Fact Check: Old photos of AAP leader injured while saving girl in Punjab passed off as recent incident from UP
By Newsmeter Network Published on 27 Oct 2020 5:11 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A photo of a wounded and bleeding man who sustained bullets injuries while rescuing a girl who was sexually assaulted in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur has been doing the rounds of social media. A few users have claimed that he killed two assaulters while saving the girl.
A Twitter user shared a picture of an injured man lying on a stretcher with the same claim. "A brave sikh was travelling near shahjahanpur in UP. He saved an unknown girl from rape from four gangsters and killed two of them. He got three gunshots and serious in hospital. No media has given the news (sic)," the tweet read. (archived tweet)
Various images of the man have gone viral on social media with the same claim. Click here and here to view them.
FACT CHECK:
The claim that the incident took place recently in Shahjahanpurman (UP) and that the man killed two attackers is FALSE.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found a report by Punjab Kesari from 14 March 2019. The man, identified as Chetan Singh, is the president of the Patiala (rural) unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (Punjab).
According to the article, six people tried to force a girl into a car in the Patti Assembly constituency. Chetan Singh was at the scene and sustained injuries while trying to protect her. "Six car riders who came to abduct a girl in Vidhan Sabha constituency Patti opened fire on Chetan Singh, rural president of Patiala district president. The injured Chetan Singh was admitted by the locals to the government hospital," the article said.
Another article by The Times of India also reported the incident and quoted IGP Surender Pal Singh Parmar. The girl was getting her Aadhaar card when six people attempted to abduct her. Chetan Singh was at the scene and rescued the girl and sustained a bullet wound on his neck.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted the viral image and wrote that the AAP Patiala district president Chetan Singh was shot while saving the girl.
It should be noted that none of the media reports claims that Singh killed any of the attackers. This incident took place in 2019 in Punjab's Patti. Hence, the claim that the incident took place recently in Shahjahanpurman and that the man killed two attackers is FALSE.
