being shared as footage of Bareilly Police thrashing accused individuals in the September 2025 Bareilly ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests related violence.
