A photo from July 2021, when a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was beaten up by agitating farmers in Rajasthan, is being shared with a misleading claim that it shows a BJP leader thrashed in Uttar Pradesh.
The claim is being shared as the Uttar Pradesh election dates inch closer. The state is set to go to polls starting February 10 in phases till March 7, 2022 with results to be declared on March 10, 2022. The run to the elections in UP is turning to be a tight race between the Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party and Yogi Adityanath led BJP.
BOOM has also debunked several pieces of misinformation around the UP elections. Read here
The photo which shows a man in a torn kurta walking beside a policeman and other people is being shared with a caption in Hindi that translates to, "The public beat up a BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh who had gone to ask for votes"
( Original text in Hindi - यूपी मे वोट माँगने जनता के बीच गए भाजपा नेता का जनता ने किया भूमि सूजन।)
Another caption in Hindi claims the leader was thrashed when he went campaiging and also mentions that he messaged Yogi Aditynath, Uttar Pradesh CM after the incident.
FACT CHECK
A reverse image search on the image showed news reports from July 2021, about a BJP leader who was thrashed by protesting farmers in Rajasthan.
According to a report published on July 31, 2021, Kailash Meghwal, head of the BJP's Scheduled Castes Morcha unit, was beaten up by farmers at Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. NDTV reported, "Some farmers allegedly manhandled a BJP leader and tore his clothes in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar district on Friday, an incident condemned and dubbed as unfortunate by the party. The incident took place at Ganga Singh Chowk in Sri Ganganagar where some farmers gathered during the BJP's sit-in over the law and order, and water for irrigation."
We further found several video news reports of the incident uploaded on YouTube where Meghwal can be seen walking in his torn clothes after being resuced by the police.
A report in Aajtak used the same viral image to report the incident and identified the man as Kailash Meghwal.