A photo through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the photo shows police in Uttar Pradesh (UP) lathi-charging students. The post is being shared in the backdrop of the recent police crackdown on students protesting a railway recruitment process in UP. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent photo of police lathi-charge on students in UP.
Fact: The photo is of police beating up anti-CAA protestors in Lucknow in 2019, it is not a recent photo. On 25 January 2022, UP police in Prayagraj cracked down on a group of students who were protesting the alleged irregularities in the Railway Recruitment Board’s Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB NTPC) exam. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When a reverse image search is done on the photo, an article with the same photo was found. The article published in December 2019 is about the protests that took place against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in India. The photo caption is read, “UP Police beat up anti-CAA protestors in Lucknow in 2019.” Another article about the same anti-CAA protests carried the same photo.
On 25 January 2022, UP police in Prayagraj have cracked down on a group of students who were protesting a railway recruitment process. Recently, students have been protesting the alleged irregularities in the Railway Recruitment Board’s Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB NTPC) exam. Violence erupted in parts of Bihar and UP. As of now, the Railways had suspended its recruitment process and formed a committee to address the issue.
A tweet with a photo collage of bruised young men is also going viral saying that the images were from lathi-charge amidst the protests against RRB’s NTPC. Three of the four images shared via the tweet are not recent; they are being shared (here, here, and here) online even before the recent alleged lathi-charge by the UP police on students. Factly had written an article about one such image earlier in 2020.
To sum it up, the 2019 photo of Police beating anti-CAA protestors is falsely shared as a recent police lathi-charge on students in UP.
