{"id":54157,"date":"2019-12-19T22:50:48","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T17:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=54157"},"modified":"2019-12-21T22:42:08","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T17:12:08","slug":"caa-protest-no-bengaluru-cop-did-not-threaten-to-punch-historian-ramachandra-guha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/caa-protest-no-bengaluru-cop-did-not-threaten-to-punch-historian-ramachandra-guha\/","title":{"rendered":"CAA Protest: No, Bengaluru cop did not threaten to punch historian Ramachandra Guha"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 19 witnessed nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). People across the country took to the streets while the police in most states denied permission for protest and imposed Section 144. Among the protesters in Bengaluru, Karnataka was historian Ramachandra Guha who, with several others, was detained by the police. A video of the police detaining Guha is widely circulating on social media. However, some circulated it with the claim that a cop threatened to punch him.<\/p>\n

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted<\/a>,\u00a0“Is this cop threatening to hit \u2066<\/span>@Ram_Guha <\/span>with his fist? <\/span>“<\/em><\/p>\n

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Is this cop threatening to hit \u2066@Ram_Guha<\/a>\u2069 with his fist? It\u2019s bad enough to arrest a senior historian exercising his democratic right to protest. But to do so with the threat of force is disgraceful & the cop deserves stern disciplinary action. Does the Home Minister care? pic.twitter.com\/ogjD47pgsd<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Journalist Faye DSouza tweeted<\/a> along similar lines,\u00a0“The police man made a fist….. <\/span>#Bangalore.<\/span>“<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In fact, several other journalists claimed the same – Rituparna Chatterjee<\/a>, Rupa Subramanya<\/a>, Saikat Datta<\/a> and Amol Rajan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

DMK’s IT-wing deputy secretary Isai tweeted<\/a>,\u00a0“The police in the right about to fist punch <\/span>@Ram_Guha<\/a>.<\/span>“<\/em><\/p>\n

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The police in the right about to fist punch @Ram_Guha<\/a> #CAA_NRC<\/a> has come to this juncture! #BJPburningIndia<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Ak2fJuP6vY<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u0b87\u0b9a\u0bc8 (@isai_) December 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another user Md Asif Khan<\/a> and historian William Dalrymple<\/a> made similar assertions.<\/p>\n

VISUAL ANALYSIS<\/h2>\n

Alt News analysed the viral video and found that the claim that a policeman threatened to punch historian Ramachandra Guha during anti-CAA protests is false. While it appears that the cop was making a fist when the video is watched at normal speed, a slowed-down version of the video reveals that he was reaching for the breast pocket on his uniform.<\/p>\n

The clip below is 16x times slower than the original.<\/p>\n