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| - Fact Check: No, cops DID NOT ban BJP workers from entering a Meerut police station
Social media users falsely claimed that BJP workers were banned from entering the Meerut police station.
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India Today Fact Check
Meerut Police confirmed that it wasn't police personnel who placed the banner at the station premises. Six people, that included BJP workers, were arrested for placing the banner there during a protest.
The media cell of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the principal opposition party in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, May 27, tweeted a photo of a police station in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. A banner outside the police station announced that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers were not allowed inside. It also had the name of Sant Saran Singh, the officer in charge of the Medical Police Station.
The SP Media Cell tweet claimed that frustrated with the hooliganism of BJP workers, the officer-in-charge at the police station was forced to install that sign outside.
SP chief and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also tweeted the photo, criticising the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government.
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! pic.twitter.com/KaBzD0iq3F — Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) May 27, 2022
A similar claim has been archived here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found the claim was misleading. The Meerut police confirmed that no police personnel installed the banner. Rather, it was placed there by a group that included BJP workers protesting at the station over a property dispute.
AFWA Probe
This incident was widely reported. On May 27, Aaj Tak, BJP workers caused an uproar outside the Medical police station in Meerut after cops allegedly misbehaved with a widow who came to file a complaint against her dead husband's brother about a property dispute.
Following this, the group that claimed to be BJP workers gathered outside the station in her support. Some people who supported the woman's brother-in-law also assembled outside. It was during this that the aforementioned banner first appeared.
Meerut Police denied placing the banner and said it was put there by unidentified people. “Police have identified some people for their alleged involvement in the matter and action will be taken against them,” Senior Superintendent of Police Prabhakar Chaudhary told PTI.
The Twitter handle of Meerut Police also issued a statement regarding the banner. The statement said that anti-social elements were trying to pressurise the police to take a side in the dispute. It also said that legal action would be taken against those who installed the banner.
#MeerutPolice #UPPolice pic.twitter.com/BqFUoOrKVW — MEERUT POLICE (@meerutpolice) May 27, 2022
On May 28, the Indian Express reported that Meerut Police arrested six local BJP workers on Saturday, a day after the poster was put up by them outside the police station.
SSP Chaudhary said in a press statement, "The anti-social elements who put out the said banner also created a ruckus inside the police station. They have been identified from video footage and six people have been arrested. Other people involved will also be arrested.”
00 212/22 147/352/353/505(2) 7 CLA Act 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. pic.twitter.com/xIkRKbnoSj — MEERUT POLICE (@meerutpolice) May 28, 2022
Meerut BJP leader Anuj Vashishth, who was among the protestors at the police station, told India Today that policemen did not place the banner there. He added, “Yes, there are BJP workers among the arrested but not any office bearers. We are the biggest national party; everyone wants to join us and work with us.”
Thus, we confirmed that the banner that announced BJP workers weren't allowed at a police station at UP's Meerut was not installed by cops at all. It was done by civilian protestors that included BJP members who were there.
(With inputs from Yash Mittal and Usman Chaudhary)
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