Fact-Check: Did President Murmu 'Express Support' for Wrestlers' Protest?

The longer version of the video shows President Murmu talking about the delayed implementation of court orders.

A longer version of the video shows President Droupadi Murmu speaking about delayed implementation of court orders after cases are closed.

(Source: WhatsApp/Altered by The Quint)

A video of President Droupadi Murmu, where she is heard saying "they should get justice in the true sense," is being shared on social media.

• In the clip, the president says that it is 'their' responsibility to deliver justice, as they make laws. She adds that now that people can't reach her anymore, she will send them to the Chief Justice of India.

• "I feel like they should get real happiness, real justice. Where will they go? They can't go higher than the Chief Justice of India (CJI) or the Supreme Court. With this, I give my best wishes to you in all your endeavours," President Murmu concludes.

What is the claim?: The clip is being shared to claim that President Droupadi Murmu was talking about the wrestlers' protest, saying how the women wrestlers should get "justice in the real sense."

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The Quint received this claim on its WhatsApp tipline as well.

The claim is viral on both Twitter and Facebook.

(Archives of more claims on social media can be seen here, here and here.)

Is it true?: We did not come across any credible reports, or social media posts about President Murmu expressing support for women wrestlers.

• The video is a clipped version of the President's address in Jharkhand, where several dignitaries – including CJI DY Chandrachud, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, among others – had gathered for the inauguration of a new building of the Jharkhand High Court on 24 May.

How did we find out?: We noticed that the video in the claim carried news organisation News24's logo on it.

The video carries News24's logo.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

• Using this as a cue, we used relevant keywords to look for the video on YouTube.

• We came across the video on News24's verified YouTube channel, where it was uploaded on 1 June with the title "President Draupadi Murmu said a big thing in front of CJI Chandrachud!"

In this video, Murmu says that she wants to say something in the presence of the CJI, the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court and several other judges in attendance.

• She starts off by highlighting how many people get verdicts for their cases after numerous years, but do not get the justice that the verdict entitles them to. Despite spending countless hours and money, they don't get "real justice" despite having verdicts in their favour.

• Speaking about her work at a family counselling center in Jharkhand, she says that her team used to follow up on cases that had been "finalised." After a while, they visited the families to see how they were doing and to see whether the suggested solutions had been implemented.

• President Murmu then talks about how many people come to her saying that despite winning cases and getting favourable verdicts, many people are robbed of their joy as the verdicts are not implemented. "I talked to Chief Justice Chandrachud and he told me that yes, there are many cases like that. Many people don't know the law, they don't know that they can file contempt cases," she says.

• Addressing the judges, chief justices and the Law Minister in attendance, she says that she does not know whether there is a provision for people to ensure implementation of verdicts, but believes that they are the right people to find a solution to this problem.

"I meet the most downtrodden people and relate to them. I think they should get real justice. This, I think, is your responsibility. There must be a way. We make laws, if there's nothing for this, we should make laws for it. They should get justice. So many people – I will send them to the Chief Justice – they can't reach me the way they could earlier, and I used to send them along. I don't know where they used to vanish. But now, I will send the people who come to me, your way. I feel like they should get real happiness, real justice. Where will they go? They can't go higher than the Chief Justice of India (CJI) or the Supreme Court."

President Droupadi Murmu

We also found the same video on the President of India's verified YouTube channel, where there was no mention of women wrestlers or the wrestlers' protests.

• Then, we looked for a longer version of the speech.

• This led us to a live stream of the inauguration of a new building at the Jharkhand High Court, which was attended by several notable people such as CJI DY Chandrachud, Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and the state's governor CP Radhakrishnan, among others, which was streamed on 24 May.

• The video's title mentioned that President Murmu was in the state for the inauguration of a new building of the Jharkhand High Court.

• The part of this video that is being shared in the claim starts at the 1:21:49 timestamp.

We went through the entire livestream, but did not find any mention of the wrestlers' protest.

Lack of credible reports: We found no credible news reports or social media posts from the President's Twitter or Facebook accounts which showed the president expressing support for women wrestlers.

Conclusion: A clipped video of President Droupadi Murmu speaking during the inauguration of a new building of the Jharkhand High Court is being shared out of context, with the claim that she said protesting women wrestlers should get "real justice."

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