Twitter on 2 December added “manipulated media” label to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell Head Amit Malviya’s tweet with an edited clip from the farmers’ protest.
The tweet was about a viral photo of an elderly man running as a policeman came at him with lati. The photo was tweeted by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. In response, Malviya shared a ‘Propaganda vs Reality’ video claiming that the police didn’t even touch the farmer.
NDTV managed to track down the farmer in the viral photo and here is what he had to say.
What Did the Farmer Say
Sukhdev Singh, the farmer in question, told NDTV that he suffered multiple blows from the police and had bruises all over his body. "They hit us with water cannons, tear gas and then used sticks… I was hurt all over my body, my legs, back..." Sukhdev Singh said, showing his bruises.
The 60-year-old was among the farmers at the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana and is still at the protest site. He added that he couldn't understand why he was beaten when he was not chanting any slogans or throwing stones.
What Did the Photographer Say?
Fact-checking website Alt News had tracked down the PTI photographer Ravi Choudhary who took the image. He told Alt News: "I clicked the picture from the other side and it cannot be said with certainty whether the baton touched the farmer or not because there was a lot of commotion at the time. The police were lathi-charging at the protesters and the farmer was running in the other direction to save himself. He may have been hit by another cop earlier if not this one."
The Twitter Controversy
After the video was shared by Rahul Gandhi, Amit Malviya tweeted that the photo was only half true and claimed that the farmer was never hit. In order to prove his point, he posted an edited video clip.
After multiple fact checkers posted longer videos of the attack, where the elderly man was seen getting hit, Twitter labelled Malviya’s tweet as “manipulated media”. The statement of the farmer now further disproves Malviya’s calim.
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