A video of Mahila Congress President Netta D'Souza spitting on security personnel during protests is viral with false claims misidentifying her as activist Teesta Setalvad.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on June 25 detained activist Teesta Setalvad and former IPS officer RB Sreekumar for allegedly giving false information pertaining to the 2002 Gujarat riots case. The two were detained a day after the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to prime minister Narendra Modi, for allegedly conspiring to orchestrate the 2002 Gujarat Riots when he was the chief minister at the time. The video is viral in this backdrop.
BOOM found that the video shows D'Souza spitting on police and security personnel during a protest against party leader Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate.
Also Read:Teesta Setalvad, Ex-IPS RB Sreekumar Detained For False Info on Gujarat Riots
In the video, D'Souza can be seen resisting and spitting on a group of cops and security personnel as she is detained in a bus along with other protesters.
The Hindi caption with the video translates to, "This is the country's great self-volunteer Mrs. Teesta Setalvad. How decent, how much polite!!"
Click here to view the post.
Click here to view the post.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a keyword search using "Spit Cops" and found recent news reports on D'Souza spitting on the cops from inside a bus in Delhi after they were detained for protesting against Rahul Gandhi's questioning by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. The incident happened on June 21, 2022.
An NDTV report carried the same visuals as seen in the viral video. The report states that D'Souza spat on a group of cops during the protest in Delhi which was organised against Gandhi's questioning by the ED in the National Herald case.
D'Souza is the acting president of Congress' Mahila (women) wing.
NDTV also tweeted the video of the incident on June 21 crediting the footage to news agency ANI.
Click here to view the tweet.
The same viral footage can be seen on ANI's official YouTube channel.
Later, in a tweet, D'Souza stated, "A propaganda is running against me on media. Here is the vedio to understand how I was hakled during that mud unwanted particles like hair some dust went into my mouth. Which I threw out of my mouth. I had no intention to disrespect our security personals. SATYAMEV JAYETE ! " (sic.)
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D'Souza and other Congress leaders were part of the 'Chalo Raj Bhavan' call given by the party to demonstrate against Gandhi's questioning in connection to money-laundering case pertaining to the National-Herald and AJL deal.