On Saturday (17 July) night, a disturbing photo showing an Uttar Pradesh police officer assaulting a woman was shared widely on social media with a claim that the police officer pulled her to the ground and hit her.

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav too joined the brigade and stated on social media platform Twitter (as translated from Hindi), "Some police officials, who are working on the behest of the BJP, are tarnishing the image of the Uttar Pradesh police. Under the rule of the BJP, there is no dearth of lawlessness. Highly condemnable."

He also shared a photo with the post, which showed the police office sitting atop a woman and assaulting her.

However, in this case it turns out that a picture is not worth a thousand words. In response to the said post of the SP leader, various users shared the full version of the purported incident.

A video was shared by official Twitter handle of Kanpur Dehat Police where it can be seen that the women is grabbing the collars of the police officer and not the other way around. Similar videos were shared by other users.

An official statement was also released on Kanpur Dehat Police's Twitter handle where the police in-charge states, “Attempts are being made to impart a different colour to the incident by sharing screenshots of the viral video. The woman had alleged misdemeanour and assault by the Station-in-charge. To ensure a free and fair investigation, the Station-in-charge has been suspended with immediate effect and the matter is now probed by the District-in-charge."

Additionally, another video was shared by a user where the woman could be seen ripping apart her blouse in an attempt to implicate the police.

(The video contains adult content, hence viewer's discretion is advised.)

A statement was also released by the Kanpur Dehat police, where it was informed, “The Station-in-charge went to the village to capture an accused in a case. At that time, another man misbehaved with the police official, thereby leading to his arrest. Meanwhile, the relatives of the man including several women began to intervene and resist arrest. One of the women held the Station-in-charge by his collar and pulled him to the ground.”