Two Indian sisters who are professional wrestlers were arrested on May 28 during a protest against the wrestling federation chief, who is accused of sexual harassment. The wrestling chief, however, is also a prominent member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, India’s ruling party. In the wake of the arrest, BJP supporters criticized the women for staging their arrest, circulating, as proof, a photo of the two women smiling in a police van. However, it turns out that this photo was digitally altered using a mobile application.
If you only have a minute
- A photo of Indian wrestlers (and sisters) Vinesh Phogat and Sangeeta Phogat shows them smiling after they were arrested after a protest held on May 28.
- The photo was widely circulated amongst supporters of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because the wrestlers were protesting against the head of the wrestling governing body, a prominent member of the BJP. He has been accused of sexual harassment by a number of wrestlers.
- However, turns out the image was digitally altered using a mobile app. There are a number of visual clues indicating that the photo of the smiling wrestlers is, indeed, false – including the athletes’ dimples.
The fact-check, in detail
Several wrestlers from India, including a number of Olympic medalists, have been protesting for the past month against the president of wrestling’s governing body, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, calling for his arrest after accusations of sexual harassment.
Singh has not, for the time being, been arrested. And protesters say this is because he is an influential deputy within the ruling party, the BJP, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He is someone with considerable influence over his district.
Protesters gave the authorities an ultimatum: arrest Singh within the next five days or we will throw our medals into the Ganges. Among the wrestlers who made this promise were Vinesh and Sangeeta Phogat, international champions who have earned medals at many competitions, including the Commonwealth Games.
On May 28, police arrested the sisters while they were protesting. Other wrestlers took to social media to share images of the arrests – especially of Vinesh Phogat, which was particularly brutal. Photos published by the French news agency AFP show the Phogat sisters on the ground, being manhandled by police.
A few hours after the sisters were arrested, another photo started circulating. This one shows Phogat sisters, on a bus with police, smiling widely. Two other women, behind them, also smile.
"Here are their real expressions after putting on a show in the street. They’ve become a tool for those who want to break up our country,” said Indian director and filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, a BJP supporter.
Indian politician and member of the BJP Shivam Tyagi published a tweet asking, “Does the National Sports Federation of India also run acting classes?” as documented by our fellow fact-checkers at BoomLive.
Soon after the photo started circulating, however, supporters of the wrestlers said that the photo actually isn’t the original photo. Then they shared the actual photo taken on the bus. It had been altered.
The original photo shows the athletes sitting in the bus, looking neutral, along with the other people on the bus.
So how can you tell which is the real photo?
Fact-checking outlet Factly.in pointed out that in the photo that has been circulating, it looks like the women have dimples. However, if you look at other photos of them posted online, then you’ll see that they don’t have dimples at all.
Fact-checking outlet BoomLive reported that the original photo was modified using a simple cellphone app. There are smartphone apps that can help you add a smile to someone who isn’t smiling.
Users demonstrated how it was possible to add the exact same smiles to the image using one of these apps.
