The 18th BRICS Summit was held in New Delhi on September 12 and 13. In the above context, a video showing police personnel allegedly dragging a woman by her hair on a road has gone viral on social media.
The video is shared with a caption claiming it shows Delhi Police manhandling a young protester near the venue of the ongoing 18th BRICS Summit in Delhi.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “On one side, BRICS is taking place, while just a short distance away, Delhi Police is using brutal force against young protesters, with women being dragged along the road by their hair. What will the BRICS guests think about India after witnessing such scenes?”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video is from a paramedical students’ protest in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
On a Google reverse image search, we found that the same video was shared by an X account, Telugu Scribe, on September 12. The video is shared with a caption that reads, “Male Cop Dragging Student by Hair for Asking for Stipend. Inhumanity in Tirupati. Police Brutality on Paramedical Students. Police High-Handedness on Students Protesting for Stipend.”
The video was also shared by a YouTube channel, NTV Telugu, on September 12. The caption associated with the video reads, “Tirupati Paramedical Students Protest: Female ASI grabs student's hair | NTV Telugu.”
We further found that the screenshot of the video was also published on September 13 by Times of India. According to the report, paramedical students in Tirupati staged a protest over mandatory 12-hour hospital shifts and the pending monthly stipend of Rs 15,000. The protest took place at Garuda Circle in Alipiri, where interns of BSc Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) and other allied health sciences streams, along with representatives from student unions, gathered to demand the release of their stipends and an end to what they called "free labour".
The protest turned chaotic after a large posse of police personnel arrived at the site and allegedly tried to disperse the students by force. The students resisted by raising slogans against the government. During the commotion, ASI Lakshmi Kumari allegedly dragged a woman protester by her hair, arm, and neck towards a police van. A video of the incident went viral, forcing higher-ups to shunt Kumari out to vacancy reserve (VR).
We also found no report of any police brutality near the BRICS summit. Hence, we can ascertain that the viral claim is false.