An old video of police lathi-charging those violating the lockdown in Maharashtra’s Amravati has been revived on social media amid the recent one-week lockdown in the district from 22 February.
This comes as the Maharashtra government had to impose new restrictions in light of a surge in COVID-19 cases.
CLAIM
The video was shared with the claim, “महाराष्ट्र के अमरावती से नए लॉक डाउन के साथ नए रुझान आना शुरू हो गए हैं,,महा प्रसाद लंगर शुरू हो गया है”
(Translation: “With the new lockdown, new trends have started coming from Amravati, Maharashtra, langar offerings have started.”)
The video shared by user Mujahid Siddiqui, without the full context, had garnered over 3,000 views at the time of writing this article.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
A reverse image search of one of the keyframes of the viral video led us to several social media posts with the same video, dating back to 25 March and 26 March.
Clearly, the video cannot be from the current lockdown in Amravati.
We also found YouTube channels, ‘Nation Next’ and ‘Mahasanvad Media’ which specified that the video is from Amravati in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region.
The words, “अमरावती ट्रैफिक पुलिस” (Amravati Traffic Police) can also be seen faintly on the police barrier.
Further, we could geolocate the video to Rajkamal Chowk in Amravati. The building, ‘Assam Tea Centre’ – as seen in the viral video – is located at the Mahanagar Palika Complex, Rajkamal Chowk.
We compared the visuals to the 360-degree street view available on Google Maps and found that the locations match. A comparison of the image of the building on Just Dial with the viral video can be seen below.
Evidently, an old video of the junta curfew in March 2020, from Amravati has been revived as a recent one.
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