Fact Check: Video of rickshaw puller being beaten by cops is from Bihar, not Gujarat

New Delhi, Dec 09: A video has gone viral which shows a policeman thrashing a rickshaw puller on a flyover. The users who are sharing the clip claimed that this was shot in Gujarat where the elections just concluded in which the BJP won by a historic and thumping majority. Those sharing the clip did so with the hashtag GujaratModel hurts the people, Gujarat_Boycott_BJp and BJPCheatsGujarat.

The video started doing the rounds as Gujarat was prepping for the elections. On Thursday, the ruling BJP which has never lost an election since 1995 bagged 156 seats. This is the highest any party has won in Gujarat since the state was formed in 1960.

"Thank you Gujarat. I am overcome with a lot of emotions seeing the phenomenal election results. People blessed politics of development and at the same time expressed a desire that they want this momentum to continue at a greater pace. I bow to Gujarat's Jan Shakti," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet following the elections.

Now coming back to the video, OneIndia has learnt that this is a fake claim and was shared to mislead the people of Gujarat about the BJP ahead of the elections. While searching on Google we found that this clip is not from Gujarat but from Rajendra Nagar-Bahadurpur Bridge in Patna, Bihar.

If one looks at the video closely you can find a hoarding which reads, 'Now in Patna.' On Google we also found a a video posted on YouTube by Navbharat Times. The description of the video clearly mentions that it is from Bihar.

Further we also came across a Tweet by journalist Anand Singh. He had in fact shared the video on November 26. He had written while mentioning the incident that rickshaws are not allowed on the flyover and the puller of the same was thrashed for using it.

Dear @bihar_police can you justify this act of your men in uniform? This happened infront of my eyes at Rajendranagar Bahdurpur Bridge in Patna just few minutes ago. When I asked, why they beat the rickshawpuller, your men were more keen to know who we are and why we filmed, Singh wrote on Twitter while sharing the video that he himself had filmed.

Once Anand Singh had posted the video on Twitter, the same became viral. The incident also led to outrage online where many had questioned the manner in which the police treat the people.

Hence we can conclude that the video being shared with the claim that the policeman was seen beating a rickshaw puller is from Patna, Bihar and not Gujarat.