A video of a policeman tying a bloodied handkerchief around his forehead juxtaposed to his photograph in a newspaper with the same handkerchief around his forehead is viral on social media with captions falsely claiming that he had faked a head wound during the recent Jodhpur communal violence.
BOOM spoke to the Jodhpur Police and confirmed that the viral claims are false.
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According to news reports, communal clashes gripped Rajasthan's Jodhpur district on May 2 over the hoisting of Islamic flags at Jalori gate circle before Eid. A curfew is in place till May 6 and over 200 people have been arrested in connection with the violence.
Against this backdrop, a collage of a photo and a video is viral on social media claiming that the Rajasthan police was instrumental in the communal violence. The photo shows a newspaper clipping of a policeman with a bloodied handkerchief tied around his head. A Hindi caption with the photo in the news clipping translates to 'injured policeman'.
The video in the collage shows the same policeman tying the bloodied handkerchief on his forehead. There's no blood seen on his forehead in this video.
A Hindi caption with a Facebook post sharing the collage translates to 'This video is viral on social media. The truth of the policeman who was injured has been captured in the video. The riot has been planned. The question now arises whether this will be investigated? Will those spreading lies on this be punished? Even the newspaper seems to be hand-in-gloves in peddling the fake narrative'.
(Hindi: सोशल मीडिया में तेज़ी से वायरल हो रही है ये वीडियो । जिस पुलिस वाले को चोट लगी है, उसकी असलियत वीडियो में कैद हो गई, सारे दंगे प्लानिंग से हो रहे हैं। अब सवाल ये पैदा होता है की क्या इसकी जांच हो पाएगी? क्या इस पर झूठ फैलाने के जुर्म में सख्त कार्रवाई होगी? अखबार भी पूरी तरह से इस फर्जीवाड़ा में शामिल दिखाई दे रहा है )
Click here to view the post.
The same collage has been shared from multiple Facebook pages. Click here, here, here and here to view posts.
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The video is viral on Twitter with similar captions.
Fact Check
BOOM found a tweet from the official Twitter handle of Jodhpur police where the department had refuted the claims regarding the viral video.
A Hindi caption with the tweet translates to 'The truth behind misleading news regarding the injury of ASI Shri Dhannaram in the Jalori Gate incident... In the incident, there was a head injury to the ASI, due to which there was blood on the hand and handkerchief. After the incident, the injured ASI was treated and an FIR was registered in the police station Sardarpura ... #AvoidFakeNews'.
(Hindi: #Jodhpur ASI श्री धन्नाराम की जालोरी गेट घटना में लगी चोट के संबंध में भ्रामक खबरों की सच्चाई... घटना में लगी थी ASI के सिर में चोट जिससे हाथ और रुमाल पर लगा था खून... घटना के बाद चोटिल ASI का कराया गया था मेडिकल व थाना सरदारपुरा मे दर्ज की गई F.I.R. ... #AvoidFakeNews)
Taking cue, BOOM contacted the Sardarpura police station in Jodhpur. We spoke to Assistant Sub Inspector Dhannaram who is seen in the viral video.
The policeman told BOOM that before the tying the handkerchief on his forehead, he had cleaned his face with it. "I cleaned my face with the handkerchief before tying it on my forehead. In the video, there's no blood on my face but blood can be seen on the handkerchief and my hand. I had received a head injury," the ASI told BOOM.
ASI Dhannaram also shared pictures of his head injury and a clearer version of the viral video. Blood can be clearly seen on the policeman's hand in the video we received from him.
Watch the video below.
BOOM took screenshots from the video that clearly show the mark of injury and blood on the ASI's hand.
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