New Delhi: Even as the Bihar elections are round the corner, this image has caught everyone’s attention on the social media. Youths being tied to liquor bottles are enough for a shocking reaction but deliberate spreading of this image may do harm more than good. More so, Bihar banned the sale of liquor in the state long ago.
Viral Claim
A Facebook user named Jitendra Kumar Sharma shared a post on August 19, in which he posted images of 5 young men holding liquor bottles to their chest and body.
How not to smuggle alcohol from Goa. pic.twitter.com/hdadpJNim9
— That Goan Guy (@schmmuck) September 26, 2014
It says, “Liquor is banned in Bihar but home delivery is on ”, a clear swipe at Nitish Kumar govt. The user also claimed that there is no sushashan, only anarchy in the state.
Investigation
Newsroompost did some research, did reverse Google image search and found this image to be from 26th September, 2014. It was tweeted by a handle named That Goan Guy. It also read in caption,”how to smuggle gold from Goa.”
Then, we google about when the liquor ban was enforced in the state. We came to know that it was implemented on April 5, 2016 in the entire state. Readers can see this below image.
Even, if we consider 2014, we looked at the Chief Minister who was in power. It may be noted that Nitish Kumar had stepped down as Bihar CM after 2014 LS polls and Jitan Ram Manjhi had taken over. According to www.elections.in, Manjhi was Bihar CM from 20th May 2014 to 22 FB, 2015. At that time, there was no ban on liquor sale in the state.
Conclusion
This FB post has turned out to be fake and misleading. Identifying this 2014 image of Bihar in present context would not be the right thing to do.
