Girl Stabbed in Bihar's Gopalganj, Incident Shared With a False Communal Spin

The incident took place in Pratappur village in Gopalganj district and both the accused and survivor are Muslims.

A CCTV footage which shows a boy stabbing a girl multiple times is being shared with a communal spin to claim that the boy, who belonged to the Muslim community, attacked the Hindu girl because she refused his advances.

The claim is being shared with the hashtag 'Love Jihad', an Islamophobic term popularised by the right-wing, that refers to the alleged campaign of Muslim men converting Hindu women in the guise of love.

However, we found that the video is from an incident that happened in Bihar's Gopalganj where a boy stabbed a minor girl in broad daylight while she was returning from school.

According to the police, it was a revenge crime, as the girl had complained to the principal about the boy (18), who had approached another girl in the minor's class. But both the girl and the boy belong to the Muslim community and there is no communal angle to the incident.

CLAIM

The video is being shared on social media with the claim in Hindi that reads, "छेड़खानी का विरोध करने पर आठवीं की स्कूली छात्रा को असरफ अली ने दिनदहाड़े चाकुओं से छलनी किया। सारे वामपंथी और मीडिया खामोश हैं। #लव_जिहाद"

(Translation: Asraf Ali stabbed a school girl studying in Class 8 with a knife in broad daylight when she resisted his molestation bid. All leftists and media are silent. #LoveJihad.)

Social media users shared the video along with similar claims and the archived versions can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

This incident was widely reported on by the media, including Quint Hindi. The incident happened in Pratappur village in Bihar's Gopalganj on 19 December.

As per the new reports, irked by eve-teasing, some of the girls had complained to the authorities in the school about the boys. Angered over it, a boy had stabbed one minor girl.

Another report on the website of Hindi newspaper 'Dainik Bhaskar' mentioned that the accused named Gudda had stabbed the girl studying in class 8, eight times in 13 seconds following which she was admitted to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).

The Quint's WebQoof team accessed the copy of the complaint, which mentioned that the survivor was aged 14, while the boy's age was written as 18 years.

We spoke to station house officer (SHO) of Manjhagarh police station Vishal Anand who told us that both the accused and the victim belonged to the Muslim community.

The accused was initially taken into custody on the day of the crime, 19 December, and later he was arrested under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, he said.

"The boy had gone to the school and approached one girl in the class with a flower. She is the survivor's friend. Since the minor girl (who was stabbed) was the class monitor, she had complained to the principal about the boy, who was later admonished by the principal. Later, as an act of revenge, he went and stabbed the minor girl since she had complained," Anand told The Quint.

Further, we also got in touch with the minor's father who told us that everyone involved in the incident, the accused, the survivor and her classmate, belong to the Muslim community, adding that she will be discharged from the hospital on 29 December.

Clearly, a video of a stabbing incident from Bihar is being shared with a false communal claim giving it a 'Love Jihad' angle.

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