text:
2019 incident of a bull being killed using a JCB in Maharashtra is being falsely attributed to Uttar Pradesh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 27, 2022
A gruesome video of a bull being killed using a JCB is being widely shared on social media with a description that translates to ‘Who used to say that #Baba’s #bulldozer only runs on #Muslims. Those people see that #Baba does justice #equally.’ in a veiled reference to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. During the campaign for the recently concluded 2022 UP Assembly Elections, UP CM  Yogi Adityanath was widely referred to as ‘Bulldozer baba’. Let’s verify if the brutal video of the bull being killed is from Uttar Pradesh.
Claim: Video of a bull being killed using a JCB in Uttar Pradesh.
Fact: The incident in the video took place in the month of October 2019 in Pondwadi Village of Indapur Taluka in Pune District of Maharashtra State. The same has been informed by the investigating police officer to the media. This video has nothing to do with Uttar Pradesh. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When the screenshots of the video were run through Google Reverse Image Search, many similar videos were found in the search results. Several media agencies have reported about the incident in 2019. Some of them can be seen here, here, here, and here. The incident in the video took place in the month of October 2019 in Pondwadi Village of Indapur Taluka in Pune District of Maharashtra State. The same has been informed by the investigating police officer to the media.
In the ‘Mumbai Mirror’ report, it can be read – “According to local villagers, the farmers could not afford to keep the aged bull and thus decided to kill it in a brutal manner. The Maharashtra Police has now booked 2 absconding persons in connection with the brutal killing of the bull.” So, the incident in the video is not related to Uttar Pradesh.
To sum it up, an old video from Maharashtra is falsely shared as a bull being killed using a JCB in Uttar Pradesh.


text:
2019 Lok Sabha election schedule is being falsely shared as the 2024 election schedule. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 22, 2024
As the official tenure of the 17th Lok Sabha is set to expire on 16 June 2024, the general elections to elect the members of the 18th Lok Sabha are expected to take place in the upcoming months of April and May. In this context, a purported official notification from the Election Commission of India (ECI) displaying the dates of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections in Bihar in seven phases is widely circulating on social media platforms. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Election commission of India has released official notification for 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
Fact: The Election Commission of India has not yet announced the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. According to some reports, the expected announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha election dates is after 09 March 2024. The viral notification displays the election schedule for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
To verify the authenticity of the viral claim, we conducted a keyword search for the schedule of the 2024 General Elections. However, we did not find any official notification from the Election Commission of India or any reports from mainstream media about the release of the 2024 Lok Sabha election schedule. According to some reports, the 2024 Lok Sabha election dates are expected to be announced after 09 March 2024.
We checked the Election Commission of India (ECI) website, and we did not find any notification of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections or any press release about the dates of the 2024 general elections. Subsequently, we also checked the official website of the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar (CEO Bihar), and we did not find any schedule or press release regarding the election dates of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Bihar.
Later, we conducted a keyword search on the internet using the dates mentioned in the viral photo, which led us to a news report by India Today in 2019. The two tables seen in the viral post matched exactly with the ones in the report.
We also checked the official websites of the CEO, Bihar and the Election Commission of India regarding the 2019 Lok Sabha election schedule (here & here). Both sources specified that the dates for the 2019 general elections were from 11 April 2024 to 19 May 2019. From this information, it is evident that the 2019 general election schedule reported by India Today has been morphed and is being shared as the 2024 general election schedule.
To sum it up, the Election Commission of India has not yet announced the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The dates of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are falsely being shared as the 2024 election dates.

source: news-factly

created: February 22, 2024

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


text:
2019 Lok Sabha election schedule is falsely shared as that of the upcoming Panchayat election in Uttar Pradesh - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 9, 2021
A post sharing a purported schedule of Uttar Pradesh elections is being shared on social media platforms. Through this article let’s fact-check the veracity of the schedule.
Claim: 2021 Uttar Pradesh Panchayat election schedule.
Fact: Except for the change in the month of polls, the rest of the schedule is the same as the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to parliament constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. In the post, the month of polls is mentioned as March whereas the actual elections took place in the month of April back in 2019. Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh are due in April 2021. The process of preparation of electoral rolls is underway. This establishes that the 2019 Lok Sabha election schedule may have been shared widely by misconstruing it as the schedule for the upcoming panchayat election. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Search on the Election Commission of India website yielded us the schedule of 2019 Lok Sabha General Elections. In this schedule, the poll dates of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to Uttar Pradesh Parliament constituencies are the same as those in the post, except for the change in the month of polls. In the post, the month of polls is mentioned as March whereas the actual elections took place in the month of April back in 2019. Also, the segregation of 80 Parliament constituencies into phases in the post reflects the segregation in the 2019 election schedule. All these establish that the schedule of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is being falsely shared as the upcoming election schedule.
As of now, there are no elections to be held to assembly or Parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. Further search on the State Election Commission website of Uttar Pradesh yielded us a circular dated 05 February 2021, which lists the timeline related to the preparation of electoral rolls states. As per this circular, the final publication of electoral rolls for the general public is on 15 March 2021. Taking a cue from this, Google search with relevant keywords led us to a news article which reported that the State Election Commission may release the panchayat election notification by 25 March 2021, and most likely, the first phase of elections may happen before 10 April 2021. From this, it can be inferred that the 2019 Lok Sabha election schedule may have been shared widely by misconstruing it as the schedule for the upcoming panchayat election.
In view of upcoming assembly general elections in five states and Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections due in April 2021, posts like these are being shared with misleading claims.
To sum it up, 2019 Lok Sabha election schedule is falsely shared as that of upcoming Panchayat election in Uttar Pradesh.


text:
2019 Lok Sabha Elections: NOTA Vote share highest in Bihar
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 30, 2019
Bihar recorded the highest NOTA vote share in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It is the only State/UT in the entire country where the vote share for NOTA touched 2%.
As noted in an earlier story by Factly, the vote share for NOTA went down further in the 2019 Lok Sabha general elections despite calls to choose NOTA. State level analysis reveals that Bihar polled the highest vote share for NOTA at 2%.
19 States/UTs poll less than 1% for NOTA
Out of the 36 States/UTs, NOTA polled less than 1% in 19 of them. NOTA polled less than 0.5% in Nagaland, Manipur, Haryana & Lakshadweep, the lowest being in Nagaland where NOTA polled 0.21%. On the other hand, Bihar polled the highest for NOTA in terms of vote share. Here, NOTA vote share touched 2%, the only state where this happened. And the NOTA share was more than 1.5% in only two other places, that too the UTs of Puducherry and Daman & Diu.
In terms of absolute number of votes, NOTA polled more than 8 lakh votes in Bihar, an average of more than 20,000 votes per constituency.  This is way more than the national average of around 12,000 NOTA votes per constituency. Though NOTA polled more than 7 lakh votes in Uttar Pradesh, the average NOTA votes per constituency was only around 9000. After Bihar, the average NOTA votes per constituency was highest in Andhra Pradesh (average of 18795) followed by Chhattisgarh where the average was close to 18000.  The average was less than the national average of around 12,000 votes per constituency in 25 of the 36 States/UTs. In states like Goa, Kerala, Haryana & Delhi, NOTA polled fewer votes per constituency than the rest of the country.
NOTA Vote share changed substantially in 9 States/UTs
In 9 of the 36 States/UTs, the vote share for NOTA changed substantially compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In Andhra Pradesh, the NOTA share went up from 0.6% in 2014 to 1.5% in 2019. Bihar & Punjab are the only other states where NOTA share increased substantially. In many other states, the NOTA share decreased substantially like in Kerala where it decreased from 1.2% in 2014 to 0.5% in 2019. In Meghalaya, it decreased from 2.8% in 2014 to 0.8% in 2019.


text:
2019 mock military exercise video in Kuwait shared as visuals of Saudi Defence Minister frightened by firecrackers at the Chinese Embassy - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 27, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of the Saudi Defence Minister who was frightened by firecrackers arranged for his welcome during the Chinese New Year celebrations at the Chinese Embassy. This video shows a group of uniformed soldiers escorting away a man donning a head scarf after chaos erupted during the welcome to a ceremony. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of the Saudi Defence Minister who was frightened by the firecrackers arranged for his welcome during the Chinese New Year celebrations at the Chinese Embassy.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows old visuals of a mock military exercise conducted for the Emiri guards in the State of Kuwait. The mock military exercise was conducted to train guards on how to protect  prominent personalities from an assassination attempt. This military exercise was organised as part of the activities of the Gulf Defense and Aviation Exhibition event held at the Mishref International Fairgrounds in Kuwait. The video is old and it has nothing to do with Saudi Defense Minister or with the Chinese New Year celebrations. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots of the video, a video with similar visuals was found published by a YouTube channel on 12 December 2019. This YouTube user published the video mentioning it as visuals of a military training exercise conducted for Emiri guards at the fairgrounds. When we searched for this video using relevant keywords, we found the same video published on the official Facebook page of the ‘Alsaa.net’ news website. ‘Alsaa.net’ published this video on 13 December 2019, describing it as the visuals of a mock military exercise conducted for the guards in the state of Kuwait.
A clearer version of the video, shot from another angle was tweeted by the ‘Alhadath.net’ news website on 12 December 2019. This news channel reported it as a fake military exercise conducted for the Emiri guards, as part of the Gulf Defense and Aviation Exhibition event in Kuwait.
معرض الخليج للدفاع والطيران | عرض عسكري وهمي لهيئة الحرس الأميري pic.twitter.com/fRWuYgN0Dh
The full video of this military exercise was found published on the Kuwait Army’s official Instagram handle. Kuwait Army published this video stating, “part of the Emiri guard’s display that was carried out during the 5th Gulf Defense and Aviation Exhibition, which was held during the period from 10th to 12 December 2019, at the Mishref International fairground” (when translated from Arabic to English). From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is old and shows a mock military exercise conducted for Emiri guards in Kuwait.
To sum it up, a 2019 video showing a mock military exercise in Kuwait is shared as visuals of the Saudi Defence Minister frightened by firecrackers fired at his welcome at the Chinese Embassy.


