An image of a youth caught in action while desecrating the Amar Jawan memorial at Mumbai's Azad Maidan in 2012 has resurfaced on social media in the wake of the anti Citizenship Amendment Bill protests in several parts of the country.
In the image, a Muslim youth can be seen vandalising the army memorial amidst a riot like situation that erupted in Mumbai's Azad Maidan area in south Mumbai in 2012.
The image is viral on multiple Facebook pages with claims that minorities of the country have been disrespectful towards the Indian soldiers and thus in turn do not have a right to stay in the country. It has been captioned as, "Can someone, who can kick an Amar Jawan memorial, be a citizen of India?? You tell!" (Original caption in Bengali: যিনি শহীদ জওয়ানদের স্মৃতি স্তম্ভে লাথি মারে তিনি কি কখনও ভারতবর্ষের নাগরিক হতে পারে?? আপনারাই বলুন।)
The viral post can be viewed here.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 amends the Citizenship Act of 1955. It seeks to include foreign illegal migrants of certain religious communities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh eligible for Indian citizenship. The bill has resulted in violent protests in particularly in the Northeast, West Bengal and other parts of India.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search and found that the image is originally of Mumbai's Azad Maidan where protests by a local Sufi community, Raza Academy turned violent.
Large number of Muslims had gathered to protest against the atrocities on Muslims in Myanmar and Assam. The rally soon turned into a riot like situation, when the crowd swelled to more than 40,000 and vandalisation of public property worth crores was reported.
According to reports, the man, identified as, Abdul Quadir Mohammed Younus Ansari (19), was arrested for vandalism, after the Mumbai police identified him from photographs clicked by Mid-Day photo journalist Atul Kamble.
The Azad Memorial was unveiled in 2009. It was erected to commemorate communal harmony and preserve the memory of two sepoys — Sayyed Hussein and Mangal Cadiya — who were martyred during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.