Technology
21 Jul, 2025
Nimesh Rathod
This video is from 2024, when Patna police lathi-charged those protesting the SC judgement on the subclassification of castes.
Over 25 crore workers across public services took part in anationwide strikeon July 9, opposing the Centre’s alleged “anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-national, pro-corporate” policies. The protest, called by 10 central trade unions, led to the blocking of roads, railway stations, and highways across the country.
Coinciding with this,another protestalso took place in Bihar, where prominent leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav, and Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav opposed the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls ahead of Assembly elections in the state.
Amid this, avideoallegedly showing the Bihar police lathi-charging protesters went viral on social media. In it, policemen, armed with anti-riot shields and helmets, could be seen chasing protesters down a road and beating them up with sticks.
One suchpostread: “Bihar police are beating up those involved in the Bharat Bandh in Patna.”
India Today Fact Check found that while this video is from Bihar’s Patna, it’s from 2024.OUR PROBE
Reverse-searching keyframes from the viral video led us to avideo reportabout it, dated August 21, 2024. The description stated that police and protesters clashed in Patna amid a nationwide strike over the Supreme Court’s judgement on reservations.
Using this clue, we found a longer version of the viral clip,shared by ANIon X at the time. In it, the date of this protest was mentioned on a banner as August 21, 2024.#WATCH| Bihar: Police lathi-charge people in Patna as they stage protest in support of a day-long Bharat Bandh against the Supreme Court's recent judgment on reservations.pic.twitter.com/5jEMQiagJJ— ANI (@ANI)August 21, 2024We then found multiplenews reportsabout this incident. According to them, police in Patna lathi-charged protesters and deployed water cannons amid aBharat Bandhon August 21, 2024, against the Supreme Court’s ruling on the subclassification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for granting reservations.On August 1, a seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachudruledthat subclassification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was permissible to grant separate quotas to the more marginalised among the backwards communities. During the Bandh that followed, police and protestersclashedover the blocking of traffic at Patna's Dak Bungalow Chowk.In ANI’s two-hour and 50-minute-long video of the protests, policemen could be seenchasingprotesters away and beating them up. The Patna police had registered three FIRs andarrestednine people at the time for allegedly taking the law into their own hands during the protest.The strikes, called by several Dalit and Adivasi groups, affected road and railway services in parts of Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, among other states.Thus, it is clear that a video showing Bihar police lathi-charging protesters back in 2024 was falsely shared as visuals from the July 9 Bharat Bandh.- EndsPublished By:Pathikrit SanyalPublished On:Jul 9, 2025Trending Reel
#WATCH| Bihar: Police lathi-charge people in Patna as they stage protest in support of a day-long Bharat Bandh against the Supreme Court's recent judgment on reservations.pic.twitter.com/5jEMQiagJJ— ANI (@ANI)August 21, 2024
We then found multiplenews reportsabout this incident. According to them, police in Patna lathi-charged protesters and deployed water cannons amid aBharat Bandhon August 21, 2024, against the Supreme Court’s ruling on the subclassification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for granting reservations.
On August 1, a seven-judge bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachudruledthat subclassification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was permissible to grant separate quotas to the more marginalised among the backwards communities. During the Bandh that followed, police and protestersclashedover the blocking of traffic at Patna's Dak Bungalow Chowk.
In ANI’s two-hour and 50-minute-long video of the protests, policemen could be seenchasingprotesters away and beating them up. The Patna police had registered three FIRs andarrestednine people at the time for allegedly taking the law into their own hands during the protest.
The strikes, called by several Dalit and Adivasi groups, affected road and railway services in parts of Odisha, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, among other states.
Thus, it is clear that a video showing Bihar police lathi-charging protesters back in 2024 was falsely shared as visuals from the July 9 Bharat Bandh.- EndsPublished By:Pathikrit SanyalPublished On:Jul 9, 2025Trending Reel