CLAIM
A video which shows police mercilessly beating Muslim men is being circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp with an insinuation that the Kashmiris are being tortured after the Central government ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir with the effective revocation of Article 370.
The message accompanying the video reads, “कश्मीर मे प्रसाद बटना शुरू” which sarcastically means that the people in Kashmir are now being tortured.
The Quint received a query about the video on its WhatsApp helpline number.
TRUE OR FALSE?
While the video is real and has not been altered in anyway, but the claim that this is the current situation in Kashmir is false. The video is nearly four years old and is from a protest in Bihar’s capital, Patna.
According to a report in The Times of India, supporters of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) and madrassa teachers were protesting at Gardanibagh stadium but were beaten when the police lathi-charged them after they allegedly tried to go to the Chief Minister's house.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
At around 00:35 seconds, there is a board of a police station which reads ‘Gardanibagh thana’. After this it became clear that the video is from Patna and not Kashmir.
Following this we searched with keywords ‘Gardanibagh police beating Muslims’ and we came across a story that was published by The Times of India in August 2015. The report read that the police beat up madrassa teachers who were protesting against the non-payment of their dues and for improving the condition of 2,459 madrassas in Bihar.
According the the daily, the teachers were holding a fast unto death protest but were beaten up as soon as they came out of the stadium.
We also found out that the same video was posted by ANI in 2015.
SAME STORY SHARED AFTER J&K GOVERNMENT COLLAPSED
We also found out that the same video was circulated after the PDP-BJP led state government collapsed in Jammu and Kashmir in 2018.
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