Fact Check: RJD’s Kanchana Yadav thrashed by police? No, video shows a woman in Karnataka
A video has been circulating on social media, claiming it shows RJD’s Kanchana Yadav being thrashed by police.
By - Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:The video shows RJD spokesperson Kanchana Yadav being thrashed by police.
Fact:The claim is false. The video is from Maddur, Karnataka, and features a resident of Karnataka’s Maddur called Joythi, who was protesting against alleged stone pelting on the Ganesh Visarjan procession.
Hyderabad: Recently, RJD spokesperson Kanchana Yadav alleged that the BJP is pressuring television channels to exclude RJD representatives from prime-time debates, describing this as ‘modern untouchability’ aimed at silencing opposition voices.
The academically-trained spokesperson, who holds a PhD in Data Sciences and serves as a Research Scholar at JNU, has garnered significant attention in recent times for her articulate and fiery debating style.
Meanwhile, a video has been circulating on social media showing police dispersing a crowd, with a woman sitting on the road after being lathi-charged, patting her head and making unusual facial expressions. The video is being shared with captions suggesting that RJD’s Kanchana Yadav was thrashed by the police.
A Facebook user shared the video with the caption, “The police really had a field day. Could this be RJD spokesperson Kanchana Yadav?” (Translated from Hindi)
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Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false, as the video shows a woman named Jyothi from Maddur, Karnataka.
A reverse image search of the video’s keyframes led us to a report by Kannada Duniya published on September 11, which features the image of the same woman.
According to the report, the woman is identified as Jyothi, a resident of Shivapura, Maddur. The report stated that she was protesting alongside others following the alleged stone-pelting incident during the Ganesh immersion procession in Maddur. Police resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the protesters, and subsequently, an FIR was registered against Jyothi on charges including making derogatory remarks against the Karnataka Chief Minister and Muslims.
News18 Kannada also featured images of Jyothi in a report published on September 11.
According to the report, Jyothi, the woman who was beaten by police during the lathi charge in the Maddur case, now faces additional legal troubles. The Maddur police took suo motu action and filed an FIR against her on charges of using abusive language against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The case has been registered against Jyothi under the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) Section 299.
We also found Jyothi featuring in a video report published by News18 Kannada on September 11. The report is titled, ‘FIR Filed Against Jyothi | FIR registered for abusing with obscene/derogatory words.’
Hence, we conclude that the video shows Jyothi, a resident of Shivapura, Maddur, not RJD’s Kanchana Yadav. The claim is false.