text:
2019 photo falsely shared as Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi laughing en route to Hathras - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 6, 2020
A smiling photo of Rahul Gandhi with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is being shared on social media claiming it as the photo shot during their journey to meet the Hathras rape victim’s family. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Rahul Gandhi with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra laughing during their journey to meet the Hathras rape victim’s family.
Fact: Photo in the post was shot during the 2019 election campaign in Uttar Pradesh. While heading to different meetings as part of the election campaign in U.P, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra met at Kanpur Airport on ‘27 April 2019’. It has nothing to do with the Hathras rape case. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search, similar photos of Rahul Gandhi with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were found in an article published by ‘The Indian Express’ news website on ‘27 April 2019’. In the article, it is mentioned that this photo was shot in Kanpur Airport while both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were heading towards different public meetings in Uttar Pradesh. Article published by ‘The News Nation’ also shared this photo as a lighter moment between the siblings when they met at the Kanpur airport. These photos were also shared in a tweet posted by U.P East Youth Congress on twitter.
Rahul Gandhi shared these moments with her sister at Kanpur Airport on his official Facebook page. ‘NDTV’ and ‘The Times of India’ news websites also shared the video of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra meeting at Kanpur Airport on ‘27 April 2019’. They can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, an old picture of a lighter moment between Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra Gandhi is falsely linked to their journey to meet the Hathras rape victim’s family.

created: October 6, 2020


text:
2019 photo from Telangana shared as the recent picture of a hoarding of CMR shopping mall endorsing ‘love jihad’ in Karnataka - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 21, 2023
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it is a hoarding of CMR shopping mall promoting love jihad in Karnataka. The photo shows a skull-capped man posing with a woman in a Hindu traditional saree. The post claims that the CMR shopping mall is promoting love jihad by offering 10% to 50% offers to Muslim men who bring Hindu girls along with them. A few other users were sharing the same photo claiming it is a recent one from Telangana. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: An image of a hoarding of CMR shopping mall endorsing love jihad, in Karnataka.
Fact: The photo shared in the post shows an old hoarding placed by CMR Telangana Group as part of their Ramzan campaign in 2019. CMR Telangana Group issued an apology and removed all their hoardings after the outrage from various groups in 2019. The photo shared in the post is old and is not from Karnataka. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found shared by many news pages and Facebook users in 2019. A few of those posts can be seen here, here, and here. All these news sites and users mentioned that Raja Singh, a BJP member of the Telangana Legislative Assembly representing the Goshamahal Assembly Constituency in Hyderabad, had slammed CMR Shopping Mall over their controversial banner put out as part of their Ramzan campaign. On observing the photo carefully, at the bottom of the hoarding, one could see the names of various branches of CMR shopping malls in Telangana. The banner specifically mentions the CMR branches located in Patni Center, near Manju Theatre in Secunderabad, Malkajgiri, Siddipet, and Mahbubnagar.
When we searched the internet for further sources using relevant keywords, we found an apology note issued by the CMR Shopping Mall on 31 May 2019. The statement issued by the CMR Shopping Mall states, “Apologies for the blunder from the entire CMR Telangana Group. We have no intentions of hurting any religious sentiments or create any distinction. We support all religions and respect every community with no bias. All the hoardings have been removed and we assure to not repeat anything of this sort in future. CMR Shopping mall Andhra Pradesh is in no way associated or related with this”.
Many users shared the Telugu apology press note issued by the CMR Shopping Mall in 2019. The CMR Shopping Mall Andhra Pradesh has also issued a clarification stating that the advertisement was not issued by them. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the image shared in the post is old and not from Karnataka.
To sum it up, a 2019 photo from Telangana is shared as the recent picture of a hoarding of CMR shopping mall endorsing ‘love jihad’ in Karnataka.


text:
2019 photo of labourers rally in West Bengal falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protest - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 24, 2020
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as that of a rally conducted in West Bengal in support of farmers. In the wake of ongoing farmers’ protest over the new agriculture legislation, this photo is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of a rally conducted in West Bengal in support of ongoing farmers’ protest.
Fact: This photo was captured during a rally conducted by the CPI(M) in West Bengal in 2019. The rally was organized by CPI(M) against the policies being implemented by the Government of India. This photo has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protest. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found in a report published in 9GAG website. It is reported as the 2019 rally of labourers, organised by Communist Party of India (Marxist) against the policies of Government of India. This rally took place at Kolkata on ‘11 December 2019’.
Sharing the same photo, CPI (M) West Bengal posted a tweet on their official handle. In the tweet, it is mentioned as the photo from the Labour rally organised by them on ‘11 December 2019’ in Kolkata, West Bengal.
Birds eye view of today's public meeting at Rani Rashmani Road which was organised to mark the culmination of 12 days long #WorkersLongMarch against  privatization, anti workers policies, divisive agenda of #NRC, #CAB & rampant retrenchment of the labors. pic.twitter.com/1tq2kxaWqm
Factly earlier debunked similar fake claims about the crowd gatherings in farmers’ protests. They can be seen here and here.
To sum it up, 2019 photo of labourers rally in West Bengal falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protest.

created: December 24, 2020


text:
2019 photo of a waterlogged Raymond showroom in Patna is linked to Mumbai rains - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 23, 2021
An image is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of a waterlogged garment showroom in Mumbai. This post claims it as the visuals of the havoc wreaked by the heavy rains in Mumbai. Amid the recent heavy rains in Mumbai, this photo is being shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image of a waterlogged garment showroom in Mumbai.
Fact: This is an old photo of a flooded Raymond showroom in Patna. In September 2019, Bihar experienced heavy rains in several parts of the state. Following the heavy rains in Patna, a Raymond showroom located in Hathua market was filled with rainwater. This photo has nothing to do with the recent Mumbai rains. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo is found in an article published by the ‘Naiduniya’ news website on 28 September 2019. This article reported it as the visuals of a waterlogged Raymond showroom in Patna. According to the article, several districts of Bihar experienced heavy rains on 27 and 28 September 2019. Following the heavy rains in Patna, a Raymond showroom in the Hathua market was reportedly flooded with rainwater. Reporting the same, several news websites have published articles sharing the same photo. They can be seen here and here.
‘News 18’ channel had tweeted similar photos on 28 September 2019. They reported it as the pictures of waterlogging at Raymond showroom in Patna. The ‘Live Cities Media Private Limited’ YouTube channel had posted a video sharing the live visuals of this flooded Raymond showroom in Patna. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the image shared in the post is an old one and not related to the recent Mumbai rains.
बिहार में भारी बारिश से जन-जीवन अस्त-व्यस्त है। घर, अस्पताल, कार्यालय, दुकान, शोरूम, बाजार हर तरफ पानी जमा है। देखिये पटना के हथुआ मार्केट के सामने स्थित रेमंड शोरूम में जलजमाव की तस्वीरें…
आपदा में #News18 करेगा आपकी मदद, हमें भेजिये आपदा की तस्वीर, हमारा नंबर है- 6304923032 pic.twitter.com/VAOlFjG6Ha
To sum it up, an old photo of a waterlogged Raymond showroom in Patna was is linked to the Mumbai rains.


text:
2019 photo of Deepika Padukone linked to the ongoing row over her saffron-coloured costume in Pathaan film - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 6, 2023
Amid the controversy over Deepika Padukone’s saffron-coloured costume in ‘Besharam Rang’ song in ‘Pathaan’, a photo is being shared on social media claiming it as a recent picture showing Deepika Padukone wearing saffron-coloured heels. In the wake of Bajrang Dal activists vandalising ‘Pathaan’ posters at a multiplex in Ahmedabad, this post claims that Deepika Padukone had countered protestors by publishing this picture of her wearing saffron-coloured heels. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent picture of Deepika Padukone posing in saffron-coloured heels.
Fact: The post shared Deepika Padukone’s old photo taken at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2019. The photo is old and has nothing to do with the ongoing controversy over Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone’s starrer film ‘Pathaan’. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo is found in an article published by the ‘Indian Express’ news website in May 2019. This article reported it as Deepika Padukone’s pictures taken at the Cannes International Film Festival held in May 2019. Reporting the same, several news websites published articles in 2019. They can be seen here and here.
On 17 May 2019, Deepika Padukone’s stylist Shaleena Nathani shared the same picture of Deepika Padukone taken at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Lately, Deepika Padukone did not pose for any photo wearing saffron-coloured heels.
To sum it up, Deepika Padukone’s old photo taken at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival is being linked to the ongoing row over her saffron-coloured costume in Pathaan film.

