The Victory of Fact-Checkers Too

The CJP protest triumphed not only in demanding accountability but also in defeating the false narratives that sought to undermine it.

The resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was more than a political setback for the government—it was a victory for the Cockroach Janata Party, despite an unprecedented campaign of misinformation. Throughout the movement, the fact-checking platforms, including Offbeat Concerns (OBC), consistently fact-checked and debunked the coordinated stream of false claims, manipulated videos, and AI-generated fabrications aimed at delegitimising the protests and reshaping public opinion.  

The viral claims

CJP protestor brought nail-embedded wooden staffs?

An X account ‘Voice of Hindus’, which has over 2,00,000 followers, shared a high-resolution photo on July 23 that shows a nail-studded stick. The caption states, “These are the ‘STUDENTS’? Carrying SPIKED NAIL CLUBS wrapped with our TRICOLOR FLAG while calling it a ‘peaceful protest’?? #CJPProtest,” implying that CJP protesters were carrying improvised weapons.

As of July 25, the post garnered 2,67,800 views, 19,000 likes, and 8,000 reposts.

Tagging the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Home Minister Amit Shah, and Delhi police, a user responded, “These weapons are meant to harm Policemen @CPDelhi. Either resign from or save your men, withdraw from duty, don’t wait for permission from @AmitShah to save the lives of police officers.  The blood of @DelhiPolice spilt on the roads is the price of Political silence or political failure. @PMOIndia,” while another user remarked, “These are the students who later become politicians, and that reflects the sad state of the country we are in! Educated students are sitting in their homes preparing for better opportunities, while uneducated youth are following a bunch of uneducated ppl demanding resignations!

Several users responded to the post, suggesting that the photo might be digitally altered or shared out of context.

We analysed the viral image closely and noticed that it closely resembled a keyframe from a video that went viral on July 21.

Another video, shared on July 21, that shows the same incident from a different angle, shows the same individual is seen grabbing a lathi from a Delhi police personnel and questioning why it had a nail protruding through it.

We compared the viral image and the video shared on July 21, and found numerous similarities.

This clarifies that the viral image does not show CJP protesters carrying improvised weapons. The unnatural resolution of the viral visual and its striking similarities with a keyframe of a video that allegedly exposes Delhi police personnel for carrying a lathi with nails strongly suggest that a digitally altered keyframe was shared with misleading context.

Islamic slogan at CJP protest?

Mr Sinha, an X account that often comes into the spotlight for sharing false communal claims and fake news, shared a five-second video on July 23, alleging that the CJP protesters were raising the Islamic slogan ‘Nara-e-Taqbir’. The caption states that these Islamic slogans at the CJP protest were raised to strengthen the ‘warriors of Ghazwa-e-Hind’, who seek to conquer India. The video shows a man holding a mike and a group of individuals surrounding him shouting the ‘Nara-e-Taqbir, Allahu Akbar’ slogan.

As of July 25, the post received 2,64,300 views, 8,400 likes, and 3,800 reposts.

While many users called out the post for sharing a clipped video from the protest with a false communal angle, a user stated, “These clueless people are turning into monsters, not realising that their minds have been softly captured by leftist propaganda. The Government of India should’ve never allowed this to happen by speaking about it on Day one by directly engaging with families and NEET aspirants.”

We noted that several other users had shared the same video with the same caption, suggesting a possible coordinated attempt to amplify the claim.

We analysed the viral video’s keyframes and found that the extended version was initially shared on Instagram on July 23.

In the original video, the speaker can be heard saying, “Who says that we Muslims do not say ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and Jai Shri Ram? We are all one here.” Soon after, he raises the slogans ‘ Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ’ Nara-e-Taqbir ’, and the crowd joins in.

Thus, a video was clipped out of context and propagated with communal claims against the CJP movement.

Deepfakes enter the chat.

A video that features Lieutenant General Rajeev Puri, Director General of Manpower Planning and Personnel Services (DG MP&PS) of the Indian Army, has gone viral online. The footage, shared on July 25 on X, purports to show DG MP&PS stating that he has ordered the Indian Army to be deployed in New Delhi to ‘crush’ the ongoing CJP movement for being involved in active revolt against the government.

Another X account that claims to be a journalist at India Decode in Delhi (according to its X profile bio) also shared the video on July 25.

We found no official or credible media reports corroborating the claim, and the unusual head movements suggested the footage may have been digitally altered. Additionally, we discovered that a Pro-Pakistan Facebook account also shared the video on July 23.

Analysis using Hive Moderation indicated that AI generated the video.

Our investigation found a recurring pattern: digitally altered visuals presented as evidence of violence, selectively edited videos repurposed to inflame communal tensions, and AI-generated content falsely attributed to senior military officials. Although each claim differs in form, they serve a similar purpose, shifting public attention away from verified developments on the ground and towards manufactured narratives designed to provoke outrage and polarise audiences. As the protest continues to unfold, verifying viral claims against sources remains essential to separating fact from coordinated misinformation.