Alt News’ Mohd Zubair caught spreading fake news on ‘Kangana Slap Incident’: Check Details

On the afternoon of June 6, actor and newly elected MP Kangana Ranaut was allegedly slapped by a female CISF constable, Kulwinder Kaur, while boarding a flight to Delhi at Chandigarh Airport. Ranaut reported that when she questioned Kaur about the assault, the constable claimed it was in retaliation for Ranaut’s previous comments criticising the farmer protests. Kaur, who expressed support for the farmer protests, reportedly stated her discontent with Ranaut’s remarks on the matter.

Contradicting Ranaut’s account, propagandist and self-proclaimed fact-checker Mohammed Zubair of propaganda website Alt News dismissed her version of events. Zubair claimed that Ranaut was slapped due to her non-compliance with security procedures, not her comments on the farmer protests.

He cited a report from Hindustan Times, shared on social media platform X, which alleged that Ranaut was slapped during a security check for refusing to place her phone in the tray and for pushing the security personnel. According to the report, Ranaut left for Delhi at 3 pm on a Vistara flight.

On X he wrote,  “slapped at security check for pushing the security personnel after the actor-politician refused to put her phone in the tray during security check. Kangana Ranaut left for Delhi at 3 pm by a Vistara flight”.

Zubair labelled Ranaut’s assertion that the assault was linked to her farmer protest comments as an “unverified claim on Social Media” and called for clarification from the CISF. However, this characterisation as “unverified” has been challenged.

Ranaut herself provided a video statement hours after the incident, upon reaching Delhi, where she reiterated that Kaur stated the slap was due to her comments on the farmer protests.

Ranaut clarified that Kaur was stationed at an adjacent cabin for security checks, implying that she did not directly frisk Ranaut. This detail disputes the claim that the slap resulted from Ranaut’s refusal to comply with security protocols. Additionally, it seems improbable that Ranaut, an actor-MP, would deliberately violate security check norms.

Significantly, multiple videos from the airport have surfaced post-incident. In one such video, Kaur can be heard discussing Ranaut’s comments on the farmer protests. Kaur mentioned that her mother participated in the protests and objected to Ranaut’s 2020 tweet, which controversially suggested that women were available for hire at the rate of Rs 100 to join the protests.

In a video, the CISF constable can be heard aggressively stating, “She had given a statement that farmer protestors were available for Rs 100. My mother was sitting there when she made these comments.” The constable clearly justified the assault on the actor-MP by citing Ranaut’s remarks about the farmer protests, and did not claim it was due to Ranaut’s failure to place her phone in the tray during the security check.

This video confirms that it is not an “unverified claim on social media” that Kulwinder Kaur slapped Kangana Ranaut for her remarks on farmer protests; it is a fact verified by Kaur herself on video.

In 2020, Kangana Ranaut made comments about an elderly woman seen at the farmer protests, mistakenly identifying her as Bilkis Bano. Ranaut had tweeted, “She is the same dadi who featured in Time magazine for being the most powerful Indian…. And she is available in 100 rupees. Pakistani journos have hijacked international PR for India in an embarrassing way. We need our own people to speak for us internationally.” Kulwinder Kaur stated that her mother was also part of these protests and felt hurt by Ranaut’s comments, as they applied to her mother as well.

Moreover, even if a passenger refuses to comply with security checks, such as not placing their phone on the tray for x-ray screening, security personnel are not authorised to assault the passenger. Protocol dictates that non-compliant passengers should be denied boarding and, if they cause a disturbance, handed over to local police. Under no circumstances are CISF personnel allowed to slap a passenger for not complying with security checks.

According to the latest reports on the incident, the CISF constable has been suspended, and an FIR has been filed against her.

Notably, this is not the first time that Zubair has been caught spreading fake news, last month only he was fackt checked once by the Uttarakhand Police and then by the Indian Army for spreading misinformation. He has been doing this for a long time now. Organiser also compiled a list of 60 such instances when he has been caught spreading fake news.