created: January 6, 2023


text:
2019 photo of Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal’s family mourning on his coffin shared as a recent one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 2, 2022
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it is a recent picture of Major Vibhuti Shankar’s wife and family members mourning on his coffin. This post claims that Major Vibhuti Shankar was martyred recently after 8 months of his married life. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent picture of Major Vibhuti Shankar’s wife and his family members mourning on his coffin.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is an old one. Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal was martyred during a gun battle that took place in Pulwama, in February 2019. Following the footsteps of her husband, in May 2021, Major Vibhuti Shankar’s wife Nikita Kaul joined as a Lieutenant in the Indian army. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found in a ‘Amar Ujala’ article published on 20 February 2019. The article reported it as the picture of Martyred Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal’s family members mourning on his coffin. Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal was one of the four soldiers who were martyred during a gun battle that took place between soldiers and terrorists in Pulwama, in February 2019. This attack took place just a week after the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers.
Reporting the same, several news websites published articles in February 2019. They can be seen here and here. Following the footsteps of her husband, in May 2021, Major Vibhuti Shankar’s wife Nikita Kaul joined as a Lieutenant in the Indian army. In November 2021, Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal’s wife Nikita Kaul and mother Saroj Dhoundiyal received Shaurya Chakra (Posthumous) on his behalf. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal was martyred during a gun battle in 2019.
To sum it up, 2019 photo of Major Vibhuti Shankar’s family mourning on his coffin is being shared as a recent one.


text:
2019 photo of Police beating anti-CAA protestors is shared as recent police lathi-charge on students in UP - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 28, 2022
A photo through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the photo shows police in Uttar Pradesh (UP) lathi-charging students. The post is being shared in the backdrop of the recent police crackdown on students protesting a railway recruitment process in UP. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent photo of police lathi-charge on students in UP.
Fact: The photo is of police beating up anti-CAA protestors in Lucknow in 2019, it is not a recent photo. On 25 January 2022, UP police in Prayagraj  cracked down on a group of students who were protesting the alleged irregularities in the Railway Recruitment Board’s Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB NTPC) exam. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When a reverse image search is done on the photo, an article with the same photo was found. The article published in December 2019 is about the protests that took place against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in India. The photo caption is read, “UP Police beat up anti-CAA protestors in Lucknow in 2019.” Another article about the same anti-CAA protests carried the same photo.
On 25 January 2022, UP police in Prayagraj have cracked down on a group of students who were protesting a railway recruitment process. Recently, students have been protesting the alleged irregularities in the Railway Recruitment Board’s Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB NTPC) exam. Violence erupted in parts of Bihar and UP. As of now, the Railways had suspended its recruitment process and formed a committee to address the issue.
A tweet with a photo collage of bruised young men is also going viral saying that the images were from lathi-charge amidst the protests against RRB’s NTPC. Three of the four images shared via the tweet are not recent; they are being shared (here, here, and here) online even before the recent alleged lathi-charge by the UP police on students. Factly had written an article about one such image earlier in 2020.
Dekhiye modhi jii pic.twitter.com/wTFXYEujfV
To sum it up, the 2019 photo of Police beating anti-CAA protestors is falsely shared as a recent police lathi-charge on students in UP.

created: January 28, 2022


text:
2019 photo of Taapsee Pannu’s visit to Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak Temple is linked to her recent film Dobaaraa - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 23, 2022
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it is a recently clicked picture of Bollywood actress Taapsee Pannu when she was spotted at the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai. In the wake of Taapsee’s recent film ‘Dobaaraa’’s disappointing run at the box office , this post claims that Taapsee has become religious instantly after her film bombed at the box office. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Taapsee Pannu’s picture at the Siddhivinayak temple after her film Dobaaraa was unsuccessful at the box office.
Fact: The photo shared in the post was captured in October 2019, when Taapsee Pannu along with her parents visited the Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi, Mumbai. Ahead of the release of her film ‘Saand Ki Ankh’, Taapsee visited the temple to take blessings for the success of her film. The photo shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with Taapsee’s recently released film Dobaaraa. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, similar images were found in an article published by the ‘Mid-Day’ news website on 26 October 2019. A description under one of these images state, “Taapsee Pannu along with her father Dilmohan Singh Pannu and mother Nirmaljeet went to seek Lord Ganesha’s blessing at the Siddhivinayak Temple in Prabhadevi, Mumbai”.
Ahead of the release of her film ‘Saand Ki Ankh’, Taapsee along with her family reportedly visited Siddhivinayak temple in October 2019. Reporting the same, several others have published articles and videos in 2019. They can be seen here and here.
Taapsee Pannu starred, and Anurag Kashyap directed Dobaaraa film was released on 19 August 2022. Following the poor reviews from the audience, Dobaaraa film reportedly collected only 2.98 crores in the opening weekend. But the photo shared in the post has nothing to do with Taapsee Pannu’s recently released film Dobaaraa. Also, there are no news reports that stated Taapsee Pannu had visited Ajmer Dargah seeking blessings for the success of her films.
To sum it up, an old photo clicked during Taapsee Pannu’s visit to Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak Temple in 2019 is being linked to her recently released film Dobaaraa.


text:
2019 photo shared as recent picture of Akhilesh and Mulayam Singh Yadav congratulating Yogi Adityanath - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 17, 2022
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as the recent picture of Samajwadi Party leaders Akhilesh, Shivpal and Mulayam Singh Yadav congratulating Yogi Adityanath for his victory in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent picture of Akhilesh and Mulayam Singh Yadav meeting UP CM Yogi Adityanath and congratulating him for his victory in the 2022 UP Assembly Elections.
Fact: The photo shared in the post shows UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s visit to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s residence in Lucknow in 2019, a day after Mulayam Singh Yadav was admitted to the hospital with high blood sugar levels. Yogi Adityanath had met Mulayam Sigh Yadav to inquire about his health. Akhilesh Yadav did not meet and congratulate Yogi Adityanath after the recent 2022 UP election results. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo, the same photo was found in a tweet made by ‘ANI UP/Uttarakhand’ on 10 June 2019. ‘ANI’ reported that Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath had met SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav at his residence to inquire about his health. A day before Yogi Adityanath’s visit, Mulayam Singh Yadav was reportedly admitted to the hospital due to high blood sugar levels. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Chief Shivpal Yadav were also present this meeting between Yogi Adityanath visited Mulayam Singh Yadav.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath meets SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav at his residence. MS Yadav was admitted to hospital yesterday due to high levels of blood sugar. SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav and Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Chief Shivpal Yadav also present. pic.twitter.com/bOKWeqa6uq
Reporting Yogi Adityanath’s meeting with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family, several news websites published articles and videos in June 2019. They can be seen here, here, and here.
After the UP Elections results, on 11 March 2021, Akhilesh Yadav made a tweet thanking the people of Uttar Pradesh for increasing the Samajwadi Party’s seats by two and a half times. Akhilesh Yadav emphasized that they have shown a reduction in BJP seats is possible and said that it will further reduce in the upcoming elections.  Post-UP Elections results,  Akhilesh Yadav did not meet and congratulate Yogi Adityanath for his victory in the elections.
उप्र की जनता को हमारी सीटें ढाई गुनी व मत प्रतिशत डेढ़ गुना बढ़ाने के लिए हार्दिक धन्यवाद!
हमने दिखा दिया है कि भाजपा की सीटों को घटाया जा सकता है। भाजपा का ये घटाव निरंतर जारी रहेगा।आधे से ज़्यादा भ्रम और छलावा दूर हो गया है बाकी कुछ दिनों में हो जाएगा।
जनहित का संघर्ष जीतेगा!
To sum it up, an old photo is shared as a recent picture of SP Leaders Mulayam and Akhilesh Yadav congratulating Yogi Adityanath post UP Elections results.


text:
2019 pictures of an Iraqi photographer falsely linked to the recent clashes at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 14, 2021
A collage with a group of images is being shared on social media claiming it as visuals of a photographer shedding tears while capturing pictures at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. In the wake of recent clashes between the Israeli forces and Palestinian protestors at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, these images are being shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Images of a photographer shedding tears while capturing the pictures at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Fact: These pictures show an Iraqi photographer crying behind the camera after his team was knocked out of the AFC Asia Cup 2019. This photo has nothing to do with recent clashes between Israeli police forces and Palestinian protestors at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photos shared in the post, similar pictures were found shared in a tweet by ‘Lovin Dubai’ media company on 29 January 2019.  This tweet described these as the pictures of an Iraqi photographer crying behind the camera after his team was knocked out of the AFC Asian Cup 2019.
A picture that captures the emotion of football. This Iraqi photographer is seen crying behind the camera as his team were knocked out of the Asian Cup in the UAE this week #AsianCup #AFCAsianCup2019 pic.twitter.com/tprpGgroAq
When we searched for more information related to these pictures, we found a similar picture in a tweet by the AFC Asian Cup official Twitter handle on 24 January 2019. Sharing the photo, this tweet mentioned it as the passionate and emotional moment of an Iraqi photographer during the AFC Asian Cup 2019 tournament, held in UAE. AFC Asian Cup officials shared the same photo on their official Facebook page.
Passionate. Emotional moment for an Iraqi photographer during the Round of 16 clash against 🇶🇦 ! #AsianCup2019 pic.twitter.com/KZoXsp1N4U
News articles published about this Iraqi photographer shedding tears after his team was knocked out of the AFC Asian Cup 2019 can be seen here and here. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the pictures shared in the post are not related to the recent clashes at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Earlier, when the same group of images was shared as a photographer’s reaction after the former India captain MS Dhoni was out during the 2019 World Cup Semifinal, FACTLY published a fact-check article on it. It can be read here.
On 07 May 2021, Israeli police forces fired rubber bullets and stun grenades towards Palestinian protestors at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Amid the growing tensions on potential eviction of Palestinians from homes on the land claimed by Israelis, Israeli police used force to restore order in East Jerusalem. According to the media reports, more than 300 Palestinian protestors were injured during these clashes.
To sum it up, 2019 pictures of an Iraqi photographer crying behind the camera is falsely linked to the recent clashes at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.


