Image tweeted by Rahul Gandhi validated: Farmer confirms he was indeed thrashed by cops at Singhu border

Twitter on 2 December added a “manipulated media” label to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell Head Amit Malviya’s tweet which depicted an edited clip from the farmers’ protest about an elderly man running as a policeman charged at him with a baton. The photo was tweeted by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. In response, Malviya shared a ‘Propaganda vs Reality’ video claiming that the police didn’t even touch the farmer.

Fact-check website Alt News then posted a longer video, which showed policemen raining blows on protesters. It was not clear, however, whether the farmer in question was hit.

NDTV has now tracked down the farmer in the image, Sukhdev Singh (60), who said he did suffer multiple blows from lathis and has bruises all over his body after facing a heavy police crackdown on Friday at the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana. "They hit us with water cannons, tear gas and then used sticks," Sukhdev Singh, hailing from Kapurthala in Punjab said, showing a dark weal on his arm. "I was hurt all over my body, my legs, back..." he told NDTV.

Singh, who is still at the spot with hundreds of farmers on the highway, said he couldn't understand why he was beaten when he was not chanting any slogans or throwing stones.

The statement of the farmer now further disproves Amit Malviya’s claim and validates Rahul Gandhi’s tweet.