Farmers' Protest: Photo Of Plainclothes Cop From 2019 Viral With Fake Claim

An old picture showing a plainclothes constable of Delhi police wearing a bulletproof vest and a helmet is viral with misleading claims in the backdrop of the recent violence that took the national capital in its grip on January 26.

BOOM found that the picture is old and the man seen in it was a constable with the Delhi police.

The picture is viral after the Delhi police and protesting farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh had a standoff on Republic Day. The tractor rally taken out by the farmers on the occasion had deviated from the route allotted by the Delhi police and the protestors had reached the Red Fort where they hoisted religious flags.

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The viral picture shows a man clad in a blue denim jeans and red t-shirt. He is wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet, and there's a wooden stick in his hand.

A Hindi caption with the viral post translates to 'This blue jeans and t-shirt is the uniform of which state police, someone please tell me. What sort of politics is this. Please share it'.

(Hindi: येह ब्लू जीन और टी शर्ट कौन सी स्टेट की पुलिस की वर्दी है जरा हमें भी बताओ? येह कैसी राजनीति है साहब? इसे ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर करो)

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The same image was viral earlier with a caption falsely claiming that the man in the viral picture was a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad who was a part of the crackdown led by Delhi Police on student protesters from Delhi's Jamia Milia Islamia University in December 2019.

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Fact Check

BOOM had earlier fact checked the same picture when it was viral with a different claim. We had then contacted Delhi police who had confirmed that the man striking a pose in full riot gear was a constable with the Delhi police's Anti Auto Theft Squad.

MS Randhawa, DCP (Central), while speaking to BOOM, had said, "This image is of a constable with the Anti Auto Theft Squad of Delhi Police who was posted as security for the protests."

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Delhi police had told India Today that the man had been identified as constable Arvind who was "deployed near New Friends Colony on Sunday to control Jamia protestors". He added that members of specialised units like the AATS "mostly operate in plainclothes while controlling the unruly mob".