Vivek Agnihotri Posts A Doctored Image Of Anti-CAA Protester

Filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri posted a doctored image of a protester holding a placard, and tried to pass it off as real. While the original placard said "Hindu Hoon, Chutiya Nahi" (I'm a Hindu, not an Idiot), the placard in the image posted by Agnihotri said, "Chutiya Hoon, Hindu Nahi" (I'm an idiot, not a Hindu).

Agnihotri posted the doctored photo with the caption: "लिखने की क्या ज़रूरत थी। शक्ल लेंगी लिखा हुआ है।", which roughly translates to, "What was the point of writing it, it is written on your face."

The tweet carried an image of a man carrying a placard which said "Chutiya Hoon, Hindu Nahi", that translates to "I'm an idiot, not a Hindu". The tweet went viral in a matter of hours, with 1200 retweets and 4200 likes at the time of writing this article.

This tweet was shared in the backdrop of nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendement Act and the violence carried out in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Fact Check

BOOM did a reverse image search and traced this image back to December 20, 2019, as part of compilation of images of anti-CAA protesters and placards. In the photos that we observed that the text on the placard read, "Hindu Hoon, Chutiya Nahi", that translates to, "I'm a Hindu, not an idiot."

We placed the two images next to each other, to get a better idea of which picture is doctored.

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The cardboard on the image on the left (posted by Agnihotri) appears unrealistic, with the area around the text appearing pixelated. Furthermore, the cardboard also lacks the marks from the folds, which can be clearly seen in the photo on the right. This revealed that the image on the left has been doctored, to switch two words on the placard - "Hindu" and "Chutiya".

The phrase "Hindu Hoon, Chutiya Nahi" has been frequently used by anti-CAA protesters, with the text appearing in placards across the country.

Furthermore, BOOM reporters covering the anti-CAA protest in Mumbai on December 19, 2019 had come across this individual with the placard in person, who confirmed to us that the placard said, "Hindu Hoon, Chutiya Nahi."