CAA Protests: Old video from MP shared as UP police thrashing stone-pelters

A video of policemen brutally thrashing several men has been shared with the claim that Uttar Pradesh police is beating stone-pelters for destructing public property. “UP Police प्रस्तुत शॉर्ट फिल्म अंजाम ऐ पत्थरबाजीदेश की संपत्ति को नुकसान पहुचाने वालो के साथ यही होना चाहिये (UP Police presents a short film ‘result of stone-pelting’. This should happen with those who cause destruction to nation’s property -translated)”, reads the tweet by Akash RSS.

UP Police प्रस्तुत शॉर्ट फिल्म अंजाम ऐ पत्थरबाजी
देश की संपत्ति को नुकसान पहुचाने वालो के साथ यही होना चाहिये pic.twitter.com/6nrAtv7Oiz

— Akash RSS (@Satynistha) January 2, 2020

Akash RSS is ‘Akash Soni’. In a 2017 report, Alt News had investigated that he was the man behind a popular fake news website Coverage Times. Another report published in June 2018 revealed that he was one of the individuals running misinformation and propaganda Facebook page ‘BJP All India’. Soni was also found to be behind the targetted harassment of journalist Ravish Kumar through a WhatsApp group.

On January 2, one Santosh Bhardwaj also tweeted the video with a similar message.

जो लोग यह बोल रहे थे कि यह तो अभी शुरुआत है पत्थरबाजी कि, ये उनके लिए स्पेशल अंजाम ए पत्थरबाजी 😂😂👇👇 pic.twitter.com/SpJZtt8Gm6

— Santosh Bhardwaj (@SKBhardwaj_) January 2, 2020

Hardik Shandilya too posted the video on Twitter with the claim, “2020 की यूपी पुलिस की प्रस्तुति एक शॉर्ट फिल्म जिसका टाइटल है :- अंजाम-ऐ-पत्थरबाज़ी एवं तोड़फोड़ (In 2020, UP police presents a short film titled: ‘result of stone-pelting and vandalism’ -translated)”. Interestingly, all the caption shared along with this video include a common phrase, “अंजाम-ऐ-पत्थरबाज़ी (the result of stone-pelting)”. 

2020 की यूपी पुलिस की प्रस्तुति एक शॉर्ट फिल्म
जिसका टाइटल है :- अंजाम-ऐ-पत्थरबाज़ी एवं तोड़फोड़#नए_वर्ष_नया_अंदाज़#यूपी_पुलिस_जिंदाबाद pic.twitter.com/I9qW9C6WXU

— 🚩हार्दिक सिंह🚩 (@hardikshandilya) January 1, 2020

2015 video from Madhya Pradesh

With a keyword search on YouTube, Alt News found a video report published by ABP News on May 29, 2015. “Indore police beats criminals publicly on roads”, reads the title of the video.

According to the report, Madhya Pradesh’s Indore police took a ‘Taliban’ approach to curb rising crime. Processions of criminals from about 15 police stations of Indore were taken out by the cops. Accused and suspects were among those who were beaten publicly by the police. The report claims that the police were taking out these goons from their homes and beating them up in their locality to reduce the fear of these men from people’s mind.

UP Police’s fact-check division also took to Twitter and clarified that the video is not from the state.

वीडियो में दिखायी जा रही घटना @UPPolice से संबंधित नहीं है कृपया भ्रामक प्रचार न करें!#UPPAgainstFakenewshttps://t.co/WDp95grvnX https://t.co/d60Mlj0vL0

— UPPOLICE FACT CHECK (@UPPViralCheck) January 17, 2020

In conclusion, a four-year-old video of men publicly thrashed by Madhya Pradesh police was shared as Uttar Pradesh police taking action against stone-pelters in the backdrop of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state.