CLAIM
A viral video on social media which shows a man beating an infant and subsequently lifting and releasing them has been widely shared with the claim that the man is named Shakeel Ahmed Ansari and is a teacher at Delhi Public School (DPS), Rajbagh.
The claim with which the video is being shared reads: “आप के whatsapp पे जितने भी नंबर एवं ग्रुप हैं एक भी छूटने नही चाहिए, ये वीडियो सबको भेजिए ये वलसाड के DPS SCHOOL Rajbag का टीचर शकील अहमद अंसारी है इसको इतना शेयर करो की ये टीचर और स्कूल दोनों बंद हो जाए । वीडियो, वायरल होने से काफी फ़र्क पड़ता है ओर कार्यवाही होती है जिसे दया न आये वो अपना मुंह (टाइपिंग) बंद रखे ।” (Don’t forget to share this video to all your WhatsApp groups. This video is from DPS Rajbag and it shows a teacher named Shakeel Ahmed Ansari. Sharing a video does make a difference and action is taken.)
(Trigger Warning: Viewer discretion advised)
The Quint received a query on the claim made about the video on its WhatsApp helpline.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The claim made by the video is false. The man in the video isn’t a teacher at DPS, Rajbagh, but from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
According to Riyadh Police, the man was identified as Yousif Alqutai, a Palestinian resident of the country and arrested.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On breaking down the video into several keyframes using Invid, a video verification tool, we came across multiple Twitter accounts which had shared the video. Most of these Twitter accounts were from Saudi.
We searched Google using key words ‘man hitting kid Saudi’ and came across an article published on a website called The New Arab on 22 September. According to the article, Saudi authorities arrested the man who was identified as Yousif Alqutai, a Palestinian resident of the country.
A statement issued by the police read, “He was arrested in Riyadh and his four children were provided with the necessary care in coordination with the concerned authorities,” added the article.
We also came across a tweet shared by Saudi Ministry of Labor and Social Development Spokesperson Khaled Aba Khail that read, “The Violence Reporting Center is verifying the video and looking for the man who appeared abusing a child. Colleagues are coordinating with the competent authorities to reach the man. The Saudi child protection system and its executive regulations will be applied on him.”
An article published by Gulf News on 22 September that carried the same video mentioned that a few hours after the video was shared, the man issued a clarification and posted a video on his Instagram handle.
In the video, he said that he performed this act to “teach his daughter to walk by beating her and said that the video is old,” according to the Gulf News article. He further blamed his wife for the act and said that she published the video to take revenge.
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