Old incident of assault on traffic police goes viral linking to Namaz incident of Delhi

2015 incident of an assault of traffic police has been shared linking to recent Delhi Namaz incident

In Delhi, on 8 March policeman kicked the worshippers who were offering Namaz on the road. Sub-inspector Manoj Kumar Tomar shoved and kicked a few individuals who were praying on the road near a mosque. The incident had prompted a protest by hundreds of residents, and sparked outrage among various sections of society, including political leaders, who condemned the act. Against this backdrop, a video is becoming viral on social media. The video shows men wearing skull caps assaulting traffic police. Those who share the video claim that the police officers were assaulted for issuing a challan to the motorcyclists for riding without a helmet, stating that the country faces a greater danger from within. This video is being shared as a recent incident. 

Let’s check the truth

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Fact Check-

We started our investigation with a keyword and reverse image search on Google and the results led us to a YouTube video uploaded by NDTV on 14 July, 2015. The report states, “Two traffic police cops were beaten up by a crowd in northeast Delhi’s Gokulpuri after they flagged down three men on a bike for not wearing helmets and riding triple.” From it is evident that an old video involving an assault of traffic police has been shared out of context amid ongoing Delhi police Namaz incident.

Upon further search, we came across several news reports on this incident. An Indian Express report quoted a senior police officer as saying, “We arrested Shahnawaz (22), his brother and their father Sagir Ahmed (65) on charges of physical assault and stopping a public servant from discharging his duty. The three, along with a few others, beat up the traffic policemen, Manoj and Jai Bhagwan”.

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According to the Deccan Herald report, two policemen, Sanjay and Manoj, stopped some people riding a bike for violating traffic police rules and issued a challan. They got angry and started fighting with the policemen. The policeman said that the bike riders were neither wearing helmets nor had licenses and there were three people riding on one bike. For this reason they were stopped and challan was issued, but they started fighting.

Taking account of all these evidences, it is clear that an Old incident of assault on traffic police goes viral linking to Namaz incident of Delhi

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the viral video shared without any proper context. The viral video depicts an incident that occurred in 2015. An incident of an assault of traffic police has been shared linking to recent Delhi Namaz incident.