This video shows Telangana AIMIM MLA, not newly-elected Congress MLA from Karnataka
Jaffar Hussain Meraj is indeed an MLA from Nampally but the constituency is located in Telangana. He belongs to AIMIM, not Congress.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 18 May 2023 12:06 PM GMT
(Source: Facebook)
Hyderabad: After the Congress Party’s thumping victory in the Karnataka Assembly elections, social media is rife with many misleading claims. A video reportedly showing a Congress MLA threatening a policeman is going viral on social media.
A Facebook user shared the video and said Karnataka Congress MLA Jaffar Hussain Meraj of Nampally invited a police officer to his home in Jagtial and asked him to do as he said.
(Source: Facebook)
Other Facebook and Twitter users also made the same claim.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that Jaffar Hussain Meraj is indeed an MLA from Nampally but the constituency is located in Telangana. He belongs to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), not Congress.
We ran a keyword search and found an NDTV report on the winners of the 2018 Assembly election in Telangana. According to it, Mr. Meraj belongs to AIMIM and won the election from Nampally in 2018. The same information was mentioned on the website of the Election Commission.
Further, we found a still from the video in a report by the Deccan Chronicle published on 11 May 2023. As per the description, it shows AIMIM leaders meeting police superintendent A. Bhaskar in his office regarding the attack on a student and her mother in an RTC bus.
(Source: Deccan Chronicle)
The report said two women were allegedly attacked on an RTC bus by Jagtial rural sub-inspector A. Anil.
Following that, Nampally AIMIM MLA Jaffar Hussain Meraj, along with other members of the party, met the police superintendent of Jagtial and the victim’s family. It added that the accused police officer was later suspended.
Jagtial is a city and the district headquarters of the Jagtial district of Telangana.
We also came across a video report by Hyderabad-based BBN News published on 11 May. It showed Jaffar Hussain Meraj meeting Jagtial SP and the victim’s family.
From this, we conclude that the viral video shows AIMIM leader Jaffar Hussain Meraj from Telangana meeting police superintendent A. Bhaskar in his office regarding the attack on a student and her mother in an RTC bus. Hence, the claim that the video shows a Congress MLA from Karnataka is false.
