2017 Video of Drunk UP Cops Falsely Linked to Yogi Government

The video could be traced back to 14 March 2017 when Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister of the state.

A video showing drunk policemen in Uttar Pradesh was falsely linked to the Yogi Adityanath-led government as it was shot before he became the Chief Minister.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video is being circulated on the internet with the claim that two policemen were drinking alcohol while on duty in Uttar Pradesh, taking a dig at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government.

However, the viral video could be traced back to 14 March 2017 and was taken in UP's Shamli district when Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister of the state.

CLAIM

The claim along with the video in Hindi reads, 'योगी सरकार मैं यूपी की जनता गुंडों से नहीं खाकी वर्दी वालों से ज्यादा डर रही है 100 नंबर पुलिस को देखो शराब दिनदहाड़े खुलेआम पी रहे हैं ये है इन पुलिस वालों की ड्यूटी उत्तर प्रदेश जंगलराज जय हिंद भारत माता की जय.'

(Translation: Under the Yogi-led government, people in Uttar Pradesh are more afraid of men in khaki uniforms than goons. Look at the Dial 100 police, they are drinking alcohol openly in broad daylight. This is the duty of these policemen in UP.)

An archived version of the post can be found here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

The video shared by Facebook user '5K Broadcasting' had nearly 2,000 views at the time of writing the article.

Several social media users also shared the same claim on Facebook and Twitter, and the archived versions can be accessed here, here, here, and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

Using Google Chrome's InVid extension, we divided the video into several keyframes and performed a reverse image search on each of them. This led us to a video uploaded on a website called 'Uttar Pradesh.org' that was published on 14 March 2017.

(Source: Uttar Pradesh.org/ Screenshot)

We found another article by Financial Express titled as: 'Uttar Pradesh: Mayawati’s BSP exposes Dial 100 service of UP police, video of on-duty drunk cops uploaded'.

The article, published on 15 March 2017, mentioned that the cops were drinking alcohol at the highway in UP's Shamli district.

(Source: Financial Express/Screenshot)

News channel India TV also carried the viral visuals in a bulletin uploaded on 15 March 2017, mentioning that the cops were drinking alcohol during Holi celebrations.

The 'Dial 100' service of the UP police was started by the Samajwadi Party to reach people in distress in the quickest time.

Twitter handle 'Bahujan4India' had also shared the viral visuals in March 2017.

It is pertinent to note that Yogi Adityanath was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of the state on 19 March 2017, while the viral video could be traced back to 14 March 2017.

Evidently, a video showing drunk policemen in Uttar Pradesh was falsely linked to the Yogi Adityanath-led government as it was shot before he became the chief inister.

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