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
CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Ram Kumari Jhakri is arrested from her residence.
Fact
Viral video shows a 2021 clip of Jhakri being arrested.
A video claiming that CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Ram Kumari Jhakri has been arrested from her house is going viral on TikTok. The video further claims that the arrest is the consequence of growing pressure on Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane to resign. Jhakri was a lawmaker under the proportional representation system in the House of Representatives and also served as the Minister of Urban Development for eight months starting October 2021.
The main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) has been obstructing the House proceedings to press a parliamentary investigation into the cooperatives scam allegedly involving Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @gopaldahal210 posted a video of Madhav Kumar Nepal-led CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Ram Kumari Jhakri cutting through a crowd of people and security personnel. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Jhakri has been arrested from her residence. The more they demand the resignation of Rabi [Home Minister Lamichhane], the more the people’s support for him grows.” In the background people are heard chanting slogans like, “Down with KP Oli.”
The video posted on May 9 has garnered 4304 likes, 62 users have liked it and 321 users have commented on it. The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker ran a search on Google by using Nepali key phrase ‘Ram Kumari Jhakri arrested’. The search threw up several results resembling the claim made in the viral video. On checking a video posted on the verified Facebook page of popular online portal Setopati, we found that the first 28 seconds of the video exactly matched the viral video.
We, then, checked another article, dated February 11, 2021, published on BBC Nepali online which confirmed that Jhakri was arrested for interrogation in connection with the remarks she made against the President.
Further, we found an article regarding the arrest of Jhakri published on Kathmandu Post online. The article dated February 11, 2021 confirmed that Jhakri was arrested from her residence on the charge of crime against the state.
Thus, our findings clearly indicate that the viral video showed an old clip of Jhakri being arrested from her residence for her controversial remarks in February 2021.
Conclusion
No, the arrest of CPN (Unified Socialist) leader Ram Kumari Jhakri is not the consequence of growing pressure on Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane. The viral video actually shows an old clip of Jhakri being arrested from her residence.
Result: False
Sources
Setopati/Facebook, Feb 11, 2021
BBC Nepali, Feb 11, 2021
Kathmandu Post, Feb 11, 2021
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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.
