Student in Library Clip Isn’t the One Burning Bike at CAA Protest

The Quint identified the student seen in the second photo as Mohammad Salman Khan.

Pictures falsely claimed that the man who burnt a motorcycle is the same student who was sitting in the reading hall of the university.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

CLAIM

Following the protests against the anti-Citizenship law, protests violence broke out in parts of Delhi on 15 December. Now, an old footage of a person setting a motorcycle on fire in New Friends Colony is being shared online with the new CCTV footage from the old reading hall in Jamia Milia Islamia university, released by the Jamia Coordination Committee, to claim that both the people in the two videos are the same.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ Screengrab)

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ Screengrab)

Another Twitter used shared the same photos with a similar claim and the tweet had garnered over 2,000 likes at the time of publishing this story.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ Screengrab)

A video shared by Facebook page ‘Expose The Deshdrohis’ had shared a video compiling two different footages and claimed “Brilliant Acting! Rioter became students after Delhi Police came.”

The video was viewed over one lakh times and was shared over 4,000 times at the time of writing the story.

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/ Screengrab)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

The photograph, on the left, is reportedly from near Gate no 4 of the university as claimed by ANI. This footage was released by the Delhi Police on 22 December 2019 claiming that the anti-CAA protesters were seen torching bike and bus.

It must be noted that the while ANI claimed that the location of the bike being burnt was near gate number 4, students and alumni have confirmed that the incident happened near Mata Mandir Road in the New Friends Colony area which is nearly three kms away from the university.

The second photo is from the violence that broke out inside the old reading hall in the MA/MPhil Department of the university.

The Quint has been able to identify the student seen in the Old Reading Hall (second photo) as Mohammad Salman Khan, who is pursuing PhD from the university.

Speaking to The Quint, he said, “I was on the first floor. On the ground floor, a lot of tear gas was being shelled and it was hazy all around. So, I was facing difficulty in breathing. It’s not a mask, rather I had put a handkerchief on my face,” he said.

He further told us that he was in the library around 1 pm after which he went to offer namaz. Khan added that later he went to Gate no 7 where protests were happening and then went back to the library.

However, The Quint has not been able to identify the person who torched the bike.

VISUAL DIFFERENCES

We further compared the two photographs to examine the visual differences between them.

The person on the left can be seen wearing a blue jacket with red and white stripes on it whereas the one on the right can be seen wearing a jacket that has two white stripes.

Left: Near Gate no 4. Right: Old Reading Hall.(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Also, the handkerchief/cloth used to cover face is also different in both the visuals.

Left: Near Gate no 4. Right: Old Reading Hall.(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Evidently, two pictures are being circulated to propagate false context that the student who had allegedly “burnt a motorcycle” is the same student who was sitting in the reading hall of the university.

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