Rajasthan Congress Committee Gen Sec shares police lathi-charge video from Aligarh as Rajasthan

“महारानी की राजस्थान पुलिस और अधिकारियों का घिनौना चेहरा इस वीडियो में साफ दिख रहा है , अपना हक मांगने आए लोगों पर लाठियाँ और अत्याचार किए जा रहे है। @narendramodi जी अब राजस्थान के युवा आपको एक चैलेंज देते हे ,वीडियो देखिए और सरकार और पुलिस और SDM पर कार्यवाही कीजिए !है हिम्मत?” (The ugly faces of the queen’s Rajasthan police and administration can be seen in this video. They lathi-charged and tortured people who demanded their rights. @narendramodi the youth of Rajasthan are giving you a challenge, see the video and take legal action against the government, police and SDM) – tweeted General Secretary of Rajasthan Congress Committee Pawan Godara. He posted the video alleging that the Rajasthan state police lathi-charged and attacked several youths who demanded their rights.

महारानी की राजस्थान पुलिस और अधिकारियों का घिनौना चेहरा इस वीडियो में साफ दिख रहा है , अपना हक मांगने आए लोगों पर लाठियाँ और अत्याचार किए जा रहे है।@narendramodi जी अब राजस्थान के युवा आपको एक चैलेंज देते हे ,वीडियो देखिए और सरकार और पुलिस और SDM पर कार्यवाही कीजिए !है हिम्मत ? pic.twitter.com/BIJcEltF1q

— Pawan Godara (@PawanGodaraRJ) June 17, 2018

However, Godara did not mention when the alleged incident took place, who were the ones protesting and what were their demands.

The video is of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh

Alt News broke up the video into individual frames with InVid software for videos, and reverse searched the images via Google. We found that the incident in question had occurred in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, on June 12 when activists of Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM) staged a protest outside the SSP’s office. ANI, The Times of India, and The Indian Express were among the many media outlets that covered the incident.

#WATCH: Police baton charge on members of Hindu Jagran Manch who were protesting outside the office of Aligarh Senior Superintent of Police (SSP), demanding the arrest of accused who had attacked one of their members. pic.twitter.com/vJkqoWxUkT

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 12, 2018

HJM, a Hindutva outfit affiliated to the Vishva Hindu Parishad, is infamous for its staunch religious ideologies. Last year, the Uttar Pradesh police had to provide security in all Aligarh schools and colleges after HJM warned Indian Christians against celebrating Christmas.

Hindu Jagran Manch workers on June 12 forcibly locked the gate of the SSP’s office while demanding the arrest of a man booked for attempt to murder. The Indian Express had reported that the man was a cinema hall owner who had open-fired at two members of HJM three months ago. According to The Times of India, SP (crime) Ashutosh Dwivedi assured the protesters that he will personally look into the probe after they claimed that the police was not investigating the case properly. The TOI report further states that “moderate” force was used to disperse the protestors when they did not heed to police’s requests and “misbehaved” with the general public.

Out of context videos and images are often circulated on social media as part of political propaganda by members of various parties. In this specific case, even though the concerned person has been repeatedly informed about the antecedents of the video, he hasn’t bothered to either clarify or delete his tweet.