On July 24, the Kolkata protest saw thousands of students and supporters march from Sealdah to Esplanade in solidarity with the CJP-led nationwide movement against the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak.

An image has gone viral on social media in which former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is seen in an altercation with police personnel in riot gear on the streets of Kolkata. She is seen pushing the police personnel during a protest.

The image is shared with a caption suggesting that it shows Mamata Banerjee clashing with police on the streets of Kolkata during the student movement held in Kolkata.

A social media user shared the image with a caption that reads, “Mamata Banerjee on the streets of Kolkata. Clashes with police. Remove the butcher of Gujarat!!! Support remains in the student movement.”

SouthCheck found the claim to be false. We found that the viral image is AI-generated.

While the image looked real, we did a Google Reverse Image search and found no reliable sources or news media outlets that have published the image as authentic.

We further checked the image with SightEngine and found that the viral image is 99 per cent AI-generated.

We further checked the image with Hive Moderation and found that the media was 99.6 per cent AI-generated.

Moreover, while Mamata extended support to the CJP movement and criticised the police action against student protesters, we found no reports of her marching or addressing that rally in Kolkata on July 24.