An old video, which shows a group of Sikhs beating up a Naga sadhu on the road, is being shared with a number of misleading claims online. One of the claims state that it is a recent incident after the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) victory in Punjab this month.
In the recently concluded state elections on March 10, 2022, AAP led by Bhagwant Mann recorded a landslide win to come to power in the state for the first time.
The video is being shared with the caption, "Naga Sadhus have a respectable place in our Sanatan Dharma. But what is going on with a Naga Sadhu after the formation of AAP government in Punjab? @BhagwantMann sir Strict action should be taken against the culprits by checking the veracity of the video."
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(In Hindi - हमारे सनातन धर्म में नागा साधुओं का एक सम्मानजनक स्थान है ।लेकिन पंजाब में #आप की सरकार बनने के बाद एक नागा साधु के साथ क्या सुलूक क्या जा रहा है? @BhagwantMann साहब. वीडियो की सत्यता की जाँच करके दोषियों पर सख्त कार्यवाही होनी चाहिए)
The same video is also being shared on Facebook with the misleading claim.
(In English - These religious sentiments are not hurting. Where are they now who were opposing the removal of Khalistani flags. These are Naga Sadhus. It is their tradition if they can't hear anything against their religion while no one said anything to your religion. What is happening? Three to four people are beating an unarmed Naga Sadhu. You are doing a very brave job. Should be ashamed.)
BOOM also received the same video on our WhatsApp helpline number (7700906111) inquiring about the incident.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video of a Naga sadhu being beaten by a group of Sikh men dates back to July 2014, and is not recent after Aam Aadmi Party's win in Punjab as being claimed.
We ran several keyword searches like 'naga sadhu beaten by sikh men' and the search results showed articles from 2014 on the incident that had the same frames from the viral video.
According to an article on the website 'Singh station' dated July 14, 2014, local police in Phagwara City had registered a case against three people for beating up a Naga sadhu.
The report details the incident stating that a Naga sadhu was beaten by a few Sikh individuals at Phagwara National Highway because he had no clothes on his body and this whole incident was recorded in a video and was uploaded on WhatsApp and went viral.
The report further stated that the city police registered the case against three unidentified persons under Section 295 A IPC, for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindu people after the video went viral on WhatsApp.
We can spot the same naga sadhu in the article's featured image as in the viral video.
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Additionally, we also found a Daily Mail article on the same incident from August 2014
In the viral video, we can spot an Amarnath Yatra poster which has the dates June 28 to August 10, indicating that the viral video was recorded between or before these dates . Even the oldest news report on the incident is from July 13, 2014.
In 2014, the dates from the Amarnath Yatra were declared to begin from June 28 to August 10 reported The Indian Express on January 2014, this matches with this poster's dates in the viral video.
We could not independently verify details about the incident, however, we were able to establish that the incident is not recent as being claimed.
BOOM reached out to Phagwara City Police for more details on the case filed in July 2014 on the incident, the article will be updated on receiving a response.