Fact check: No religious hate crime angle in viral video showing people beating a man

The viral video claimed to show a Muslim youth being beaten by Hindus is old and has no communal angle in it. Viral claims are misleading.

Misleading claim about an old clash in Delhi's Jahangirpuri
Screenshot of post containing an old video of a clash between youths in Delhi's Jahangirpuri. (PC: X)

Lighthouse Journalism came across a video being widely shared on social media platforms, especially X. The sensitive video showed a group of people beating a person. On social media the crime is being projected as a hate crime against one religion. This was said to have happened in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri. During the investigation we found that the video is old and does not have a hate crime angle.

Claim:

X user @iamharunkhan shared the viral video with a misleading claim.

Check the archive version of the post here.

Other users too are sharing the video with the same claim.

Investigation:

We started the investigation using a combination of Google reverse image search and Google keyword search.

We found a news report about the incident on The Print.

The report mentioned:  One of the juveniles beat up Kaif, police said, adding that the minor later returned with some of his associates, again thrashed the youth.

The report was uploaded on 09 August, 2023.

We found a report on Times of India.

The report mentioned: The juvenile informed his other friends about the incident and they hatched the murder plan. “The accused and the victim are from different communities, but there is nothing communal in the incident,” said a senior police officer.

We also found a reply from DCP North-West Delhi on one of the videos posted.

Conclusion: The viral video claimed to show a Muslim youth being beaten by Hindus is old and has no communal angle in it. Viral claims are misleading.