Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
President Ram Chandra Poudel said that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli spent 14 years in jail not for democracy but for a murder.
Fact
Old clip of Ram Chandra Poudel lashing Oli was shared as recent.
An eighteen-second video showing Nepal’s President Ram Chandra Poudel saying that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli spent 14-years in jail not for democracy but for a murder case is going viral on social media platforms.
TikTok user @_sigu05_ posted a video showing President Ram Chandra Poudel speaking at an event. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Listen from President Ram Chandra Poudel why did KP Oli spend time in jail.” In the video clip, Poudel says, “Who said Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli spent time in jail for democracy? No, he [Oli] spent time behind bars on a murder case.”
The video posted on December 25 has garnered 24.5k likes, 2402 users have shared it and 952 users have commented until the last count.
Another TikTok user @preksha1007 posted a similar video of Poudel’s same statement. The video was captured from a different angle. “Listen what President Poudel says about Prime Minister KP Oli.”
We found the same video shared by Facebook by users (See here & here).
Newschecker investigation found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker split the video into several key-frames and ran reverse searches on it. But the search didn’t yield any results indicating the truth about the viral video.
We then took clues from the viral video and conducted a search on Google by using relevant key-phrases. A search for Nepali phrase “Oli spend time behind bars for murder not for democracy” threw up several articles posted on major online media. On checking a news article, dated December 3, 2020, posted on onlinekhabar.com, we found that Poudel, who then was a senior Nepali Congress leader, had strongly criticised then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli during the inauguration of a newly built bridge at Byash Municipality in his home district Tanahu. We found that Poudel’s words and his outfit in the viral video resembled the article and the image carried with it.
We checked another article, dated December 3, 2020, posted on Setopati online, which confirmed that then Nepali Congress (NC) leader Poudel took a swipe at Prime Minister KP Oli as the dispute between ruling CPN and the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) over inauguration of a short bridge got nastier.
Further, we came across a video, dated December 3, 2020, posted on the YouTube channel named Hamro Nepal. We found that Poudel’s speech from 3.30-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video. Though the video angle was different, Poudel’s speech and outfit exactly matched the viral video.
Veteran Nepali Congress leader Ram Chandra Poudel was elected as the third president of Nepal in March 2023.
Thus, our findings clearly showed that the clip showing Poudel lashing out at then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was actually from December 2020.
Conclusion
No, President Ram Chandra Poudel has not criticised PM KP Sharma Oli recently. The viral clip showing President Poudel saying that Oli was imprisoned not for democracy but for a murder case is from December 2020.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Onlinekhabar, Dec 3, 2020
Setopati , Dec 3, 2020
Hamro Nepal /YouTube, Dec 3, 2020
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
