Old photo of Lucknow cop falsely shared as Delhi police brutality - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
17th December 2019 / 2:59 pm / Last updated: 1st February 2021
With protests raging against the centre’s farm legislation in the national capital and other parts of the country, a photograph has been shared on social media as brutal police crackdown on protesters. The tweet below was made by @RaviSinghKA and drew over 2,400 retweets. The Hindi text inscribed on the photograph reads, “जितनी बार इस पोस्ट को डिलीट करोगे उतनी बार पोस्ट करूँगा #दिल्ली पुलिस का खौफ नाक चेहरा.” (I will post this image each time you delete it. Delhi police’s dreadful face.)
The image is widespread on both Facebook and Twitter.
The photo was also shared in 2019 against the backdrop of the protests against the Citizenship law in Delhi.
The photo shows a police officer placing his foot on a protester lying on the ground. It was shared by assistant professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad at Ashoka University. The tweet is no longer available. It claimed that this image is of the crackdown by the police on the protesting students of Jamia Milia Islamia in Delhi.
The photo had been posted with the hashtags #JamiaMilia and #CABProtests among others, suggesting that it represents police action on students of Jamia.
Crush….Crushing….Crushed.
Well done, but your brutality will never stop their voice.#SOSJAMIA #JamiaMilia #CABProtests#CABBill2019#JamiaProtestsCAB#ShameOnDelhiPolice#Dangaai_DelhiPolice@IndiasMuslimspic.twitter.com/4ZOltpAK6f
— KK Adeeb (@KKAdeeb1) December 15, 2019
Alt News found the photograph in question is not recent and does not in any way pertain to the protest by students of Jamia Milia Islamia, or the subsequent police crackdown.
Upon reverse-searching the image, Alt News found several results which claimed that this photograph was clicked in Kashmir. None of these websites was, however, credible. On further probing, we came across an article published by Catch News in 2017. This article contained the same photograph, captioned as ‘Anand Bhadauria being assaulted by then-Lucknow DIG, DK Thakur in 2011.’
The report states that the photograph was clicked in Lucknow, UP in 2011 when workers of the Samajwadi Party had protested against the arrest of their leader Akhilesh Yadav, during state-wide protests against the ruling BSP. The officer in the picture is D K Thakur, the then DIG of Lucknow, and the person on the ground is Anand Bhadauria, a Samajwadi Party leader.
The photograph has been falsely shared in the Pakistani social media ecosystem as brutality by Indian security personnel on residents in Kashmir. Alt News found the photo has been shared with the Kashmir narrative since at least 2013.
Pakistani pop artist Rabi Pirzada had also shared the image as Indian army’s brutality in Kashmir.
The peaceful indian army with kashmiri people,
These pics are for those people who still justify India about kashmir…#chotisibaat pic.twitter.com/stC8AGgfOA
— Rabi Pirzada (@Rabipirzada) August 6, 2019
It may thus be noted that this photograph showing a police officer trying to crush a protester under his shoe dates back to 2011. It is not related to the recent protest against the farm law or the Citizenship Amendment Act by students of Jamia Milia Islamia.
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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