Photo of BJP leader and son falsely shared as accused in Manipur viral video case

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

Context

A video which showed two women belonging to the Kuki-Zomi community being paraded naked and sexually assaulted by a mob in Manipur’s Thoubal district surfaced on social media on Wednesday, July 19. The video is said to be from May 4, a day after ethnic clashes broke out in the northeastern Indian state between Meitei community and the Kuki tribe. 

The incident sparked outrage and condemnation across the country. The police have arrested six people in connection with the case, including a juvenile. 

Multiple Twitter users, including Communist Party of India (Marxist) member Subhashini Ali, shared a photo of two men in RSS uniform and falsely claimed that they were the accused in the case. In a post, Ali wrote, “They are the Manipur accused. Recognise them by their clothes.” 

However, Ali later apologised for her tweet. 

In Fact

Users on Twitter pointed out that the viral image actually showed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Manipur State Vice President Chidananda Singh and his son. We found that the image was originally posted on Singh’s Facebook account on October 17, 2022. It was shared with the caption, “Yesterday 16 October with my son Ch Sachinanda n cousin Ashoka (sic).”

Speaking to Logically Facts, Singh denied the allegations and said that he has written a letter to Manipur's Director General of Police (DGP) requesting action against the posts. Singh shared a copy of the FIR with us, which has also been posted on his Facebook page, along with the letter.

The FIR, registered on July 23, 2023, has been filed against unknown persons under Section 505(1)(c) (intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community), Section 120B (Punishment of criminal conspiracy), Section 211 (False charge of offence made with intent to injure), Section 500 (Punishment for defamation), and Section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). 

DGP Manipur Rajiv Singh also told Logically Facts that a case has been registered against this false news. Manipur police's tweet on the matter mentioned that a complaint had been registered by a functionary of a political party that a false image of him and his son was being falsely circulated as accused in the case involving the viral video incident. 

The names of the two of the six arrested accused known till now are Huirem Heradas Singh and Yumlembam Nungsithoi. Singh told Logically Facts that the police is not sharing the rest of the names for the sake of the ongoing investigation. 

Logically Facts previously fact-checked a similar claim where Indian news agency ANI falsely tweeted that a man named Abdul Hilim was arrested in the sexual assault case, giving it a communal angle. In reality, Hilim was arrested in an unrelated case. 

The Verdict

The claim connecting an old photo of the Manipur BJP vice president and his son to the Manipur viral video case is false as confirmed by multiple sources including the DGP Manipur. A case also has been registered against the spread of this image with a false caption. Therefore, we are marking the claim as false.