A disturbing picture of a policeman carrying a corpse on his shoulder is viral on social media with a misleading claim linking it to the raging Coronavirus pandemic.
BOOM found that the picture is old and the claim made with it is unrelated.
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The picture is viral in the backdrop of the second wave of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic which has claimed several lives in the country and laid bare the condition of the healthcare system.
The picture shows a uniformed police man carrying a corpse wrapped up in shroud on his shoulder. A Hindi caption with the picture translates to 'You might have seen several videos of police atrocity or cops taking bribe but look at this picture. A cop like SI Prashant Kumar Singh Budaun deserves a salute'.
(Hindi: आज तक पुलिस वालों को रिश्वत लेते और मारते पीटते के वीडियो बहुत वायरल की होंगे आप लोगों ने आज इस फोटो को वायरल करो तो जानू ऐसे पुलिस वालों को सेल्यूट है ये भाई SI प्रशांत कुमार सिंह बदायूं किस मिट्टी के बने हो? जब आपदा अवसर बन गई हो सबके अपने मुनाफे के एजेंडे हों तुम किस दुनिया से आए हो यार..)
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Almost all the posts sharing this image have claimed that the cop seen in the picture belongs to Budaun police, Uttar Pradesh.
The same picture was tweeted by Congress MLA from UP, Aradhana Misra-Mona with a caption reading 'Family abandons the dead and a Badayun cop taking the body on his shoulders. The policeman should be felicitated. But where are the ambulances and hearse vans that the state govt claims are in abundance. BJP Has Robbed #DignityToTheDead. Sad and Shameful'.
The image is viral from several Facebook pages and Twitter handles.
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Fact Check
BOOM found a tweet from the official Twitter handle of Budaun police wherein the department has denied that the picture showed an official of the Budaun police.
The tweet includes a screenshot of Aradhana Misra-Mona's tweet and a Hindi caption which translates to 'No such incident has come to light in district Budaun. Moreover, the cop shown in the picture is wearing winter uniform which proves that the incident is months old. So, don't tweet this picture linking it to present times'.
(Hindi: जनपद बदायूं मे इस प्रकार की कोई घटना प्रकाश मे नही आई है, फोटो मे दर्शाये गये पुलिसकर्मी ने शीतकालीन वर्दी पहनी है, यह फोटो कई माह पुरानी है। अतः इस घटना को वर्तमान समय का बताकर कृपया भ्रामक ट्वीट न करें। इस घटना का जनपद बदायूं से कोई संबंध नही है।)
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BOOM came across the screenshot of a Facebook post by one Sachin Kaushik in the comments section of the Congress MLA's tweet which claims that the incident is from Fatehpur Sikri police station from Agra and is months old.
We found the same picture, along with two other photos, on Kaushik's Facebook page.
In a long post in Hindi, Kaushik has mentioned that the incident shown in the picture is not from Budaun but Agra. He further mentions that the pictures are not from Covid times but much earlier and show SI Prashant Singh and constable Aman Singh - of Fatehpur Sikri police station - carrying a corpse to the hearse and not for performing the last rites.
Kaushik also writes that the unclaimed body was found lying near a pond in Kachhpura village of Fatehpur Sikri.
(Hindi: #Fact जिन तस्वीरों को बदायूँ का बताया जा रहा है,वो आगरा के थाना फतेहपुर सीकरी की हैं और पिछले वर्ष सर्दियों की हैं। ये तस्वीरें #COVID19 के दौरान की भी नहीं बल्कि उससे भी पूर्व की हैं।SI प्रशांत सिंह व का०अमन शव को मोर्चरी ले जाने के लिए गाड़ी तक कंधे पर लाए थे न कि अंतिम संस्कार के लिए। यह शव थाना फ़तेहपुर सीकरी के गाँव कछपुरा के पास एक तालाब के समीप मिला था जिसमें भयंकर बदबू थी। उस समय गाँव के व्यक्ति बदबू के कारण इस शव के आस-पास नहीं आए थे
BOOM tried to reach out to the sub-inspector from Agra police whose name has been mentioned in the post by Sachin Kaushik. The report will be updated once we get a response.