Fact Check: Image Of Old Man Beaten Up By UP Police Mistaken To Be One Of Stone Pelters

The image of an old man pelting stones juxtaposed with another man sitting with an injured hand has gone viral, justifying the lathi charge by the Uttar Pradesh police against the anti-CAA protesters.

Uttar Pradesh has witnessed the most violent against the CAA and NRC. The state saw the highest number of casualties in the country. Around 327 FIRs were filed, 1,000 were arrested, and 5,000 were detained, as the internet services remained suspended for several hours in the state.

Disturbing footages of police resorting to batons and threatening Muslim protesters have gone viral.

A twitter user who goes by handle @oyevivekk first posted the two images with a caption – "Newton's third law: For Every Action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." The caption conspicuously meant that the old man inflicted injuries because he was pelting stones. The tweet got 182 retweets and 371 likes.

Another person used the same juxtaposed image both the old man with a caption – Sochta hu to wo kitne masoom the, kya se kya hogaya dekhte dekhte (He was so innocent before, but look what situation has made turned him into) #UPPoliceZindabad.

This tweet garnered 3.8 K likes and was retweeted 1.3 K times.

https://twitter.com/dafa_ho__jao/status/1211536326350139393

Claim: Images justify police lathicharge on Anti-CAA protesters

FactCheck

The claim is false.

Images falsely portray Shia cleric as a stone pelter

Performing reverse searching on the image, we found that the image was first published on Hindustan Times' Lucknow edition on December 22, 2019. The image was on the front page with caption – "An elderly man throws a stone during the protest in Kanpur on Saturday." The name of the man is still unknown.

However, the next image was of Maulana Asad Raza Hussaini. He, with several students, was dragged out of the hostel and beaten by the police in Muzzafarnagar. Hussaini, 65 was later taken into custody.

Several media houses covered reports of Hussaini being subjected to lathi-charge. According to Newsclick, police entered into the Sadat hostel, which houses underprivileged students, to find protestors. Hussaini is a caretaker of the place. The police whisked the students and Hussaini and thrashed them.

Times Of India reported that Hussaini a Shia cleric was picked up by the cops along with 40 students on December 20. Hussaini was released by the cops on December 21 and remained under observation till December 23. It was also reported that he was bedridden with multiple injuries.

The family members of Hussaini denied any claims of him pelting stones and said that the image of the man hurling was not Hussaini, the Quint reported. On a closer look, one can also quickly draw out the different characteristics on both the faces.

Therefore, given the evidence, It can be ascertained that images falsely link a Shia cleric as a stone pelter at an Anti-CAA protest.

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