DigitEye India Fact Checkers
A video showing a policeman raising his hand at a woman farmer is going viral on social media after the police action on protesting farmers sitting on the Punjab-Haryana National Highway connecting the Shambhu border with Khanouri border.
The context was when the Punjab Police started removing the farmers sitting on the protest at Shambhu border demanding the guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP), which has been going on for over a year. The clash between farmers and police erupted when bulldozers moved in to remove the tents of the farmers.
A Facebook user shared the video and wrote, ‘Kejriwal’s Punjab Police giving MSP to the female farmer, but the dictator is Modi ji, brother’.
This video is being shared as shown below on social media platform X.
महिला किसान को MSP देती हुई केजरीवाल की पंजाब पुलिस पर तानाशाह तो मोदी जी है भाई ।।#भाजपा_की_बिरयानी भी लिखते जाओ pic.twitter.com/cvvT5P9cx6
— Arun Yadav (@ArunKosli) March 19, 2025
FACT CHECK
The Digiteye India team first searched for the original video taking keframes and conducting a Google Reverse Image Search. The results showed that the X user’s video was uploaded on May 18, 2023 and not recently.
As per the caption, farmers were protesting against land acquisition in Gurdaspur district of Punjab, during which a Punjab Police constable slapped the female farmer, which was condemned as seen below:
In Gurdaspur Village Punjab Police Cop Slaps The Women Farmer. As per reports the farmers were protesting against the land acquisition. This is a shameful act & stringent action should be taken against this cop. @PunjabPoliceind @Tractor2twitr_p pic.twitter.com/oze74gwnb
– Akashdeep thought (@Thind_akashdeep) May 18, 2023
When we searched further on Google using the keyword, we could see a news report from The Print giving the related background for the viral video.
As per The Tribune report on 18 May 2023, farmers were opposing land acquisition for the Bharatmala project. On May 17, the police used lathicharge on the farmers seeking compensation for land acquisition. And, the farmers had called for stopping the rail the next day.
As per the news reports, when the district administration and police team reached Bhamri village to acquire land for the Delhi-Katra National Highway in Gurdaspur, there was a tussle between the farmers and the administration team and in the scuffle, the policeman slapped the woman farmer, an old incident. Hence, the claim in the video is false.
Claim: Kejriwal’s police in Punjab slapped a protesting woman farmer for MSP.
Conclusion: Misrepresentation. The video from 2023 is an old protest over land acquisition for a highway.
Rating: Misrepresentation — 
