An old and disturbing video of a crowd chasing and beating a man has been revived on social media with captions identifying the victim as MLA Ramkesh Meena, and calling the incident recent. Meena, an independent MLA from Rajasthan, has been in news recently for his involvement in the removal of a saffron flag from Amagarh fort in Jaipur.
BOOM found that while the man in the viral clip is Ramkesh Meena, the video is from 2018 when Meena was attacked during a protest rally in Rajasthan.
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On July 22, a saffron flag atop Jaipur's Amagarh fort was removed and allegedly torn by a group of people in the presence of independent MLA Ramkesh Meena. According to a Times of India report on July 24, locals of the area had filed an FIR against unidentified persons and later, an organisation of Meena community also 'filed a case against unidentified persons for inciting religious sentiments'.
The video is viral against this backdrop.
BOOM has not included the video owing to its disturbing nature. It can be viewed here and here and its archived version can be accessed here.
Viewers' discretion is advised.
The viral clip has been shared on Facebook with a Hindi message that translates to 'A saffron flag with Shri Ram written over it was removed and torn by Congress-supported MLA at Galta teerth situated on Amagarh Hills in Jaipur. After that Ramkesh Meena, the MLA who had removed the saffron flag, was chased and thrashed by Hindus'.
(Hindi: जयपुर के गलता तीर्थ स्थित आमागढ़ की पहाड़ी पर सत्ताधारी कांग्रेस समर्थित विधायक की मौजूदगी में "श्रीराम " लिखा पवित्र भगवा ध्वज पोल से उतार कर फाड़ दिया था। उसके बाद भगवा ध्वज उतारने वाले रामकेश मीणा विधायक को हिन्दुओ ने दौड़ा दौड़ा कर पीटा)
The same video is viral on YouTube too.
BOOM also received the video on its helpline number.
Fact Check
BOOM did a keyword search with Hindi words 'रामकेश मीणा की पिटाई' and found an article published on News18 on April 7, 2018 which had a screenshot from the same video.
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The News18 report says that the incident took place in Gangapur city area of Sawai Madhopur district on April 2, 2018. According to the report, former Gangapur City MLA Meena had been sitting on a protest against the changes in the SC ST Act when a mob of miscreants resorted to vandalism in the city. Meena was chased and attacked by the mob when he went to pacify them.
We also found the same video uploaded on YouTube on April 8, 2018.
What is the present controversy?
According to news reports, a saffron flag atop Amagarh fort in Jaipur was removed and allegedly torn down by a group of people in the presence of Meena on July 22.
According to a Times of India report, the group led by Ramkesh Meena has claimed that the fort belonged to the Meena community's deity and members of RSS had hoisted the saffron flag 'to hurt a community's religious code'.
A video of the flag being removed has since gone viral on social media and the leader of opposition in Rajasthan, Gulab Chand Katria, has said that Ramkesh Meena has no right to hurt the sentiments of the people, reported the Free Press Journal.
The Meenas identify themselves as a Tribal community.