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| - A video which shows police personnel holding a long stick that has a round-shaped metal attached to it, arresting one person, is being shared on social media with the claim that it shows the arrest of Delhi University (DU) professor Ratan Lal.
Lal, a History professor in DU's Hindu College was arrested on Friday, 20 May, over a social media post he wrote in connection with the claims of a shivling inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi. He was granted bail a day later by the Tis Hazari Court, Delhi.
However, we found that the video is from 2020 and showed Chandigarh Police who had come out with a unique way to tackle non-cooperating COVID-19 suspects and curfew breakers.
CLAIM
The video is being shared along with a claim in Hindi which loosely translated to, "Delhi University Professor Ratan Lal was arrested by Delhi Police for making derogatory and absurd comments about Shivling. He has been arrested this way, and I strongly support it."
WHAT WE FOUND
With the help of InVID WeVerify Google Chrome extension, we extracted keyframes from the viral video and conducted a reverse image search.
A Google reverse image search result led us to a story by The Indian Express published on 25 April 2020.
The title of the article read, "Watch: Chandigarh police' device to catch lockdown violators, with social distancing."
It mentioned that Chandigarh Police had devised a 'unique way of tackling non-cooperating COVID-19 suspects' and ones who didn't follow curfew norms.
The video was tweeted by the director general of police (DGP), Chandigarh, on 25 April 2020, with the caption, "VIP Security wing of Chandigarh Police has devised this unique way of tackling non-cooperating corona suspects and curfew breakers. Great equipment, great drill."
WHY WAS RATAN LAL ARRESTED?
Lal was arrested by officers of north Delhi's cyber police station, after a complaint was registered against the professor, for his social media post. Delhi police said that he has allegedly "intended to outrage religious beliefs" through his social media post.
Lal was booked under Indian Penal Code's (IPC) Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings).
He was granted bail on 21 May by the Delhi court on furnishing a bond of Rs 50,000 and surety on like amount. The court specifically directed him to "strictly refrain from posting any social media posts or inverviews regarding the controversy which resulted in the present FIR."
Clearly, a video from 2020 is being shared falsely claiming that Lal was arrested by Delhi Police in an unusual way.
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