A distressing video showing a man being beaten up in Sangrur, Punjab, is viral online with the false claim that the victim is a Christian being beaten up by a Hindu mob in Uttar Pradesh.
BOOM found that the claims are false, the incident is originally from February 2023 and took place in Sangrur, Punjab. The victim is a Hindu, Sonu Kumar, who was thrashed by a group of Hindu men.
The 1:27 minutes long video shows two men beating the victim with rods while another man holds him down.
A caption on X reads, "RAM RAJ⚠️ If you don't pray now, then when will you pray ⚠️(𝗨𝗣) Heartbreaking sight of anti-evangelicals harassing God's servants in Uttar Pradesh"
The video is being shared on Facebook with a similar caption.
FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the viral claims are false and there is no communal angle to the incident. The video was shot in February 2023 when a group of men in Punjab attacked another man, Sonu Kumar.
We ran a keyword search of the incident on Google using 'man beaten up with rods' and found a report published by The Indian Express on February 21, 2023. The headline was 'Sangrur: Man beaten up with iron rods; six booked, 1 held as video goes viral'. According to this report, the incident took place in Jagatpura village of Sunam, located in Sangrur, Punjab.
The victim, 37-year-old Sonu Kumar, was travelling with his son on their motorcycle to bring a geyser from his father's house. When they reached Bajigar Basti, mother of one of the accused, Mani Singh, began gathering people to "teach Sonu a lesson".
We also found a report published by The Times of India on February 20 that included a statement from Ajay Kumar, Station House Officer (SHO), Sunam City Police Station. Kumar informed that the incident took place on February 15 and six people, including Mani Singh and his mother, had been charged for attempted murder. The other accused were Kuldeep Singh, Amrik Singh, Lavi Singh, and Gopal Singh.
A search for the incident in Hindi led us to reports by Dainik Bhaskar and Punjab Kesari published around the same time. These reports carried visuals of the incident that matched the viral video. Below is a comparison:
According to Hindustan Times, Sonu Kumar suffered 12 fractures to his feet, hands, and wrists and was referred to AIIMS Bathinda. While citing police officials, the report explained that the accused were bootleggers who thrashed Sonu Kumar on suspicion of being a police informant.
Sonu Kumar's wife, Neelam Rani, spoke to TOI and alleged that Kumar had been assaulted by the men four years ago too when the family asked the accused to stop using a vacant plot near their house for drugs.
