A collage with photographs of three injured people has gone viral on the internet in the backdrop of the anti-Brahmin slogans written on the walls of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi.
The claim: Those sharing the viral collage have claimed that the people in the image were the ones who wrote the anti-Brahmin slogans on the walls of JNU and were beaten up because of that.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
The truth:
The people in the viral collage were members of the ‘Campaign Against State Repression’ (CASR), a joint front of several organisations, who were allegedly attacked by members of the Akhil Bharti Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) near Patel Chest Institute of the University of Delhi.
The brawl began when CASR was campaigning for the release of Dr GN Saibaba, an ex-DU professor who was arrested by the Maharashtra police for suspected Maoist links.
As per news reports, people involved in writing anti-Brahmin slogans in JNU haven't been identified yet.
How did we find that out?:
We conducted a reverse image search of the viral images and found the collage used in a news report by The Wire.
A link to the article can be found here. <<THE ARTICLE IS ALREADY LINKED. PLEASE CHANGE THE CAPTION>>
(Source: The Wire/Screenshot)
According to the news report, the photograph showed members of Campaign Against State Repression, who were allegedly attacked by members of the ABVP on 1 December.
The report mentioned that both parties involved in the altercation filed FIRs.
We accessed a copy of an FIR filed by Ehtamam Ul Haque, a member of Lawyers against atrocities (part of CASR), who told us that the altercation took place when members of CASR were campaigning near the Patel Chest Institute of the University of Delhi on the evening of 1 December.
He clarified that the viral claim was false and that they were not involved in the defacing of the walls in JNU.
Members of the CASR held meetings in DU on 30 November and 1 December to inform people about the week-long agitation that was been planned by the group to demand the release of Prof Saibaba and other political prisoners.
Who are the people in the photo?:
Haque, who is a lawyer, told us that the people in the viral image were University of Delhi students Aksh Negi and Lakshita Rajora and himself.
According to Haque, members of the ABVP tore some of the pamphlets and attacked members of CASR.
He also shared the copy of the FIR.
What happened in JNU?:
Several walls of a building at JNU were defaced with anti-Brahmin slogans on Thursday, 1 December.
The graffiti asked the members of the Brahmin and the Baniya communities to leave the JNU campus and the country.
The JNU Administration has ordered an enquiry into the matter but as per reports, people involved in the incident were yet to be identified.
Conclusion: Unrelated images from an altercation between members of the ABVP and CASR were shared as photographs of people involved in writing anti-Brahmin slogans on JNU walls.
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