Fact Check: Video of UP cops hitting pregnant woman is not recent
A video reportedly showing the Uttar Pradesh police hitting a pregnant woman with sticks is doing the rounds of social media.
By Tejal Sinha Published on 2 Jan 2022 8:21 PM IST
Hyderabad: A video reportedly showing the Uttar Pradesh police hitting a pregnant woman with sticks is doing the rounds of social media. The woman is seen moaning in pain while a crowd gathers around her. One of them can be heard saying, "They hit the pregnant woman on her stomach." Some policemen can also be seen in the video.
Netizens claim that the video is recent.
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Fact Check
The claim is false.
NewsMeter performed a Google reverse image search which led us to a report published by The Quint on 5 September 2018. It included a few screenshots from the viral video.
According to the report, "Candidates who had appeared for B.Ed-TET 2011 have been stuck in the capital for a long time demanding appointment. There was a scuffle between the policemen and the candidates. Later, the police lathi-charged the candidates to disperse them." During the scuffle, the police hit a pregnant woman on the stomach, it said. The woman was in a critical state and was admitted to the hospital.
The incident was also reported by Navbharat Times on 6 September 2018. It said that candidates who had passed B.Ed and UP TET 2011 were going from Eco Garden to Gandhi statue when the police lathi-charged them outside the Jail Road intersection. A pregnant woman, Mukta Kushwaha of Allahabad, was injured. She was admitted to Jhalkari Bai Hospital. Some other candidates were also injured in the incident.
Taking a cue from this, we performed a keyword search which led us to a report by Lallantop from 6 September 2018. It said pregnant Mukta Kushwaha was hit by a stick on her stomach during the lathi-charge. She was screaming in pain but the policemen did not help. Some people helped Mukta and she was taken to the hospital in a police jeep. Many other candidates were seriously injured during the lathi-charge. Meanwhile, two protesters ā Man Bahadur Singh and Devendra Pratap Singh ā are said to be missing, the report said.
We searched for info about the incident on Twitter with the help of some keywords and found a tweet dated 23 December 2021 by the Lucknow police commissionerate. Replying to a Twitter user who had shared the viral video claiming that it was from Lucknow, the Lucknow police commissionerate had replied, "Please don't spread rumours. This video is more than two years old."
It is evident that the claim made through the viral post is false. The viral video is from 2018.
