A female wrestler who was taken into custody by police for a sexual harassment protest was found to have a photoshopped smile, creating the impression that the protest was merely superficial.



On May 28, 2023, Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat and several others were arrested by police after protesting allegations of sexual harassment against at least seven female wrestlers, including minors. Photographs of Phogat and others smiling as they are taken away have been circulating on social media, but multiple media outlets have pointed out that these are fake images that have been edited to make them look like they are smiling.

Wrestlers detained in Delhi: AI image of 'smiling' Vinesh & Sangeeta Phogat viral - Alt News

https://www.altnews.in/wrestlers-detained-in-delhi-ai-image-of-smiling-vinesh-sangeeta-phogat-viral/

Fact-Check | This Photo of Wrestlers Vinesh and Sangeeta Phogat Smiling During Detention Is Fake
https://www.thequint.com/news/webqoof/vinesh-phogat-sakshi-phogat-smiling-wrestlers-protest-fact-check#read-more

On the 28th, the Hindustan Times, an Indian English-language daily newspaper, reported that 'several of India's top wrestlers, including female wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, and male wrestler Bajrang Punia, were arrested during a demonstration to the new Indian Parliament building, which was being inaugurated that day.'

The wrestlers were reportedly protesting against sexual harassment of female wrestlers by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and ruling party lawmaker Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, as well as his coaches.



Later, photos were uploaded to social media of the wrestlers being taken away in a police bus. In what appears to be a selfie taken by Vinesh Phogat (bottom left), several wrestlers, including his sister Sangeeta Phogat (right), are smiling alongside him.



The photo was shared by several journalists and celebrities, including Amitav Chakravorty, the Bharatiya Janata Party's West Bengal state secretary, who posted the picture with the comment, 'The drama is over. Now everyone can go home with a smile. They've only come to take photos to ruin today's inauguration.'



However, it was later discovered that the smiling photo was edited. The original, unedited photo is below. A few hours before the smiling photo was circulated, a photo posted by journalist Mandeep Punia showed Phogat and others not smiling.



Wrestler Bajrang Punia also took to Twitter to complain that a smiling photo of him was fake.



Fact-checking website Alt News pointed out that while the photo in question shows Vinesh and Sangeeta Phogat smiling with dimples, another photo shows neither of them smiling with dimples.




The smiling photo is believed to have been created using a photo editing app. Twitter user Uzair Rizvi actually used the photo editing app FaceApp to create a photo with a nearly identical smile to the one in the photo in question.



There is also a video on Twitter of a smiling Vinesh Phogat waving his hand, which is said to be a scene of him sarcastically saying, 'Congratulations to a new India!' The video is real, but Alt News says it has been taken out of context and used to manipulate people's views.



A thread on the social news site Hacker News about the incident included comments such as, 'This is a truly dystopian world. People have been able to edit photos before, and the Soviets did a ton of photo editing, but this must have been very easy,' and, 'This is what many of us consider to be the real threat of AI.'

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