A gruesome and disturbing video from Brazil showing a woman being hacked to death with a pick-axe is being falsely shared on social media with a claim that it shows a Muslim girl being killed by a Hindu boy in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh
The video is being shared as an example of the conspiracy theory "Bhagwa Love Trap" happening in India. This conspiracy theory alleges that Hindu men target Muslim women for conversion to Hinduism by feigning love.
The 31-seconds long clip shows a masked assailant attacking a woman whose hands are tied and mouth gagged. BOOM has chosen not to include the video given its extremely disturbing nature
The caption translates to, "Look at this act of saffron-clad Sanatani lover. This girl's name is Saima Ali, a resident of Damoh, Madhya Pradesh, where a Hindu boy named Vijay Jadhav trapped her in his love trap and lured this girl away from her house, later this girl was killed. Get him converted and name him Sheetal Jadhav"
(In Hindi - यह देखो भगवाधारी सनातनी प्रेमी की कारतूत इस लड़की का नाम सायमा अली है दमोह मध्यप्रदेश की रहने वाली जहां इसे विजय जाधव नाम के हिन्दू लड़के ने अपने प्रेमजाल में फंसा लिया और इस लड़की को बहला फुसलाकर उसके घर से भगा लाया,बाद में इस लड़की का धर्म परिवर्तन करवाकर इसका नाम शीतल जाधव रख)
BOOM also received the same video on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 77009 06588).
Also Read:Video of Woman Assaulted In UP Peddled As 'Bhagwa Love Trap'
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the incident in the video is from Fortaleza, Brazil where a 23-year-old woman named Thália Torres de Souza, was kidnapped and killed by members of a criminal faction in 2020.
We had previously fact-checked the same video in September 2020 when it was being shared with a false claim that it is from India. BOOM Hindi had also fact-checked the same video on June 15, 2023, when it was being shared with a false 'love jihad' claim. Love Jihad is a term used by right-wing handles to describe a supposed conspiracy theory in which Muslim men target non-Muslim women for conversion to Islam by feigning love.
We analysed the video and spotted the logo with 'fort-' partially visible on red top the woman wore. We found that the victim had worn a Brazilian football club's Fortaleza Esporte Clube jersey. This indicated that the clip is from Brazil and not India.
We did a key-word search in Portuguese and performed a reverse image search using Google which showed that the viral clip was being shared on gore websites that host graphic content. The descriptions on these websites also stated it was from Brazil.
A blog had another image of the woman in the same jersey and denim shorts lying on the ground, however it was taken at night and identified her as a 23-year-old Thália Torres de Souza.
On searching with the name 'Thália Torres de Souza' we found a report dated September 1, 2020, by the Cn7 website which stated that de Souza was kidnapped and killed by members of a criminal faction in Fortaleza, Ceara state in Brazil.
The article details that in the month of August, 17 women were murdered in Ceará state in Brazil, and in the year there have already 226 women who have been killed. It further states that Thália was kidnapped in the Bom Jardim neighborhood and taken to the neighboring Granja Portugal on August 26, 2020.
It details that Thália was tied up with ropes, gagged and carried by force, at gunpoint, taken to the margins of the Maranguapinho River, and executed cruelly there with an axe and stones hit on the head which was filmed by the criminals.
This matches with the viral video where she is being filmed tied up being killed with an axe. Her body was found hours later, with his head smashed and her hands tied stated Cn7. The clothes mentioned in the article that was found on the body also match the viral video.
Cn7 states that the murderers are still at large and the Department of Homicide and Personal Protection (DHPP) in Fortaleza is investigating the case. It also mentions that there is a suspicion of a 'gang reckoning' behind the murder.
We found the victim's Facebook account which has a profile picture of her with the same Fortaleza Esporte Clube t-shirt, which confirmed that she is the same woman in the viral video.