Condom Used to Tie Hair? Old Meme Shared to Discredit JNU Protests

Amid the JNU students’ protests, unrelated pictures of protesters with fake claims are being shared on social media.

Multiple images of protesters at JNU are being circulated on social media with misleading claims. 

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

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As the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ protest against the new hostel manual continues, individuals are increasingly becoming targets of the fake news factory. Images of several protesters are being circulated on social media with misleading claims.

IMAGE 1

An image showing a condom being used as a hairband is being shared with a claim that it was clicked at the JNU protest. The image is being circulated with several other unrelated images on Twitter and Facebook.

The image was also shared by Karuna Gopal, who is a member of BJP’s National manifesto sub-committee.

Screenshot/An archived version of the tweet can be found here. (Source: Twitter)

Screenshot/An archived version of the post can be found here. (Source: Facebook)

TRUE OR FALSE?

The Quint could confirm that the image is being shared with an absolutely misleading claim. A simple reverse search directed us to a similar image shared in 2016 and 2018.

The image is a popular meme, which was circulated by several users on Facebook and Twitter, and is not from the JNU protest.

IMAGE 2

In another such instance, an image of a protester is being circulated with a claim that he is Moinuddin, a 47-year-old student of JNU enrolled with the university since 1989.

The claim further mocks the student for his appearance among other things calling him a “revolutionary.”

Screenshot/An archived version of the tweet can be found here. (Source: Twitter)

The aforementioned tweet has garnered over 5,000 retweets and 8,000 likes. The image is also being massively shared on Facebook.

Screenshot(Source: Facebook)

TRUE OR FALSE?

The Quint got in touch with “Moinuddin,” who debunked the viral claim and told us that his real name is actually Pankaj Mishra, and that he is a 30-year-old student pursuing his MPhil in Social Medicine & Community Health from JNU.

Twitter handle of Pankaj Mishra. (Source: Twitter)

Pankaj confirmed that the person who can be seen in the viral image is him, and further informed us that the image was taken when students got engaged in a scuffle with Zee News reporters.

Screenshot(Source: Twitter)

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