Old Images Of Injured Youths Viral As Recent RRB NTPC Exam Protests

With the ongoing controversy around the exams conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board for the Non-Technical Popular Categories (RRB NTPC), several images of injured protestors are being shared on social media claiming police personnel thrashed students during protests that broke out across parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

A picture of a man lying on the bed with severe injury marks on his back is going viral. While sharing this image, Jitendra Kumar Rai, RJD MLA from Mathura wrote a caption which reads, "अपने मुख्यमंत्री और प्रधानमंत्री को धन्यवाद कह देना कि वो छात्र जिंदा लौट आया, जो अपने हक की मांग करने सरकार के समक्ष गया हुआ था। जिस दिन वह ऑफिसर बनकर लौटेगा ना और सिस्टम की सफाई करेगा और सबका हिसाब लेगा तब कुछ मत कहना."

[English Translation: Say thank you to the Chief Minister and Prime Minister for the students who could return to their home alive. They had gone before the government to demand his rights. The day when he will return as an officer and clean the system and take account of everyone, then don't say anything.]

Kerala Pradesh Congress Sevadal official Twitter handle also tweeted this image with a similar claim.

A Twitter user mocks at CM Yogi Adityanath and wrote, "बाबा मुख्यमंत्री को धन्यवाद कहना..पढ़ने गए बच्चे ज़िंदा घर लौट सके."

[English Translation: Say thank you to Baba Chief Minister for the students who could return back to their home alive.]

It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.

Several users shared a collage of seriously injured Youths and police personnel lathi charging on them with a claim that it shows visuals of the recent student protests that happened across various parts of UP and Bihar. It was shared by Ashwine Kumar Singh, a journalist associated with Newslaundry.

[Trigger Warning: The Logical Indian has not embedded the image due to its graphic nature and strong language. The Image link is here.]

Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Sevadal shared this collage with a Hindi caption that reads, "भारत के संविधान के प्रस्तावना के अनुसार संविधान के आदर्शों में पहला आदर्श न्याय को दिया है। आवाज़ उठाना हर नौजवान का मौलिक अधिकार है। देश गणतंत्र था, गणतंत्र है और रहेगा ये देश के हुक्मरान जान लें."

[English Translation: According to the Preamble to the Constitution of India, the first ideal of the Constitution is given to justice. It is the fundamental right of every youth to raise their voice. The country was a republic, is a republic and will remain so, the rulers of the country should know this.]

Several other users also shared this image. Click here to read.

Claim:

Viral images show Police thrashing students protesting against the RRB NTPC exam of 2021.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the claim and found it to be false. The viral images are not related to ongoing student protests.

Image1:

On doing a Google reverse image search, we found pictures similar to the viral photo in a Facebook post dated 17 July 2019. The print of the sheet, pillow cover, etc., is the same in these pictures, which is seen in the viral photo. The caption is in Bengali language and does not mention the image's origin or story behind it. However, by comparing them, it becomes clear that the viral photo is also related to this incident.

On searching more, we found a Twitter post done by the West Bengal Police official Twitter handle dated May 2020, in which the viral image can be seen. According to the tweet, last year, it went viral by linking it to covid lockdown in Bengal, which West Bengal Police denied.

We also found a tweet done by PIB Fact Check in which they called the viral claim old and being presented out of context. The tweet caption reads, "A contextually misleading image is being circulated on social media. This image is old and was found to be viral with fake claims on numerous occasions. Kindly refrain from sharing such misleading images."

Image 2:

On doing an open reverse image search, we found the viral images on Yandex. It leads us to twitter posts of Vice-Chairperson Social Media of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, Pankhuri Pathak, dated 02 November 2018, in which the viral image can be seen. According to the caption, UP police lashed out at the students protesting against the cancellation of 68500 teacher recruitment by the BJP government.

Taking a hint from it, we did an open keyword search and found the viral images in a report of Amar Ujala dated 02 November 2018. According to the report, UP Police lathi-charged the candidates protesting in front of Lucknow Vidhan Sabha, demanding to reduce the cut-off in the recruitment of 68500 assistant teachers and fill the vacant posts. More than a dozen protesters were severely injured in the lathi-charge. The report also contains several other images of the protest day where police brutality can be seen.

At that time, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also shared several viral images in his tweet while criticizing Police brutality against the job aspirants.

Our investigation shows that the above viral images shared on social media linking them to ongoing protest over the RRB NTPC exam are false. The viral photos have been doing rounds on social media since 2018, and the image of a man lying on the bed with severe injury marks on his back has been present on the internet since 2019. While the other pictures in which there are injured protestors and police personnel beating them is from the 2018 protest by teaching job aspirants in UP. Hence the viral claim is false.

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

Also Read: Image From 2019 Anti-CAA Protests Revived As Recent RRB NTPC Exam Protest