A disturbing video from Rajasthan of a man tied to a tree and allegedly being force-fed from a bottle over an alleged relationship with a woman is being shared with a false claim that the victim was beaten up by upper caste men because of a caste issue. Rajasthan police dismissed the claim and told BOOM the accused and the victim, both belong to the same Bhil caste.
The viral graphic video shows a tonsured man tied to a tree and being forced fed a liquid from a bottle, while surrounded by men armed with sticks. The video was shared with captions claiming that the man was forced to drink urine from the bottle. The claim says that the victim is a Dalit and was beaten by men from the upper caste.
The 1.04 minutes video is being shared with the caption, "Dalit oppression is at a peak in Rajasthan. Some dominate caste mob torturing a dalit, man tied with rope and forcing to drink urine publically."
BOOM has decided to not include the video in the story, given its graphic nature.
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On searching with the same caption, we found that the video was being shared with the false claim.
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FACT-CHECK
On searching with the keywords, 'Rajasthan', 'Man beaten', 'Barmer', we found news reports about the incident stating that it had occurred in Chohtan, Barmer district, Rajasthan where a man alleged to be in a relationship with a woman from the village was beaten by a group of people and allegedly made to drink urine.
Danik Bhaskar reported that the victim in the viral video was identified as Bhupat Ram Bhil who had allegedly entered a house of a woman in Ratanpura and stayed there at night. According to the report, when people in the area came to know in the morning, they tied him to the tree and beat him and later cut his hair.
Additionally, the Barmer Police on Twitter quote tweeted the viral video dismissing the claim that the man is a Dalit tortured by people from a dominant caste. The police said that the incident is from July 25 and an FIR has been registered and six people have been arrested.
BOOM contacted Ajit Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Chohtan, Barmer Police, who dimissed the no caste angle being made in the viral posts and said that both the accused and victim belonged to the same Bhil caste.
"Both the accused and victim are from the same Bhil case and are distant relatives. The victim was beaten by a group of people after he was caught with a woman, having spent the night in her house. We filed a case against the accused after the video went viral as the victim did not voluntarily come forward after the incident."
The police also said that the six accused named in the FIR have been arrested and booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
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