What is the claim?

An image of Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar, candidate from North East Delhi constituency, is doing rounds on social media with a claim that he was hospitalised after he was assaulted by a group of people in East Delhi’s New Usmanpur area.

According to a report in NDTV, ink was thrown at Kumar and a man slapped him. Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) councilor Chhaya Gaurav Sharma was also assaulted. The alleged attackers released a video after the assault and reportedly claimed that they did this because Kumar had “raised slogans against the nation.” AAP and Congress are jointly contesting the the election in Delhi. 

The viral image shows Kumar lying on what appears to be a hospital bed in a white and green t-shirt. An X (formerly Twitter) user shared the image (archived here) and wrote, “This is the condition because of one slap (Translated from Hindi).” 

Screenshot of the viral image shared online. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the image is from 2016 and not linked to the recent incident. 

Here are the facts

A reverse image search led us to an NDTV article published on May 7, 2016. The article had the same image and the caption noted that Kumar, who was then Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students’ Union president, was taken to a health center in a semi-conscious state after he called-off his hunger strike due to his deteriorating health. 

According to the report, Kumar and other students from JNU were demonstrating since April 28, 2016, against the punishment handed out to them by the university’s administration in connection with the February event where “anti-national slogans” were allegedly raised.

Screenshot of the NDTV image. (Source: NDTV/Screenshot)

 The Quint also published the same image with the caption, “Kanhaiya Kumar admitted in the emergency ward.” The image was credited to JNUSU President Media Group.

Why was Kanhaiya Kumar protesting?

On February 9, 2016, a row broke over a purported video that showed a group of students at JNU allegedly chanting “anti-national slogans”. Three students — Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, and Anirban Bhattacharya — were arrested on charges of sedition and later released on bail.

The university formed a high-level committee to probe the incident. The committed released an investigation report on April 25, 2016, and issued penalties. Kumar was fined ₹10,000, while Khalid and Bhattacharya were rusticated for one semester each. Reports later emerged with experts saying that some of these videos were possibly doctored.

The verdict

The eight-year-old image of Congress candidate Kanahaiya Kumar admitted to a hospital in 2016 has falsely been shared as him being hospitalized after he was slapped during election campaigning. 

(This story was originally published by Logically Facts, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)

New Delhi:

A court here has granted bail to the 41-year-old man arrested for allegedly assaulting and splashing Congress Lok Sabha candidate Kanhaiya Kumar with ink, saying it has to balance the state’s interest of maintaining public order with the accused’s right to personal liberty.

On May 17, when Kumar, the Congress candidate for the North East Delhi seat, was coming out of ally Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) office in New Usmanpur after a meeting with local Councillor Chhaya Sharma, a group of people attacked him. The Delhi Police arrested one of the accused, Ajay Kumar, on Tuesday morning.

Metropolitan Magistrate Arushi Parwal heard the city police’s application seeking Ajay Kumar’s judicial custody for 14 days on Tuesday. The investigating officer (IO) said it was necessary to prevent him from committing similar offences.

Ajay Kumar’s counsel, however, vehemently opposed the plea and sought bail for his client.

The magistrate noted that the offences alleged included criminal intimidation, assaulting a woman with the intent of outraging her modesty and causing hurt, all of which carried the maximum punishment of up to seven years imprisonment.

She said, “At the time of deciding bail application, the court has to balance two conflicting interests — on one hand, the presumption of the accused’s innocence and his right to personal liberty and on the other hand, the state’s interest in the maintenance of public order and protecting the integrity of the investigation.” “Considering that the offences invoked in the present FIR are punishable with less than seven years imprisonment, clean antecedents of the accused, submissions made, circumstances of the case and keeping in view the judicial precedents on arrest and bail, application for bail of the accused is allowed,” she said.

The court directed Ajay Kumar to furnish bail bonds of Rs 25,000 with one surety of the like amount for his release.

Other bail conditions included an undertaking that the accused will not indulge in similar offence upon his release, not tamper with evidence, cooperate in the investigation and not contact the complainant.

In her complaint, AAP councillor Chhaya Sharma had said, “Some persons came and put garland around Kanhaiya Kumar. After garlanding him, some persons threw ink and tried to assault him.” Sharma added that when she tried to intervene, the group misbehaved with her and issued threats.

Based on the councillor’s complaint, an FIR was lodged under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

In a shocking incident, Kanhaiya Kumar, the Congress’ Lok Sabha candidate from North East Delhi, has been assaulted by seven to eight people and had black ink thrown at him while campaigning in the national capital. 

Videos of the assault, which took place in East Delhi’s New Usmanpur area on Friday, have now gone viral. Two of the alleged attackers have also released videos boasting that they had thrashed the Congress leader and said they did so because he had raised slogans on breaking up the country and had spoken against the Indian Army.   

In a complaint, Chhaya Gaurav Sharma, the AAP councillor from Brahmapuri, said she and Mr Kumar were leaving the party’s office in Kartar Nagar when seven to eight people garlanded Mr Kumar, threw ink on him and then thrashed him. She said three to four women were also injured, and a woman journalist fell into a drain. 

Ms Sharma alleged the attackers also dragged her to a corner using her stole and threatened to kill her and her husband. 

Delhi Police officials confirmed that they have received Ms Sharma’s complaint. They said they are verifying the videos and investigation has begun. 

In videos released after the incident, two of the alleged attackers – at least one of whom can be seen holding a garland in the footage of the assault – showed their reddened hands and said they did what they did because Mr Kanhaiya had raised slogans saying the country would be broken into parts. This was a reference to the alleged slogans raised at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2016, when Mr Kumar was the JNU Students’ Union president.

“Hamne chaante ka jawaab diya hai (we have given an answer with our attack),” the two men said. Calling themselves ‘Sanatani lions’, they claimed Mr Kumar had also insulted the Indian Army and they had “treated” him.

The 37-year-old Congress leader is contesting against the BJP’s Manoj Tiwari, who is the sitting Member of Parliament from the constituency and also the lone Delhi MP who was not replaced by the party. Delhi will vote in the sixth phase on May 25.