A disturbing CCTV footage showing a man lift a minor girl and fling her to the ground outside a madrasa in Kerala's Kasargod has been shared on social media with a false communal claim that the accused is a Hindu. The tweets further falsely claim that the Hindu man attacked the minor for going to the madrasa.
BOOM found that the accused, Aboobacker Siddique, has been taken into custody in Kasargod, Kerala for attacking the minor girl, on November 17, 2022; the eight-year-old is Siddique's neighbour.
The video is disturbing in nature. BOOM has chosen not to include the same.
The 29 seconds long viral footage shows disturbing visuals of a well built man walking towards the girl and lifting her unprovoked. Seconds later, he flings her to the ground. The girl can be seen wearing a hijab.
Twitter users are sharing the video with a caption in Arabic that reads, "In the Indian state of Kerala An extremist Hindu brutally beats a 9-year-old Indian Muslim girl just because she is on her way to her Islamic school!! #IndianMuslimsUnderAttack".
(Original text in Arabic: في ولاية كيرالا الهندية هندوسي متطرف يضرب بوحشية طفلة هندية مسلمة (٩ أعوام) لمجرد أنها في طريقها لمدرستها الإسلامية !!)
Click here to watch the video.
The video has been shared on Facebook with the same claim.
Fact Check
BOOM observed that the video is part of an India Today News Mobile's bulletin. The placeline of the video is said to be Kasargod, Kerala. Taking a cue from this we ran a keyword search on Google and found several news articles about the incident.
On November 19, 2020, The News Minute published a report titled, "Kerala man caught on cam flinging eight-yr-old girl to the ground, arrested". The article has featured screenshots of the same CCTV footage.
As per reports, the incident happened outside the Isha-athul Uloom Kendra madrasa in Manjeshwar of Kasargod area on Thursday, November 17. When the 8-year old girl was standing outside the madrasa, the 34-year old man, their neighbour, Aboobacker Siddique violently picked her up, flinging her to the ground and walked away. Siddique was has been booked for attempt to murder, sexual assault and other charges based on the girl's statement and was later arrested by the cop.
The girl is also being treated for her injuries. The same incident also has been reported on other mainstream outlets such as Times of India and India Today.