2018 video of court employee spitting in a cup shared with false communal claim

What is the claim? 

A video of a man filling a glass of water from a bottle and then spitting into it has been shared online with a claim that a Muslim court employee in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh spat into the cup of a judge. Referring to the incident as "spit jihad," a conspiracy theory popularized by the Hindu right-wing alleging that the Muslim community spits on food items in an attempt to contaminate it. 

This video has been shared in light of the directive issued by the Uttar Pradesh government asking eatery and shop owners along the Kanwar Yatra, a Hindu religious procession, route to display their names. However, the Supreme Court later stayed this order. 

A user on X (formerly Twitter) shared the post with a caption, “A brand new video of spit jihad from Aligarh court (July 2024). Even court judges became victims of spit jihad. Recently a Supreme Court judge said that Muslims uphold international standards.” Archived versions of these claims on X can be viewed here, here, and here. 

Screenshots of the claim on social media. (Source: X/Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, we found this claim to be misleading. We found that the viral video is from 2018, and the accused was not a Muslim, but an employee named Vikas Gupta, who was later suspended.

What we found 

A reverse image and a keyword search led us to a Jansatta report published on May 29, 2018, which included a screenshot from the viral video.

The 2018 Jansatta article with the screenshot. (Source: Jansatta)

The article reported that a female judge's clerk in Aligarh used to spit in her glass while serving her water. According to the article, the judge would bring her water bottle, and the court employee would pour water from this bottle into glasses. But she got suspicious of his activities and hid a phone camera to record him. 

Another report in The Times of India, published on May 29, 2018, identified the accused as Vikas Gupta, and mentioned that he was suspended with immediate effect. The report also mentioned that District and Sessions Judge PK Singh confirmed the incident and said that the investigation was handed over to a senior judicial officer. Several other media outlets, including Amar Ujala and Prabhasakshi, also covered this incident and identified the employee as Vikas Gupta.

 Additionally, the police commented (archived here) on one of the viral posts on July 26, 2024, urging users not to share misinformation. The police post clarified that this incident happened in 2018 and that appropriate action had been taken against the accused person.

Screenshot of Aligarh Police's X comment. (Source: X/Screenshot)

The verdict 

An incident from 2018 of a court employee spitting in his superior’s glass of water has been shared with a false communal spin. The accused was identified as Vikas Gupta, who was later suspended for his actions.

(Translated by Vanita Ganesh)