A disturbing video showing a group of women beat up a man while he is being dragged around is viral on social media with false claim linking the man to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
BOOM found out that the incident shown in the video is from Thane, Maharashtra, and the man being beaten up is not a BJP member. We also spoke to Kasarvadavali police in Thane who denied any political angle in the incident.
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The viral video shows a group of men and women thrashing a man and dragging him around. A Hindi caption with the viral Facebook post translates to 'Now it seems even women are finding these oranges and thrashing them'. A Hindi text overlaid on the video reads 'BJP leader thrashed'.
(Hindi: अब तो लगता है महिलाओ ने भी नारंगियों को ढूंढ़ ढूंढ़ कर हाथ सफाई सुरु कर दी है/ BJP नेता की धुलाई)
Other Facebook pages have shared the video with similar captions. Watch here and here.
The video has been shared on Twitter with same claim.
Fact Check
BOOM did a reverse image search on one of the key frames of the video and found that a Marathi tweet sharing the same video.
The tweet translates to 'MNS women activists and office-bearers slapped the accused, including a Shiv Sena office-bearer, for luring girls into a role in a film' (translated by Google).
(Marathi: मुलींना चित्रपटात रोल देण्याचे आमीष देऊन शारीरिक संबंधाची मागणी करणाऱ्या 'शिवसेना' पदाधिकाऱ्यासह आरोपींना मनसे च्या महिला कार्यकर्त्यांनी आणि पदाधिकाऱ्यांनी कपडे फाटेस्तोर चोपलं.. )
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Taking cue, we looked for news reports on the incident with the help of keyword search. We found several news reports on the incident.
A Press Trust of India (PTI) report published in The Outlook on July 30, 2021 stated that the incident took place in Thane, Maharashtra. According to the report, police had arrested four persons, including a woman, for allegedly threatening and molesting a female artist on the pretext of giving her a role in a Hindi film.
BOOM found another report published on the website Navbharat on July 30 which had a screenshot from the viral video.
The report quotes a police official as saying that the accused had offered the victim a role in a Hindi film. The accused then asked the victim to meet the director/producer of the film in Thane. The victim was taken to a farm house at Thane's GB Road. The woman had informed her family members and the film unit of Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) about the whole thing.
The report further stated that on way to the farm house, the accused touched the woman inappropriately and pointed a weapon at her. Once they reached the farm house, the victim secretly contacted her aunt. She also sent the farmhouse location to the MNS workers she had earlier contacted.
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BOOM then contacted the Kasarvadavali police station to get more details on the case. Speaking to BOOM, police inspector AE Kaldate said that four people have been arrested for asking a woman to 'compromise' for a film role. He further added that none of the accused were linked to any political party.
BOOM also found the same video uploaded on the verified Facebook page of MNS Chitrapat Sena Ameya Khopkar. In one of the videos, Khopkar recounts the incident. At no point does he mention any political affiliation of the accused.