Police crushing protestor's face
Several images from the wrestler protest site showing police detaining wrestlers were making rounds on the social media platforms. Ashok Buaddha, a Twitter user, tweeted an image of a police officer stamping on a protester’s face.
Moreover, the user claimed that the person seen in the image is the wrestler Sakshi Malik and wrote, “This is Sakshi Malik, the first Olympic medalist for the country in women’s wrestling! Such a picture was not seen in Taliban. The conscience of the country is alive or dead or sold.”
Prominent Indian wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and others have been protesting at the Jantar Mantar against Brij Bhushan Singh, MP of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), over allegations that he has engaged in sexual misconduct.
Amidst the ongoing protest, on Sunday, May 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new parliament building. On the day of the opening, these wrestlers planned to hold a women’s Maha Panchayat in front of the new Parliament building.
As the wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sangeeta Phogat, and Sakshi Malik, marched towards the Central Vista, the Delhi police began their crackdown on the protest by tearing down tents and clearing the protest site at the Jantar Mantar. For violating the security cordon, they even arrested the wrestlers.
The viral image was also tweeted by the other twitter users Jat Unity, Arvind Yadav and Bhartiya Kisan Union Bijnor Official with the same claim that the person seen in the image getting pinned down is Sakshi Malik.
The reverse image search led us to an article by the Times of India, dated February 2021, where we spotted the same image. The article is headlines “Farmers’ protest: Man under boot now image of cop aggression.”
The photograph, according to the TOI article, was taken during a farmer protest against the farm bill which created havoc in the country, near the Singhu border. Ranjit Singh, a 21 year old photographer, is the guy in the picture that the Twitter user shared.
The TOI article further states that despite the security protection at the Singhu border, a clash broke out with some of the farmer protestors as the crowd arrived at the farmers camp and attacked it. Besides, Ranjit Singh is charged by Delhi Police of hurting the Alipur Station House Officer (SHO) and attacking him with a sword.
Further, the Delhi Police arrested him and 43 other people on the same day under many laws, including one for attempted murder. Moreover, Ranjit Singh was given bail in this matter on March 17, 2021.
Further, we did the keyword search “Man face pinned down under Police boot at farmer protest” and came across many media reports. The News Laundry article headlined “Singhu violence: Farmer languishes in jail despite videos contradicting FIR” has the same image feature in their article.
According to another report by News 18 accused Ranjit Singh, a native of Kazampur village in the district of Nawanshahr, had attacked Alipur SHO with a sword before he was immediately taken into custody. Also, 44 people were arrested by the Delhi Police in connection with the violence that erupted on the Singhu border, including the one who attacked the SHO.
In addition, the same image was shown in a news update on the farmer protest in 2021 on the website of the Deccan Herald. According to the update shared then, police had apprehended a farmer who is accused of attacking Police SHO (Alipur) Pradeep Paliwal during altercations between farmers and people posing as local villagers at the Singhu Border.
Hence, in our fact check we found that the image going viral on Twitter is not of Olympian Sakshi Malik. During the violence that erupted on January 28 during the farmers protest at Singhu border in Delhi, Ranjit Singh, shown in this photo, was arrested by the Delhi Police.
| Claim | The police has pinned down Sakshi Malik in the viral picture |
| Claimed by | Twitter users |
| Fact Check | False |
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