Image Of Cop Attacked In UP Shared With Communal Spin In West Bengal

An old image of a police personnel being kicked by a youth in Kanpur has resurfaced with claims that it is from West Bengal, where Muslims have been attacking the state police force.

The image, which shows a youth lifting his leg to attack a policeman lying on the streets is viral in the wake of COVID-19 lockdown across the country and reports of the subsequent attack on cops and medical practitioners. Netizens have further raised questions about the failure of the Trinamool Congress led government and demanded that army be deployed in the interest of the country.

BOOM found that the incident happened in Kanpur on June, 2017 when a clash broke out between protesters and police after a teen under treatment in a hospital, was allegedly raped.

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The Facebook post, captioned in Bengali, reads, "Trinamool's police and administration have failed in Muslim dominated West Bengal. In the interest of the country army should be deployed." (Original text in Bengali: পশ্চিমবাংলায় মুসলিম অধ্যুষিত এলাকায় তৃণমূলের পুলিশ প্রশাসন ব্যর্থ। দেশের স্বার্থে অবিলম্বে সেনাবাহিনী মোতায়েন করা উচিত)

The post is archived here.

Violent clashes have been reported between cops and locals in several areas of the state including West Medinipur and Malda where cops tried taking action against the lockdown violators. Clashes were also reported from Asansol's Jamuria area last week over setting up a quarantine centre.

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Fact Check

BOOM ran a reverse image search and found that the incident is neither related to West Bengal nor did it happen during the lockdown period.

Upon reverse image search we came across the same image, which was part of a news report, headlined 'WRATH OF THE MOB Teen schoolgirl 'is RAPED in intensive care unit by hospital worker'… as angry mob turn on cops they blame for not protecting her', by The Sun.

According to the report, a violent clash broke out between agitators and police in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, after a teen was allegedly raped inside an intensive care unit in a local hospital. The girl was admitted with health complications. She was later injected and raped by a ward boy of the hospital.

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An angry mob attacked police personnel and three of them were injured. The image, which shows the youth kicking the cop can be seen in the 19 second mark of the video.

The videos and images of the incident can also be seen in the Daily Mail's report here.