These images do not show students of JNU - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 5, 2022
In the context of recent Anti-Brahmin slogan controversy at JNU, two images of a man wearing a saree is being shared on social media claiming that these images the kind of students in JNU who support the anti-Brahmin slogan issue. Let’s verify the claim made in the posts.
Claim: Images of the students in JNU who support the anti-Brahmin slogans in JNU.
Fact: Both the images are of a person named ‘Pushpak Sen’ from Kolkata. Sen, who identifies himself as non-binary, is an activist of Gender-neutral fashion. As per his LinkedIn Profile, Sen is not a student of JNU. Sen posted these two viral pics on his Instagram account stating that they were captured in Kolkata and Italy. Even though there is an LGBTQ group in JNU, the viral images are not related to it. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We ran a reverse image search using the viral images and found that both the images are of a Kolkata-based person named ‘Pushpak Sen’. The first image, posted on 22 May 2022, shows him standing at ‘The Lalit Great Eastern’ hotel in Kolkata.
Second image, posted on 11 December 2021 is taken at Polimoda, a private fashion school in Italy. According to Indian express and Telegraph India, he identifies himself as non-binary (an umbrella term for people whose gender identity doesn’t sit comfortably with ‘man’ or ‘woman’). He actively promotes the idea of Gender-neutral fashion.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he is not a student of JNU, Delhi. As per the media reports, those who are responsible for recent JNU anti-Brahmin slogans are yet to be identified and a probe has been ordered by University Administration. Though there is an LGBTQ group and activism in JNU for their rights, these viral images are not related to them.
To sum it up, these viral images do not show students of JNU who support Anti-Brahman slogan controversy at JNU.