Fact Check: Video of three accused dragging their feet with bandaged legs makes a false claim about their crime
A video showing 3 men with bandaged legs is shared virally on social media with the claim that the men were punished by the UP police
Criminals
A video showing 3 men with bandaged legs is shared virally on social media with the claim that the men were punished by the UP police for pulling the chunni of a girl going on a bike which led to her falling down from the vehicle and eventually killing her.
The claim in Telugu goes as “సెహబ్,,, అఫ్జల్,,, పైసల్.. ఈ ముగ్గురు ముస్లిం పోరగాండ్లు... ఉత్తరప్రదేశ్లో హిందూ బాలిక సైకిల్ పై వెళ్తుంటే చున్ని లాగి అఫ్జల్ పడేసాడు. వెనకాల మిగితా ఇద్దరు బైక్ తో అమ్మాయిని ఢీ కొట్టి పారిపోయారు... ఇది జరిగిన 24 అవర్స్ లో,, యోగి జి వాళ్ళ కాళ్లల్లో బుల్లెట్లు దింపించి... ట్రీట్మెంట్ చేపించి కనీసం వీల్ చైర్ ఇవ్వకుండా ఇలా దేగిస్తూ జైలుకు పంపారు...”
When translated, it claims: “Saheb.. Afzal.. Faisal.. three Muslim men, Afzal pulled a Hindu girl by her chunni while riding a bicycle. The other two hit her with their bike and ran off. Within 24 hours Yogi ji (UP Chief Minister) got them shot in their legs and they were treated. They were not even given wheelchair, and were sent to jail like this.”
When searched further, we found that the claim is also viral in English.
Fact Check:
The claim is False. The video does not show the condition of the accused in Uttar Pradesh. The video is from Rajasthan.
There were reports of an incident where a schoolgirl was killed after being harassed by 3 people, which occurred on September 16, 2023. According to an India Today report, two men pulled the dupatta of a 17-year-old girl who was riding a bicycle, and a man on a motorbike ran her over. The video was recorded by a CCTV camera, the victim’s parents also identified the culprits as Shahbaz, Arbaaz, and the man on the bike as Faisal. The police later arrested the accused.
According to the police officials, Shahbaz and Faisal tried to run away during the medical treatment after which they were shot in the leg in a police encounter. The third accused also suffered a fracture in his leg while running.
The video of the arrest of the three accused can be seen in this video posted on X (Twitter).
When we searched the screenshots extracted from the video using Google reverse image search, we found a few posts shared on X (Twitter).
A post by X (Twitter) handle @INDIA9ABS shared the same video of injured men crawling with a caption
“राजस्थान के सभी अपराधियों से
When translated, it states: “It is expected that all the criminals from Rajasthan, after seeing the condition of these criminals arrested in Atalband police station, will take a pledge to stay away from crime.”
The video was posted on September 17, 2023.
Taking this as a cue, when we searched for more posts, we found the video was also shared by an IPS officer named Rahul Prakash. He is presently posted as DIGP, Bharatpur, Rajasthan. He also shared the viral video with the same caption.
A YouTube video published by First India News YouTube channel, a news channel based in Rajasthan, also shared the viral visuals. The title of the video states that it is related to ‘The Ajay Jhamri murder case’.
On further research, we found an article in etvbharat.com, the three accused arrested were Tejveer, Yuvraj, and Bunty. According to the police, they had shot and killed history sheeter Ajay Jhamri in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, and were absconding. When the police tried to arrest them, they fired back at the police. Then the police shot them in the leg.
Hence, the viral video shows the accused men from Rajasthan and not Uttar Pradesh. The claim is False.