Did A BJP MLA Thrash A Dalit Youth For Travelling In A Fancy Car? A FactCheck

A two-year-old video from Gujarat showing three men brutally assault a man in the middle of the street, is viral with a misleading caption that claims Bharatiya Janata Party workers thrashed a Dalit youth for travelling in a fancy car.

The post is being shared on social media platforms with the caption that claims, "What will Modi say about this stunt by BJP MLA Anil Upadhyay. Make sure this video goes viral so that all of India can see, Dalit and other backward (castes) can't be travelling in an expensive car."

Translated from Hindi text - "B.j.p. विधायक अनिल उपाध्याय की इस हरकत पर क्या कहेगे मोदी जी,इस video को इतना वायरल करो की ये पूरा हिन्दुस्तान देख सके दलित पिछड़े अलीशान कार में नहीं घूम नहीं सकते हैं"

The clip was also shared on Twitter with the same misleading caption.

(NOTE: The below video shows graphic violence)

BOOM also received the video on our WhatsApp helpline number (7700906111) with a different caption that said "I really don't know where will this country go...if this goes on...Please I m nt sharing this as anti Modi...But the way bhatks are teasing, beating, obusing(sic) is very sacry (sic) for my kid tomorrow in this country."

FACT-CHECK

BOOM broke the video into key frames using InVid a photo and video analyzing software and then ran a reverse image search using one of the key frames.

The key frame led us to various news articles from 2017 about a man being beaten by his in-laws in Sector 5 Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The news reports explained that the man was beaten by his father-in-law after he allegedly assaulted the latter's daughter. They also damaged his vehicle with lathis as can be seen in the video.

The story was widely covered by local and national media including Times of India. Read more about it here.

BOOM had also debunked another video of a man praising Narendra Modi who was falsely identified as Congress MLA Anil Upadhyay. A simple Google search revealed that no such candidates exists in either BJP or Congress.