Police ask X to remove video of assault on migrant worker

The Tamil Nadu Police have written to X Corp. (formerly Twitter Inc.) seeking the blocking of 22 Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) that contain visuals of the brutal assault on a migrant worker by four juveniles in Tiruttani on December 26, 2025.

In a communication to the social media platform, the Cyber Crime Wing (CCW) of the State police said the circulation of such videos could adversely influence the younger generation, promote violent behaviour and potentially disturb public harmony, police sources said on Friday.

The incident occurred near the railway quarters close to the Tiruttani railway station, where the juveniles attacked the victim with a sharp-edged weapon, causing severe cut injuries. The victim was later identified as Suraj, 34, a native of Odisha.

The accused, all hailing from Nemelli in Tiruvallur district, reportedly recorded the assault on their mobile phones and uploaded the video on social media. The footage soon went viral, drawing sharp condemnation from civil society, including politicians, journalists and social media influencers. The juveniles were arrested by the local police.

Suraj was rushed to the Government Hospital, where he was treated and later discharged, the sources said. It remains unclear whether he was shifted to another hospital or doctors found his health condition stable enough for discharge.

‘May mislead youth’

According to police sources, the CCW acted on a request from the investigating officer, who pointed out the videos posted across 22 social media handles contained graphic violent content. Such material, the officer noted, not only glorified rowdyism and fostered a culture of violence but also risked misleading young people with harmful ideologies.

The State police requested X Corp to block access to the URLs to prevent further offences and the continued spread of the content.

“Since the mentioned handle violates the law of the land, you are informed that failure to block the post will lead to initiation of action against X Corp as envisaged under Rule 7 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021,” the letter stated.

Confirming the move, a senior police officer said sharing visuals that revealed the identity of juveniles in conflict with law in an offence was a punishable offence under the Juvenile Justice Act.

“We act strictly in accordance with the law, not emotions. Steps have been taken to block the URLs as the content involves graphic violence and exposes the identities of juveniles,” the officer said. A verification of the URLs revealed the videos had been shared by X handles belonging to some top politicians in the State, a popular fact-checker, and others.