Poster Of Arvind Kejriwal Outside Tihar Jail Is Edited

What's the claim?

An image of a poster featuring Delhi's former Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener, Arvind Kejriwal, next to the entrance of Tihar Jail has gone viral on social media. The poster includes the text “Phir aayega Kejriwal (Mr Kejriwal will come again),” which is the AAP's slogan for the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections on February 5. 

The image was shared by users mocking Mr Kejriwal, as he was lodged in Tihar Jail in 2024 in connection with the Delhi excise policy case until his release on bail on September 13, 2024. 

Lakshmi Singh, the social media in-charge of the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Mahila Morcha (women's wing), was among those who shared this image to mock the former Delhi chief minister. Archives of similar posts can be seen here, here, and here. 

  Screenshots of posts on X carrying the photo of the Tihar Jail gate with an Arvind Kejriwal poster next to it. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found that an existing image of the Tihar Jail gate has been edited to include Mr Kejriwal's poster. Additionally, we found that this post was originally shared as a joke.

What did we find?

Through a reverse image search of the viral photo, we found an article published by The Caravan in 2018, which addressed custodial violence in Tihar Jail. The article featured the same image but without Mr Kejriwal's poster on the left. The caption attributed the photo to Getty Images. 

Taking a cue from this, we found the original image on Getty Images. The image is dated October 4, 2006, and was captured by India Today journalist Arijit Sen. This indicates that the image was captured much before AAP was founded in 2012. However, the original image does not have Mr Kejriwal's poster in it. 

A comparison of the viral image with the Getty Images shows that it is the same image due to the same framing and placement of the police officers in the photo. (Source: Getty Images/X/Modified by Logically Facts)

Logically Facts also found that satirical pages originally shared this image as a meme on social media platforms ahead of the state Assembly elections. Accounts that posted this image had mentioned "satire" in their bio or specified that it was a meme in the hashtags. Examples of these satirical posts can be viewed here and here. 

The image was originally shared as a meme on social media platforms by pages classifying themselves as satire or adding meme hashtags in the caption. (Source: Instagram/Modified by Logically Facts)

Furthermore, a similar image claiming to feature a poster of Mr Kejriwal outside of Tihar Jail had gone viral earlier. However, we found that this image was also digitally altered and was first shared as a jibe against Mr Kejriwal. The original image, a version of which was published in The Hindu article in 2021, did not include Mr Kejriwal's poster.

The verdict

A 2006 file image of the Tihar Jail entrance has been digitally edited to add a poster of Delhi's former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. 

(This story was originally published by Logically Facts, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective) 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)