A day after a literary event was cancelled at Delhi University’s Ramjas College, there was a violent assault, allegedly by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members. On February 22, teachers and students joined a march to protest the violence. It was led by the All India Students Association (AISA), against the ABVP. More violence followed, leading to what witnesses described as a “riot”. Several participants and journalists covering the march were allegedly abused and attacked by ABVP members. Later, ABVP members including its female volunteers alleged that left student protesters attacked them during the protest. On February 23, The Hindu published a photograph in its Delhi edition with this caption: “Students marching to Maurice Nagar police station on Wednesday were attacked by ABVP members, who broke through a human chain formed by police.”

However, the caption was factually incorrect in the sense that the person seen beating another man in the photograph is not an ABVP member.
ABVP was quick to pick this up. It was evidence for their long-standing belief that the media is Left-leaning and biased against them. Saket Bahuguna, National Media Convenor of the ABVP, tweeted the photo and described it as, “height of fake news”. Bahuguna also identified the the person in the picture as the Delhi state president of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Prashant Mukherjee.

Since then, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma has alleged that Mukherjee was attacking ABVP-supporters at Ramjas.

Sharma’s tweets were featured in this article in DNA, headlined, “The other side of Ramjas ruckus: BJP leader alleges SFI Delhi prez beat up students too”.
During a Facebook live session with Newslaundry, Delhi University Students’ Union vice-president Priyanka Chhawri raised the same issue questioning the credentials of reports published by the media.
Though it is true that the person in the picture is Mukherjee, who is SFI’s Delhi president, to place the onus of the violence entirely on him is inaccurate. Here’s the video footage of what was happening when that photo was taken:

Mukherjee in his kurta can be spotted being beaten up. Also, the person whom Mukherjee appears attacking in the Hindu picture – one in the checkered shirt – is also visible. The video was shot in the same area as elements visible are similar to the picture published. The SFI activist is being hit by those surrounding him – including the one whom he had “attacked.” As Mukherjee falls on the motorbikes parked — his attackers continue hitting him, until the policemen physically stop them.
When contacted, Mukherjee told Newslaundry that the picture was clicked when he was trying to defend himself and women protesters who were being attacked by ABVP members. “We have made our stand clear – we are not a Gandhian organisation,” said Mukherjee. “If someone hits us, we will retaliate in defence – for the safety of our members.” Mukherjee is a research scholar at Delhi School of Social Work.
In pictures clicked later, Mukherjee’s kurta is torn, which he claimed was due to ABVP members assaulting him.
The identity of the other person in the photograph remains unconfirmed. However, Sharma was certain that the one being beaten was an “ABVP DU” student. Should we believe Mukherjee hit him in self-defense? If both Sharma and Mukherjee’s claims are true, would the onus of responsibility for the violence in North Campus return to ABVP?