Video of civilians lathi-charged for not wearing masks is from MP

by Kinjal

A video shared on social media shows a man in civilian clothes and a cop beating those not wearing masks. It has been shared on two different claims.

CLAIM 1: Dr Sarveshwar Bhure, Collector of Chhattisgarh’s Durg district

Twitter user Devesh tweeted this 20-second video and wrote, “Now this is how a collector should be. They should do this in our Raipur as well.” It amassed more than 5,900 views at the time of writing. (Archive link)

The final few seconds of this clip are being shared separately, with users identifying the man in civilian clothes as Dr Sarveshwar Bhure, Collector of Chhattisgarh’s Durg district. Twitter handle ‘GM NEWS MP-CG’ also identified him as the Collector of Durg. (Archive link)

We also received a request to investigate the clip on Alt News official mobile app.

CLAIM 2: Video from Bhilwara

The same clip has been shared as police excess in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara.

It has been shared on both Twitter and Facebook.

 

भीलवाड़ा में चालु हो गया प्रोग्राम सभी सावधानी बरतें 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Posted by Mere Paas Tum Ho on Tuesday, 6 April 2021

Fact-check

Durg Collector Dr Sarveshwar Bhure himself posted a screenshot of the video and issued a tweet stating neither was he in the video nor were the visuals from Durg.

After taking a closer look, we noticed a hoarding of a shop in the background which reads ‘Vardhman Enterprise, Chhota Nagda’. Nagda is a city in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain district.

Alt News performed a keyword search and came across a post by Facebook user Surendra Shekhawat Kesur stating that the scenes are from Nagda (Chhota Nagda) village in the Badnawar region. He identified the man with the stick as SDM Virendra Katare.

 

जनता के सात केसा व्यवहार कर रहा है प्रशासन
🚩 आज बदनावर क्षेत्र के गाँव नागदा ( छोटा नागदा ) मे
प्रशासनिक अधिकारी SDM वीरेंद्र कटारे द्वारा आम जनता से दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण व्यवहार किया जो की गलत हे l
👉 आप जनता के सेवक हे l आप चाहते तो जनता को मास्क बाटकर भी जागरूक कर सकते थे l
जो कि अपने किया ही नहीं l
लाठी चार्ज करना हर समस्या का हल नहीं है l

Posted by सुरेंद्र शेखावत केसुर on Wednesday, March 31, 2021

YouTube channel ‘Dhar News Channel’ uploaded a video dated March 31 where the scenes from the viral clip appear between 0:44 and 1:00 mark. The channel informed that the police launched a ‘Roko Toko’ campaign due to rising COVID-19 cases in the Dhar area. SDM Virendra Katare of Badnavar was patrolling the streets, issuing challans to those without masks, and beating them with a stick.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImRupV63DHI]

On March 31, Nai Dunia reported that the police had begun taking strict action against defaulters amid the rise in COVID-19 cases in Badnawar. The article states, “SDM Virendra Katare himself came with a stick in hand to beat those without masks in an effort to get residents to follow the mandated guidelines.”

A video of people beaten up for not wearing masks in Nagda, Madhya Pradesh was falsely shared as Chhattisgarh’s Durg. Several users also claimed the incident took place in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara.

About the Author

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.