Photograph of an injured woman standing with a few policemen are being widely shared on social media with a message targeting the BJP government. “This is Modi government’s Beti Bachao. Share it so much that punishment is given. (यही है मोदी सरकार बेटी बचाओ इतना shaer करो की इसको इसकी सज़ा मिले जाये.)” — reads the message.
One Kishori Sharma shared the images on the Facebook group ‘सीमा कुमारी गुरुप’ on April 19. As of this writing, the post drew 11,000 shares.
Facebook user Ankush Yadav also shared the pictures on April 2, gathering 8,400 shares (archived link).
Viral in 2019 as well
These images were widely shared last year during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Below is a post by Facebook user K K Borkar which has attracted a whopping 47,000 shares (archived link). The post was made on December 10, 2019.
Fact-check
A reverse-search on Yandex led us to a report from 2016 published by Scoop Whoop. According to the article, the woman Vandana Tiwari, along with her husband Ashwin Tiwari, was beaten up in public after she resisted molestation. The incident took place on December 19, 2016, in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri when miscreants passed lewd comments are tried to grope the woman. Scoop Whoop credits the report to news agency ANI.
Uttar Pradesh: Woman beaten up allegedly for resisting molestation in Mainpuri, police say culprit has been arrested (19/12/16) pic.twitter.com/kOcgaTHWGN
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 22, 2016
The incident was also reported by NDTV which said that the mother of two was beaten with sticks repeatedly in a market when she asked two men for directions. Vandana was thrashed in the presence of one of her children. The police had arrested one of the accused and was looking for others. In a video that was viral at the time, the woman could be heard telling cops, “I will shoot myself if those two aren’t caught and arrested.”
Viral posts
The images were shared earlier in January as well with the same caption. One Satyam Azad Ravan’s post drew 12,000 shares (archived link).
They were widely circulated on Facebook and Twitter in December 2019.
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