Fact Check: Images of BJP leader, son falsely shared as accused in Manipur assault case

Hyderabad: An image of two men dressed in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) uniform is being shared, with the claim that the two are present in the Manipur’s viral video, in which two Kuki women were sexually assaulted reportedly by a mob of men of the Meitei community.

Subhasini Ali, Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), shared the image on Twitter with the caption, “They are the Manipur accused. Recognise them by their clothes.”

Several others shared the image claiming the same.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the image shows the vice president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Manipur, Chidananda Singh and his son.

On performing a reverse image search, we found four images, including the viral one, posted by Chidananda Singh on October 17, 2022.

“Path Sanchalan, RSS Imphal Jila, yesterday 16 October with my son Ch Sachinanda and cousin Ashoka (sic),” read the caption.

Further, we checked the Facebook bio and found Singh identifying himself as the state vice president of BJP Manipur.

To confirm his designation, we ran a keyword search and came across a tweet of August 4, 2021, by Manipur CM N Biren Singh congratulating newly appointed office bearers of BJP Manipur. He posted the official list, which includes the name of Chidananda Singh, among six other vice presidents.

Going through his profile, we found that Chidananda Singh was aware of the viral photo. On July 24, on his Facebook handle, he posted a formal complaint dated July 23 to the director general of police, Manipur and an FIR copy against the social media users who used his photo in the screenshot from the viral video.

In the complaint, he said, “It is a very unfortunate act of direct allegation by some particular groups, individual to defame and malign me, my family and RSS organisation.”

Acting on the complaint, on July 23, Manipur police tweeted that an FIR has been filed against people sharing the picture combined with screenshots from the Manipur viral video with the false claim.

Hence, we conclude that the viral image does not show the accused in Manipur’s viral video. The claim is false.