Fact-check: Were Mysore cops beaten for fining people for not wearing masks? - Alt News
Kinjal
27th March 2021 / 8:51 pm
India is witnessing a steep rise in coronavirus cases and the government has instructed citizens to follow COVID norms. A video has been shared against the backdrop of guidelines reinstated in several places. The video shows a mob thrashing a policeman and accompanying Gujarati messages allege that cops were attacked for collecting money from those not wearing masks in public. A mob of angry locals attacked police officers in Mysore, Karnataka, says the claim. Facebook user Juned Qureshi posted the video gathering over 56,000 views at the time of writing.
Another video is being shared with the same message.
A third video, viral on Facebook, has also been shared with an identical suggestion.
સુરુવાત્ થઈ ગઈ મેસુર્ કર્ણાટક થી.
પાબ્લિક્ કંટારી ગઈ .માસ્ક ના નામે પૈસા ભરીને..
પોલીસ ની ધુલાઇ સરુ જમ્કર્👉🏾
Posted by Arbaz Mirza on Thursday, March 25, 2021
The clips are also being shared as people protesting the lockdown in Maharashtra.
It is to be noted that all three videos depict the same incident. According to The News Minute, a bike driver was killed in a road accident that occurred near the Mysore Ring Road check post on March 22. The crowd gathered there said that the police were responsible for the incident. Bike driver Devraj and pillion rider Suresh were trying to escape the police when the bike slipped and collided with a lorry coming from behind. Devraj died on the spot.
A mob of angry passers-by beat up the police mercilessly. Following this, the police registered a case under Section 304A against the lorry driver. At the same time, two cops and the lorry driver, who was also injured in the skirmish, also filed complaints.
First video
A video report by Maha News dated March 23 covered the accident in Karnataka.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uFNAkndPQ0]
Scenes from the first viral video appear after the 0:27 mark in the broadcast.
Second video
Visuals from the second video can be seen in an article by The News Minute.
Journalist Revathi Rajeevan had tweeted the second video and said that in an effort to escape from the police, a biker hurriedly tried to take a U-turn and fell off the vehicle. The lorry coming from behind ran over him and the biker died on the spot. An angry mob beat up traffic police officers, blaming them for the accident. The patrolling vehicle was also damaged during the altercation.
This happened in Mysuru today. Locals gathered to assault a traffic cop and another patrol vehicle driver. A bike rider took a u-turn to avoid police checking ahead, fell, was ran over by a lorry. Died on spot. Angry locals assaulted two cops and damaged patrol vehicle@CNNnews18 pic.twitter.com/DmVEMxqcAW
— Revathi Rajeevan (@RevathiRajeevan) March 22, 2021
Third video
The scenes from the third viral clip can be seen in an ‘Ee Sanje News’ video story. The picture below compares stills from both videos that have been shot from different camera angles. One can see the front of the police car in the screenshot on the right while the vehicle’s rear can be spotted in the screenshot on the left.
Journalist Karthik Nayaka of The New Indian Express tweeted that the Vijaynagar police detained eight people on charges of attacking cops. The pillion rider on the bike issued a statement saying that the policemen had no involvement in the accident.
8 persons have been detained so far by Vijaynagar police officers on charges of assaulting cops and damaging police vehicle.
The injured pillion rider in the accident has given a video statement clarifying that there was no role of police. pic.twitter.com/sBr9v477bQ
— Karthik Nayaka (@Karthiknayaka) March 23, 2021
Thus, police officers were attacked by an angry mob following the death of a young man in a road accident in Mysore. A video of the altercation was shared with the false claim that angry locals were beating cops who fined them for not wearing masks.
Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.
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