As it emerged that a video showing Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar raising incendiary slogans was allegedly a doctored one, larger questions are being asked of television channels and their decision to broadcast such videos without verifying the content.
At last count, four videos were in circulation. The News Broadcasting Authority of India, headed by retired judge K.T. Raveendran, says its members would look into the matter and if necessary, take action.
An FIR registered by the Delhi Police on February 11 says the
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A week later, on February 17, in another channel, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra showed a video playing on his iPad, as proof of anti-India slogans raised on the JNU campus.
Three more channels aired the video.
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The emergence of a new video clip on Thursday morning on some news channels challenged the authenticity of the one aired on February 10.
By showing the same event from a different angle, the channel claimed that the audio containing anti-India slogans were added. This was later picked by India Today TV.
None of these slogans shown on the clip on ABP News has any reference to Kashmir or raise anti-India sentiment, which raises the possibility that a different audio track could have been superimposed on the previous video in question.
The FIR mentions Head Constable Rambir and Constables Karambir and Dharmbir were deployed at the venue in plainclothes following a complaint made by JNSU General Secretary of the ABVP party.