FACT CHECK: Poster with Owaisi's blackened face is from Ranchi, not UP
An image of a man defacing a poster carrying picture of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi is viral on social media.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 20 July 2021 9:49 AM IST
HYDERABAD: An image of a man defacing a poster carrying picture of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi is viral on social media.
Netizens are sharing this image against the backdrop of the upcoming 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections. Users claim that this incident took place in Uttar Pradesh.
Click here for more posts.
FACT CHECK:
The claim is false. This incident did not take place in Uttar Pradesh.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found the same image in a report by Dainik Jagran dated September 24, 2019. The report states that this incident took place in Ranchi, Jharkhand. The image is captioned: "In the posters put up for the meeting at Bariatu Maidan in Ranchi, the face of AIMIM Chief Asududdin Owaisi was blackened."
Owaisi had visited Bariatu Maidan in Ranchi to address a meeting. Close to the meeting venue, a hoarding that had his image was smeared with black paint. When this was noticed by his supporters, there was a huge uproar that led to the involvement of the police. The incident was also reported by Zee News.
NewsMeter noticed that the Dainik Jagran logo was also visible. This clearly indicates that the viral image was taken from the report.
This incident was also reported by Punjab Kesari and Aaj Tak in 2019. The description of the Aaj Tak video report reads: "The poster of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) supremo Asaduddin Owaisi has been blackened on his face. He has reached Bariatu Maidan in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, to address a meeting."
Another video report by Bihar Tak also mentions the location as Ranchi.
Evidently, it is clear that the incident took place in 2019 in Ranchi. It is not linked to the forthcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh.
