An image showing police personnel protesting, holding a placard saying “we cannot lathi-charge innocent people” has gone viral.
However, we found out that the image, which is from 2019, has been morphed to change the narrative. The original photograph was taken at a protest outside Delhi ITO and the slogan read, “We want justice”.
Additionally, this image had gone viral in December 2019 in connection with the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests.
CLAIM
An image of policemen protesting against lathi-charging has gone viral with a message that reads, “पुलिस लाठी चार्ज करती नही सरकार करवाती हैं |” (Translation: Police do not lathi-charge, the government makes them.)
One of the protesting police personnel can be seen holding a placard that says, “मासूमों पे लाठी चार्ज हम से नहीं हो पाएगा |” (Translation: we can not lathi-charge innocent people.)
Several people on Facebook shared the image with the same message.
We also found the image being shared on Twitter. Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha’s (SCS) State president tweeted the image on 10 October and it received 1,600 retweets and 7,000 likes at the time of writing this article.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We did a reverse image search of the photo and found the original images, from 5 November 2019. The image was taken when Delhi police personnel marched to the Delhi police headquarters to protest against the alleged manhandling of police officers by lawyers at Tis Hazari and Saket District Court complex.
The image, that was released by Press Trust of India, shows the original slogan, which said, “We want justice”.
WHY WAS THE POLICE PROTESTING?
On 2 November 2019, a clash between lawyers and police broke out outside Tis Hazari Court complex. The clash that followed a minor scuffle turned violent and 20 people were injured while several vehicles were vandalised or set on fire.
This was followed by another incident outside Saket District Court complex, where according to a purported video, several lawyers allegedly heckled and slapped a policeman.
The Delhi High Court ordered a judicial probe into the clashes between the cops and the lawyers. Policemen, however, were not happy with the leadership’s handling of the case and decide to protest outside the police headquarters.
Evidently, a morphed image of the police protest is being shared to create a false narrative.
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