2019 video from Jharkhand is shared as recent from MP after Women’s Reservation Bill was passed.
Claim
Uncle’s policeman congratulating dear sister on passing of ‘Women’s Reservation Bill’ in Madhya Pradesh
Rating
Explanation
Lok Sabha recently passed the ‘Women’s Reservation Bill’ years after it was first introduced in the Parliament. Meanwhile, a video clip of a policeman beating a woman with a baton is shared with a claim, “Uncle’s policeman congratulating dear sister on passing of ‘Women’s Reservation Bill’ in Madhya Pradesh”.
मध्यप्रदेश में 'महिला आरक्षण बिल' पास होने पर लाड़ली बहना को बधाई देता मामा का पुलिसवाला। pic.twitter.com/gKaHKbWKVU
— Ravindra Gautam (@RavindraGautamm) September 28, 2023
The viral posts are captioned in Hindi as “मध्यप्रदेश में ‘महिला आरक्षण बिल‘ पास होने पर लाड़ली बहना को बधाई देतामामा का पुलिसवाला”. Some of the posts with such a claim can be seen here and here.
What is the truth?
When reverse-searching the keyframes of the viral video we found that it is not only old but also it happened in Jharkhand and not in Madhya Pradesh as claimed. An X post dated 24, September 2019 by Dipika Pandey Singh is found carrying the viral video with the caption in Hindi roughly translated as, “The government and its police, these men in khaki are showing their masculinity on the unarmed helpless woman. Being a man, he is mercilessly beating the Anganwadi workers with sticks. Chief Minister, this brutality towards these Anganwadi workers was because they were demanding their rights.”
वाह रे सरकार और उनकी पुलिस निहत्ती बेबस महिला पर ये ख़ाकी वाले अपनी मर्दानगी दिखा रहे है। एक पुरुष होकर आंगनबाड़ी सेविकाओं पर बेरहमी से लाठियाँ बरसा रहे हैं। मुख्यमंत्री जी इन आंगनबाड़ी सेविकाओं के साथ ये बर्बरता इसलिए क्यूँकि वो अपना हक़ माँग रही थीं। @MahilaCongress @INCIndia pic.twitter.com/C10PUsmXY5
— Dipika Pandey Singh (@DipikaPS) September 24, 2019
With further search, we found a Scroll article dated September 2019 reporting that Police beat up female Anganwadi Sevika Sahayika Sangh workers with their batons on the 40th day of their protest in Ranchi.
The Newsclick article reported that the Anganwadi workers’ protest continues even after 50 days in Jharkhand. The workers demanded that they should be declared government workers, they also demanded social security benefits and a decrease in the retirement age of workers.
Conclusion
It is found that the video of police beating women with batons is not a recent incident that happened in Madhya Pradesh after the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed. The video is old from 2019 and was during Anganwadi workers’ protest in Jharkhand.
