Sabrimala: BJP's K Surendran falsely claims woman injured due to Kerala police brutality - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
18th October 2018 / 8:38 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019
“Kerala CM Mr. @vijayanpinarayi, just remember you are an elected CM. You have the responsibility to take everyone into account and act accordingly. In Sabarimala issue, you are ignoring the majority feelings, brutally attacking our mothers using your power @cpimspeak @CMOKerala.” This message is by K. Surendran, General Secretary of Kerala BJP, who has targeted Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan over the manner in which the state police has handled the protests over the Sabarimala issue. Along with the message, Surendran has tweeted a photograph of a woman lying injured on the ground.
Kerala CM Mr. @vijayanpinarayi, just remember you are an elected CM. You have the responsibility to take everyone into account and act accordingly. In Sabarimala issue, you are ignoring the majority feelings, brutally attacking our mothers using your power @cpimspeak @CMOKerala pic.twitter.com/Srho66krj2
— K Surendran (@surendranbjp) October 17, 2018
Surendran’s tweet of October 17 has been retweeted over 150 times. The photograph has been shared widely with the allegation that the Kerala police has resorted to heavy use of force, not even sparing women.
Pic1 -Resmi Nair, An Atheist & Leading Left voice who got arrested for running #SexRacket is being lined up by @CPIMKerala to enter #Sabarimala
Pic2 -An unknown Mother, a devotee of #Ayyappa, brutally beaten by #KeralaPolice while conducting a peaceful protest
End of Communism? pic.twitter.com/LUnorVUgVt
— നചികേതസ് (@nach1keta) October 18, 2018
The woman shown in the picture lying injured was NOT attacked by Kerala police. This becomes obvious once the footage of the incident is seen.
As can be seen in the video, the woman wearing a red blouse and cream-coloured saree appears to be hit by a stone on her head, following which she collapses on the ground. No policeman can be seen anywhere close to the woman when she fell to the ground. The sequence of events is shown below.
Manorama News and Asianet News have reported that the woman was injured due to stone-pelting and not due to heavy-handedness by the police as alleged by K.Surendran.
Kerala has often been at the centre of misinformation/disinformation by vested interests seeking political gain in the state. In another instance, an old, unrelated photograph was used on social media to project ‘brutality on Hindus’ by Kerala police in the wake of the Sabarimala protests which have rocked the state. Some days back it was the same story- old images used to mislead social media users.
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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