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.
Claim
Police is setting fire to buses! Is this BJP’s attempt to divert attention when they know they are losing upcoming elections in Delhi?
Verification
Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia followed by Congress IT Cell Incharge Rohan Gupta, Former Lok Sabha candidate from Aam Aadmi Party Atishi Marlena, AAP volunteer Ankit Lal, AAP Supporter Aarti, Journalist Saikat Datta and others claimed that the BJP is using Delhi Police to provoke the violence in Delhi. They presented a video in which a cop can be seen pouring something into the bus.
The intensity of the Claim
Tweet by Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191215135701/https:/twitter.com/msisodia/status/1206206733179244544
ये फ़ोटो देखिए.. देखिए कौन लगा रहा है बसों और कारों में आग.. यह फ़ोटो सबसे बड़ा सबूत है बीजेपी की घटिया राजनीति का… इसका कुछ जवाब देंगे बीजेपी के नेता .. pic.twitter.com/8HvHC8epwn
— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) December 15, 2019
Tweet by Congress IT Cell Incharge Rohan Gupta:
भाजपा की सत्ता लालसा की पराकाष्ठा की आग कश्मीर, बंगाल ,आसाम से होते हुए दिल्ली पहुंच गई ! यह लोग किस हद तक जा सकते है यह पूरा देश देख रहा है ! हम सब को मिल कर देश को इनके चंगुल से निकालना होगा, इसके पहले की बहुत देर हो जाए ! pic.twitter.com/UeJ8omZ5Vt
— Rohan Gupta (@rohanrgupta) December 15, 2019
Tweet by Formed LS candidate from AAP Atishi Marlena:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191215141455/https:/twitter.com/AtishiAAP/status/1206212929323814918
Tweet by South Asia Editor for Asia Times Saikat Datta:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191215140418/https:/twitter.com/saikatd/status/1206209025618018305
Tweet by AAP Supporter Aarti:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191215141608/https:/twitter.com/aartic02/status/1206214548308381696
Tweet by AAP volunteer Amit Mishra:
"Spoke to Honourable Lieutenant Governor and urged him to take all steps to restore normalcy and peace. We are also doing everything possible at our end. Real miscreants who caused violence should be identified and punished.." @ArvindKejriwal#BJPburningDelhi pic.twitter.com/u4gVnR1ts2
— Amit Mishra (@Amitjanhit) December 15, 2019
Tweet by AAP supporter Vivek Gupta:
More such claims can be seen here
As we began to fact check this claim, we first searched the internet for more information. We first find a video uploaded on YouTube by the official channel of NDTV. The NDTV video contains the same visual and while the visual is being played on the screen at 4 minutes 8 seconds, the anchor says, “The protesters started becoming a little violent, there were buses which were damaged, they were put on fire, they were lit on fire by the protestors and right now what we are hearing is that the police has managed to control it. You can see the police over there trying to control the protestors.”
In another video uploaded on YouTube by the same official channel, a man who is presented as an eye witness says that the buses were set ablaze by the protestors. He also says that there were passengers inside the bus which was burnt, the passengers begged for mercy but protestors didn’t show any.
“Buses set on fire with people still inside”: Delhi violence witness https://t.co/eQ3yboLuha pic.twitter.com/MQYGoKtoo0
— NDTV Videos (@ndtvvideos) December 15, 2019
In search of more evidence, we further checked Twitter for more details and then we saw a tweet by a journalist named Arvind Gunasekar who is a correspondent for NDTV. He quoted a tweet that claims the same allegations as of Manish Sisodia, Atishi and other AAP volunteers. Arvind’s tweet reads, “No. It was the mob that set these two-wheelers on fire, police personnel tried dousing the fire. I was there… This mob was unruly and this is not the way to protest! Everyone should come together to condemn this violence and destruction of public property”
No. It was the mob which set these two wheelers on fire, police personnel tried dousing the fire.
I was there…
This mob was unruly and this is not the way to protest !
Everyone should come together to condemn this violence and destruction of public property https://t.co/2CKX4Xyoes— Arvind Gunasekar (@arvindgunasekar) December 15, 2019
Since the quoted tweet above is deleted, here’s a screenshot of the tweet Arvind quoted.
In the tweet above you can clearly see Arvind Guneskar has presented himself as a witness of the incident and has clearly mentioned that the cops didn’t set ablaze the vehicles but protestors did.
We also found a series of tweets by news agency ANI in which DCP South East Delhi has issued a statement
DCP South East on Police entering Jamia Millia Islamia campus: The campus is not unified, it is located on both sides of the road, & while we were pushing the mob back, they were going in the University & then were throwing stones from inside, so we were checking those places. pic.twitter.com/EOIgRDc31E
— ANI (@ANI) December 15, 2019
Chinmoy Biswal, DCP South East: Some people have also been detained, can only give more information later. https://t.co/kIwjRs6rJ5
— ANI (@ANI) December 15, 2019
To get more clarity on this issue, we tried contacting Delhi Police but we didn’t get any response.
The claim made by Manish Sisodia, Atishi Marlena, Ankit Lal, AAP Volunteers, Journalist Saikat Datta, and others turned out to be ‘False’
From the evidence, it is clear that the claim made by Manish Sisodia, Atishi Marlena, Ankit Lal, AAP Volunteers, Journalist Saikat Datta, and others is ‘Misleading’.
Sources
- Google Search
- YouTube Search
- Twitter Advanced Search
Result: Misleading
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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.
