A video is viral on social media which shows several lawyers carrying out a symbolic funeral procession of Uttar Pradesh government and chanting, “Hai hai Yogi, Mar gaya Yogi”. Many social media users have shared the video claiming that the recent incident took place in Prayagraj, UP, and it was the first time that a funeral procession of a chief minister was taken out as a symbol of protest.
On X (formerly Twitter), an user named @sunmor2901 shared the video. (Archive)
ये कब हुआ🤔 बहुत-बहुत बधाई!
*प्रयागराज में हाई कोर्ट के वकीलों द्वारा उत्तर प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री योगी आदित्यनाथ की निकली गई शव यात्रा टक्कर अब हुई है जोरो की सरकार को जो करना है कर ले इस तरह की शव यात्रा किसी भी मुख्यमंत्री की नहीं निकल गई* https://t.co/UdnAkxtoGX pic.twitter.com/ioYkTkyl2z
— Sunitajadhav (@sunmor2901) September 29, 2023
Another user, named @Speak_Up_Indian, shared the video with a similar caption. (Archive)
*प्रयागराज में हाई कोर्ट के वकीलों द्वारा उत्तर प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री योगी आदित्यनाथ की निकली गई शव यात्रा !
टक्कर अब हुई है जोरो की सरकार को जो करना है कर ले इस तरह की शव यात्रा किसी भी मुख्यमंत्री की नहीं निकल गई* pic.twitter.com/9lblUvQb9H
— Speak_Up_India_Online (@Speak_Up_Indian) September 29, 2023
On Facebook, user Babu Ram Singh shared the video claiming that “In protest against the brutal lathi-charge on lawyers by the police in Hapur, the lawyers of the high court in Prayagraj took out a funeral procession of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The collision between lawyers and the government is at its peak. The government can do whatever it wants… Must watch the video.” (Archive)
The video and the claim also went viral on Facebook.
In Hapur, police had allegedly lathi-charged lawyers on August 29 when the latter were protesting against the registration of a case against a woman advocate and her father. Later, Uttar Pradesh Police lodged an FIR over the alleged incident naming 51 policemen and mentioning 90 unnamed personnel.
Fact Check
In response to the viral video shared by a social media user, the official X-account of Prayagraj city deputy commissioner of police tweeted a notice stating, “The above viral video is old and related to the year 2020. Please do not spread unconfirmed and misleading news, otherwise, legal action will be taken against you.”
— DCP CITY PRAYAGRAJ (@DCPCityPrj) September 29, 2023
We broke down the viral video into key-frames using Invid software and then reverse-searched one of them on Google. This led us to a 2019 video report by Khabar Jagat 24, titled ‘वकीलों ने राज्य सरकार की शवयात्रा निकाली’ (Translation: Lawyers took out the funeral procession of the state government), which reported that in September 2019, Prayagraj high court lawyers carried out a funeral procession of chief minister Yogi Adityanath as a symbol protest against the BJP-led UP government for introducing the state education service tribunal in Lucknow.
According to a 2019 report by Amar Ujala, titled “Lawyers took out the funeral procession of the state government“, “Under the leadership of advocate Ritesh Srivastava, who had warned of an indefinite fast on the tribunal issue, the lawyers took out a funeral procession from the Ambedkar statue site to gate number three of the high court at 4 pm. After that he returned and performed his last rites. During this, the lawyers raised slogans against the state government and demanded that all tribunals including education services be established in Prayagraj.”
Another 2019 report by the Hindi daily, Patrika, titled “Allahabad High Court lawyers got angry, the state government took out funeral procession” stated that “In protest against setting up of state education service tribunal in Lucknow, high court lawyers on Wednesday took out the funeral procession of the state government and performed its last rites. On the other hand, the high court bar association has said that it had nothing to do with this action.”
Many social media users have shared the viral video falsely claiming that the incident is related to a recent incident where police officers lathi-charged several lawyers in the Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh. However, the video is from 2019 and is not related to the recent incident in Hapur, UP.
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