A recent incident of a man harassing a woman by blocking her path in U.P is shared with a false communal narrative

A collage of two videos is going viral on social media (here, here, and here). In the first, a man repeatedly blocks a girl’s path while speaking to her. In the second, he limps out of a police vehicle, assisted by policemen. The post is being shared with claims that this incident occurred in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, where a Muslim man molested a girl and was later arrested and punished by the police. Let’s verify the claim made in the post through this article.

The archived post can be found here.

Claim: A video shows a Muslim man molesting a girl in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, who was later arrested and punished by the police.

Fact: The incident shown in the video occurred in the Nai Mandi area of Muzaffarnagar on 05 February 2025, where a man harassed a woman by blocking her path. Following the video’s circulation, the police arrested Rohit, a resident of Vilayat Nagar in the Bhopa police station area. The Circle Officer of Nai Mandi, Muzaffarnagar Police Station, clarified that Rohit belongs to the Hindu community and that there is no communal angle to the case. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.

A reverse search of the video’s keyframes led us to multiple reports (here, here, and here) about the incident. According to reports, the incident occurred in the Nai Mandi area of Muzaffarnagar on 05 February 2025, where a man was harassing a woman by blocking her path. After taking cognisance of the video, the police arrested a man named Rohit, identified as a resident of Vilayat Nagar in the Bhopa police station area.

We also found an X post by Muzaffarnagar Police dated 05 February 2025, which included a press note and a video statement from CO New Mandi, Rupali Rao. She stated that the police have arrested the youth, Rohit and that a detailed investigation is underway.

We accessed the FIR copy of the case, which identifies the victim as Nancy D/O Ranjeet and the accused as Rohit S/O Samesehi.

We also contacted the Circle Officer of Nai Mandi, Muzaffarnagar Police Station, who confirmed that the accused is Rohit, belongs to the Hindu community, and that there is no communal angle to the case.

To sum up, a video of a man harassing a woman by blocking her path in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh is being shared with a false communal narrative.