A video of a man threatening two women at knifepoint has been shared on social media with a false communal claim that it shows an incident of 'Love Jihad' where a man can be seen trapping some Hindu girls by threatening them.
BOOM found that the claim with the video to be false. There is no communal angle to the incident as both the victim and the accused belong to the same community.
In the 21 seconds long video, the person can be seen threatening two girls carrying a knife on his hand outside a café. He also tried to attack the girls while threatening them with his knife. The girls became shocked out of fear due to such threats. However, few people were also present at the spot who remained as spectators.
The Hindi caption with the video translates to, "Look how love jihadis trap Hindu girls by intimidating them. If anyone threatens any girl in this way, then there is no need to be afraid, immediately inform your family members and file a report in the police. These people will not be able to succeed in their motive."
(Original Text in Hindi: यह देखो लव जिहादी हिंदू बच्चियों को केसे डरा धमका कर अपने जाल में फंसाते है अगर किसी भी बच्ची को कोई भी इस प्रकार से धमकाए तो डरने की जरूरत नही है तुरंत अपने घर वालो को जानकारी देकर पुलिस में रिपोर्ट दर्ज कराए*तो यह लोग अपने मकसद में कामयाब नही हो पाएंगे)
Click here to view the post.
The video is also viral on Facebook with the same claim. Click here, here, here and here to view such posts.
Also Read: Staged Video Of Burkha-Clad Child Kidnapper Shared With Communal Spin
Fact Check
BOOM noticed a logo named "Udta Tir" and "Indore" written in Hindi present on the video. Taking a cue, we performed a Hindi keyword search related to Indore and the scenes present in the video and found a News18 Hindi report published on July 27, 2022.
The same person can be noticed in the cover image section of the News18 Hindi article who was trying to intimidate the girls at knifepoint in the video.
According to the report, the incident took place under the M.I.G police station in Madhya Pradesh's Indore. A man named Piyush alias Sanu tried to threaten a girl he knew with a knife when she was present with her friend. The man wanted to marry the girl but she didn't agree; because of which he gave threats to the girl.
Although, the friend of the girl tried to convince the man but he refused to agree. Someone present there shot a video of the incident that went viral later. The police arrested the accused on the charge of carrying illegal weapons as the girl did not file a complaint against him.
We also found a F.I.R report on Madhya Pradesh police's website related to the incident. According to the FIR, the full name of the accused is Piyush Rawat and his father's name is Bharat Singh Rawat. The person is a resident of the M.I.G colony area in Indore.
For further confirmation, BOOM reached out to Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Pardeshipura, Bhupendra Singh. Singh said that they had caught the accused after receiving an information on Monday evening. The accused mentioned the girl as his girlfriend during the interrogation. The girl did not lodge any complaint in this matter.
Singh further added that they arrested the man under the Arms Act on the charge of showing knife in a public place and later sent him to jail. Meanwhile, he also denied the viral claim. He confirmed us that the name of the accused is Piyush Rawat and he is a Hindu.
Also Read: Video Of Man Dancing In Waterlogged Street Is from Gujarat