Photo Of A Woman Partaking In Muharram Ritual Falsely Linked To JNU Protests

A photograph of a woman bleeding profusely from the head while partaking in a Muharrum procession is being shared with a false claim that she is a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student injured in a crackdown by the police.

The image is being shared in the backdrop of a recent march held by JNU students on November 18, 2019 against the partial roll back of a hike in hostel fees. Police came down heavily on the protesting students who were marching towards the Parliament with their plea. Multiple students were also injured in the face-off.

The caption in Hindi translates to: "When it comes to faith, flowers are showered. If we talk about education, we get battered. This is the reality of Yogi and Modi. They mean that no one from a poor family gets educated."

(In Hindi - आस्था की बात करे तो फूल बरसाए जाते है और शिक्ष। की बात करे तो लाठीया बरसाई जाती है | यही असलियत है योगी और मोदी की उनका मतलब हैं कि कोई भी गरीब परिवार का छात्र शिक्षित न हो)

The post can be seen below and its archived version is available here.

The photograph was also shared by one Milind Fulzele on Facebook with a fake claim. He wrote, "Its a shame that Modi government has been mercilessly beating JNU students" (JNU छात्रो को मोदी सरकार द्वारा बरबरतापूर्वक पिटना छिक्कार है)

The photo with the same claim is also viral on Twitter.

Fact Check

BOOM had debunked the same photo when it had gone viral as that from Kashmir. A reverse image search showed that it was first published by one Jafariya News.com, a Shia news website on February 20, 2005.

The image goes back to February 2005, where it was included in an article on the observation of Ashura (tenth day of Muharram) around the world. The viral image was included under Lebanon suggesting that the image was from there.