In light of the recent arrest of a Delhi University professor Ratan Lal, over a social media post related to Gyanvapi Shivling, a social media post accompanying a video of police nabbing a person with the help of a unique, stick-like device is being widely circulated. It is being claimed that the video shows arrest of DU professor Ratan Lal. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of police arresting DU professor Ratan Lal, over his social media post related to Gyanvapi Shivling.
Fact: It is true that DU professor Ratan Lal was arrested for his alleged objectionable social media post about the reported discovery of Shivling in Gyanvapi Mosque. He was later granted bail. However, the viral visuals are not related to this arrest but show Chandigarh Police arresting lockdown violators back in 2020. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
It is true that police have arrested the DU professor Ratan Lal, over his alleged objectionable social media post about the reported discovery of a Shivling in Gyanvapi Mosque. He was later granted bail, ‘noting that his post was speculative in nature with regard to the structure/symbol which as of now is not accessible in public domain.’
However, the visuals shared in the viral post are not related to the professor’s arrest. Reverse image search of the viral visuals led us to a tweet dated 25 April 2020 by DGP, Chandigarh. The tweet shared the same visuals and as per the description of this tweet, the visuals show Chandigarh police’s unique way of tackling the non-cooperating corona suspects and curfew breakers.
News articles that reported the same visuals as Chandigarh police’s arrest of lockdown violators can be read here and here. Thus, it is clear that the viral video is from 2020 and has nothing to do with the recent arrest of Delhi University professor.
To sum it up, old visuals related to arrest of lockdown violators are being shared as DU professor arrest visuals.