text:
2019 protest photo of Harsh Vardhan falsely linked to the post-poll violence in West Bengal - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 12, 2021
An image is being shared on social media claiming it as a recent picture of Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, protesting against the post-poll violence in West Bengal. This post claims that Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has given priority to attend BJP protests rather than devoting time to contain the COVID-19 second wave in the country. Amid the reports of multiple instances of post-poll violence in West Bengal, this post is being shared on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan protesting against the post-poll violence in West Bengal while the country is going through the COVID-19 second wave.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is related to an old BJP protest held in May 2019. Protesting the violence on Amit Shah’s convoy in Kolkata, Union Ministers Harsh Vardhan, Jitendra Singh, Vijay Goel, and other top BJP leaders held this silent protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. This photo is not a current one and has nothing to do with the recent post-poll violence in West Bengal. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found in an article published by ‘VOA’ news website on 15 May 2019. The description of the photo states, ‘Leaders and supporters of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attend a silent protest against the disturbance caused during an election campaign rally by the party president Amit Shah in Kolkata on Tuesday, in New Delhi, May 15, 2019’.
When we searched for more details of the photo using relevant keywords, we found a similar photo published in the ‘ANI’ article about BJP leaders’ silent protest in New Delhi, on 15 May 2019. This article reported that BJP top leaders including Union Ministers Harsh Vardhan, Nirmala Sitaraman, Vijay Goel, and Jitendra Singh have participated in a silent protest over the violence at Amit Shah’s roadshow in Kolkata. By wearing black bands and holding the ‘SAVE BENGAL SAVE DEMOCRACY’ placards, BJP leaders staged a silent protest against the TMC workers’ attack on Amit Shah’s convoy, on 14 May 2019.  ‘ANI’ shared few other photos related to this protest on its Twitter handle.
Other news articles and videos related to this protest can be seen here and here. On 14 May 2019, student activists from the TMC pelted stones at Amit Shah’s convoy as it passed through the college street in Kolkata. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the image shared in the post is an old one and has nothing to do with the recent post-poll violence in West Bengal.
To sum it up, 2019 photo of Harsh Vardhan protesting the violence on Amit Shah’s convoy in Kolkata falsely linked to the recent post-poll violence in West Bengal.


text:
2019 Review: The 10 most significant bills passed in 2019
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 1, 2020
A total of 59 bills were introduced in Parliament in the year 2019. Some of them were significant as well as controversial. Here is a roundup of the 10 most important bills passed in 2019.
Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister of India for a second term on 30 May 2019, following the massive victory of BJP and allies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Hence, the 16, as well as the 17 Lok Sabha (Modi’s 1 & 2 term) , were both in session during 2019. The year 2019 witnessed the passing of many important and highly debated bills in parliament. Some of these bills led to controversies and are now challenged in the Supreme Court.
How
many Parliament Sessions were convened in 2019?
While the Winter
Session of 2018 (16 Lok Sabha)concluded on 09 January 2019, the interim
Budget Session of the 16 LS lasted for a fortnight between 31 January 2019 and 13 February 2019. The first
session of the 17 LS commencedon 17 June 2019 and continued till 07 August 2019. The Winter
Session of 2019  which began on 18 November 2019 came to an endon 13 December 2019.
A total of 59 Bills were introduced in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in 2019 as per the data available on thewebsite of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MPA). A snapshot of theparliamentary work undertaken in 2019 is also available on the MPA website.
Factly takes a look at ten of the most significantbills passed in 2019. The acts have been listed out in the order in which theywere introduced.
1. The Muslim Women (Protection
of Rights on Marriage) Bill  (Triple
Talaq)
The Bill was introduced in June 2019 replacing an earlier ordinance. The act deems the practice of ‘triple talaq’ or ‘talaq-e-biddat’, in any form- oral, written or electronic void and illegal. ‘Talaq’ is a term pronounced by Muslim husbands thrice to divorce their wives. Following the passage of the bill, the declaration of ‘talaq’ has been made a cognisable offence (arrest without warrant) which can result in imprisonment of up to three years in addition to a penalty. The offence is cognisable only if the complaint has been registered by the woman or her relatives. The wife will be the custodian of the children and is also entitled to get a subsistence allowance from her husband for herself and their children. The act can be accessed here.
2. The new Consumer
Protection Bill, 2019
On08 July 2019, the new Consumer Protection Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha. Passed in August, the Actreplaced the erstwhile Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
The 2019 act has introduced a new Central Consumer Protection Authority ‘to promote, protect and enforce the rights of the consumers.’ Product Liability is another important concept introduced in the Act that mandates the service provider to compensate the consumer for loss or injury due to a manufacturing defect in the product or poor service.
Provisions on e-commerce have also been included in the new act. All laws pertaining to direct selling are applicable for e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, etc. Product Liability, in this case, would include sellers as well as the e-commerce aggregators. Misleading advertisements can lead to an imprisonment of two years and a fine up to Rs 10 Lakhs. Even the endorser of misleading advertisements can face a ban of one year. Consumer litigation has been simplified through the enactment of this act since it permits electronic filing of complaints and the complainant to attend hearing through video conference. Here is the link to Factly’s explainer on the new law. Also, watch our ‘Decode’ episode on Consumer Rights here. Also, watch the ‘Decode’ episode on the process for filing a complaint with the consumer forum.
3. The National
Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill
TheNational Investigation Agency (NIA) was set up by the government through theenactment of the National
Investigation Act, 2008 to investigatespecific cases under certain laws. The NIA amendment bill passed in July thisyear allows NIA to investigate terrorist activities against Indians and Indianinterests outside the country as well. As per the 2008 Act, only activitieswhich are deemed crimes under the acts mentioned in the schedule could beprobed by NIA.
Theamendment has added multiple sections of Indian Penal Code and other acts tothe schedule, thus expanding the scope of crimes that could be investigated bythe NIA. The NIA can now investigate offences pertaining to human trafficking,counterfeit currency, cyber terrorism and those under Arms
Act and Explosive
Substances Act, 1908. The gazettenotification of the amendment can be found here.
4. The Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Amendment Bill
Introduced in the Lok Sabha on 08 July 2019, the objective of the bill was to amend the existing Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 . This bill led to heated debates in parliament. While the 1967 act included only terrorist organisations, the amendment empowers the government to designate an individual as a terrorist through official gazette notification by adding their name in the fourth schedule under the act. The individual may or may not be given a chance to be heard. The anti-terror law was criticised and challenged in the Supreme Court for the same.
Masood Azhar, wanted by India for multiple terror-related offences has been designated as a terrorist in September 2019 after the amendment.
Priorto amending the act, officers of therank of Deputy Superintendent or Assistant Commissioner of Police and abovewere only allowed to investigate cases, but now, NIA officers of the rank ofinspector and above are also empowered to carry out investigations under thisact. Prior approval from the Director General of Police of the State Police inwhich the property is situated was required to confiscate property related toterrorism. As per the amendment, for investigations being conducted by NIAofficers, they will require sanction only from the Director General of NIA,bypassing the DGP of State Police.
International Convention for Suppression of Actsof Nuclear Terrorism (2005) has also been added to second schedule of UAPA Act that lists the internationaltreaties which define terrorism and also adopted by India.
5. The Motor Vehicles
(Amendment) Bill
Alsopassed in the parliament in July 2019, the Motor Vehicles (Amendment)  Act has made the existing rules more stringentas compared to the Motor
Vehicle Act of 1988. The amendment has substantiallyenhanced the penalties and fines for various violations (double to ten timesthe hitherto) in an attempt to have a deterrence effect and in the processreduce the number of such traffic violations. Standards for vehicles, grants,permits and licenses related to motor vehicles have also been covered underthis amendment. Factly’s explainer on what owners/drivers of vehiclesshould know about the revised hefty fines under this act can be read
here.
6. The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill
The RTI
bill of 2019 amended the 2005
Act by vesting the power to determine officetenure, salaries and allowances of Information Commissioners in the centralgovernment. Earlier, the Chief Information Commissioner and other Information Commissionersin the Central Information Commission (CIC) had a fixed tenure of five yearsand their salaries were benchmarked with that of Chief Election Commissionerand Election Commissioners respectively. The amendment was brought in by theCentre claiming that functions of Election Commission and that of InformationCommission are different and hence the amendment was necessary.
This amendment was severely criticized both outside and inside the parliament for it was deemed to reduce the status of the commissioners and thereby the autonomy of the commission. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19 July 2019 and was notified in the gazette on 01 August. The rules were subsequently notified through which the tenure of information commissioners has been reduced to 3 years from 5 years.
7. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights)
Bill
Even though the bill was introduced in the LokSabha in July, it became an act only on 05 December 2019. The act defines a transgender person as someone whose gender doesnot match that assigned at birth. Further, the act bans any sort ofdiscrimination against them in education, healthcare, employment and residence.However, they have to obtain a certificate from the District Magistrate statingtheir gender as transgender. Gender should also be changed in all officialdocuments. It also calls for establishing a National Council for Transgender persons (NCT) headed by UnionMinister for Social Justice which will have to monitor policies policyformulation and legislation related to transgender persons. Pride march andprotests were held against the act as it lacks clarity in many aspects and alsointroduces bureaucratic procedures for identifying oneself as a transgender. Theprotestors say that the act goes against the directions of the Supreme Court inthe landmark
2014 judgment.
8. The National Medical Commission Bill
Nationwide protests by the medical fraternity were witnessed in July this year following the enactment of the National Medical Commission Act that annulled the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. National Medical Commission is to be set up under the Act superseding Medical Council of India to regulate medical education and profession in the country. NEET and NEXT were introduced as common entrance exams for admissions into under-graduation and post-graduation respectively. The act has also decided to give a limited license to ‘Community Health Providers’ to practice medicine. However, the criteria and regulations are yet to be framed. The act was opposed for being ‘draconian’ and ‘poorly drafted’. Details of the exams were also not disclosed then. A detailed explainer of the bill by Factly is available here.
The Indian Medical
Council (Amendment) Bill was also passed by the government earlier in 2019which provided for supersession of Medical Council of India Act in two years from September 2018 and alsoincreased the number of members from 7 to 12.
9. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill
On 31 October 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act came into effect despite strong opposition, that reorganised state of Jammu and Kashmir as Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature, and Union Territory of Ladakh without a legislature. The President appointed a Lieutenant Governor each to administer the UTs. Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian constitution which granted special status to the state were abrogated. Now, all the laws and provisions applicable elsewhere in India are also applicable to these two new UTs. State-specific laws were also repealed including a prohibition on leasing land to non-permanent citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. Internet shutdown and vehement protests were witnessed in the erstwhile state.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment)
Bill was also passed by the government which provided 3%reservation in services and educational institutions to people who live nearthe international border in J&K and to those living close to the Line ofControl.
10. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill
This bill makes the persecuted religious minorities- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians- from three neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before 2015 irrespective of possession of valid documents, eligible to apply for citizenship. They will be deemed, legal migrants. The amendment also allows persons from the specified countries and specified religions gain citizenship faster than others by naturalization since the 11-year period is reduced to 5-years. On the other hand, Muslims from these three countries can still apply for citizenship by naturalization provided they have valid documents, have not been declared an illegal migrant and have satisfied the 11-year criteria for naturalization.
It was passed in the parliament and became an act on 12 December 2019. The passage of the bill in the parliament resulted in vociferous protests across the country for varied reasons such as the exclusion of Muslims, cultural erosion and economic reasons. Linking this act with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) also led to apprehensions that certain communities may be excluded. Factly’s explainer of the Act is available here. Answers to FAQs on CAA and NRC have also been published by Factly earlier.
What are the other
important laws & amendments passed in 2019?
The Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill  waspassed  limiting the special security toformer prime ministers and their immediate family members to five years fromthe end of their tenure. The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill increased the maximum number of SC judges from30 to 33.
A complete ban on e-cigarettes was broughtthrough the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production,
Manufacture, Import, Export, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement)
Bill while the Arms (Amendment) Bill reduced the number of licensed firearms allowedper person and enhanced fines for offences under the act.

