No, BJP Workers Were Not Banned From Entering Meerut Police Station As Claimed By Samajwadi Party

The Samajwadi Party's media cell has tweeted a viral image of a police station with a group of men holding a banner. The image has gone viral in the tussle for political edge in Uttar Pradesh in between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP.

Claim:

The viral image tweeted by Media Cell of the Samajwadi Party shows a group of men who have hoisted a sign that proclaims, "BJP workers are prohibited from entering this police station." The text on the bottom of the banner reads: "Police station-in charge Sant Saran Singh."

In the background, a police station can be seen with a board stating 'Police Station Medical' along with the text 'District Meerut'. Samajwadi Party official Twitter handle shared this image with a caption which reads in Hindi, "भाजपा कार्यकर्ताओं की "दलाली" और गुंडई से त्रस्त होकर आखिरकार थाना प्रभारी को "भाजपा कार्यकर्ताओं का थाने में आना मना है" लिखा हुआ पोस्टर लगवाना पड़ा ,इससे साबित होता है कि भाजपा नेता/कार्यकर्ता पुलिस प्रशासन पर हावी होकर गुंडई ,दलाली कर रहे थे ,योगी जी ! आपके सामने सबूत है."

[English Translation: Frustrated with the "pimping" and hooliganism of BJP workers, the station in-charge finally had to put up a poster with the words "BJP workers are not allowed into the police station". This proves that the BJP leaders/workers were doing hooliganism, brokering by dominating the police administration, Yogi ji! You have proof.]

The Samajwadi Party president, Akhilesh Yadav, also tweeted the image with a similar claim. He claimed that BJP workers had been prohibited from entering a police station in Meerut on the basis of a viral image. They alleged that this occurred due to hooliganism of BJP workers which forced the police station in-charge to install the poster outside the station.

He wrote: "This has happened for the first time in these five-six years. The people of the ruling party have been prohibited to come to the police stations. These are the lofty ideals of the BJP government of UP!"

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The poster was not put up by the police officials.

We conducted a reverse image search on the viral image and came across this report by MidDay published on 28 May, 2022. The report quoted the Senior Superintendent of Police in Meerut, Prabhakar Chaudhary as saying, "The banner was put up by some unidentified people in the afternoon."

As per Chaudhary, just before the banner was put up, two groups had reached the police station over some old property dispute. Meerut Police have suspected that someone from either side of this group might have put up the banner. The Meerut Police have identified some people for their involvement in the matter and action will be taken against them, the SSP asserted as per the report.

Taking this into account, we conducted a keyword search with the relevant information. We came across this report by ABP Live which provided more details into the incident. The thumbnail of the report is the same as the image that has gone viral.

The incident was caused due to the alleged negligence and misbehavior by the police officers of the station. As per the report, cops allegedly misbehaved with a widow who came to file a complaint against her dead husband's brother regarding a property dispute.

We came across a report by AajTak uploaded on 27 May, which gave further details into the incident. The incident took place when a woman named Pooja alleged that her dead husband's shop was illegally occupied by her brother-in-law. The report states the woman's husband had died seven months ago leaving her to look after two children. Her husband's shop was then occupied by her brother-in-law against whom the woman approached the police to register a formal complaint.

The police allegedly misbehaved with her following which the crowd consisting of BJP workers gathered in front of the police station. The report quotes Kuldeep, a former district minister of BJP's Yuva Morcha, who said that after the death of the woman's husband, his shop had come to the woman's name but had been illegally taken over by her brother-in-law. There were also people who supported the woman's brother-in-law present outside the police station. The banner was put up during the demonstration that was taking place outside the police station.

The demonstrations can be seen in this video report uploaded by Amar Ujala's YouTube channel on May 29.

We also came across this Indian Express report, dated May 29, we came to know that six BJP workers were held for putting up the poster outside the police station. According to the police, the poster was a bid to attract attention.

We conducted a keyword search on social media and came across the following post on Twitter uploaded by the official handle of Meerut Police on May 27. In the Twitter post, the police stated that the incident of the banner was sparked off due to an existing family dispute between a woman and her brother-in-law.

"Undue pressure was being created by anti-social elements to change the possession of the police. Due to the non-cooperation of the police in this socially disruptive work, these anti-social elements themselves made a poster to tarnish the image of the police and pasted it on the wall of the police station".

On the poster, it was inscribed that the workers of a particular political party were prohibited from entering the police station. Some of the identified persons have a prior criminal history. Legal action will be taken after registering the case as per rules.", the Twitter post reads.

The Meerut Police uploaded a video statement by the Senior Superintendent of Police of Meerut, Prabhakar Chaudhary, in which he stated that six people had been arrested in the matter.

The Logical Indian Fact Check Team contacted the Meerut Police's Superintendent Police (City) Vineet Bhatnagar, who asserted that the police had not put up the poster prohibiting BJP workers from entering the station. "The poster was put up by the people involved in the demonstration outside the police station. They put it up to tarnish the image of Meerut Police. In this matter, six people have been arrested till now."

We also contacted the Senior Superintendent of Police of Meerut, Prabhakar Chaudhary, who asserted the same details as above, reiterating that the poster was not put up by the police.

Conclusion:

In our investigation, we found that the incident was actually caused due to a family dispute which had prompted a group comprising BJP workers to gather outside the police station. It was alleged that the police had misbehaved with a woman who had gone to the station to register a complaint.

As per media reports and statements by the SSP and SP (City), the poster was put up by the protestors themselves, allegedly in an attempt to discredit the Meerut Police. Some of these protestors included local BJP workers who were detained by the police.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

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