A post accompanying a video showing police personnel baton-charging (lathi-charge) and chasing away people is going viral on social media (here, here, here, here, and here). The claim associated with the video suggests that it depicts a police action on farmers in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh. These posts further allege that the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh directed the police to attack the farmers in favour of the Gautam Adani’s company. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video shows police baton-charging (lathi charge) farmers in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh.
Fact: This video has no connection to Madhya Pradesh. The viral video shows police baton-charging (lathi charge) farmers protesting against JSW Cement Company in Sarasani village, Nagaur district, Rajasthan, on 08 January 2025. Moreover, there are no credible reports of police acting on farmers recently over land acquisition for the Adani Power Plant in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh. It is worth noting that both Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are currently governed by the BJP. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To gather details about this viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using key phrases from the viral video. This search led us to a video (archived) shared by Amra Ram, Rajasthan’s Sikar Member of Parliament (MP), on his official Facebook page on 08 January 2025. The description of this video reads: “In Nagaur’s Sarasani village, farmers were on strike for 145 days to save their land from JSW Company. Today, the district administration, in collusion with the company, ordered the police to baton-charge (lathi charge) the unarmed farmers. As a result, many male and female farmers were injured. This is a heinous crime.” (translated from Hindi to English). According to the description, the viral video is from Sarasani village in Nagaur district, Rajasthan.
During this search, we also found that several social media users, while sharing the same viral video, claimed that it depicts the police baton-charging farmers protesting against JSW Company in Sarasani village, Nagaur district, Rajasthan (here, here, here, & here).
The same viral video was also shared (archived) by Rajasthan’s Nagaur constituency MP, Hanuman Beniwal, on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle on 08 January 2025. The description of the video states that it is related to the incident of police baton-charging (lathi charge) farmers protesting against JSW Company in Sarasani village, Nagaur district, Rajasthan, on 08 January 2025.
Upon comparing these videos with the viral video, it is evident that both depict the same incident. Based on this, we can conclude that the viral video shows an incident from Nagaur district, Rajasthan, in January 2025. The comparison between the viral video and the videos shared by two MPs from Rajasthan is provided below.
To learn more about this incident, we conducted a relevant keyword search, which led us to several news reports (here, here, here, here, here, & here) published in January 2025. According to these reports, the baton charge (lathi charge) on farmers took place in Sarasani village, Nagaur district, Rajasthan, on 08 January 2025. The farmers had been protesting against land acquisition for a JSW Cement factory for several months. Meanwhile, on 08 January 2025, a large police force arrived at the protest site and attempted to remove the protesters while JSW Cement Company was taking steps to acquire land in Harima and Sarasani villages. This further intensified the protest by villagers sitting on the dharna. The angry villagers pelted stones at the police, who retaliated by baton-charging (lathi charge) the protesting farmers, injuring over 30 people. We also found a news report by News18 India featuring visuals from the viral video.
On the other hand, according to news reports (here & here), on 14 February 2025, two people died after a coal-laden truck overturned on a motorcycle in Singrauli district, Madhya Pradesh. This prompted a protest by locals, who staged a road blockade and set fire to at least 11 buses and trucks in the area. Reports also indicate that angry villagers attempted to vandalise the Adani power plant, resulting in a disruption of power generation. Around 200 police personnel were deployed near the power plant to bring the situation under control.
To sum it up, viral video shows police baton-charging (lathi charge) farmers protesting against JSW Cement Company in Sarasani village, Nagaur district, Rajasthan, on 08 January 2025.
