Visuals of a naked person hitting police officials in Uttar Pradesh falsely linked to Manipur

By: Rajini KG
July 21 2023

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(Trigger Warning: This story contains descriptions of distressing visuals, and mentions of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.)

Context

Earlier this week, a disturbing video of two women being sexually assaulted and paraded naked in the Indian state of Manipur surfaced online, triggering widespread condemnation. The Supreme Court of India has asked the central and Manipur governments to provide a complete report on the incident that took place on May 4, a day after ethnic clashes broke out between the Metei and Kuki tribes in the northeastern state. As of Friday, four accused were arrested from Manipur's Thoubal district, and the investigation is ongoing.

In the aftermath of the video going viral, several social media users are sharing unrelated videos to make false and misleading claims about the May 4 incident, the civil unrest, and protests against the state of affairs in Manipur. One such video shows a naked person attacking police officers with a stick on a street. The video has been shared with the claim that it is from Manipur. One Twitter user 'I am Kesariya (@Kesariya_Meenu)’ shared the video in a quote-tweet responding to a post by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The video was shared with the caption: "Reality of Manipur. In Manipur, at the behest of the Congress, a separate team of naked women has been formed to protest against the police and the army, that is, they are chasing the police naked, that is, imagine what kind of conspiracy is going on there and the chamchas are dancing here. To execute this conspiracy, Rahul Gendi (sic) had gone to Manipur, at the same time the Kuki women had threatened to oppose the army naked. And here is the reality..!! #कुकी_समुदाय #cjidychandrachud.” The tweet insinuates that the Congress party is responsible for the situation in Manipur. The tweet had gained over 114,000 views and over 300 retweets at the time of publishing. The archive of the post can be found here.

However, the video is not from Manipur. The video was filmed in Uttar Pradesh.

In Fact

On listening to the audio of the viral video closely, we could hear someone shouting “Sonu Kinnar Zindabad (Long live Sonu Kinnar)” around the 0:03 timestamp. We also across news reports and videos related to one Sonu Kinnar, who was a candidate in a local poll held in the Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh.  

The viral video was shared by Jitendar Verma, district president of Samajwadi Party Uttar Pradesh, on May 16. He had shared the video with the caption: “ Sonu Kinnar, a transgender independent candidate, won the Municipal Council elections in Mughalsarai of Chandauli district by 834 votes, yet the administration declared BJP candidate Malti Devi as the winner by 138 votes (translated from Hindi).” The caption added that members of the transgender community protested against the declaration of results, alleging vote rigging and demanding a recount. “After this, Sonu Kinnar won again by 440 votes," the tweet further read.

On May 16, Piyush Mishra, national spokesperson of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) in Uttar Pradesh, shared a more extended version of the incident. Visuals captured in the viral video can be spotted from the 1:35 timestamp. His tweet also stated that the transgender community protested against the declaration of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Malti Devi as the winner of the local body elections. Twitter account ‘Dainik Samachar @DainikSamachar6’ had also posted the same viral video on May 16.

According to news reports, Sonu Kinnar, an independent candidate from Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Naga (also called Mughalsarai), had contested the local municipal elections for the chairman post in Chanduali district. The polls for the constituency were held on May 4, and the results were announced on May 13. News 18 UP Uttar Pradesh reported that on the counting day, a clash between Sonu’s supporters and those of the BJP candidate erupted over the election results. Sonu’s supporters then clashed with the police, the report further said. In a video report shared on its YouTube channel, The Indian Express had said that Sonu was later elected Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Nagar Municipal Corporation chairman by defeating the BJP candidate by 397 votes.

The Verdict

A video from May taken during a clash over the results of a local poll in Uttar Pradesh has been falsely linked to violence in Manipur. Therefore, we mark this claim as false.

(Editor's Note: We have refrained from sharing any links to the original video as they show nudity.)