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| - Fact Check: No, this Chennai cop was not beaten by Muslim men
A picture of a car burning on the roadside is circulating on social media linking it to the recent violence in Norway.
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India Today Fact Check
The incident is from 2017 when the constable tried to stop two men from the Hindu faith from consuming alcohol in public. Also, no mob attack on the police took place.
A picture of an injured man and a blood-stained police uniform, bearing the name tag of one 'C. Akilan' is viral on social media. The post with the picture claims that a Tamil Nadu police constable was attacked by a Muslim mob when he tried to stop three Muslim youths in inebriated condition from abusing women in Chennai.
One such claim uploaded on Twitter along with the image reads, "Chennai becoming a Mini Pakistan Assistant Inspector Akilan, who tried to stop 3 Muslin youths in Tiruvallikeni area from abusing women under the influence of cannabis at Marina Beach, was attacked severely. Hundreds of Muslims besiege police."
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the claim is misleading. This is a 2017 incident and the police constable was attacked by two Hindu men.
The archived versions of similar claims can be seen here, here, and here.
AFWA PROBE
With the help of reverse image search, we found that the viral image is from 2017 and was uploaded on a Facebook post by a page with a similar claim in the Tamil language.
A further search led to a report in The Times of India titled "Man held for assaulting policeman on patrol", published on August 22, 2017.
According to the report, the incident took place at Marina Beach on the night of August 20, 2017. Akilan, a constable from the armed reserve force, during his patrolling duty noticed two youths consuming alcohol at Marina Beach. When he asked the duo to leave, it led to a heated argument resulting in a fight where the police constable was injured with a sharp object, says the report.
As per the report, the Marina Beach police later apprehended the prime accused who was identified as Hari Ram, and remanded him to judicial custody on charges of attempt to murder.
However, there was no mention of the second person in the article. We reached out to Marina Police station Sub-Inspector Ramesh Babu and shared with him the viral image for more clarity on the issue.
The inspector confirmed to us that both the accused in the incident were Hindus and there was no attack on Marina police by a Muslim mob following this incident.
Speaking to AFWA, the Inspector said, "This is a 2017 incident. Hari Ram and Dinesh are the men who were drinking at the Marina Beach and it is Hari Ram who attacked the officer with a sharp object. Hearing the constable's scream, the nearby police ran to the spot and rushed him to the hospital. The attackers who fled the spot were later arrested and due action was taken against them. But the new claim that they were Muslim men assaulting women and a mob from the Muslim community later attacked the police is false."
Hence, it is clear that the incident took place when police constable Akilan stopped two Hindu men from drinking alcohol in public. There was no mob attack on police by any of the communities.
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