created: January 1, 2020


text:
2019 video falsely shared as Indian Soldiers crying after beaten by China - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 18, 2020
A video is being widely shared on social media claiming that it shows Indian army personnel crying after they were beaten by Chinese soldiers at Ladakh. The video is shared in the context of the ongoing clashes at the border between India and China along the LAC (Line of Actual Control). But FACTLY found the video to be of an old incident and not related to the ongoing border clashes. In March 2019, during an encounter between the Indian army and militants in Kupwara, four security force personnel (two CRPF personnel and two J&K Police personnel) had lost their lives. The video shows CRPF Troops bid an emotional farewell to the soldiers killed in that encounter in Kupwara (Jammu and Kashmir). So, the video is not related to the border dispute with China.
Sources:
Claim –
1. Facebook post (archived)
Fact –
1. News video of ‘NDTV’ – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE9dhrjMQmw
2. News video by a journalist – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI0YjPOe5ac
Did you watch our new video?


text:
2019 video from ‘MTV Hustle’ reality show falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protests - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 23, 2021
A video is being shared on social media claiming that a rap song in support of the farmers’ protests was played after the Miss India contest broadcast on MTV show. The winners of the Femina Miss India 2020 Contest were announced on 10 February 2021. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: A rap song in support of the farmers’ protest was played recently on MTV channel.
Fact: This video shows Kolkata-based rap singer Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer, singing a rap song about the plight of Indian farmers, during the MTV Hustle reality show in October 2019. The video is an old one and has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protests. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search, a video with similar visuals is found on a YouTube channel. This video was uploaded on 08 November 2019, with the title ‘EPR Tobe Ekla Cholo Re Rap’. In the description of the video, it is mentioned as the performance in MTV Hustle reality show.
When we searched for other sources using the keywords, we found the same video published on ‘MTV Hustle’ Facebook page on 15 October 2019. ‘MTV Hustle’ mentioned it as the rap song by EPR about the plight of Indian farmers. ‘The Times of India’ published an article on this performance at MTV Hustle reality show. Kolkata-based rap singer Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer, who is famously called EPR, reportedly performed a rap song about the plight of Indian farmers at the ‘MTV Hustle’ reality show finals in 2019. Srinivasan Iyer shared the videos of him singing the same rap song on his social media handles. They can be seen here and here.
On 14 September 2020, the Government of India introduced the new farm bills in Lok Sabha. Lok Sabha passed these amendments on 17 September 2020. On 20 September 2020, the new agriculture reform bills got passed in the Indian Parliament. Following this, Political parties and farm organisations like Bharatiya Kisa Union (BKU) started protesting against these new farm laws. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is an old one and has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers’ protests.
To sum it up, a 2019 video from ‘MTV Hustle’ reality show falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protests.

created: February 23, 2021


text:
2019 video of a mob attacking a BJP leader in West Bengal shared as a recent incident amidst the 2024 Lok Sabha elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 30, 2024
Amidst the ongoing 2024 general elections, a video showing a mob dragging a person and kicking him into bushes is being widely shared across social media platforms. The claim accompanying the video suggests that it shows a recent attack on a BJP leader in the wake of the 2024 general elections (here, here, and here). In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing a mob attacking a BJP leader amid the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
Fact: The viral video dates back to November 2019 and originates from West Bengal. It depicts a mob attack on Jay Prakash Majumdar, who was a BJP leader at that time and the BJP’s candidate in the Karimpur assembly by-poll. Jay Prakash Majumdar was suspended by the BJP in January 2022, and later, he joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in March 2022. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To learn more about this viral video, we conducted a relevant keyword search which led us to multiple reports from 2019 containing a longer version of the viral video. According to a report published by ‘India Today, on 25 November 2019, BJP’s Jay Prakash Majumdar was allegedly manhandled by TMC workers during the Karimpur by-poll. Majumdar is the BJP’s candidate for the Karimpur assembly by-poll.
The video was also shared on YouTube by ‘The Print’ on 25 November 2019, with the title “West Bengal BJP vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar allegedly manhandled, kicked by TMC workers.” Additional news reports regarding this incident can be viewed here and here.
The official X(Twitter) handle of the BJP also shared the video(archived link) of the attack on Jay Prakash Majumdar during the Karimpur by-poll on 25 November 2019.
Anarchy!
This is what Mamata Banerjee’s regime is about!
Watch this disturbing footage where TMC workers manhandle and kick BJP’s state Vice President and candidate for Karimpur bypoll Joy Prakash Majumdar while voting is underway in the constituency. pic.twitter.com/w6xk7wjeXY
According to reports (here, here, and here), Jay Prakash Majumdar was suspended by the BJP in January 2022 and joined the Trinamool Congress(TMC) in March 2022.
To sum up, a 2019 video of a mob attacking a BJP leader in West Bengal is being shared as a recent incident, falsely linking it to the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections.


