A video from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, of a man slapping a police officer is viral with a false claim that he is a Samajwadi Party MLA, Salim Haidar.
BOOM found that the man in the viral video is Ashish Shukla, whose video had gone viral on December 3, 2021, after he had slapped a cop after his car hit their four-wheeler parked outside a hotel. We further found that there is no MLA or leader named Salim Haidar in the Samajwadi Party (SP) and there is no assembly constituency named 'Mukhtar Ganj'.
The video is being shared with the false communal narrative in the backdrop of the Uttar Pradesh state elections due next year.
In the video, a bespectacled man along with a group of men can be seen standing around the policeman and shouting at him and then slapping him, after which the other men separate him from the policeman.
The 27 seconds video is being shared with a fake SP MLA name and constituency - 'Mukhtar Ganj SP MLA Salim Haider'. The caption when translated reads, "Mukhtar Ganj SP MLA Salim Haider, considering himself as Khali's child, and is beating a police officer as if he is a slave, now he does not have a government, if it is formed, then what will happen to the common man, you are all intelligent.."
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(In Hindi - #uppolice मुख्तार गंज सपा विधायक सलीम हैदर अपने आप को खली की औलाद समझ कर एक पुलिस अधिकारी को ऐसे मार रहा है जैसे इसका गुलाम है अभी तो इनकी सरकार नही है अगर बन जाए तो आम आदमी का क्या होगा आप सभी समझदार है,,)
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is from Lucknow of a man named Ashish Shukla, who slapped a policeman on December 2, 2021, in Niralanagar area after the sub-inspector's car hit their four-wheeler parked outside a hotel.
Taking a hint from the video we searched with the keywords "Man slapping cop uttar pradesh", and found several news reports on the incident.
Times Of India reported on the viral video on December 3, 2021, stating that four men were arrested hours after a video of the incident went viral.
The report identified those arrested as Ashish Shukla, Pranjul Mathur, Priyank Mathur and Pravendra Kumar. It further added that the sub-inspector rank cop in uniform was identified as Vinod Kumar and the accused, identified as Ashish Shukla had slapped him twice.
Additionally, at the 21 seconds timestamp in the viral video we can hear the name 'Ashish' being shouted by the other men standing around.
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Sub Inspector Kumar, posted at Kotwali Pilibhit, was in Lucknow to meet officials at the office of the minority commission and was returning through Niralanagar when the incident took place and claimed that he hit the four-wheeler while trying to save a motorcyclist.
Additional deputy commissioner of police, North, Prachi Singh, told TOI that on the day of the incident, one of the accused Priyank Mathur, had his wedding reception ongoing at a hotel in Niralanagar area, when the four-wheeler of Sub Inspector Kumar hit into his car, which led to the fight. One of the members of the wedding group, Ashish slapped the cop. She further added that with the help of CCTV cameras other accused would also be identified and booked.
The incident was also reported by other media outlets.
