Did angry commuters force BJP leader to deboard train over Kathua, Unnao incidents? - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
19th April 2018 / 6:25 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018
Amidst the public outrage following the recent incidents of rape in Kathua and Unnao, a video is being circulated on social media with the claim that a BJP leader was asked by the public to deboard a local train he was travelling in, in Mumbai. The video shows angry passengers heckling political activists. The text accompanying the video says, “It happened in Mumbai, Bjp leader was travelling in a train, suddenly passengers are shouted and said ‘bahar nikalo, bahar nikalo bcz 10 year old girl is travelling in this train”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaQzT4lNsRY
The video has been shared by a number of users on Facebook and many pages and groups too have posted it with the aforementioned claim. The Facebook page Hyderabad Deccan with over 550,000 followers uploaded this video on April 16 which was viewed over 380,000 times and shared more than 15,000 times. It has also been shared widely on YouTube and WhatsApp.
What is the truth?
At Alt News, we have observed that the popular tactic is to take a video out of context and circulate it with a claim that is false. This is one such instance. The video in question is indeed from Mumbai and the men being heckled are BJP workers, but the anger of the passenger is NOT related to the incidents of Kathua and Unnao.
The incident is of April 6, 2018. The ruckus took place after BJP activists had barged inside an air conditioned local train to attend BJP President Amit Shah’s rally in Mumbai. Travelling without tickets, they got into an argument with commuters when questioned. They were later asked to deboard after a complaint was lodged with Railway officials.
Such videos with false claims seek to manipulate public sentiment. Social media users are advised to be cautious and not to believe such information without verifying. A search on Google reveals that this incident took place in a different context and has no relation to the recent incidents that have caused public anger.
Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming.
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