A video has gone viral where a person, dressed in what looks like a police uniform, is seen saying that he “does not want this job as the government issued lathi-charge orders.” The claim comes in the background of the clashes that took place between farmers and the Delhi Police during the tractor rally on 26 January, amid the ongoing protests against the new farm laws.
However, we found that the video was clipped from a longer video, first posted on 18 September 2020. The video actually showed the aftermath of a clash between Jharkhand state police and assistant police personnel, when the latter were staging a demonstration demanding regularisation of their jobs in Ranchi.
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CLAIM
The video was shared with a caption that read in Punjabi, “ਸਾਨੂੰ ਨਹੀਂ ਚਾਹੀਦੀ ਨੌਕਰੀ ਸਾਡੇ ਕਿਸਾਨਾਂ ਤੇ ਹੀ ਲਾਠੀਚਾਰਜ ਕਰਵਾ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਨੇ”.
(Translation: We don’t want jobs. The government has lathi-charged our farmers.)
The audio in the video is not completely comprehensible and the person is seen crying and folding his hands. The person can be seen saying, “We don't want the job. We ask forgiveness from the government. Why would people get lathi-charged by the government? They lathi-charged us.”
The clip was also sent to us on our WhatsApp tipline.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
The six-minute-long video shows other injured people talking about the protests and the events that unfolded. The YouTube channel also contained other videos from the day.
We looked for news reports on the incident and found two reports by The Times of India and ANI that talked about a clash between Jharkhand state police and assistant police personnel who were staging a demonstration demanding regularisation of their jobs.
“Assistant police personnel from various parts of the state have been protesting for the last six days. Today they went to gherao the Chief Minister’s residence,” said the ANI report that was also published on 18 September 2020.
In the video report published by TheFollowUp, the assistant police personnel can be seen giving the same account and sequence of events. An injured woman is seen at 1 minute and 24 secs saying that the didn’t have any option but to gherao the CM’s office as they have been protesting for a week and no one from the government’s side came to talk.
The TOI report states that ten people including the Superintendent of Police were injured in the clash. Injuries were also seen in the video posted by TheFollowUp.
Evidently, an old video was shared with a false context to claim that police personnel were distressed because the “government had ordered them to lathi-charge farmers.”
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