Widespread protests are being reported from Assam and several other parts of the country ever since the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (now an Act) was passed in both the Houses of the Parliament.
At least two people have been killed in police firing in Assam's Guwahati. While the situation is tense, many have taken the liberty of passing unverified videos and old pictures to spread disinformation.
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CLAIM
Now, a video is circulating on social media with the claim that it shows “brutality” of Assam police towards the protesters. The video shows police officials beating women with lathis.
The video shared by Facebook user ‘Shashanka Axom Dutta’ had over 10,000 views and was shared over 300 times at the time of publishing this article.
WHAT’S THE TRUTH?
While scanning through the user comments on the video uploaded on Facebook, we found that a user had shared the link of a YouTube video published by The Times of India on 25 September. The video is titled as “On cam: Brutal lathicharge on Anganwadi workers in Jharkhand.”
The incident was also covered by The Quint.
On 24 September, many protesting Anganwadi Sevika Sahayaka Sangh workers were beaten up in Jharkhand’s Ranchi by the police on the 40th consecutive day of their protest.
The Anganwadi workers had demanded that they should be declared as government workers and till then, the sevikas should be paid Rs 18,000 and sahayakas should be paid Rs 9,000.
The demands also included that retirement age of workers should be increased to 65 from 60 years. Further, at retirement sevikas should be given Rs 5 lakh and sahayakas should be given Rs 3 lakh.
Evidently, the video being circulated is neither from Assam and nor does it show protesters of Citizenship (Amendment) Act. It is from Jharkhand when the police lathicharged on protesting Anganwadi workers.
NOT ALL IS NORMAL IN ASSAM
Several towns and cities were placed under indefinite curfew, including Guwahati, the epicentre of protests, besides Dibrugarh, Tezpur and Dhekiajuli. Night curfew was imposed in Jorhat, Golaghat, Tinsukia and Charaideo districts, officials said.
Earlier in Guwahati, protesters also clashed with the police in Dibrugarh district, where the police fired tear gas shells and rubber bullets at demonstrators.
Incidents of tyre burning and vandalisation of vehicles were reported in Meghalaya capital Shillong, as protesters lobbed Molotov cocktails at a police vehicle damaging it in Mawlai area, East Khasi Hills district deputy commissioner MW Nongbri told PTI.
(With inputs from PTI)
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