Stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui was arrested in Indore, Madhya Pradesh along with four others after the son of a BJP MLA filed a complaint accusing them of passing indecent remarks about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a show. Following this, a video showing a man beaten up by cops and a lawyer is being widely shared on social media platforms claiming that it shows comic Munawar Faruqui thrashed in the court campus. 

A Facebook user named Abhishek Rajak shared the video with a caption in Hindi that can be roughly translated to, " Munavwar Farooqui was first beaten by the police and then beaten by the lawyer, see the situation."

A Twitter user also shared the video with a caption saying, "Comedian Munawar Faruqui was beaten up by BJP councilor's spoilt brat and his gang in Indore! Look at the abuses hurled by the police itself instead of arresting the goon of BJP."

We also received a request to check the veracity of the claim made with the video. 

The video shows a man dressed in a white shirt assaulting the man as he sits on a motorcycle flanked by cops from the front and behind. One of the cops abuses him.

The truth behind the claim 

In our investigation, we found this claim to be false. The man seen in the viral video is Sadakat, a friend of Faruqui, who had gone to visit him after he was arrested in Indore on January 2, 2021.

With the help of relevant keyword searches, we found a Times of India report says that police had denied that any of the suspects were beaten up. According to the report, police said that the youth seen in the viral video is a 'friend of the accused'.

According to a  report published on January 2 in NDTV Khabar, Munawar's friend Sadakat, who was at the district court in connection with the incident, was mistaken for the stand up comic and assaulted by a man.

Republic Bharat also published a story on January 4 stating that a friend of Faruqui was beaten up outside the district court by a lawyer.

Moreover, by comparing a screenshot from the viral video with Faruqui's photo, we found the man sitting on the motorcycle did not resemble Faruqui.

In conclusion, a video showing comic Munawar Faruqui's friend Sadakat beaten up by cops and a lawyer in Indore is being shared with a false claim that it shows Faruqui being thrashed in the court campus.