An old photo of an elderly man throwing a stone is being shared with a false narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 24, 2019
A post with an image is widely shared on Facebook with the claim that the man in the photo was sent a notice of Rs 1,50,000 by the UP government for pelting stones. Let’s analyze the authenticity of the claim in the post.
The man in the photo is sent a notice of Rs 1,50,000 by the UP government for pelting stones.
Fact: The image is on the internet at least since 2016. A few users have posted in January 2016 saying that the image is related to ‘Malda riots’ (West Bengal). The photo in the post has nothing to do with the recent protests in Uttar Pradesh. So, the claim is FALSE.
In Uttar Pradesh, there have been protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act over the past few days. From an ‘India Today’ article, it can be found that UP CM Adityanath had said that if the protesters destroy public property, the government will seize their assets.
When the image in the post is subjected to Google reverse image search technique, a tweet with the photo was found in the search results. The tweet was made on January 8, 2016, and the user has written that the photo is that of ‘Malda riots’ in West Bengal. The January 6, 2016 article of ‘India Today’ has reported that riots broke out in West Bengal’s ‘Malda’ in opposition to the speech of ‘All India Hindu Mahasabha’ leader Kamalesh Tiwari. While the exact context of the photo cannot be ascertained with the available information, the image in the post is an old one and has nothing to do with the recent protests in Uttar Pradesh.
During Malda Riots..Very Peaceful Protestor Tries to Pacify Situation by Throwing a Stone @tathagata2 @bengaleebabu pic.twitter.com/mXtQrESTvM
To summarize, an old image is being shared with a false narrative of ‘the man in the photo is sent a notice of Rs 1,50,000 by the UP government for pelting stones’.
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