A purported image from the farmers’ protest showing a person being brutally restrained is viral. The image is circulated with the claim that Olympic bronze medalist wrestler Sakshi Malik was pinned down and stamped on her face with police boots for protesting against the BJP MP Brij Bhushan Saran Singh.
Wrestlers such as Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia, have been protesting against the Wrestling Federation of India chief alleging that Singh has sexually harassed multiple women athletes. On May 28, the protesting athletes attempted to march to the new parliament building but were met with force and detained by the Delhi Police over charges of rioting and other IPC offenses.
Claim:
The image shows a man in police fatigues brutally stepping down on the face of a man. The man can be seen struggling against the shoe of the officer.
Twitter user Abdul Bhai shared the image with the claim, “This is @SakshiMalik who won the first Olympic medal in women’s wrestling for the country. Such a picture was not seen even in Taliban Is the country’s land alive or dead or has it been sold!! #WrestlersProtest”.
Fact Check:
We conducted a reverse image search on the viral image which led us to a report by the Times of India published on February 1, 2021. The report titled, ‘Farmers Protest: Man under boot now image of cop aggression’ contained the viral image in the thumbnail.
The TOI report noted that then 22-year-old Ranjit Singh’s face crushed under a police boot has become the face of the farmer’s protest.
Taking a cue from this, we conducted a keyword search and came across a report published by News18 on January 30, 2021. The report titled, ‘Farmers’ Protest: 44 Including Man Who Attacked Police With Sword Arrested in Singhu Border Violence’ showed the man being crushed by the cop’s boot from a different angle.
The News 18 report quoted a senior police officer who said, “Accused Ranjeet Singh, a resident of village Kazampur, Distt Naya Shehar, PS Rahu, Punjab, age 22 years who attacked SHO Alipur with sword has been arrested from the spot.”
The News18 article states, “Situation at Delhi’s Haryana border at Singhu deteriorated on Friday afternoon as villagers clashed with protesting farmers after one thing led to another and the mob was seen armed with stones, lathis, swords. A police officer among others was injured.”
As per another Times of India report, Ranjit was released on March 17, 2021, after being arrested on January 29 of the same year. Singh was released from Tihar Jail and received a heroic welcome at his native village Kajampur in Punjab’s Nawanshahr district.
A Deccan Herald report also contained the viral image with the caption, “Police pin down a farmer, who allegedly attacked Police SHO (Alipur) Pradeep Paliwal, during clashes between people claiming to be local villagers and farmers at the Singhu Border. Credit: PTI Photo.”
A BBC report also covered his imprisonment and release and reception by the public at his village.
Conclusion:
We found that the viral image is not from the wrestler’s protest. It does not show one of the protesting wrestlers but rather Ranjit Singh, who was arrested during the farmers’ protest in 2021. Singh was arrested and later released during the farmers’ protest.
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https://thelogicalindian.com/h-upload/2023/05/30/500x300_231895-new-project-2023-05-30t125059309.webp
Fact Check
2023-05-30 09:51:34.0
Does This Image Show Wrestler Being Stomped By Cop’s Boot? No, Viral Image Is From Farmers’ Protest
