Assam Police Beating Up People Not Included In The NRC? A FactCheck
BOOM found that the video is originally of a forest eviction drive, that was carried out in Amchang forest area of Assam in 2017
A 2017 video showing a police crackdown during an eviction drive in Assam is being shared with a false claim that it shows police rounding up people whose names are not included in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state.
The video shows police dragging people out from their houses that have been broken. Cries of help can be heard in the background, as armed policemen pull men and women away.
The clip has been revived in the wake of nation-wide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the NRC.
The National Register Of Citizens is a government registration document that contains names and relevant information of Indian citizens of Assam. The NRC further seeks to categorise minorities as illegal immigrants, causing many to be worried, after its implementation in Assam.
The viral video has been captioned as: "People are being picked up for not being included in the NRC list. #Assam. If today your protests stop, then tomorrow your fate will be like this." (Original text in Hindi: #NRC में नाम नहीं है इसलिए घर से उठाया जा रहा है #Assam; आज आपका विरोध बंद हो जाए तो कल आपका हाल ऐसा ही होगा ।)
The clip has been viewed more than 2.1 lakh times at time time of writing this article.
The same video is viral on another Facebook page with a similar narrative. It has garnered more than 2.6 lakh views.
The incident happened in the Amchang forest area of Assam in December 2017.
BOOM also reached out to a desk editor from the news channel, who corroborated the events.
News reports said over 700 families were rendered homeless. Click here to read more.
An excerpt from The Wire states the following.
"Amchang, situated in the state's Kamrup district, was declared a wildlife sanctuary by the state government in 2004 by putting together the Amchang reserve forest, South Amchang forest reserve and Khanapara reserve forest. The area which has seen the eviction drive for three days in a row was declared an ECZ this past June by an expert committee set up by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)."
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