A 2022 police lathi-charge video from Telangana is falsely shared as footage from Uttar Pradesh

A video (here, here and here) showing police allegedly lathi-charging and arresting a group of people is going viral on social media with the claim that Uttar Pradesh police are lathi-charging and arresting Muslims in the state. Let’s find the truth behind this video.

The archived post can be found here.

Claim: The viral video shows Uttar Pradesh Police lathi-charging and arresting Muslims in UP.

Fact: The video is not from Uttar Pradesh. It shows Telangana Police handling protests in Shalibanda, Hyderabad, in August 2022 following remarks made by MLA Raja Singh. The same footage was posted by journalists and reported by news outlets at the time. Location verification also confirms the place as Shalibanda, Hyderabad. Hence, the claim is FALSE.

To verify the claim, we first conducted a keyword search using relevant terms to check whether any such incident had taken place in Uttar Pradesh, but found no credible reports supporting the claim. We then performed a reverse image search on Google, which led us to the same video uploaded by journalist Yunus Lasania on his X handle. We also found that NDTV had reported on the incident using multiple visuals, including the viral clip. Both sources dated the incident to August 2022 and stated that the clashes took place in Shalibanda, Telangana, during protests held after alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad by MLA T. Raja Singh.

Further research led us to several news reports related to the incident (here and here). According to these reports, in August 2022, BJP MLA T. Raja Singh from Telangana made alleged derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad, which led to his arrest and subsequent suspension from the party. Following this, protests erupted in the Shalibanda area of Hyderabad. During these demonstrations, the police dispersed and detained protesters.

Additionally, we noticed a signboard for a packaged drinking water supplier in the background of the viral video. Using relevant keywords, we found that the business is located in Hyderabad. Further verification through Google Maps confirmed the exact location of the shop at Banaja Galli in Shalibanda, Hyderabad. This confirms that the viral footage is from Telangana, not Uttar Pradesh.

To sum up, the viral video claiming to show UP Police lathi-charging and arresting Muslims is not from Uttar Pradesh; it is from Telangana.