Fact-Check: 2015 video of Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand falsely shared as recent. Here are the facts
Megha Bajaj 
2015 video of Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand falsely shared as recent. Here are the facts
A video has recently surfaced on social media platform X(formerly Twitter) showing Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Jyotirmath being chased and beaten by the security forces. Users are sharing this video and claiming it to be a recent one.
Sharing this video on X, a user named Vishal Doshi wrote: “Lathi charge on Shankaracharya ji
Prohibition. Prohibition. Prohibition”
Moreover, several users shared this video and made similar claims. The preview link can be seen here and here .
Fact-Check
In the probe, the DFRAC team found that the video had been misleadingly shared on X. Originally, it was from September 2015 and related to the Varanasi idol immersion row.
A reverse-image search of the video’s keyframes took us to YouTube where we found similar videos in the form of media reports by Aajtak and First India News, uploaded in September 2015. The video’s caption stated that Lathi-Charge on saints In Varanasi over idol immersion.
Investigating further, we also found some reports from the Indian Express and Times Of India published in 2015. The report by Indian Express cited that a 30-hour-long stalemate and blockade in Varanasi over the immersion of the Ganesh idol in Ganga ended in the wee hours of Wednesday, Sept 23, with the police cracking down on the protesters, including some Hindu seers including Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Vidya Mutt.
The police got the idol immersed in Lakshmi Kund. Nearly 30 people sustained injuries, while 25 were held for violating Section 144 of the CrPC, besides rioting and stone-pelting.
Furthermore, TOI’s report stated that the injured seers were admitted to the emergency ward of the divisional hospital on Wednesday, September 23.
Conclusion
It is clear from DFRAC’s fact-check that the video showing Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand being chased and beaten by the security forces dates back to 2015 and is related to the issue of Varanasi Idol immersion, not the recent one.
Analysis: Misleading
Siddharth Urmil 
