A video of a fight between a group of people where a woman and a minor girl can be seen being beaten up is shared on social media claiming that supporters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had beaten up and stripped a woman naked on a road in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh for not closing her meat shop, despite receiving threats from the group.
However, we found that the incident had taken place in Pratapgarh over a kiosk that was set up in a disputed area between two families – Gupta and Soni family.
Both parties have filed an FIR against each other, according to Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) East Surendra Pratap Singh, the copies of which were also accessed by The Quint.
CLAIM
The video shared by South Asian Human Rights Watch is being shared on Twitter, along with the claim, "Captioned video is of RSS gangsters beating up and stripping a woman naked in the middle of the road in Pratapgarh, India. Her crime? Not closing down meat shop despite threats from extremist groups.(sic)"
The video has over 68,000 views at the time of writing this article and has also been quoted-tweeted by a verified account named The Dalit Voice, along with the hashtag 'Dalit Lives Matter'.
(Note: Visual is triggering in nature. Viewer's discretion is advised.)
An archive of the tweet can be seen here.
(Source: Twitter/Sc reenshot)
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
Sharing the details of the incident, The Quint's Uttar Pradesh reporter Piyush Rai said that the incident took place in Pratapgarh on 30 March and the fight was over a land issue.
Next, we found a tweet by Pratapgarh police from 31 March, where Pratapgarh Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) East Surendra Pratap Singh said that two families, one from Gupta and other Soni, had a fight over a piece of disputed land.
"In Mandhata, when Gupta family had set up a kiosk at a disputed land, Soni family had opposed it. This caused the fight between members of the two families," Singh said.
The Quint also accessed the First Information Report (FIR) copy, which was registered on 30 March, that read the incident took place at Mandhata village in Pratapgarh, and both the accused parties were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In the FIR registered by Anita Gupta, she alleged that she and her two daughters were beaten up by the members of the Soni family in front of the shop on her ancestral land.
In both the FIR copies, there was no mention of any member belonging to the RSS organisation or that of a meat shop.
Speaking to The Quint, sub-inspector of Pratapgarh police station Anuj Yadav said the claim that there is any involvement of RSS people is false as the dispute rose over a piece of disputed land between two families.
Moreover, the shop was empty and had nothing inside it. Four people have been arrested in connection with the case.
Further, looking with keywords, we also found news reports about the incident being published on ABP Ganga, which had carried the video, as well as Amar Ujala.
The story in ABP Ganga was published on 30 March.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)
Clearly, a video from Pratapgarh of a fight over a disputed land between two families is being shared on social media with a false and misleading claim.
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