A viral image of a person holding a placard demanding release of ‘Pro-freedom Kashmiri leadership’ is being linked to the ongoing farmers’ protest. However, HS Dhami, former president of Dal Khalsa, told us that the image dates back to December 2019 and has nothing to do with the protesting farmers.
CLAIM
BJP Delhi’s Naveen Kumar shared the image claiming that the youth is holding such placards at the ongoing agitation against contentious farm laws.
Several social media users shared the image on Facebook and Twitter with similar claims.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On carefully looking at the image, we noticed that the placard mentioned ‘Dal Khalsa SAD (Amritsar).’
We searched on Google with keywords ‘Dal Khalsa SAD amritsar protest’ and came across a Greater Kashmir article published in December 2019 that carried an image in which the same placard can be seen.
As per the article, authorities did not allow members of Dal Khalsa and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) to march towards Srinagar on the occasion of International Human Rights Day.
Taking clues from here, we searched on YouTube using keywords ‘Dal Khalsa human rights Srinagar’ and came across a video uploaded on 9 December 2019 in which we could spot the same person wearing the same clothes as seen in the viral image.
At 02:14 minutes in a video uploaded on 10 December 2019 by TV channel Republic, we could again spot the same person holding the same placard as in the viral image.
Speaking to The Quint’s WebQoof team, HS Dhami, former president of Dal Khalsa, confirmed that the image is an old one and dates back to 9-10 December 2019.
“This is not from the ongoing farmers’ protest. On the occasion of International Human Rights Day, we were marching from Amritsar towards Srinagar. But we were stopped at the Kathua interstate border and weren’t allowed to move further. The viral image is from Lakhanpur check post and the man seen in the image is student Angad Singh.”HS Dhami, former president of Dal Khalsa
Dhami also shared an image with us from the same incident in which we could see Angad wearing the same clothes and holding the same placard.
News outlets such as The Tribune and Hindustan Times had reported about the said march in December 2019. We have also reached out to Angad Singh and the story will be updated as and when he responds.
Evidently, an old photo from December 2019 was revived to falsely claim that it’s from the ongoing farmers’ protest.
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