Was A Christian Person Lynched By A Hindu Mob? No, Viral Video Is Shared With False Claim

A video showing a person being assaulted by a set of persons is being shared with the claim that it shows a mob attack on a Christian person in India. The video is being shared with the claim that mob lynchings are on the rise in India and Christians are being increasingly targeted.

Claim:

The 41 seconds viral video shows a man writhing in pain and being dragged along the road as several people gather around him. These people assault the man with belts and kick him repeatedly. The assault is filmed as no one is seen intervening between the assaulters and the victim.

Twitter user Shirin Khan shared the video with the caption, “Brutal attack on a Christian by a Hindu mob in India. A country where mob lynchings are on the rise.”

A Twitter page, South Asian Human Rights Watch, shared the video with the claim, “Rising trend of mob lynching in India captured on camera as a Hindu mob brutally attacks a Christian. Concerns over communal violence and religious intolerance escalate, and the international community must take notice of this situation.”

The video is viral on Twitter and Facebook with a similar caption.

Fact Check:

We used InVid’s Keyframe Analysis to break down the video into keyframes and then conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes. This led us to an article by The Indian Express published on December 23, 2022.

The Indian Express report notes that five persons were detained in connection with the alleged assault of a Dalit youth by a group of seven persons belonging to an upper caste in Vadodara. The thumbnail of the video carried a screengrab from the viral incident.

The victim is identified as 24-year-old Alpesh Parmar (Vankar) with a leather belt and sticks while he was with a friend. The police have identified and detained the five accused seen in the video as Parampir Madansinh Rathod, Pratap Prakash Makwan, Tushar Bharat Solanki, Ajay Aarsinh Ninama and Mahipal Ronak Chavda, who are all residents of Vadodara city.

“The accused told the police that they were allegedly summoned for help by a female social-media influencer, who was allegedly being intimidated by the Dalit youth,” the Indian Express report adds.

We also came across a report by The Print published on December 21, 2022. The report notes that Dalit youth Alpesh Parmar from Bhayli village was thrashed by seven persons on December 11, 2022, when he was sitting with a girl near Sevasi Canal road. As per Parmar’s complaint, he was verbally abused over his caste by seven men without provocation and then hit with a belt in public, the Print report notes.

The police added, as per the Print report, that it was being probed if Parmar was hit as he was a friend of the girl he was spotted with or for some remark during a social media live telecast.

“We have detained four of the seven accused. Two of them are Rajputs, and two belong to the Other Backward Classes category. They will be formally arrested soon. The probe is underway,” Vadodara Superintendent of Police Rohan Anand said, as per The Print report. The accused have been charged under Indian Penal Code sections 147 (rioting), 323 (assault) and 506(2) (criminal intimidation) as well as provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as per police.

We also came across a report by Deccan Herald published on December 22, 2022. The report noted that the incident occurred on December 11 at Bhayli village under the Vadodara taluka police station area.

“According to the FIR, at the time of the incident, the Dalit victim Alpesh Parmar was sitting with a girl, said to be a local fashion designer, near Sevasi canal road. The seven youth, belonging to Rajput and OBC communities, thrashed Parmar while allegedly hurling casteist slurs,” the Deccan Herald report states.

The victim, Parmar, 24, filed the police complaint on December 21, 2022, after learning about the video footage, which showed him getting assaulted by the accused. Parmar stated in the FIR that the accused had cautioned him on approaching the police, which forced him to keep quiet.

Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani on December 22, 2022, shared the video on his Twitter handle. In his caption, he termed the incident as " yesterday there was an attempt to lynching a Dalit youth publicly in Vadodara district.”

Conclusion:

We found that the viral video is not from a recent incident of a Christian being assaulted by a Hindu mob. The incident took place on December 11, 2022 in Bhayli village under the Vadodara taluka police station area. The incident shows persons aallegedly commiitting caste atrocities against a member from the Dalit community. The seven accused in the case have been arrested which shows that the viral claim is false.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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