Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Protesting farmers use swords to attack and chase away policemen.
A 21-year-old farmer has reportedly died at Haryana’s Khanauri border, where protesting farmers clashed with the police. Farmers’ group AIKS (All-India Kisan Sabha) alleged he died during the police action, which the Haryana police have denied. The farmers have also suspended their protest march to Delhi for two days, though the sit-in protest will continue. According to officials, Shubhkaran Singh died of a bullet injury.
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here and here.
Fact
Newscheckers first ran a keyword search for “farmers chase policemen swords”, which did not throw up any credible news reports of such an incident recently.
Newschecker then ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to a tweet by Aaj Tak consulting editor Sudhir Chaudhary, dated January 27, 2021, sharing the same video. “Another picture of the peaceful protest of farmers,” read the post, translated from Hindi.
A relevant keyword search led us to this News18 Punjab/Haryana/Himachal report on Youtube, dated January 27, 2021, featuring the viral video and headlined, “Another video of Delhi violence surfaced, more than 300 policemen injured in attack”.
We learnt that Nihang Sikhs — armed Sikh warriors clad in blue robes — as seen in the viral video, got involved in a tractor rally organised by agitating farmers on January 26, 2021, to highlight the demands of the farmers, which later escalated into anarchy as tens of thousands of protesters broke through barriers, fought with police, overturned vehicles and hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
Although we could not independently verify the exact location of the attack, we can confirm that the viral video predates the ongoing farmers’ march.
Result: Missing Context
Source
Tweet, Sudhir Chaudhary, January 27, 2021
News18 report, January 27, 2021
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
