Man in Madhya Pradesh beaten up for attacking a woman, video shared with communal spin

By: Rohith Gutta
June 23 2023

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(Trigger warning: Description of violence)

Context

A video claiming to show a perpetrator of "love jihad" from Madhya Pradesh is circulating online. Twitter user 'Sarvesh Kumar' (@Sarvesh38453373) shared a 1:43-long video on June 21 with the caption: "Love Jihad case in Seoni. A Muslim man attacked a Hindu girl with a knife. He was caught during the incident. Youngsters trashed the accused and handed him over to the police (translated from Hindi)." His tweet had raked in more than 870 retweets and over 21,000 views before it was deleted. Many other users have also shared the same clip with similar claims. The video shows a busy street where some people assault a young man, whose face is later seen soaked in blood. 

"Love jihad" is part of a conspiracy theory peddled in India that claims that Muslim men "lure" Hindu women into relationships or marriage to convert them to Islam.

In Fact

After looking for news on crimes in Seoni, a district in Madhya Pradesh, we came across a video report by ETV Bharat—part of the ETV network that runs news and entertainment channels in India— published on June 19. The report also included the same visuals as the viral video. It mentioned that woman was stabbed by a 25-year-old man in broad daylight in Seoni city. The man was then nabbed by the locals, who beat him up and handed him over to the police while the woman was rushed to a hospital. Quoting Ramji Shrivastava, Superintendent of Police (SP), the report added that the man was booked under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).  

We also found a report on the same incident published by the Hindi daily Nai Duniya the same day. The news report carried a screengrab from the viral video showing the man beaten up by the mob after allegedly attacking a woman with a knife. The report identified the man as Sushil Yadav. According to the report, after he attacked the woman, local residents immediately caught hold of him, thrashed him, and handed him over to the police. 

News agency Press Trust of India(PTI) also reported the incident on June 19, mentioning the same sequence of events as ETV Bhart and Nai Duniya reported. PTI also identified the man in question as Sushil Yadav.

Logically Facts also spoke to Mahadev Nagotia, an officer from the Seoni police station, to confirm the events. Nagotia said the incident took place on June 19 and also identified the accused as Sushil Yadav. He said Yadav was arrested for attacking a 20-year-old woman in Seoni. He confirmed that it wasn't a case of a Muslim man attacking a Hindu woman. He added that a case was filed against Yadav, and the FIR number was 568/2023. However, we could not independently locate the FIR copy on the Madhya Pradesh police website. While FIR numbers 567 and 569 have been uploaded, there appears to be no record of 568 so far.

We also reached out to Seoni-based journalist Vinod Soni who corroborated that the accused's name is Sushil Yadav. He also said that Yadav belonged to the Hindu, and not Muslim, community. In a video statement released to the media, SP Srivastava said that an investigation is underway to determine Yadav's motive behind the attack.

The Verdict

A video of a man being beaten up by a mob for allegedly attacking a woman has been falsely shared with a "love jihad" angle claiming a Muslim man attacked a Hindu woman with a knife. The police confirmed that this wasn't the case and identified the accused as Sushil Yadav. Therefore, we mark the case false.