A video going viral on social media (here, here, and here) shows a woman being publicly flogged by a man, while people standing and watching. The text accompanying this post claims that this incident shows a woman being punished under Sharia law for reporting rape. Let’s verify the claim through this article.
Claim: Video shows a woman being publicly flogged by a man, with onlookers present, as punishment under Sharia law for reporting a rape.
Fact: The incident took place on 10 March 2018 in Longa village, Syana region, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. According to reports, the village head ordered a woman to be publicly flogged due to suspicions of an affair, as she had allegedly eloped with a local youth named Dharmender Lodhi. The FIR copy confirmed that the victim and all accused individuals are identified as Hindu, confirming there is no religious angle to the incident. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led to a news report featuring the same video published by the NDTV YouTube channel on 22 March 2018. The caption reads, “Woman Tied To Tree, Flogged In Full Public View, Just 60 km From Delhi.”
Taking a clue from the description, a Google keyword search led us to multiple media reports (here, here, and here) from March 2018. According to these reports, the incident occurred on 10 March 2018 in Longa village, Syana region, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. The village head ordered a woman to be publicly flogged over suspicions of an affair, as she had allegedly eloped with a village youth named Dharmender Lodhi. The incident came to light after a viral video surfaced on 15 March 2018, leading to an FIR against several men. The victim stated that she was tied to a tree, beaten by her husband, and later molested by villagers. Police arrested three individuals, including the former village pradhan and the woman’s husband.
We found the FIR copy related to the case, which confirmed that the victim and all accused individuals are identified as Hindu, indicating there is no religious angle to the incident.
To sum up, an old March 2018 video of a man flogging his wife in public in U.P. is being shared with a false religious angle.
