A video is circulating on social media with the claim that Uttar Pradesh police hit a pregnant woman on her stomach with a lathi. One Sanjay Vishwadharmi tweeted the clip on February 4, 2020. His tweet has drawn 745 likes and retweeted 654 times. Sanjay claims to be a supporter of the Indian National Congress.

The tweet reads,“बहुत ही निंदनीय और शर्मनाक ईको गार्डेन में दे रहे धरना प्रदर्शन में प्रेग्नेंट महिला अभ्यार्थी के पेट पर योगी सरकार की पुलिस ने मारी लाठी?”(Translation: A shameful incident happened during a protest at Eco garden. The police of Yogi government hit a pregnant woman on her stomach with a stick.)

Social media coordinator for Congress Seva Dal (South Zone) also tweeted the video and wrote, “police atrocity in UP has breached all levels of humanity.”

The claim is also circulating on Facebook

FACT-CHECK

Alt News ran a reverse search and found that the same picture was shared with an identical claim on a tweet made by Congress media panellist Pankhuri Pathak on September 5, 2018. Pathak was with the Samajwadi Party when she shared the clip. She wrote that UP police lathi-charged ‘BEDETE2011’ students.

A keyword search took us to a news report published by Live Hindustan, according to which, hundreds of successful candidates of BEd-TET 2011 had gathered for a protest at Eco garden, Lucknow on September 5, 2018, demanding their appointment. The woman who was hit was four months pregnant.

Thus, an old video of a pregnant woman injured in police lathi-charge in Uttar Pradesh is viral on social media, giving the impression that the incident recently took place.

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About the Author

Defence Correspondent turned fact-checker. Two times award winning journalist by Govt. of Goa.