text:
2019 video of a polling agent influencing voters in Haryana is falsely linked 2020 Bihar elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 16, 2020
A post with a video in which a man can be seen vitiating the polling process is being widely shared across social media platforms with a claim that, the video is related to recent Bihar elections and the man seen in the video is a BJP polling agent who is voting on behalf of an uneducated Muslim woman. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: BJP polling agent in Bihar violating the polling process by voting on behalf of other women.
Fact: The video actually shows a man influencing votes in Faridabad, Haryana back in 2019. The Chief Electoral Officer of Haryana took cognizance of the video when it went viral on social media and FIR was lodged against the person and he was arrested. The video has nothing to do with the recent Bihar elections. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of screen shots of the video led us to a 2019 news article which carried an image similar to the visuals of the video. According to the article, the image shows a man vitiating the polling process by influencing the voters in a polling booth in Prithla constituency Faridabad, Haryana.
Further search with relevant keywords led us to a  2019 news video which reported the incident. According to this report, the incident took place in Faridabad, Haryana and the man was arrested.
Further search led us to a tweet by Chief Electoral officer, Haryana who requested the Faridabad District Election Office to take necessary action regarding the issue when a Twitter user shared the video.
@OfficeFaridabad take necessary action in this matter
According to The District Election Office, Faridabad’s tweet, FIR was lodged against the man who tried to vitiate the polling process. Hence, we can conclude that the video is related to the 2019 Elections in Haryana and has nothing to do with the recent Bihar elections.
The person in the video is the Polling agent who has been arrested in the afternoon itself. FIR lodged. He was trying to effect at least 3 lady voters. Observer & ARO with teams visited the booth at Asawati in prithala constituency.  He is satisfied that voting was never vitiated
In the light of the Bihar elections and the RJD’s allegations regarding irregularities in the counting process, posts like these are being shared on social media platforms with misleading claims.
To sum it up, video related to 2019 General elections in Haryana is falsely shared as that of a booth capture in the recent 2020 Bihar assembly elections.

created: November 16, 2020


text:
2019 video of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation removing Dashama idols is shared with a misleading narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 8, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the recent visuals of Hindu gods’ idols being removed using bulldozers. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a bulldozer removing Hindu gods’ idols.
Fact: The video shared in the post was taken in 2019, when the Ahmedabad Municipal corporation was lifting Dashama idols on the riverbank of Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. In 2019, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation requested citizens to leave Dashama idols on the riverbank of Sabarmati to prevent pollution. Following the municipal corporation’s requests, devotees left their idols on the riverbank of Sabarmati. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, a video with similar visuals was found tweeted by a journalist in response to a tweet made by IAS officer Vijay Nehra on 11 August 2019. IAS Vijay Nehra in the tweet appreciated Ahmedabad citizens’ gesture of leaving the Dashama idols on the riverbank of Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. Multiple users shared the same video on social media in August 2019. They can be seen here and here.
In 2019, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation requested citizens to leave Dashama idols on the riverbank of Sabarmati to prevent pollution. Following the municipal corporation’s request, devotees left their idols on the riverbank of Sabarmati. The video shared in the post was taken when bulldozers were lifting the dashama idols placed on the riverbank of the Sabarmati River. Reporting the same information, the ‘Divya Bhaskar’  published a similar photo of a bulldozer lifting the dashama idols in an article published in 2019. A few other news articles and videos that reported this incident of Ahmedabad residents leaving their idols on the riverfront of  Sabarmati can be seen here, here and here.
To sum it up, a 2019 video showing the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation removing the Dashama idols placed on the riverbank of Sabarmati shared with a misleading narrative.

created: September 8, 2022


text:
2019 video of Dubai Police playing Indian National Anthem during Diwali is falsely linked to Independence Day celebrations - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 16, 2021
A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the visuals are celebrations of Indian Independence Day 2021 in UAE. The post even claims that the people celebrating Indian National Anthem were Dubai Police. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Dubai Police playing Indian National Anthem for 2021 Independence Day celebrations.
Fact: This video of Dubai Police band playing Indian National Anthem was taken in October 2019 to celebrate Diwali. There are no news reports of Dubai Police band playing National Anthem and celebrating Indian Independence Day 2021. On India’s 75 Independence Day (2021), Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world – was lit up in tricolour. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video, a larger YouTube video with similar visuals was found. The viral video was taken out from this YouTube video as it was clipped from 1:23 timestamp. The YouTube video was uploaded on 26 October 2019 with the title, ‘Indian National Anthem Played by Dubai Police | UAE and India Friendship’. According to the description of the video, the anthem was played at Dubai Festival City Mall during Diwali celebrations.
On 24 October 2019, members of the Dubai Police Band wearing the traditional Emirati white ‘kandoura’ were seen playing the Indian National Anthem at the Dubai Festival City. The Police band played ‘Jana Gana Mana’ to roars from the crowd, during the Diwali celebrations. The news articles about the event can be seen here and here.
On the occasion of India’s 75 Independence Day, Burj Khalifa – the tallest building in the world – was lit up in tricolour. The Indian tricolour was hoisted by Ambassador Pavan Kapoor at the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi. There are no news reports of the Dubai Police Band playing the Indian National Anthem and celebrating Indian Independence Day 2021.
To sum it up, a 2019 video of Dubai Police playing the Indian National Anthem during Diwali is falsely shared as Indian Independence Day celebrations.


text:
2019 video of Indian soldiers celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi near Shingo valley is shared as the celebrations in Galwan Valley - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 4, 2020
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations of Indian soldiers near Galwan valley in Ladakh. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Video of Indian Jawans celebrating the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Galwan valley, Ladakh.
Fact: Video in the post shows the Indian soldiers celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi festival at Shingo valley in 2019. It is an old video and has nothing to do with Galwan valley. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search, we found the same visuals in a YouTube video posted by a user on ‘17 September 2019’. This video was uploaded in YouTube with the title ‘Ganesh pooja procession of Indian Army at Shingo River Valley’. We could see a banner with the name ‘Shingo river valley’ at 0.07 seconds in the video shared in the post. Shingo river valley is located near Kargil and it is nearly 229 kilometres away from the Galwan valley. Posting the same video in YouTube on ‘16 September 2019’, a user described it as ‘Ganapati Mirvanuk celebrations of Indian army’. So, it can be concluded that video shared in the post is an old one and is not related to any event in Galwan valley, Ladakh.
To sum it up, an old video of Jawans celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi near Shingo valley is falsely shared as the celebration of Army jawans at Galwan valley in Ladakh.

created: September 4, 2020


text:
2019 video of monkeys inhabiting a hospital in South Africa is shared as the condition of the hospital in India - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 10, 2020
A video showing the visuals of a hospital being inhabited by a troop of monkeys is shared on social media, claiming it as the situation of a hospital treating COVID-19 patients in India. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Troop of monkeys inhabited a COVID-19 hospital in India.
Fact: The Hospital shown in the video is RK Khan hospital in Durban, South Africa. During the year 2019,  a troop of monkeys inhabited this hospital and started Stealing the food from sick patients. Information about this incident was found in the articles published by the  ‘DailyMail’ and ‘Daily Express’ news websites. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we did a reverse image search of the screenshots in the posted video, we found a similar video in an article published by ‘Daily Mail’ news website in March 2019. In this article, it was mentioned that an aggressive troop of monkeys were terrorising the patients inside RK Khan Hospital in Durban, South Africa. Article with similar content showing the same video was found in the ‘Daily Express’ news website. It could be read here.
A troop of monkeys inhabited a hospital in Durban for more than 3 months during the year 2019. Climbing through the open doors and Stealing the food from sick patients, these monkeys forced the patients to cover themselves with the bed covers. Hospital administration set up a task force to deal with these monkeys after the situation in the hospital came to limelight. Also, the Health Minister of the South African Government has directed to halt any such invasions from animals.
To sum it up, the situation of a hospital in South Africa during 2019  is falsely portrayed as the condition of a hospital treating COVID-19 patients in India.
Did you watch our new video?


text:
2019 Video of Patanjali’s Balkrishna being treated in AIIMS passed off as his present condition - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 2, 2021
A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Patanjali’s Acharya Balkrishna’s health deteriorated recently, and he has been taken directly to the hospital by Baba Ramdev and was not given any product of Patanjali. This video comes in the backdrop of recent criticism by Baba Ramdev on Allopathy and doctors who practice allopathy. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Patanjali’s Balkrishna admitted to hospital by Baba Ramdev recently.
Fact: The visuals in the video are from a 2019 YouTube video uploaded by ‘News360Live’ of Acharya Balkrishna being treated in AIIMS, Rishikesh. According to the then news articles, Balkrishna was brought to the emergency ward of AIIMS Rishikesh in a state of altered consciousness, a medical condition where the patient fails to recognise his/her immediate surroundings. Balkrishna was later discharged after all reports of his vital organs were found normal. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search of the screenshots of the video was performed, we found a YouTube video uploaded by a channel named News360Live on 26 August 2019 which had similar visuals. The YouTube video was titled ‘Acharya Balkrishna of Patanjali Yogpeeth rushed to AIIMS’ and the description says that he was rushed to the ICU at AIIMS, Rishikesh. The voiceover in the video tells that Balkrishna was brought to the hospital in a state of altered consciousness, a medical condition where the patient fails to recognise his/her immediate surroundings.
Taking a cue from the YouTube video, we searched for any news articles related to the incident of Acharya Balkrishna being admitted to hospital. We then found several such articles published in the year 2019. One news article published on 24 August 2019 claims that Acharya Balkrishna was first taken to a hospital in Haridwar after he complained of giddiness and chest pain, and later taken to the emergency ward of AIIMS Rishikesh. According to the TOI article, Balkrishna was later discharged after reports of his vital organs were found normal, and Baba Ramdev claimed that it was a conspiracy and a toxic substance was given to him by mixing it in his food or water.
This viral video comes in the backdrop of Baba Ramdev’s statements that tens of thousands died of COVID-19 after taking modern medicines and mocked patients for trying to get oxygen cylinders. Baba Ramdev withdrew his statement after the health minister intervened. But he again took a swipe at modern medicine for not having a cure for some diseases.
However, when it comes to the health of Patanjali’s Acharya Balkrishna, there are no recent news articles claiming that his health deteriorated and was admitted to the hospital recently. He seems to be quite active on social media via his official Twitter account, Instagram account and YouTube account.
To sum it up, 2019 video of Patanjali’s Balkrishna being treated in AIIMS is being passed off as his present condition.


