After participants from the July 20 march in Delhi put up videos on social media saying that police were carrying batons with nails fixed on them during the crackdown on protesters, Delhi police called the claims misleading and false. Two videos surfaced on social media showing such batons and protesters confronting police officers about their use. Delhi Police asserted that the videos of baton with nails were not related to the July 20 protest.
One such video was posted by a user named Ashwini Soni (@Ramraajya).
As these videos gained traction online, Delhi Police responded with a purported fact check. Replying to a post by Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair, they said that the videos were unrelated to the protests of June 20.
The Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the Union government, too, put out a fact check quoting the Delhi Police post.
DD News shared the PIB fact check. Right-wing propaganda outlet OpIndia published a 'fact-check' article echoing Delhi Police's claim.
Fact Check
We found that Instagram user @ansh.visuals_ had posted a video on July 20 of youth protestors confronting police officers over the use of batons with nails. One of the protesters can be seen taking the baton in his hand and showing it to camera. While the police officials seemingly remain unperturbed, the demonstrators can be heard asking questions like “How did you not see? We saw it from afar, and you didn’t see?” while referring to the batons.
@ansh.visuals_ posted the video with the text, “Some of the police officers had nails in their lathi's says alot.” (sic)
Around 6.40pm on July 21, the post was made unavailable in India. Here is a downloaded version:
https://vimeo.com/1211688446?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
The reader must note that the above video is not the one the Delhi Police fact-checked. However, the comparison below shows that both the videos are of the same altercation and had been filmed at the same spot. One of the protesters can also be seen clearly in both the videos.
We reached out to the uploader, who shared the screen-recording of the metadata of the video. According to the metadata, the video was filmed on July 20, 2026, at 4:33 pm.
He also shared a longer version of the same video with Alt News, in which it can be clearly seen that the baton with nails was in the hand of a police official named Vishal Tomar. At the 00.34-minute timestamp in the video, the individual in black-and-white striped shirt notices the baton in Tomar's hand.
https://vimeo.com/1211715867?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
We geo-located the spot where protestors confronted police officials about the use of batons with nails. It took place outside The Imperial on Janpath Road. Below is a comparison between the Google Maps street view and a frame from the viral video.
We spoke to a protester present at the site. Though he did not want to be named, he confirmed to Alt News on July 21 that he was among the group that confronted the police officials the previous day. “Someone in the crowd noticed that one of the officials had this baton with nails. We are not sure whether they used it, but the video is definitely from yesterday. The policeman's name was Vishal Tomar. When we confronted them, everyone, including the senior police officers, ignored us. They did not reply to us,” he said.
The video shared by Aswhini Soni (the one that Delhi Police 'fact checked') was originally posted on Instagram by a user named Rahul Gaur (@Gaur_95_com). Gaur uploaded the video with the claim that Delhi Police were carrying sticks with nails. When Alt News reached out to him, he said, "I recorded the video myself. I was there in person."
So, from the above evidences -- videos procured by Alt News, their metadata, geo-location of the spot and witness testimonies -- it can be conclusively proved that during the protest on July 20, a Delhi Police official was seen carrying a baton with nails attached to it, and police officials were confronted by protesters about it. However, there is no evidence to prove that the baton was actually used to hit protestors.
Delhi Police's claim that "these videos are not related to yesterday's protest" is false.
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