No, There Is No 'Love Jihad' Angle In Case Of This Viral Video Showing Disturbing Domestic Abuse

In the aftermath of the gruesome murder of a 26-year-old woman, Shraddha Walkar, in Delhi by her 28-year-old live-in partner, Aftab Amin Poonawalla, a video is going viral across social media with the claim that it shows a man from the Muslim community hitting a Hindu woman.

On May 18, 2022, Poonawalla allegedly strangled and killed his live-in partner Shraddha Walker, after a fight. He then dismembered her body into several parts, which he kept in a 300-litre fridge. Over the next few weeks, the accused attempted to dispose off the physical evidence by dumping the pieces of her body in different parts of the city.

Claim:

In the disturbing viral video running for two minutes and 15 seconds, a man can be standing while a woman and child sit around a table on which a cake, candles and balloons are placed. The viral video shows the man suddenly getting aggravated and raising his hand at the woman. The woman tries to pacify him, but the man becomes even angrier. The woman falls on the bed due to the force of the assault. The child witnesses the assault as it happens.

The text written in the video reads, 'What a psycho this bastard is, Mohammad Mushtaq GK, who works in an IT company in Bangalore,' identifying the man as a man allegedly from the Muslim community.

The video is being circulated with the caption, "Look what happens to a Hindu girl after love jihad." Users have circulated the video claiming the woman is from the Hindu community and is a victim of 'Love Jihad'.

The video is viral on Twitter and Facebook with a similar claim.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false.

We used InVid's Keyframe Analysis tool to isolate the keyframes of the viral video. We then conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes and came across this tweet by Swati Maliwal, the Chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, published on October 3, 2022.

In the tweet, she had shared the same video with the caption, " I am writing a letter to the CM of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai. This animal should be put behind bars."

Replying to this tweet, Alt News co-founder and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair said, "This is from Bangalore, 5 year old video. They both are now separated. She recently made one more video claiming she didn't get justice even after 5 years."

To verify these statements, we conducted a keyword search and came across a report by India Today published on October 4, 2022. The video report contains the viral video along with a video recorded by the woman being abused in the viral video.

In this video, she narrates that she has been living separately from her husband since the incident seen in the viral video. She says that she went back to her husband in 2015 and, after leaving him then, did not go back to him. She alleges that her husband levied false allegations against her and her relatives with the intention of trapping them in false cases.

We came across the same video uploaded on a YouTube channel, Snehilop News on October 4, 2022, titled, 'AYESHA Needs Our Help!'

We conducted another keyword search with the husband's name and came across this News18 report published on December 28, 2021. The report details how the High Court of Karnataka adjudged, "A Muslim wife can retain the exclusive custody of her minor child when she can stay away from her matrimonial house on the grounds of her husband's second marriage."

The ruling was made in the case of G K Mohammad Mushtaq, demanding the custody of his 8-year-old son from his first marriage. As per the News18 report, Mushtaq appealed to the High court for complete custody of his son. The High Court dismissed his plea and adjudged that he pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to his first wife.

The profession of Mushtaq is reported as a software professional from Bengaluru. The name of his first wife is mentioned as Ayesha Banu. As per the News 18 report, Mushtaq had married Banu, who hailed from Davanagere on March 30, 2009, and their son was born in 2013. Due to "various differences", they decided to separate and applied for divorce, the News 18 report notes. The report also notes that the couple has registered around eight cases against each other, such as defamation, harassment, mental torture, dowry, and alimony.

We then searched for the judgement in the case and came across the court document published on the legal records website Indian Kanoon. In the brief facts section of the judgement, it is noted that both the parties in the case of Mohammed Mushtaq GK vs Ayesha Bano are Sunni Muslims.

We also came across a series of interviews uploaded on Instagram on the verified Instagram handle, 'officialhumansofbombay' uploaded on November 1, 2022. In the video, Ayesha Bano narrates her harrowing experience of the domestic abuse she faced.

Conclusion:

We found that both the persons seen in the viral video are from the Muslim community. They were married and have separated since the video showing the abuse went viral. There is no indication of a communal angle. Thus, we can conclude that the claims circulated with the viral video are false.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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