An old video showing the police parading a group of half-naked Muslim men on the streets is viral online with a false and communal claim that they were being punished for pelting stones at Hindu houses on the occasion of Eid.
BOOM found that the claims are false, the video is from 2023 and then SHO of Sadar Bazar police station, Indore, confirmed that there was no communal angle to the incident.
The video shows a group of half-naked men tied together with ropes being paraded on the streets as punishment by the police.
News outlet The Free Press Journal carried this old video as recent while also peddling the false communal claim. The story was published on June 21, 2024 with the headline, 'Video: 'Patthar Baazi Nahi Karenge,' Muslim Men Paraded Half-Naked In Indore Streets For Throwing Stones At Hindu Homes'
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This report by The Free Press Journal was also carried by micro news app Inshorts.
The claim is circulating on Facebook with the caption, "In Indore, Abdul and his friends together threw stones at the houses of Hindus on Eid and started threatening them. Madhya Pradesh's police thrashed Abdul's gang badly in the police station, made them half naked, tied them with a rope and brought them back to the place where the stones were thrown. Many thanks to Indore Police"
(Original text in Hindi: "इंदौर में अब्दुल और उसके साथियों ने मिलकर ईद पर हिंदूओं के घर पर पत्थर फेंके और डराने धमकाने लगे थे।CM Madhya Pradesh जी की पुलिस ने अब्दुल गैंग को थाने में बढ़िया से कूटा.अर्द्धनग्न किया और रस्सी से बांधकर वहीं लेकर आईं जहां पत्थर फेंके थें. इंदौर पुलिस का बहुत बहुत धन्यवाद")
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FACT CHECK
BOOM spoke to the police who informed that the incident is old and involved two groups of the same religion, thus confirming that the communal claims are false.
We ran a keyword search of the incident on Google and found a report published by the Times of India on September 10, 2023. The report was titled 'On cam: Men accused of stone-pelting paraded half-naked by cops in MP's Indore' and carried a video that was an exact match to the viral one.
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According to this report, the men were made to chant 'Pattharbazi nahi karenge' (We won't pelt stones) by the police. Taking a cue from this slogan, we ran a keyword search in Hindi and found a report published by TV9 Bharatvarsh on September 9, 2023. This report stated that two gangs began pelting stones at each other in the Sadar Bazar area of Indore to establish their dominance in the area. That is when eight of them were caught by the police, brought back to the same area where they pelted the stones and punished. The report names eight Muslim men as the accused.
Station House Officer Satish Patel spoke about how the other men involved would also be caught and punished in a similar manner, the report stated.
A similar report by ETV Bharat also carried a video statement from SHO Patel who spoke about how men from both the groups had criminal records in the past, and were warned several times to keep their behaviour in check. When they failed to do so and began pelting stones at one another, the police decide to punish them by making them collect the stones and apologise to the locals.
BOOM then reached out to Patel who is the former SHO of Sadar Bazar police station. Patel refuted the communal claim and said, "This is an old incident. There was no communal angle to it. People from both sides were Muslims. Stone pelting took place due to their mutual dispute. These were miscreant type people and because of them, the locals was also troubled."