The video shows an imam narrating his alleged assault by police in Bihar to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav; it is unrelated to Uttar Pradesh
On 26 September 2025, violence erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly (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 violence in Bareilly, including Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC) President Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, who called for a demonstration. The police were examining 92 pieces of footage of the violence, showing crowds breaking barriers and scuffles, while 150 CCTV cameras were being re-examined, and new suspects were continuously being identified. As of 12 October 2025, the total number of arrests had risen to approximately 90.
Amid this, a video of a man crying and recounting that he was brutally beaten is going viral on social media (here, here, and here). It is being shared with claims that he was caught pelting stones in Bareilly and was arrested and beaten by police under CM Yogi in Uttar Pradesh. Let’s verify the claim made in the post in this article.
Claim: The video shows a man crying who was caught pelting stones in Bareilly and subsequently arrested and beaten by Uttar Pradesh police.
Fact: The viral video is from Bihar, not Uttar Pradesh. It shows Mohammad Firoz, an imam from Kataiya village in Madhubani, narrating his ordeal to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. Firoz was allegedly assaulted by police during a vehicle check on 30 January 2025, which left him with multiple injuries; police stated he tried to flee, causing a fall and being dragged for some distance. Five policemen were suspended following an investigation, and Tejashwi Yadav later visited Firoz, who said the torture had driven him to contemplate suicide. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to an extended, uncropped version uploaded on the YouTube channel Runcut on 04 February 2025, titled “Tejashwi Yadav visits the Bihar Imam, who was brutally beaten by police.” The viral clip appears at the 2:00-minute mark. In this video, the man is seen narrating his ordeal to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who has been cropped out of the viral version.
According to the video description, Tejashwi Yadav visited the house of a mosque Imam in Madhubani, Bihar, who had been beaten by the police. During the visit, Tejashwi assured the Imam that he would get justice and told him, “We are all with you.” The Imam is seen crying while describing the police brutality, stating that he was beaten and abused so severely that marks remain on his body, and recounting the incident with tears in his eyes.
We then did a Google keyword search using relevant terms and found several news reports about the incident. According to these reports (here, here, and here), on 30 January 2025, Mohammad Firoz, a resident of Kataiya village in the Benipatti police station area of Madhubani who served as an imam at a mosque, alleged that some policemen assaulted him during a vehicle check, leaving him with multiple injuries. The police, however, stated that Firoz tried to flee during the check, and while apprehending him, force was used, causing his bike to skid. He fell and was dragged for some distance. Following an investigation ordered by the Superintendent of Police, five policemen were suspended with immediate effect. After the incident, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav visited Firoz on 03 February 2025, during which Firoz told him that the torture had driven him to contemplate suicide. This confirms that the video is from Bihar and is unrelated to Uttar Pradesh.
To sum up, the video shows an imam narrating his alleged assault by police in Bihar to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav; it is unrelated to Uttar Pradesh.