Photo Shows JNU's Aishe Ghosh Faked An Injury? False Claim Viral

A photograph of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) President Aishe Ghosh has been shared on social media with false claims that she faked a head injury during the January 5, 2020 JNU campus violence, as a scar is not visible in the photo.

Ghosh was injured during the violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University in which an armed mob attacked students and faculty. A picture of Ghosh bleeding profusely from the head, taken back then galvanized protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and a potential National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Also Read JNU Violence: With WhatsApp, Planning An Assault Was Never This Easy

Satire twitter handle Limes of India had shared a set of two photos of Ghosh on February 19, 2020 with a message 'Real life mutant: Meet Aishe Ghosh, the woman who recovers faster than any normal human being'.

The tweet comprises a photo of an injured Ghosh and another where she is seen speaking to a reporter from news agency ANI. There is no visible injury mark on Ghosh's forehead in the second picture.

Limes of India's archived tweet can be viewed here.

Mahesh Vikram Hegde, co-founder of Post Card news, tweeted a similar set of pictures - one of a profusely bleeding Aishe Ghosh and another of her talking to a reporter - with the text 'She's JNU's Aishe Ghosh...Pic 1: Weeks ago she said she had to put 16 stitches...Pic 2: Now not even a single stitch is visible...I think her doctor is God'.

Archived version of Hegde's tweet can be accessed here.

Also read: JNU Student Aishe Ghosh Faked A Hand Injury? A FactCheck

Similar sets of images have also been shared on Facebook with the same claim.

A Facebook post by The Skin Doctor shared a set of Ghosh's picture with similar claim.

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BOOM contacted Aishe Ghosh who told us that the picture was clicked recently and added that the stitch marks were not visible because of the manner in which light reflected on her forehead.

She sent us another picture of hers in which a scar left by surgical stitches are clearly visible. 

In another picture which the JNUSU president sent us, the stitches are barely visible due to the sunlight. Since this is a selfie taken from the front camera of a mobile phone, the picture has flipped and the stitch mark appears as a mirror image of the original image.

While we could not trace the other picture in which Ghosh appears without an injury mark, BOOM managed to find images wherein Ghosh is dressed in the same clothes. Ghosh was in Kolkata from February 13, 2020 onward  to attend anti-CAA and anti-NRC protests. Read more about it here.