Fact-Check: Video From 2020 Falsely Shared as Police Recently Thrashing Muslims

This video dates back to March 2020 and shows police thrashing people for violating COVID-19 lockdown in Belgaum.

A video showing a police officer thrashing several people coming out of a building is going viral on social media as a recent video.

The claim states that this was recorded on the occasion of Nag Panchami, a festival which was celebrated across India on 9 August.

Another claim stated that this shows the police handling people belonging to the Muslim community in India and calls them "the source of terrorism".

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: The claim is misleading. The video dates back to March 2020.

• It shows the police thrashing people for violating COVID-19 lockdown in Belgaum, Karnataka.

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How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video and this led us to several old reports.

• This was reported in March 2020 by Lokmat Times, News18, The Print and Business Standard.

• It stated that the Karnataka Police thrashed people for violating the coronavirus lockdown in Belgaum.

• It further stated that this incident took place outside a mosque when people were returning after offering prayers.

• Taking a cue, we looked for this video on ANI's X (formerly Twitter) as there is ANI's logo on the top right corner.

• We found this video shared on 26 March 2020 and the caption stated that people were thrashed for violating lockdown rules in Belgaum.

#WATCH Police thrash people for violating #Coronaviruslockdown in Belgaum. The incident happened outside a Mosque when people were leaving after offering prayers. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/tF9Vx4iqV5

— ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2020

Conclusion: An old video from Karnataka is going viral with a false claim that this shows police thrashing Muslims recently.

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