Why CAA Protesters With Fake Bandages Don’t Mean Fake Injuries
Yes, these bandages are fake – but that doesn’t mean the protesters are faking injuries, as claimed. Here’s why.
CLAIM
A set of images claiming that protesters of NRC and CAA are faking injuries have gone viral. The images show a girl with a bandaged eye and a boy with bandages on his arm and one of his eyes. The bandages are not convincingly worn, with man being loosely tied over clothes and with fake blood.
Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit shared one such image of a girl with the caption, "Bandage above hijab. #UrbanNaxals ki nautanki."
The claim shared along with the photo reads,“चाहें NRC हों या CAB तुम विरोध करो ये तुम्हरा अधिकार है, पर एक बात बताओ, वो कौन सा डॉo है जिसने हिजाब और जैकेट के ऊपर पट्टी बांध दी ?लगता है doctor vi JNU से पढ़ा है” (Translated: Whether it’s CAA or NRC, protesting against them is your right, but tell us one thing, who is that doctor who puts bandage over hijab and jacket? Looks like the doctor has studied from JNU)
Several social media users shared the images on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.
The Quint received a query on the claim made in the images via its WhatsApp helpline.
WHAT’S THE TRUTH?
On conducting a Google reverse image search, we found a Twitter thread shared by journalist Zafar Abbas on 29 December 2019.
The thread mentioned that the images were of students of Jamia University, who were protesting with bandages on one eye in “solidarity with fellow student Minhajuddin, who lost an eye in Delhi Police crackdown on 15 December.”
Abbas, who had captured these images, told The Quint, "These images were taken on 29 December when students of Jamia University and locals had staged a symbolic protest in solidarity with Minhajuddin, who had lost his eye. It was a one-eye bandaged protest."
He further added, "There is a difference between faking injuries and doing a symbolic protest.”
Also, a watermark of ‘AFAR ABBAS’ can be seen on the viral images, which is a truncated version of his watermark ‘ZAFAR ABBAS’ on the images captured by him.
ABOUT THE ONE-EYE BANDAGED PROTEST
Wearing bandages on one eye to express solidarity with a fellow student who lost his eye in the police crackdown on 15 December 2019, Jamia Millia Islamia students continued protesting on 29 December 2019, supported by student organisations and local residents, IANS reported.
Minhajuddin was studying in the library in the evening, when the police entered the library to deal with the agitating students. According to those with him, he was brutally beaten up by the Delhi police, in the course of which his left eye was severely damaged.
(With inputs from IANS)
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