A video showing a heated confrontation between several men and police officers has gone viral on social media. In the video, an elderly Muslim man can be seen attacking the police with a bamboo stick. Claims accompanying the video assert it depicts Rohingya Muslims in Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura district attacking police officers who attempted to check their identity cards.
One such post on X reads: “Rohingyas or Rowdies? UP Police went to check IDs of Rohingya Muslims living in Mathura, UP. Instead of cooperating, these illegal intruders started fighting with the Police. Deport all the Rohingyas from India.”
However, a fact check by India Today revealed that the video is not from Uttar Pradesh but from Assam. A reverse search of keyframes from the video led to a clip shared by Assam Minister Pijush Hazarika on X on 28 June. The Assamese post roughly translates to, “This incident occurred in Dhing a few days ago.” Dhing is a village in the northwest of the Nagaon district in Assam.
Minister Hazarika condemned the attack on police personnel, alleging intolerance from a specific community. “See how the people of a particular community are becoming intolerant and attacking personnel on duty,” he wrote. This post was followed by a report from a YouTube channel named The Pulse NE.
Further investigation led to a report from India Today NE dated 28 June, which highlighted Hazarika’s post and noted that the video had sparked controversies. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had alleged that a specific group was causing disturbances in Assam following the Lok Sabha election results.
However, an Assam Tribune report from 29 June quoted Assam DGP GP Singh, who cautioned against sharing the video. Singh stated in a post on X that the video was old and urged people to refrain from circulating it.
While he did not disclose the exact date or location, police sources informed The Assam Tribune that the incident occurred in the Sutirpar area under the Juria Police Station in Nagaon in February 2023.
Additionally, the Mathura Police clarified on X that the video was not from their district in Uttar Pradesh.
Despite the inability to independently verify the video’s date or location, it is clear that it does not originate from Uttar Pradesh.
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On 28 June, Minister Hazarika posted on X condemning the incident, expressing concern over the attack on police officers in Dhing, Assam. “Look how intolerant people from a particular community are attacking the police on duty,” he wrote.
This followed allegations from Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on 27 June, who claimed that certain groups were causing disturbances in the state after the Lok Sabha election results on 4 June. Sarma directed the police to deal firmly with such elements. Speaking to the media in Nalbari, Sarma said, “We have observed that certain people are trying to disrupt peace in the state through serious criminal activities.”
Sarma also highlighted that Assam had remained peaceful for the past three years but noted a troubling increase in incidents over the last month. His remarks were seen as a response to Hazarika’s post on 26 June, in which he claimed several incidents had occurred in Assam since the Lok Sabha election, allegedly involving individuals from a particular community.
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