text:
2019 video of people rushing into an American stadium for an NFL game is falsely shared as scenes from Kabul Airport - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 25, 2021
A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the visuals in the video are from Kabul Airport. The post even claims that the people rushing through the gates were Afghans fleeing to save their lives after the Taliban had taken over Kabul. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Afghans rushing into Kabul Airport after Taliban takeover.
Fact: This is a 2019 video from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, USA and not from Kabul Airport. The people in the video were rushing to get into the AT&T stadium hours before an NFL playoff game between Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks. It is true that many people are scrambling to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban seized back control of the country almost two decades after they were ousted by a US-led coalition. Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport has been filled with Afghans desperate to leave the country due to fear of persecution by the Taliban, but the visuals in the post are not from the airport. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video, an article with a similar image was found. The article was published by ‘THE SPUN by Sports Illustrated’ on 05 January 2019 about an NFL (National Football League) game between Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, USA. Describing the video, the article says, ‘Hours ahead of the game, when the doors opened, AT&T Stadium looked like a Best Buy on Black Friday around eight years ago.’ Articles about the same video can be seen here and here.
The entire video (a higher resolution video of the post) was tweeted by Sports Illustrated on 06 January 2019. The tweet said the AT&T Stadium had looked like a Black Friday before the internet existed. The video was originally posted by Journalist named Jon Machota on his Twitter handle.
Such scenes of people rushing into the AT&T Stadium are quite frequent in Texas. The videos of people rushing into the stadium at earlier instances can be seen here, here, and here. One reason the people were rushing could be because the Dallas Cowboys team offers standing-room-only tickets to fans who assemble on a first-come, first-serve on six decks at the stadium.
AT&T Stadium doors have opened for Cowboys vs. Seahawks pic.twitter.com/UTl68lVNwr
In the original video (which is of higher resolution compared to the viral video), one can spot sports merchandise being sold and ‘cowboys’ with the team’s logo seen at the bottom left corner of the video.
When screengrabs from the viral video are compared with stills from Google Street View of the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, they are similar. One can spot the huge glass doors and a signboard which are similar to the visuals in the viral video.
Many people are scrambling to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban seized back control of the country almost two decades after they were ousted by a US-led coalition. Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport has been filled with Afghans desperate to leave the country due to fear of persecution by the Taliban.
To sum it up, a 2019 video of people rushing into an American stadium for an NFL game is falsely shared as scenes from Kabul Airport.


text:
2019 video of protests over CAA and NRC falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protests - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 22, 2020
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of farmers stopping mainstream media from covering their protests. In the post, we can see the visuals of a mob stopping ‘India Today’ media van from covering the protests. In the wake of farmers’ protest over the new farm legislation, this post is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of farmers stopping mainstream media channels from covering their protests.
Fact: This video shows Jamia Millia Islamia University students protest over Delhi police’s alleged attack inside their campus during December 2019. Jamia Islamia students stopped mainstream media channels from entering the campus over this issue. This video has nothing to do with the ongoing farmers protest over the new farm legislation. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots shared in the post, similar visuals were found in a YouTube video posted by a user on ‘18 December 2019’. In the video, the ticker at the bottom talks about Jamia Millia Islamia University students protest over Delhi police’s attack on students of their University. We can see the visuals of people sending back ‘India Today’  van raising ‘Godi Media Go back’ slogans.
When we searched for more information using these keywords, we found the same video posted in ‘Simanchal Tak’ YouTube channel on ‘16 December 2019’. In the description, it is mentioned as the visuals of Jamia Islamia University students stopping ‘India Today’ media van. ‘Simanchal Tak’ YouTube channel credited this video to ‘Minorities News’.
When we searched further for this video in the official YouTube channel of ‘Minorities News’, the same video was found to be posted on this channel on ‘15 December 2019’. In the description of the video, it is mentioned that these visuals are of Jamia Millia Islamia University students stopping mainstream media channels from covering their protests. Jamia Islamia students reportedly stopped mainstream media channels over indulging in false journalism and backing PM Narendra Modi. Jamia Millia Islamia University students organized these protests over Delhi police’s alleged attack on their campus on ‘15 December 2019’.
According to the ‘The Economic Times’ report, Delhi Police entered Jamia Millia Islamia University after violence erupted in South Delhi during a protest against the amended citizenship act on ‘15 December 2019’. From all these pieces of evidence, it is concluded that the video shared in the post is an old one and has nothing to do with the recent farmers protest over the new farm legislation.
To sum it up, 2019 video of Jamia Millia University students protest over the amended citizenship act is falsely linked to the ongoing farmers’ protests.

created: December 22, 2020


text:
2019 video of RSS parade in Hyderabad portrayed as a protest against the PFI rally in Kerala - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 1, 2021
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the visuals of 20 thousand RSS workers parading in protest against the Popular Front of India (PFI) rally held in Kerala. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of the RSS mega rally protesting the PFI march held in Kerala.
Fact:  The video shared in the post is an old one. This video shows hundreds of RSS workers in parade during ‘Vijaya Sankalpa Sibiram’ programme in Hyderabad. This parade took place on 25 December 2019. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search, videos with similar visuals were found posted on social media during 2019. They can be seen here and here. It is mentioned as the video of the RSS massive parade in Hyderabad. When we searched for other sources using these keywords, we found the same visuals in a video published on ‘Desh Gujarat’ YouTube channel. In the description of the video, it is mentioned that hundreds of RSS workers participated in the parade as part of ‘Vijaya Sankalpa Sibiram’ programme held in Hyderabad. This parade reportedly took place on 25 December 2019. ‘ANI’ shared the pictures of this rally on their Twitter handle.
News articles published about this RSS rally in Hyderabad can be seen here and here. The same visuals were found in multiple news articles and videos published on popular Telugu news channels. They can be seen here, here, and here. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post is an old one.
According to the news reports, the Popular Front of India (PFI), an Islamic organisation in Kerala conducted a rally in Malappuram, showing the men dressed in RSS uniform with handcuffs. The PFI leader Anees Ahmed clarified to the media that the rally was just part of a role-play that represents a fight between the Britishers and the Malabar people in 1921. When this video was misconstrued as a real incident, FACTLY published a fact-check article on it. It can be seen here.
To sum it up, an old video is falsely portrayed as the recent protest of RSS workers against the PFI march in Kerala.


text:
2019 video shared as celebrations at Mukesh Ambani's abode welcoming his grandson amid COVID-19 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 23, 2020
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as the celebration visuals at Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s residence to welcome his grandson. It is also being claimed that these celebrations are organized without any safety precautions amid COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Welcome celebrations at Mukesh Ambani’s residence for his grandson amid COVID-19 pandemic.
Fact: Video shared in the post is an old one. This video shows Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations at Mukesh Ambani’s home Antilia in September 2019. This event was organized before COVID-19 virus spread in India. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of screenshots in the video, similar visuals were found in a video posted by ‘Snap Bollywood’ YouTube channel on ‘03 September 2019’. This video was uploaded with the title ‘Ambani Family Ganesh Utsav 2019 Grand Celebration’. ‘Bollywood Headlines’ YouTube channel reported the same sharing a video with similar visuals on ‘02 September 2019’.
‘Indian Express Online’ shared a video with similar visuals, mentioning it as Ambani’s Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in 2019. In the description of the video, it is mentioned that Ambani’s family threw a big bash on 02 September 2019 on the auspicious occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. Reporting the same, few other news websites and media channels shared videos with similar visuals. They can be seen here, here and here.
Reliance Group Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s son Akash and daughter-in-law shloka gave birth to a baby boy on ‘10 December 2020’. As part of the celebrations, Mukesh Ambani’s home Antilia was lighted in blue on ‘10 December 2020’. But, celebrations in the video are from 2019 and have nothing to do with the birth of his grandson.
To sum it up, 2019 Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Ambani’s residence is shared as Mukesh Ambani’s celebrations to welcome his grandson amid COVID-19 pandemic.

