Fact Check: No, the protestor in this photo is not Sakshi Malik; 2021 photo from farmers’ protest falsely linked to wrestlers’ protest
New Delhi, June 2 (Abhinav Gupta / Pratyush Ranjan PTI Fact Check): A Twitter user shared a photo purportedly showing a cop pinning down a protester by stepping on his face and linked the photo with the recent protests of the wrestlers against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The post claimed that the protester in the photo was wrestler Sakshi Malik. In its investigation, the PTI Fact Check Desk found that it was a two-year-old photo from the farmers’ protest against the Farmers Bill 2020. The photo from two-year-old protests was shared on social media with a false claim.
Wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Sangeeta Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who are protesting against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, were booked for rioting on May 29, a day after an alleged scuffle with the Delhi Police over the wrestlers’ march to the new Parliament building.
Thousands of farmers had convened to carry out a year-long agitation against the central government's now-repealed farm laws in 2020.
Claim
A Twitter user shared on May 29 a photo that purportedly showed the police pinning down wrestler Sakshi Malik by stepping on her face.
“This is @SakshiMalik who won the first Olympic medal in women's wrestling for the country. Such a picture was not seen even in Taliban Is the country's land alive or dead or has it been sold!! #WrestlersProtest @BhimArmyChief @VinayRatanSingh,” read the post, which has garnered over 2,300 views so far.
