Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
A video is doing the rounds on social media which claims that policemen are now being tested positive for the COVID-19. The visuals of the video show a cop entering an unknown premise and lying on the ground, coughing and sneezing, and then another cop arrives and informs the doctor of the same using the wireless in his hand. Other policemen appear then and the patient cop is taken to the doctor after being put in an ambulance.
Fact Check
As we watch the viral video, from the spoken of those in the video, we deciphered that the video was shot somewhere in the Hindi heartland – particularly Eastern UP, Bihar or Jharkhand. We also found that at 2 minutes 41 seconds, the address is written on a board outside the hospital, reads, “Unclear text…… हाजीपुर, वैशाली (Hajipur, Vaishali)”.
Furthermore, at 5 minutes 29 seconds, the text on the main gate reads, “मंडल कारा, हाजीपुर, वैशाली (Mandal Kara, Hajipur, Vaishali).
We then fragment the video and using the Google reverse image search option, we found that the video has been uploaded on YouTube by multiple publishers with different and varying claims.
While some publishers claim that the video is a mock drill by the local police, on the other hand, some publishers claim that the cop shown in the video has actually been tested positive for COVID-19. The same can be viewed here.
Using the keywords suggesting that the video is of a mock drill, we performed a Google search but we did not find much authentic information to corroborate. Some of the findings can be viewed below.
Lacking authentic information, we called the Superintendent of Police, Hajipur, Mr. Gaurav Mangla, who told us that the video shows a mock drill and that no jawan has been tested positive in Mandal Kara, Hajipur. However, when asked about more details, he said, “Since Mandal Kara doesn’t come under my jurisdiction, it is advised to contact the jail administration of Mandal Kara for more information.”
We then contacted the jail officials who informed us that the viral video is of a mock drill conducted by Mandal Kara, Hajipur, and is being shared with ‘Misleading’ claims. He also informed us that every jail administration is conducting such mock drills to check the preparations for the COVID-19. “Mock drills are being practiced in almost every jail in Bihar to check the preparations for the fight against the COVID-19. Some social media users are sharing the video of a mock drill with the claim that a cop was tested positive for the COVID-19, this is completely false.”
Source
- Source Contact
- InVid
- Google Search
Result: False
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Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
