An old video showing disturbing visuals of a woman being flogged in public by a man and surrounded by onlookers is viral online with a false and communal claim that it shows a woman in India being thrashed publicly for complaining about being raped, under Sharia law.
BOOM found that the incident occurred in Bulandshahr district in 2018, when a Hindu man, Saudan Singh publicly flogged his wife for allegedly having an affair and eloping with another man.
The viral video shows visuals of a crowd watching as a man beat a woman, with a belt after tying her to a tree.
Trigger Warning: The video contains disturbing visuals. Viewer discretion is advised.
The video is being shared with the caption, "Under Sharia law, if a woman is raped, it’s considered sex outside of marriage, and she is to be punished. In most Sharia countries, women are stoned do death if they report they were raped. So the one in the video got ‘lucky’ for only being flogged."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
BOOM found that the video is from 2018 and from Uttar Pradesh.
We broke keyframes from the video, ran reverse image search on it using Google Lens and found several news articles from 2018 carrying screengrabs of the footage.
The reports stated that the incident took place in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district where a man beat his wife for allegedly having an affair.
On March 23, 2018, Deccan Chronicle reported, featuring a screengrab from the video, that a village panchayat in Bulandshahr district, Uttar Pradesh, ordered the beating of a woman on March 10 due to suspicions of her having an affair. The report also mentioned that local police confirmed the incident occurred on March 10 in Longa village, Syana region of Bulandshahr.
However, it only came to public attention on March 15 after the video went viral on social media, after which an FIR was filed against seven men and a dozen unknown individuals, the report added.
Another article from The Times of India published on March 23, 2018, reported the victim's statement in the complaint regarding the incident.
The article mentioned that the woman, in her complaint, stated, "I had gone with our neighbour but after five days a few villagers brought us back into village on March 10 and from 7 in the morning until 2pm, my hands were tied to a tree and in full public view thrashed by my husband Saudan Singh for hours together with belt and sticks. A few did protest but no one came forward to rescue me. Later, a few village men took me inside our house and molested me labelling me a prostitute. Former Pradhan even made a video of my humiliation. After my ordeal, I was asked to stay quiet about the whole issue or I would be killed."
Following the incident, then Bulandshahr Superintendent of Police (SP) said that the police arrested the former pradhan Shersingh, his son Shravan, and the woman’s husband, Shaudan Singh, under relevant IPC sections, adding that the police reached out to the woman to file a complaint, reported The Hindu.