Video of Mumbai BMC's Demolition Drive Falsely Shared as That From Uttar Pradesh
This video is from Santacruz West, Mumbai and not Uttar Pradesh as claimed.
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A video showing a man lying down in front of a bulldozer to stop it from destroying his shop is going viral on the internet.
It also shows him fighting with a woman and pointing out that he has court orders about the legality of his structure.
What's the claim?: The claim states that this incident highlights the 'bulldozer raj' allegedly happening in Uttar Pradesh, where attempts were made to demolish a man's shop while ignoring the court's orders.
Who shared it?: Along with several social media users, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) member and a corporator from Nanal Nagar, Mohammed Naseeruddin, also shared the same claim.
An archive can be seen here.
An archive can be seen here.
Where is the video actually from?: According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), this video is from Santacruz West in Maharashtra's Mumbai.
How did we find this out?: We performed a reverse image search on some of the keyframes of the video and found an article by Aaj Tak Bangla that stated that the video was from Mumbai.
It was published on 31 March, and it carried the same viral video.
The article mentioned that a BMC officer brought a bulldozer to demolish illegal construction but the elderly man was trying to stop the demolition by showing court orders about he structure's legality.
It also identifies the man from the video as Haji Rafat Hussain who was talking about how BMC is not obeying court orders.
We came across another article by a news outlet from Telangana, The Siasat Daily, which carried screenshots from the viral video.
It also stated that Hussain is a former member of AIMIM.
We also noticed 'Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation' written on the bulldozer in Marathi language.
The screenshot shows BMC written on the bulldozer.
(Source: Altered by The Quint)
Response from BMC: BMC's official Twitter handle replied to the same video on Twitter on 30 March.
We also reached out to a BMC official, who clarified that the demolition was ordered for six illegal stalls at KD Marg and second Gaothan Lane Junction, near Santacruz Station, Santacruz (West) on 20 March by BMC.
This tweet was made by official Twitter handle of BMC.
(Source: Twitter/Screenshot altered by The Quint)
Conclusion: This video of a man trying to stop the demolition and fighting with an officer is from Mumbai, not Uttar Pradesh.
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