On 25th September, a video of lathi charging women went viral on social media. Two claims have been made regarding the video. In the first claim, the users on X (formerly Twitter) claim that the video is from Madhya Pradesh, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is in power. On the other hand, some X users claim it is a recent video from Ranchi, Jharkhand, under the Hemant Soren government.
Some X users claimed the video was from MP. Fake news paddler Ashok Kumar Pandey targeted the MP government for the lathi charge.
General Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Congress Shashwat falsely accused the MP government of the lathi charge.
An X user Desh News wrote, “In Ranchi, Jharkhand, on Tuesday, the police brutally lathi-charged the women of the Aanganwadi Sevika Sahayika Sangh, who were going to gherao, the Chief Minister’s residence with their demands.”
Manish Kumar also accused the Jharkhand government of beating the Anganwadi workers.
OpIndia checked the video’s authenticity and found that the incident occurred on 24th September 2019 in Jharkhand’s Ranchi. Reports suggest a dispute between the Aanganwadi Sevika women and the police. The women were trying to gherao the house of then-Chief Minister Raghubar Das to fulfil their demands. The police tried to stop them, but the women refused to listen. Reportedly, they attempted to break the barricades, forcing a forced scuffle. In the aftermath of the scuffle between the police and protesters, the police lathi-charged at the women to disperse them.
There is a video of the incident published by The Quint. We also found a report published in the National Herald newspaper on the matter.
Hemant Soren also criticised then-CM Das for the incident. He said, “On whose orders is this authoritarian government unleashing batons on our sisters, demanding their rights? One should be ashamed and die of embarrassment before indulging in such cowardly acts. If a shred of shame is left, immediately dismiss these police officers.”
Verdict: The video being shared as recent from Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh is from 2019.
