An old, unrelated video is shared as visuals of Yadav community protesting in Etawah, U.P., over the recent assault on storytellers
In Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, two Yaduvanshi storytellers, Mukut Mani Singh Yadav and Sant Singh Yadav, were allegedly tonsured, beaten, and humiliated with urine by a group of upper-caste men in Dandarpur village on the night of 21–22 June 2025. The attackers accused them of hiding their caste and posing as Brahmins while conducting a Bhagavad Gita recitation. After a video of the assault went viral, police arrested four men: Ashish Tiwari, Uttam Kumar Awasthi, Nikki Awasthi, and Manu Dubey. Protests broke out in support of the victims, with hundreds blocking the Agra–Kanpur highway and clashing with police, leading to stone-pelting, damage to vehicles, and gunfire in the air by police. In response, authorities arrested 19 people, seized 13 vehicles, and transferred the case to the Jhansi division. Police also filed FIRs against the two storytellers, sparking further outrage (here, here, and here).
In this context, a video is going viral on social media (here, here, here, and here) with the claim that it shows members of the Yadav community protesting on the streets in Etawah over the incident involving the storyteller. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: The video shows members of the Yadav community protesting on the streets in Etawah over the incident involving the storyteller.
Fact: The video is unrelated to the Etawah incident. It has been on the internet since at least April 2024 and shows a nomination rally of Ravindra Singh Bhati, held on 04 April 2024 in Barmer, Rajasthan. The same video was posted on Bhati’s Instagram, and multiple news reports also confirm this rally. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to an Instagram post by @ravindrabhati_9, dated 04 April 2024, featuring the same video. The description of the video stated that it was from a nomination rally held in Barmer. This confirms that the video predates the recent storyteller controversy in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, and is unrelated to the same. We found several other videos from Bhati’s April 2024 rally on his Facebook profile (here, here, and here). A closer look at these videos shows that the yellow flags held by attendees feature Bhati’s picture.
To gather more information, we used relevant keywords and found multiple news reports (here, here) from April 2024 reporting this event. According to these reports, Ravindra Singh Bhati contested as an independent candidate from the Barmer Lok Sabha seat in 2024. His nomination rally, held on 04 April 2024, saw a large turnout. However, he was later defeated by Congress candidate Ram Beniwal in the Lok Sabha elections.
Upon comparing the viral video, the post by Ravindra Singh Bhati, and visuals from news reports, we found several similarities confirming that the location is the same. A comparison can be seen below.
To sum up, an old, unrelated video is shared as visuals of the Yadav community protesting in Etawah, U.P., over the recent assault on storytellers.