Lighthouse Journalism found a video being widely shared on social media platforms where police were seen beating a group of people. It was alleged that the policemen were beating a group of Muslims.
During the investigation, we found that the video was old and police were seen beating Samajwadi Party workers.
Claim:
X user Janardan Mishra shared the video on his profile with a misleading claim.
Other users are also sharing the same video with similar claims.
Investigation:
We uploaded the video in the InVid tool and then got the keyframes from the video. We then ran a reverse image search on these one after the other.
We found a post by UPPOLICE FACT CHECK on 13 April 2025.
It was said in the post: This video is from 2020, showing the necessary use of force by the police on individuals disrupting law and order while demanding the postponement of JEE and NEET exams. Please do not spread rumors by posting misleading content without verification.
The post also shared a link to the video uploaded on UP Tak.
The video was uploaded four years ago. The description said (translation): There has been a ruckus in Lucknow since morning over the postponement of the NEET-JEE exam. Hundreds of workers of the Samajwadi Party’s student union gathered in front of the Governor’s House and started raising slogans against the government with banners and posters.
We also found news reports about the incident.
The report mentioned: Police on Monday resorted to lathicharge to disperse members of ‘Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha’, student wing of the Samajwadi Party (SP), as they moved towards Raj Bhavan against the Centre’s decision to hold all-India Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) amid the Covid-19 pandemic from Tuesday.
Conclusion: The 2020 video of UP police charging batons at Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha workers goes viral as recent linking it to Waqf protests. The viral claim is misleading.
