By Hazel Gandhi
A video of a man protesting in Delhi and being detained by the police is viral online with the false claim that he is Punjab's Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
BOOM found that the claims are false, the viral video shows Punjab's education minister Harjot Singh Bains who is misidentified as Bhagwant Mann.
Aam Aadmi Party's chief and Delhi's CM Arvind Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21, 2024 in connection to the excise policy case in Delhi. Following his arrest, several senior AAP leaders including Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj were detained during a protest near the Income Tax Office in Delhi. Another recent protest by AAP leaders and members of the INDIA bloc at Azad Maidan, Mumbai, saw more than 100 people participating, demanding Kejriwal's release and calling his arrest "illegal and unjustified".
The viral video shows a group of men, including one Sikh man, protesting on the streets of Delhi with placards reading 'Main Bhi Kejriwal' in Hindi, a slogan used by the party to protest their leader's arrest. They are also heard chanting "Arvind Kejriwal Zindabaad". The video then shows the Delhi police arriving and detaining them, dragging the Sikh man by his hands and legs.
A caption on Facebook reads, "Kejriwal is in prison and Punjab's CM Bhagwant Mann was picked up from the streets by Delhi Police."
(Original text in Hindi: "केजरीवाल जेल में और पंजाब के मुख्यमंत्री भगवंत मान को दिल्ली पुलिस ने सड़क से उठाया")
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The video was also shared on Instagram with a text that read, "Punjab CM. Delhi Police drags Punjab minister."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the man in the viral video is Punjab's education minister Harjot Singh Bains and not CM Bhagwant Mann.
A reverse image search of some key frames from the viral video on Google led us to a YouTube video shared by a channel Master Cadre Union on March 22, 2024. The visuals in the video matched the viral clip and the title, translated from Punjabi, read, "Sikh Minister Harjot Bains was pushed on the road by the police"
(Original text in Punjabi: "ਸਿੱਖਿਆਂ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਹਰਜੋਤ ਬੈਂਸ ਨੂੰ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਨੇ ਸੜਕ ਤੇ ਘੜੀਸਿਆ, ਕੀਤੀ ਧੱਕਾ ਮੁੱਕੀ")
The title also carried hashtags identifying the man in the video as Harjot Singh Bains.
Below is a comparison between the viral video and the YouTube video identifying the man as Harjot Singh Bains.
Taking a cue from this, we ran a search for 'Harjot Singh Bains detained by Delhi Police' using Hindi keywords on Facebook and found the same video uploaded by several AAP handles.
One post shared by the Aam Aadmi Party's main handle on March 22, 2024, detailed how Bains was on his way to meet Kejriwal's family in Delhi following the CM's arrest. The post further informed that Bains was stopped by the Delhi police, after which he began protesting on the streets and was detained.
The full caption in Hindi reads, "पंजाब के शिक्षा मंत्री हरजोत बैंस को दिल्ली पुलिस ने हिरासत में लिया है। वह अरविंद केजरीवाल के परिवार से मिलने जा रहे थे, लेकिन जब दिल्ली पुलिस ने उन्हें रोका तो वे सड़क पर विरोध करने लगे, जिसके बाद उन्हें हिरासत में ले लिया गया।"
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The video was also shared by BBC News Punjabi, ABP Sanjha, and Zee News Punjab Haryana Himachal Pradesh on March 22, 2024, the day of the protest. Here, too, the man being detained was identified as Harjot Bains, not Bhagwant Mann.
We then ran a search for reports on Bhagwant Mann from March 22 and found that he had held a press conference in Delhi against Kejriwal's arrest, where he criticised the ED and BJP. There were no reports suggesting his arrest on that day.
Arvind Kejriwal was produced at the Rouse Avenue Court on March 28, where he was placed under four more days of ED custody till April 1.
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