Old Video of YS Sharmila With Police Personnel Falsely Linked to the Congress

The second video of YS Sharmila dates back to April 2023 when she was still with the YSRCP.

Fact-Check: The clip predates Sharmila joining the Congress party in Delhi. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

A video containing two clips is circulating on social media.

• The first clip features YS Sharmila, Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Telangana Party (YSRTP) founder and present Congress chief from Andhra Pradesh, being presented with a scarf by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.

• The second clip shows Sharmila in a confrontation with police personnel.

What is the claim?: Those sharing have claimed Sharmila was in confrontation with the police after she joined the Congress party.

• The caption read that the 'scarf' gives members the 'licence' for hooliganism

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot) 

(Find archives of similar claims here, here and here.)

Is this true?: The claim is false.

• The first clip of Sharmila with Kharge is from 4 January when she officially joined the Congress party in Delhi.

• The second clip dates back to April 2023 when police personnel tried stopping her from joining her a YSRTP protest outside the Special Investigation Team (SIT) office probing the paper leaks of recruitment examinations in Telangana.

How did we find out?: We ran searches on both videos, separately.

CLIP 1: We ran a Google reverse image search on the clip of Sharmila with Kharge and came across multiple news reports from 4 January, when she was officially welcomed into the Congress party in the presence of senior Congress leaders in New Delhi.

• We came across a video report by India Today on YouTube from 4 January which carried visuals from the event.

• Below are the similarities between the two frames.

Here are the similarities between the two clips. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

• Apart from India Today, news organisations such as CNN News18 and Times Now also covered this event.

CLIP 2: We divided the second clip into multiple keyframes and ran a Google reverse image on some of them.

• We came across a video by Mirror Now on YouTube from 24 April 2023 which included similar frames as the viral video.

Here are the similarities between the two videos. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

• The video was uploaded with a title that read, "YS Sharmila Slaps Cop, YSR Telangana Party Leader Detained After Manhandling Cops"

• Using relevant keywords, we came across a news report by Dainik Bhaskar which mentioned that Sharmila was detained by Telangana police while she was on her way to the SIT office in connection with the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) exam paper leak case.

• She was supposed to join her party's protest outside the SIT office.

• During this confrontation, Sharmila manhandled a police officer when she was taken into custody.

• According to NDTV, she was sent for a fourteen-day judicial remand for 'manhandling and slapping' a police officer.

• At the time of this incident, Sharmila was the president of the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Telangana Party (YSRTP).

Conclusion: The clip showing YS Sharmila in confrontation with police personnel is being falsely linked to her recent entry into the Congress Party. The incident dates back to April 2023 which predates her joining the Congress.

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