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
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli expressed pride over his jail term for murder and robbery.
Fact
The 2021 clip shows Oli explaining how he had to spend 14 years without committing any fault.
A video allegedly showing Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli expressing his pride over his 14 years behind bars for murder and robbery is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @tirtharajgautam20 posted a video showing Prime Minister and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli speaking at an interview. In the video, Oli says, “I spent 14 years in jail on murder and robbery cases. I have witnessed verdicts of all the courts. I have known justice.” Text superimposed on the video reads, “I spent 14 years in jail for murder and robbery: Oli. See how proud he is of murder and robbery.”
The video posted on December 21 has garnered 317 likes, 28 users have shared it and 54 people have commented on it.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newscheker split the video into several keyframes and conducted reverse searches. A Google reverse search led us to a video, dated December 7, 2021, posted on the Facebook page of Makalukhabar online. On checking the video, we found that the video clip from 1:35-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video.
We also found the 3:47-minute video posted on the YouTube channel of Makalukhabar.
On checking the longer version of the video, we found that KP Sharma Oli was actually saying, “For independence of judiciary, I spent 14 years behind bars on murder and robbery cases without committing any crimes. I have witnessed the vertices of all tiers of courts.”
Taking clues from Oli’s words, we ran key word searches on Google and found an article, dated December 7, 2021, posted on Khabarhub online. On checking the article, we found that the image carried in the article somehow resembled the viral video.
We also found another article, dated December 8, 2021, posted on Himalayan Times from Oli’s meeting with Nepal Bar Association officials, who were staging a protest seeking impeachment of then Chief Justice Cholendra Sumsher Rana.
Thus, our findings clearly showed that the viral video from December 2021 actually showed KP Sharma Oli explaining how he agreed to remain behind bars without any fault to honour the judicial independence.
Conclusion
No, Prime Minister Sharama didn’t express pride over his 14 years jail sentence for murder and robbery. The old clip from 2021 actually shows him explaining his predicament for being forced to remain behind bars without committing any fault.
Sources
Makalukhabar/Facebook, December 7, 2021
Khabarhub December 7, 2021
Himalayan Times, December 8, 2021
If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at [email protected] You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form.
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.
