Amid the ongoing CAA-NRC debate, there is a deluge of misinformation on social media. Old photos, videos are being revived to set narrative. One such photo that went viral recently was of an aged man throwing stones during a protest. The photo was being shared in context of the ongoing row over the Citizenship Law. Pakistani-origin columnist Tarak Fateh posted the photo via his official Twitter handle with a caption – ‘Meanwhile #, in India a 'peaceful' in action.’ The post has been retweeted 4.6K times and garnered 14.2K likes. This viral image is being circulated on social media with a message that is trying to portray a community’s action during the CAA protests.
However, it turns out that the photo is NOT from the recent protests. It is actually an old photo from 2016. A Twitter handle posted that photo on January 8, 2016. It was posted along with the message “During Malda Riots..Very Peaceful Protestor Tries to Pacify Situation by Throwing a Stone @tathagata2 @bengaleebabu.” Fact-checking website ALtNews has also said that this photo of the stone-pelter is an old one, which is being re-circulated on social media to paint a distorted picture.
Similarly, an old accident video was shared by British columnist Katie Hopkins, who claimed it was from the CAA protests. Fact-checking website boomlive.in came up with the real picture that proved Hopkins shared an old video from 2017. The clip was actually from Gujarat’s Surat, where the public was protesting against authorities after a state-run bus injured a pedestrian in an accident.
Several people are protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act that provides Indian citizenship rights to non-Muslim migrants of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the top court issued notice to the Centre on a batch of pleas challenging the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant fixed 59 petitions, including those filed by the Indian Union Muslim League and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, for hearing on January 22, next year. The bench also agreed to the submission of lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay that common people should be made aware about the aim, objects and the contents of the CAA and asked Attorney General K K Venugopal, representing the Centre, to consider using audio-visual medium to make citizens aware.
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