The recent JNU attack was a mix of misinformation and rumors circulated on social media. Later many videos went viral with people taking sides.
Amongst them, a video was doing rounds on social media in which a man in a red jacket beating a man wearing a green shirt on the JNU campus.
The video was tweeted by several journalists and BJP leaders alleging that violence in the campus was perpetrated by the Left-leaning outfits who were trying to scuttle the winter semester registration process.
Check out the video:
Video bears witness to #JNU VC @mamidala90‘s statement that those opposing registration for Winter session of #JNU are behind violence to scuttle the academic process of varsity. pic.twitter.com/JWr4n81GbW
— Prasar Bharati News Services (@PBNS_India) January 6, 2020
The tweet said the video bears witness to JNU V-C Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar’s statement that “those opposing registration for the winter session of #JNU are behind the violence to scuttle the academic process of the varsity.”
FACT CHECK
According to the media portal, a false story was being spread by people in responsible posts and also many journalists.
A reverse check was done on the video and found out that the video is of January 4 and the location is the School of International Studies (SIS) and SL Lawns. The tall man wearing the green clothing was tracked and was receiving blows from the man in the red jacket.
Vivek Pandey is a first-year MA student and is a member of the All India Students Association (AISA).
“I am not an ABVP activist and I am associated with AISA. The video that you see is of SIS and SL lawns. We were just trying to request students to not register and we were doing it peacefully when a group led by dean Ashwini Mahapatra and professor Tapan Bihari reached there and started heckling and beating up students,” Vivek alleged.
“The one in the red jacket hitting me is Sharvendra, who is an ABVP activist and close to Dean Ashwini Mahapatra. Yet an opposite narrative is being built,” he added.
In fact, two other classmates of Sharvendra Kumar confirmed his identity to a media portal but are not willing to share their names. He is a common face in the campus. He is a third-year Ph.D. student at Centre for West Asian Studies, SIS, JNU.
Check out the post:
Vivek has alleged that the Vice-Chancellor is aware that Sharvendra is associated with the ABVP still he retweeted the video just to mislead people that the violence was perpetrated by Left students.
The verdict
The story is a testimony to how social media turned out to be a potent weapon to spread lies and falsehood.
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