A video of a transperson running naked and chasing a cop while taking steps to hit him with a stick is going viral with a false claim that it is from the violence hit Manipur. India TV observed that the video is from Uttar Pradesh and shows transgender supporters of an indipendent candidate Sonu Kinnar causing uproar during the counting of votes in Uttar Pradesh's Chandauli area.
In this viral video of May 4, two women were paraded naked by some group of people. After this video went viral, many more similar videos with misleading claims are going viral on social media. After this, when we did a fact check of this video, the truth came to the fore.
Since May this year, Manipur has seen a few rough conflicts between the Meitei and Kuki people group with several died in the violence-hit state. Manipur chief minister Biren Singh also met with Home Minister Amit Shah to brief him about the circumstance. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been raising questions over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on the developing turmoil.
A Twitter user Maha (@Maha39574742) shared the 36-second viral clip claiming that it is from Manipur. The same video was also shared by another Twitter account Kesariya Meenu (@Kesaria_Meenu) with the caption that a group of naked women were active in Manipur fighting against the police. Many users have made this video viral on social media and almost all of them have claimed that this woman is from the Meitei community of Manipur and she is protesting against the police naked.
India TV did a fact check of the viral video
When we listen to this video, it is heard in the very beginning, the voice of "Sonu Kinnar Zindabad" is heard. When we searched 'Sonu Kinnar' on Google, many videos and news surfaced. Almost all the videos were of 16 May 2023. Many national media organisations of the country had uploaded this video on their YouTube channels. When we started watching one of these videos which was uploaded on UP Tak carefully, the whole truth started coming out. Uploaded on May 16, 2023, this video turned out to be from Chandauli in Uttar Pradesh.
In May 2023, Sonu Kinnar contested the body elections as an independent candidate. This video came out when there was a dispute between the supporters of Sonu Kinnar and the supporters of BJP candidate named Malti Sonkar during the election results. Malti Sonkar lost to Sonu Kinnar in the civic polls by 397 votes. After this, BJP supporters allegedly stormed the counting center demanding recounting, following which Sonu Kinnar's supporters got into a scuffle with the police.
The blurred footage of a naked woman protesting against the police appears several times in the same video by UP Tak. In this, the reporter is also seen saying how the transgender supporters are pushing and shoving the police naked.
After this, we searched some videos on Twitter with some keywords of the same video to further strengthen our suspicion. During this, many similar videos came to the fore. One of these Twitter user Gyanendra Shukla (@gyanu999) had shared one such long video on May 16 itself. In this video too, many protesters were seen protesting naked and chasing the police. In the same video by Twitter user Gyanendra Shukla, we also found the part which is being shared with the claim of Manipur.
What India TV Fact Check team found
India TV Fact Check Team in its probe has found that the video of naked women which was being shared viral as being from Manipur is actually from Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh. In the original video, some supporters of Sonu Kinnar stripped naked and started protesting to chase away the police during the counting of votes for the civic elections. The viral video is not a woman from the Meitei community of Manipur.
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