There is no communal angle in the molestation incident reported in Gaya - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 2, 2023
A video of a few men molesting a woman is being widely shared with a claim that the video shows four Muslim men molesting a Hindu woman in Bihar. Additionally, sharing the video, a social media post complained about the lack of response from the police. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of Muslim men molesting a Hindu woman in Bihar.
Fact: The incident took place in Gulariya Chak village of Gaya. As the video went viral, police took cognizance of the incident, and arrested three of the five accused and registered an FIR. All the arrested accused are Hindus. And the police had categorically refuted reports of any communal angle associated to the incident. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Through an internet search using appropriate keywords, we discovered social media posts from a local news agency that featured identical videos (available here and here). According to these posts, the incident occurred in Gulariya Chak village of Gaya, which is within the jurisdiction of the Magadh Medical College police station. While a couple was conversing, several men arrived at the scene and proceeded to sexually harass the woman in the presence of her boyfriend, capturing the incident on video.
लड़की के साथ सरेआम जबरदस्ती करने वाले दो युवक अरेस्ट… वीडियो से हुई पहचान
बाकी की तलाश जारी
बिहार के गया में मगध मेडिकल थाना क्षेत्र के गुलरियाचक गांव में एक लड़की से चार-पांच मनचलों द्वारा अश्लील हरकत करने के वायरल वीडियो मामले में त्वरित कार्रवाई करते हुए पुलिस ने दो… https://t.co/FTrWAdZHII pic.twitter.com/yxYjmRU9oB
Another news article that reported the viral video, presenting the same information details as mentioned above can be read here.
As the video went viral on social media, police took cognizance of the incident and arrested two of the accused. Further, the search yielded a series of tweets from Gaya police’s official Twitter account. Through one such tweet, SP Himanshu released a video, stating that upon learning about the viral video, the police promptly acted by filing a FIR. He also stated that two of the five accused are identified as Jitendra Kumar and Abhishek Kumar and the other three had also been identified.
गया पुलिस की कार्रवाई, सोशल मीडिया पर छेड़खानी से संबंधित वायरल विडियों का संज्ञान लेते हुए कांड दर्ज कर घटना में संलिप्त 02 अपराधकर्मियों की 24 घंटा के अन्दर की गयी गिरफ्तारी का विवरण:-@bihar_police @IPRD_Bihar @thegreatkbc #GayaPolice#gaya_police_at_your_service pic.twitter.com/49J7MJSLWr
In addition, Gaya Police issued a press statement announcing the arrest of the third suspect named Nitish Kumar. The press release categorically refuted the communal angle associated with the incident.
मगध मेडिकल थाना अन्तर्गत ग्राम खुरार चकरनी घाट में छेड़खानी से संबंधित सोशल मीडिया पर वायरल वीडियो के संबंध में :-@bihar_police @IPRD_Bihar @thegreatkbc #GayaPolice#gaya_police_at_your_service pic.twitter.com/mx9Bu0FE3d
Therefore, contrary to the viral claim, it is evident that there is no communal angle to the incident, considering that most of the accused individuals have been identified as Hindus.
To sum it up, there is no communal angle to the molestation incident reported in Gaya.