Old video from UP shared as DPS Rajbagh teacher’s speech against CAA, NRC

Twitter user @sdtiwari posted a video of a man speaking against CAA, NRC and politicians including Home Minister Amit Shah to a media person. @sdtiwari claimed that the man is ‘Shakeel Ahmed Ansari’, a teacher at DPS Rajbagh in Gujarat’s Valsad. This video gained over 10,000 views.

ये वलसाड के DPS SCHOOL Rajbag का टीचर शकील अहमद अंसारी है इसको इतना शेयर करो की ये टीचर और स्कूल दोनों बंद हो जाए । वीडियो
वायरल होने से काफी फ़र्क पड़ता है ओर कार्यवाही होती है जिसे दया न आये वो अपना मुंह (टाइपिंग) बंद रखे । pic.twitter.com/qvspkTRPHI

— 🇮🇳 शेषधर तिवारी 🇮🇳 (@sdtiwari) September 4, 2021

Twitter user @saffronncloud also posted this video. It gained over 100 retweets.

हिंदुओ सुन लो कि प्रधान मंत्री दारूबाज है। ये वीडियो सबको भेजिए ये वलसाड के DPS SCHOOL Rajbag का टीचर शकील अहमद अंसारी है ।
यह खुलेआम धमकी दे रहा।
प्रिय हिंदूओं सोते रहो। pic.twitter.com/4fIg0M29TL

— 🇮🇳Nainika🇮🇳🚩❤ ऊँ❤🚩 (@saffronncloud) September 14, 2021

Multiple Facebook and Twitter users have posted this video.

VIDEO NEITHER FROM GUJARAT NOR THE MAN IS A TEACHER AT DPS

Before we begin the fact-check, it’s worth noting that in 2019 Alt News debunked three false claims about DPS School Rajbagh.

In this report, we will answer the following questions:

1. What’s the location of DPS Rajbagh?
2. Where was the video shot and who is the man giving the bite?

DPS Rajbagh is located in J&K

A keyword search on Google reveals that the said school is not in Gujarat as claimed on social media but in Jammu & Kashmir’s Kathua city.

Details of the video

Alt News performed a reverse image search and found that the video dates back to at least December 13, 2019. A higher resolution version of the video was uploaded by a YouTube account named ‘irfanbagwan GFC‘. This video has the watermark of ‘LTV Exclusive’ which led us to the channel’s Facebook page. The video was uploaded on December 12, 2019. It has gained over 12 million views since then.

In the backdrop, the Banaras Hindu University’s iconic entrance can be spotted. Thus the video was shot in Varanasi. The image below is a street view of the gate.

A comparison of the gateway seen in the LTV video and Google street view is added below. The three palm trees in front of the entrance wall and the tomb in both images are the identifiers.

We reached out to a source at BHU and they identified the man and shared his Facebook profile. The man’s identity is concealed in an attempt to prevent online harassment. However, we can reveal that he is a political science researcher and human rights activist. Over a telephonic call, he told Alt News, “Yes, this my interview from Banaras during anti-CAA protests at BHU’s main gate in December 2019. I would like to share what I said was in context to the political scenario and circulating it now without context isn’t appropriate.”

To sum it up, a 2019 video of an activist’s interview with The LTV News during an anti-CAA protest in Banaras was shared with the false claim that the man in the video is Shakeel Ahmed Ansari, a teacher at DPS Rajbagh in Gujarat’s Valsad.