created: December 23, 2020


text:
2019 video shared as recent visuals of a polling agent manipulating voting in the 2022 UP Elections - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 1, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of a polling agent manipulating women voters inside a polling booth in the Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh. Amid the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, this video is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of a polling agent manipulating women voters in the 2022 UP Elections.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows an old ‘booth capture’ incident that took place during the 2019 General Elections in Faridabad, Haryana. In May 2019, during the 2019 General Elections, a polling agent was caught manipulating women voters and the voting process inside a polling booth in Asawati village in the Prithala constituency. The Faridabad District Election Officer filed an FIR and immediately arrested the polling agent. The video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the ongoing Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, videos with similar visuals were found uploaded on social media at least since May 2019. They can be seen here and here. These visuals were attributed to a polling booth in Asawati village in Haryana. When we searched with relevant keywords, a video with similar visuals was found published by ‘The Times of India’ news website on 13 May 2019. TOI reported it as visuals of a polling agent manipulating women voters and the voting process in Faridabad, Haryana.
This incident reportedly took place during the 2019 General Elections polling inside a polling booth in Asawati village in the Prithala constituency. Reporting the complete details of the incident, several news websites published articles and videos in May 2019. They can be seen here, here, and here.
When this video went viral on social media, on 12 May 2019, the Faridabad district Election officer made a tweet informing that they had filed an FIR and immediately arrested the polling agent who influenced women voters in the Asawati polling booth. Lately, there is no news article or video reporting a ‘booth capture’ incident in the Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be confirmed that the video shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with the ongoing UP Elections.
The person in the video is the Polling agent who has been arrested in the afternoon itself. FIR lodged. He was trying to effect at least 3 lady voters. Observer & ARO with teams visited the booth at Asawati in prithala constituency.  He is satisfied that voting was never vitiated
To sum it up, an old video from the 2019 General Elections is being shared as recent visuals of a polling agent manipulating voters in Pratapgarh polling booth in UP.


text:
2019 video shared as recent visuals of Home Minister Amit Shah announcing implementation of CAA and NRC - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 13, 2023
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as a recent video of Amit Shah announcing the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) during his speech in the parliament. This post claims that Amit Shah has issued a statement on issuing citizenship for those with more than two children in a family. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of Amit Shah announcing the implementation of CAA and NRC legislations.
Fact: The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) has been notified on 12 December 2019 and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) then issued a notification stating that the provisions of the act will come into force from 10 January 2020. But the rules under The CAA are still under preparation. In January 2023, the Union Ministry sought another extension of six months to frame the rules of the CAA. The legislation cannot be implemented without the rules being notified. The video shared in the post shows Home Minister Amit Shah’s reply in Lok Sabha related to the CAA on 09 December 2019. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
When we searched for this video using relevant keywords on the internet, a video with similar visuals was found published by the Sansad TV on 10 December 2019. The channel reported it as the visuals of Home Minister Amit Shah’s reply in Lok Sabha related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA). During the speech, Amit Shah addressed the importance of CAA implementation in the country and responded to the questions raised related to the CAA act by the opposition parties.
The text document of Amit Shah’s speech in Lok Sabha, on 09 December 2019, can be seen here. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 aims to facilitate the grant of citizenship to migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India on or before 31 December 2014. During his speech on 09 December 2019, Amit Shah spoke about the decreasing minority population in neighbouring Muslim countries and described the necessity of providing citizenship to the refugees who were persecuted in neighbouring Islamic countries. Comparing the population figures from 1951 to 2011, Amit Shah stated that the Muslim population in India has increased from 9.8% to 14.23% and said that the Muslims in India have nothing to do with this bill. During his speech, Amit Shah did not speak about any policy on the number of children for granting citizenship.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Lok Sabha on 09 December 2019 and by the Rajya Sabha on 11 December 2019 and was given assent by the President on 12 December 2019.  Later, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a notification stating that the provisions of the act will come into force on 10 January 2020. But the rules under CAA are still under preparation. In January 2023, the Union Ministry sought another extension of six months to frame the rules of the CAA. The legislation cannot be implemented without the rules being notified. Speaking about the status of NRC in the Parliament on 15 March 2022, Union Minister Nityanand Rai stated, “Till now, the Government has not taken any decision to prepare National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the National level.” Lately, MHA did not issue any new update on the implementation of NRIC.
To sum it up, a 2019 video is being shared as recent visuals of Home Minister Amit Shah announcing implementation of CAA and NRC.

created: February 13, 2023


text:
2019 video shared as recent visuals of UP voters accusing the BJP of bribing them - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 7, 2022
A video of the ‘News 18’  is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Uttar Pradesh voters accusing BJP of bribing and forcefully applying indelible ink on their fingers. This video shows a few people alleging that BJP workers have distributed money to skip voting. Amid the ongoing 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, this video is going viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of Uttar Pradesh voters accusing BJP workers of bribing them and forcefully applying indelible ink on their fingers.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows an old incident that took place during the 2019 General Elections. In May 2019, residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Tara Jivanpur village staged a protest accusing BJP workers of bribing them and forcefully applying indelible ink on their fingers. This video has nothing to do with the ongoing UP Elections. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched for the video using keywords on the internet, a video with similar visuals is found in an article published by ‘News 18’ on 19 May 2019. This article reported that a few residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Tara Jivanpur village have staged a protest outside the local Police Station accusing BJP workers of distributing 500 rupees each to skip voting. The villagers also alleged that BJP workers have forcefully applied indelible ink on their fingers so they cannot cast their vote in the 2019 General Elections.  The workers from SP and BSP also reportedly participated in this protest.
Reporting details of the incident, several news websites published articles in May 2019. They can be seen here and here.  Responding to the incident, Chandauli Sub-Divisional Magistrate Kumar Harsh said, “Some residents of village Tara Jivanpur are alleging that ink was put on their hands and money was given to them so that they would not be eligible to vote. I can assure that all people who are eligible to vote in the constituency will be able to cast their vote, action will be taken against those who are found guilty”.
Lately, when this old video went viral on social media linking it to the ongoing UP Elections, Chandauli police through a tweet clarified that the video is old and is related to the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
प्रकरण वर्ष 2019 लोकसभा चुनाव के समय का है जिसमें तत्समय आवश्यक कार्यवाही की जा चुकी है इसे #विधानसभाचुनाव2022 से जोड़ कर कृपया बिना तथ्यों की सही जानकारी व पुष्टि के भ्रामकता न फैलाएं।#UPPolice @UPPViralCheck https://t.co/Af0rEGy8DH pic.twitter.com/BR5eMFWB3I
To sum it up, an old video related to the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections is shared as recent visuals of voters accusing BJP of bribing them during the 2022 UP Elections.


text:
2019 video shared as recent visuals of Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin holding face-to-face peace talks to end the war - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 21, 2022
A video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin holding face-to-face peace talks to end the war. Sharing the video, this post claims that Volodymyr Zelensky had accepted Ukraine’s defeat in the ongoing war with Russia. The video shows Zelensky and Putin joining in a round table conference held along with French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of the face-to-face peace talks held between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Fact: The video shared in the post shows the old visuals of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s first-ever meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Paris Summit 2019. As of now, Vladimir Putin did not have any face-to-face peace talks with Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, a video with similar visuals was found published by the ‘AFP News Agency’ on 09 December 2019. The description of the video states, “Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky have met for the first time ever at a summit in Paris seen as a critical opportunity to take steps to end five years of conflict in eastern Ukraine”.
Reporting the same, several other news websites published articles and videos in December 2019. They can be seen here, here, and here. According to these news reports, both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky had bilateral talks during the Paris Summit 2019 to end five years of conflict in the east of Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron and then German Chancellor Angela Merkel were also present during this bilateral meeting held between Russia and Ukraine Presidents.
Amid the ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has been proposing a direct face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war. After more than 25 days of the war, Vladimir Putin has reportedly agreed to have direct face-to-face peace talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, as per some reports. But as of now, they did not finalize any specific date for this meeting.
To sum it up, the 2019 video is shared as recent visuals of Zelensky and Putin holding a face-to-face meeting to end the Russia-Ukraine war.


text:
2019 visuals are being shared as a recent meeting of RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary with BSP’s Mayawati - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 17, 2022
A video and a couple of photos are being shared widely on social media with a claim that they are recent visuals of RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary meeting BSP’s Mayawati. The visuals are being shared in the context of the present Assembly Elections (2022) in Uttar Pradesh. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent visuals of RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary meeting BSP’s Mayawati.
Fact: The visuals are not related to the current Assembly Elections (2022) in Uttar Pradesh. They were taken in 2019 when RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary met BSP’s Mayawati in the context of the Lok Sabha Elections (2019). The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the Samajwadi Party (SP) had an alliance in 2019. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched for the posted video on the internet with some keywords, many similar videos were found in the search results. The ‘ABP NEWS’ YouTube channel has published a news report with the same video in March 2019. A tweet with similar visuals was also made by ‘ANI UP/Uttarakhand’ in 2019. So, the posted video is not a recent one.
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary meets Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati in Lucknow pic.twitter.com/LreoIgGgmm
Some photos of the same meeting are also being shared as recent visuals. However, it can be seen that the same photos were posted by Jayant Chaudhary on his Facebook account in 2019. So, all these viral visuals were taken in 2019 when RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary met BSP’s Mayawati in the context of the Lok Sabha Elections (2019). The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the Samajwadi Party (SP) had an alliance in 2019.
To sum it up, 2019 visuals are being shared as a recent meeting of RLD’s Jayant Chaudhary with BSP’s Mayawati.

created: February 17, 2022