An old video showing a court employee spitting into a cup of water in the judge's chamber in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, is being shared with a false communal spin, incorrectly identifying the man as being from the Muslim community.
BOOM found that the accused man in the viral video was a Class IV employee named Vikas Gupta, and there was no communal angle to the incident.
The viral video is being shared with the caption on X which when translated to English reads, "Brand new video of spit jihad (July 2024) from Aligarh court. The judge of the court also became a victim of spit jihad."
(In Hindi - थूक जिहाद का बिल्कुल नया वीडियो (July 2024 का) अलीगढ़ कोर्ट से. न्यायालय के जज भी हुए थूक जिहाद का शिका)
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The same video is being shared with the same false claim on Facebook.
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that there is no communal angle to the incident in the viral video as being claimed in social media posts. The accused man was identified as Vikas Gupta who was suspended after incident came to light back in 2018.
Taking hints from several users in the comments section stating that the video dates back to 2018, we ran a keyword search on Google, and found a Times Of India news report dated May 29, 2018.
According to the report, a fourth-class employee named Vikas Gupta was found mixing saliva into water and giving it to a woman judge in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. Following the video surfacing, Gupta was suspended immediately and the District and Sessions Court Judge PK Singh confirmed the incident and stated that an inquiry has been ordered.
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Amar Ujala reported that the woman judge had been suspecting the peon (a Class IV employee) of mixing something into her water for several days. To verify her suspicions, she had hidden a camera among the files. When the peon brought her water, she noticed something unusual in it. After reviewing the camera footage, she saw the peon spitting into the water.
We also found several other news reports on the incident by including ABP News, in which the name of the accused was identified as Vikas Gupta.