Fact-Check: Video From Bihar Wrongly Linked to Dalit Boy’s Death in Rajasthan

The video shows a tuition teacher, now arrested, allegedly assaulting a boy in Bihar's Patna on 2 July.

The video shows a case in Bihar's Patna district and is not related to the demise of a Dalit boy in Rajasthan.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

(Trigger Warning: Descriptions of physical assault. Reader discretion advised.)

A video of a man brutally thrashing a boy in a classroom, in the presence of other students, is being shared on social media platforms. The 30-second clip is being linked to the death of a nine-year-old Dalit boy in Rajasthan, who passed away on Saturday, 13 August, after his teacher beat him up for allegedly touching a pot of water.

The short clip shows the man hitting the crying child with a stick and later, beating him up with his hands as the child pleads for him to stop.

However, this video is not related to the incident in Rajasthan. It shows a teacher at a coaching centre allegedly assaulting a boy in Masaurhi city of Patna district in Bihar on 2 July 2022.

A police personnel from the Dhanarua police station in Patna had earlier told The Quint that the accused had been arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000.

CLAIM

The 30-second clip is being linked to the recent death of a nine-year-old Dalit boy in Rajasthan's Jalore district, after he was beaten by his teacher for allegedly touching a pot of water.

An archive of this post can be accessed here.

(Source: Facebook/Screeenshot)

At the time of writing this article, this post by user Jal Singh Jorwal Todabhim was viewed over 88,000 times and was shared by more than 3,000 users on Facebook.

Similar claims on social media can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Using InVID, a video verification tool, we divided the video in question into multiple key frames and ran a reverse image search.

The results led us to an older, clearer version of the video published on 6 July, which we ran through InVID again in order to obtain more accurate results.

The video was shared on 6 July, 2022.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by by The Quint)

This led us to a report by The Quint, dated 6 July 2022, which mentioned that a teacher had thrashed a six-year-old boy until he lost consciousness at a tuition centre in Bihar's Patna on 2 July.

A complaint was filed by the student's parents after which the police arrested the teacher, Amarkant Kumar, on 5 July, the police personnel said.

The FIR filed by the boy's father in connection with this case was lodged under Sections 322 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 307 (attempt to murder), and 506 ( criminal intimidation) of the IPC, among others, and Section 75 (punishment for anyone who directly assaults, abandons, abuses, exposes or wilfully neglects a child, or causes or procures a child for the same) of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000.

The report added that the boy was rushed to a nearby hospital and had sustained minor injuries.

Further, a Dainik Bhaskar journalist tweeted a video statement of Patna's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manavjeet Singh Dhillon, in which he he said that the six-year-old overheard the teacher speaking to another female student inappropriately and was thrashed for it.

WHAT HAPPENED IN RAJASTHAN?

A nine-year-old Dalit boy died on Saturday, 13 August, after being allegedly assaulted by his school teacher for touching a pot of water in Surana village in Rajasthan's Jalore district.

The incident took place on 20 July at the Saraswati Vidya Mandir school in the village.

Internet services were suspended in the district, fearing unrest over the boy's demise. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted that the accused teacher has been arrested and that a case of murder has been registered against him.

The boy's father, Devaram Meghwal, said that his son suffered injuries to his face and ear and that the teacher's thrashing had torn a vein in his ear. The child was referred to different hospitals twice and eventually succumbed to his injuries in Gujarat's Ahmedabad.

Evidently, the video is not related to the recent death of a nine-year-old Dalit boy in Rajasthan, who was beaten for allegedly touching a pot of water.

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