DigitEye India Fact Checkers
As the Maharashtra state government has issued new rules amid growing Covid-19 cases in the state bringing back restrictions on religious, social and political gatherings, some social media posts have started circulating with a claim that policemen are using lathis to hit people who are violating norms.
The state government of Maharashtra on February 22 imposed strict rules again including wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, banning religious, social and political gatherings in the state.
In this context, the following video clip has been shared widely on social media.
अमरावती शहर के नए रुझान नए लोक डॉन के परिणाम ,महाराष्ट्र, pic.twitter.com/P8v4faEocp
— S̶e̶w̶a̶K̶ (@Sewak_Iove) February 24, 2021
It was also shared on Facebook.
Fact-check
When we searched for the video first on Youtube, with lockdown and police beating, several videos appeared including the one uploaded on March 24, 2020 pertaining to “Lockdown /Curfew in Rajkamal Chowk, Amravati — Police beating people one by one.” Since the video is age restricted, click on Watch Youtube below:
This video was about Amravati in Maharashtra but it was nearly one year old and taken when Coronavirus lockdown was imposed suddenly last year after the reported cases of Covid infection started rising.
Further search on Google synchronised that it was related to police resorting to lathicharge to disperse gatherings amid the covid-19’s initial outbreak in the state.
A report in TOI from March 23, 2020 corraborates the fact about the strict lockdown in Amravati following a Janata curfew announced across the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 22 last year.
However, the same nearly one-year-old video was used now to claim that strict lockdown was imposed in Maharashtra and that the police in Amravati are resorting to lathicharge to drive away people from the public.
Claim: Police in Amravati resorting to lathicharge amid strict lockdown imposed by Maharashtra government in February 2021.
Conclusion: Old video of Amravati from the Janta Curfew was reused to claim that police are resorting to lathi-charge due to strict lockdown imposed in February 2021 by Maharashtra government.
Our rating: Misrepresentation — 
