The reports of ‘Vaishali Yadav getting arrested for propaganda by falsely posing as a student from Ukraine’ are false - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 3, 2022
A post is being shared widely on social media with a claim that Vaishali Yadav, who recently posted a video as a Ukraine student seeking help, was in India but faked as if she was in Ukraine & is a student from there. It is being claimed that the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested her for false propaganda. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Vaishali Yadav posted a video faking as if she was in Ukraine studying there. The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested her for false propaganda.
Fact: Vaishali Yadav came to India last year during the Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh, in which she contested and won as a Gram Pradhan. She went back to Ukraine for studies after the elections. As her video went viral with false claims, the Hardoi SP has clarified that the claims of her location (as India) and arrest are fake. He said that she is in Romania currently. The same has been said by Vaishali Yadav in another video. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched about Vaishali Yadav on the internet, we found that she recently posted a video about the situation in Ukraine. The video can be seen in a tweet by the ‘Hindustan’.
हरदोई जिले के साण्डी ब्लाक के पूर्व ब्लाक प्रमुख महेंद्र सिंह यादव की बेटी एवं अरवल थाना क्षेत्र के तेरा पुरसौली गांव की प्रधान वैशाली यादव इन दिनों यूक्रेन में फंस गई हैं। रूस-यूक्रेन के बीच जंग छिड़ते ही उसके परिवार के माथे पर चिंता की लकीरें उभर आई हैं। pic.twitter.com/6y86aAx9bG
In an article published by ‘Amar Ujala’ in December 2021, it can be read that Vaishali came to India last year during the Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh, in which she contested and won as a Gram Pradhan. It was also reported that she went back to Ukraine for studies after the elections and has been coordinating the Panchayat activities from there. However, as the officials got to know of this arrangement after her video went viral, they said that an enquiry is being conducted on how she went back to Ukraine after getting elected as Gram Pradhan and if there are any irregularities. The related news articles can be read here and here.
As the posts went viral that she has been arrested for making a fake video, the ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ has reported that the Hardoi SP has clarified saying the claims of her location (as India) and arrest are fake. He said that she is in Romania currently. Various journalists have also posted the clarification of Hardoi SP, which can be seen here and here. Also, another video of Vaishali Yadav can be seen on the website of ‘Dainik Bhaskar’, in which she refutes the fake claims that she is in India. She says that she was in Ukraine, but she is currently in Romania. Mahendra Yadav (Vaishali’s father) is reportedly a Samajwadi Party leader.
Update (MARCH 4, 2022):
Some social media users are posting other photos of a girl and are making a similar claim.
However, when we searched for information regarding the girl in those photos, we found that the girl in the photo is not Vaishali Yadav. She is Kamala Choudhary, who was arrested for making videos with weapons and challenging the police. She was arrested by the Rajasthan Police, not Uttar Pradesh Police (as claimed in the posts). The tweet made by the ‘Nagaur Police’ regarding her arrest can be seen here. More details about her can be read here and here.
Update (MARCH 7, 2022):
One more photo of a girl is being shared on social media with a similar claim.
The girl in the posted photo is not Vaishali Yadav. If you compare the facial features of Vaishali Yadav and the girl in the photo, it can be seen that both persons are different. While some websites mentioned that the girl in the photo is Neha Sangwan (the girl who stayed back in Ukraine to take care of her landlord’s kids), we could not independently get any details about her.
To sum it up, the reports of Vaishali Yadav getting arrested are false. She is not in India currently.