A viral video of Nihang Sikhs on horseback attacking a PRTC bus for allegedly hitting one of their horses has been falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protest.
The video could be traced back to September 2019 when a group of Nihang Sikhs had attacked the bus en route from Nakodar to Kapurthala in Punjab, with swords and spears.
CLAIM
The video was shared by Hindi news channel, Sudarshan News without providing the full context of the incident, along with the hashtag, ‘India Against Propaganda’, which was introduced by the Ministry of External Affairs amid the international spotlight on the farmers’ protest.
The video had garnered over 1,53,900 views at the time of writing this article.
Another user, ‘Sundeep’ had also shared the video with the caption, ‘Hail Farmers’ Protest,’ garnering over 1,27,700 views at the time of writing this article. This video was also shared by Lawyer Divya Kumar Soti without the full context of the incident.
The video was also shared on Facebook.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
With a relevant keyword search we came across the video on YouTube, uploaded by ‘P24 News’ on 23 September 2019.
Clearly, the video cannot be of the ongoing farmers’ protest.
We also found a report on The Tribune, which stated that the Nihang Sikhs had damaged a Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) bus with swords and sharp weapons near the Gurudwara Tahli Sahib.
“The incident reportedly happened after the bus allegedly accidentally hit one of the horses of the jatha,” the report further stated.
According to another report by Hindi daily, Dainik Bhaskar, the Nihangs had tried to attack PRTC driver Nirmal Singh, a resident of Malsian, who was driving the bus (PB 09 X 3613) from Nakodar to Kapurthala. A complaint was also filed with the police.
Evidently, an old video has been revived amid the farmers’ protest to make false claims. The Quint’s WebQoof team has debunked several claims around the protest, which can be read here.
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