Old Photo Of Cop Placing Foot On A Body Falsely Linked To Lakhimpur Incident

A photo of a policeman placing his feet on the chest of a body was shared with false claims that it shows the Uttar Pradesh police force disrespecting the mortal remains of the deceased farmers who were protesting against the farm laws.

The photo is being shared on social media after the Lakhimpur Kheri district incident where a vehicle reportedly ran over protesting farmers on October 3, 2021 in Uttar Pradesh. According to reports nine people died including four farmers and a reporter. The protesting farmers' unions have alleged that Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Misra Teni's son Ashish Mishra was in the vehicle that ran over the protesters.

The photo was shared on social media with a Bangla caption, "Uttar Pradesh police is honoring the martyred farmers." (Original caption in Bangla: শহীদ কৃষকদের সম্মান জানাচ্ছে উত্তরপ্রদেশ পুলিশ)

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BOOM found the photo was widely shared on Facebook with the same claim.

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Fact Check

BOOM ran a reverse image search with the viral photo and found a Punjab Kesari news article published on August 18, 2018 carrying the same photo.

The headline of the article reads, "Shameful: Police took the dead bodies to the post mortem house without sealing them in the jeep, feet on the chest." (Original headline in Hindi: शर्मनाक: शवों को बिना सील किए जीप में लादकर पोस्टमार्टम हाउस ले गई पुलिस, सीने पर रखे पैर).

According to the Punjab Kesari report, a policeman put his feet on two dead bodies while sending them for post mortem; the deceased were identified as two men who were killed in a clash between two groups in Kaushambi district, Uttar Pradesh in 2018.

The same incident was also reported by Amar Ujala on August 18, 2018. Amar Ujala stated that the two men died in a shootout between two parties over a construction of a pavement in the area. According to the article, the incident occurred in Chandupur village of Sarayakil Kotwali area. A police constable was accused of placing his foot on the chest of the deceased in a jeep after he went to the crime scene for the post mortem. He reportedly thrashed a teenager when he came in front of the jeep on the way.

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