A video is being shared widely on social media with a claim that it shows police beating Muslims in Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh). In the post, it is claimed that the police thrashed them as they made slogans after namaz. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of UP police beating Muslims who made slogans after the namaz in Saharanpur.
Fact: It is an old video. The video was taken in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. The police retaliated when they were attacked while enforcing the lockdown in Bareilly. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the screenshots of the video were run through Google Reverse Image Search, many similar videos were found in the search results. The ‘Times Now’ has posted a video with similar visuals in April 2020 and wrote – “Coronavirus scare: Crowd attacks Bareilly Police for enforcing a lockdown”. The same news was also reported by News18 India, TV9 Bharatvarsh, and We for News in 2020. So, the posted video is an old one that was taken in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. The police retaliated when they were attacked while enforcing the lockdown in Bareilly.
The clarification from the Saharanpur Police regarding the recent incident can be seen here.
To sum it up, an old video taken during the COVID-19 lockdown in UP is now shared with a false communal narrative.
