How an Ujjain Arrest Was Recast as a Muslim Crime 

A viral video from Madhya Pradesh has been used to push communal narratives online by falsely attributing Muslim names to the accused and inventing allegations of harassment. Official documents reveal a different story altogether.

Social media has become a space where almost every event and every report is twisted to fit a communal narrative. Platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook have increasingly turned into breeding grounds for hate, misinformation, and polarising content. In India, minority communities are frequently targeted by organised Hindutva networks that seek to communalise crimes and other social issues. In many cases, individuals’ actions are projected onto entire communities, turning minorities into convenient villains in online narratives. 

For the past three days, yet another incident has been circulating widely on social media, with posts attempting to portray Muslims as the perpetrators of an unrelated event.

What is the viral claim?

On 12 June, a Facebook page called Kreatly Media shared a video showing police officers parading three young men through a busy street. In the footage, an officer can be seen beating the men as they walk, while the three are tied together with a rope.

The video was captioned: “Mohammad Arif, Ashraf Ali, and Asif Khan, aged 22–23, were teasing girls outside a school and making obscene gestures. Police caught them today and thrashed them ”.

The page, which has around 1,400 followers, is a frequent peddler of misinformation and has previously shared several misleading claims.

Another page called ‘We Stand for Citizen Amendment Bill/NRC’ shared the same video on June 13. The caption claimed that armed crooks had vandalised a house late at night in Ujjain. The video has received more than 1,500 likes and 72 shares.

One user commented, “They used to stand near a girls’ school & bother girls”. Another comment read, “This acupuncture (sic) should be given to every jihadist so that their sushumna pulse can get out of the negative energy as named jihad”. The author of the post reacted to this comment with a laughing emoji.

Several other comments remarked that the men deserved harsher punishment, with users writing things such as, “Why do they have their clothes on?” and “Very less punishment”.

The fact behind the viral claim

We performed a reverse image search using key frames from the viral video. The footage had also gone viral in April, accompanied by similar communal claims in the captions. 

The reverse image search further led us to an Instagram Reel posted by HBTV News on April 18, which contained a longer version of the same video. The reel’s caption and overlay text stated that miscreants had created havoc in Bafna Park Colony in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.

A subsequent keyword search led us to several news reports about the incident. According to these reports, a group of miscreants attacked homes, pelted stones, and vandalised vehicles in Bafna Park Colony, Ujjain, on the night of April 16, 2026. The violence reportedly stemmed from a dispute at a car-washing centre. Sheran Ali, who operates the facility in the area, had allegedly refused to wash the group’s vehicles because of unpaid dues. In response, the group vandalised vehicles parked outside his residence, physically assaulted him, and attempted to extort money from him.

The FIR was filed against five accused under relevant sections relating to causing hurt, property damage, and extortion. Police arrested three of the individuals named in the FIR — Kishan Ahirwar, Vikas Saroliya, and Vishal Saroliya — and paraded them through the street on April 17, 2026. The remaining two accused, Rishi Mishra and Sahil Gurjar, are absconding, according to the FIR.

The FIR clearly indicates that the names mentioned in the viral posts are false. There is also no evidence to support the claim that the men were paraded for teasing schoolgirls.

Ujjain ASP Alok Sharma also confirmed to India Today in April that the three individuals featured in the video were not Muslim; they were Hindu.

The viral posts falsely identify the individuals seen in the video and misrepresent the reason for their arrest. Official records and contemporary news reports show that the men were accused in a case involving assault, vandalism, and extortion following a local dispute, not for harassing schoolgirls. By attaching Muslim names to the accused and inventing a different motive for the arrest, the posts attempt to give a communal spin to an otherwise unrelated incident.