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 police officers brutally thrashing young men in public while a crowd looks on is being widely shared across social media platforms. The accompanying claim suggests that the video depicts police officers punishing young men for participating in the ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests (here, here, here, and here). In this article, we fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: The video shows police officers brutally thrashing young men in public, for participating in the ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests.
Fact: This viral video has no connection to the ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests. It shows Andhra Pradesh police publicly punishing three individuals who were accused of attacking a police constable in Tenali town, Andhra Pradesh, in April 2025. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Upon closely reviewing the entire video, we found that the insignia featured on the uniforms of the police officers belongs to the Andhra Pradesh Police.
We then conducted a Google reverse image search to gather more information about the viral video. This search led us to multiple news reports published in May 2025 featuring keyframes from the video. According to these reports (here, here, and here), the viral video shows Andhra Pradesh police personnel beating three individuals who were accused of assaulting a police constable in Tenali town, Andhra Pradesh. The assaulted individuals have been identified as Chebrolu John Victor, Sheikh Babulal alias Karimulla, and Doma Rakesh — residents of Tenali and Mangalagiri.
According to a report by Times of India, Ramulu Naik, a Tenali Two Town Police official, stated: “The incident occurred nearly a month ago (in April 2025) when the trio, along with another individual identified as ‘Killer’, allegedly attacked Constable Kanna Chiranjeevi while under the influence of ganja. The constable was reportedly hospitalised following the assault. A case was subsequently registered based on his complaint.”
A report by Telugu media outlet ABN Andhra Jyothy stated that the accused attacked Constable Kanna Chiranjeevi in the Aitanagar area of Tenali town on 25 April 2025. Following this, a case was registered against the accused at the Tenali Two Town Police Station. They were arrested and produced before the court on 26 April 2025. The report further mentioned that DSP Janardhana Rao, responding to the viral video, said that a rowdy sheet had previously been opened against the three individuals. Despite multiple warnings, there had been no change in their behaviour.
A News18 report dated 27 May 2025 stated that the police officer seen striking the three individuals in the viral video had been suspended. Based on all this information, it is evident that the viral video has no connection to the ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests.
To sum it up, a video showing Andhra Pradesh police thrashing three young men on their feet with a lathi on a road in April 2025 is falsely linked to the ‘I Love Muhammad’ protests.
