On July 26, Samajwadi Party leader and spokesperson IP Singh published a tweet in which he alleged that an officer of Uttar Pradesh Police had beaten up an unarmed woman. He posted images as well where a Police officer could be seen sitting on the woman. However, the said claims have already been debunked days ago after SP Chief and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav tried to propagate the same fake news on July 17.
IP Singh called the fake news an ‘unannounced emergency’
In his tweet, IP Singh said, “Goon of Yogi’s Police beating a woman while sitting on her. What law under IPC or CrPC gives a right to the Police to beat a woman? CM Yogi Adityanath has turned UP into a Police state. Sisters and women are not safe in UP. The Human Rights Commission is silent. It is an unannounced emergency.” Kanpur Dehat Police again refuted the claims. By the time this report was published, IP Singh was yet to removed the misleading tweet making fake claims.
https://twitter.com/kanpurdehatpol/status/1419873656478474241?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe fake claims were debunked last week
On July 18, OpIndia published a detailed report debunking the fake news shared by former CM Akhilesh Yadav. It was reported that Kanpur Dehat Police had issued a written and video statement debunking the misleading nature of his tweet.
According to the Police, Mahendra Patel, station-in-charge, Bhognipur police station, had gone to the Durgadaspur village to arrest one Shivam Yadav who had allegedly threatened a candidate in panchayat elections. However, the wife and mother of the accused intervened to protect him from arrest.
Arti Yadav, the wife of the accused, pulled Mahendra Patel by the collar to the ground. Kanpur Dehat Police also published the full video of the incident. In that longer video of the incident, the woman was seen trying to strip off her blouse in a bid to implicate the police official in a false charges of molestation. A man was also seen provoking the cop, while he stood his ground in a non-aggressive manner. From the videos, it was clear that the police officer was the victim and not the aggressor in the incident.
Reportedly, mainstream media agencies like Hindustan Times and NDTV continued to take the fake news forward even after Police refuted the false claims.