Wednesday morning had the news channel NewsX and India News run a video which they claimed “exposed” Kanhaiya Kumar, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru student’s union, now in jail charged with sedition.

“Kanhaiya’s ‘sedition’ exposed on tape,” ran the blazing headline on NewsX.

As proof, the channel ran a video which had Kumar shouting slogans for “azadi” (freedom). “’Leke rahenge azadi,’ he said,” accused the NewsX ticker (“we will take our liberty”). “Can Kanhaiya be saved now?”.

#IndiaVsAfzalLeague: Kanhaiya exposed. "Hum leke rahenge Azaadi, Hum chheen ke rahenge Azaadi." https://t.co/oNFiMhUekv — NewsX (@NewsX) February 17, 2016 The NewsX report

Well, there seems to be a good chance he can, since the video that NewsX ran appears to have been doctored, as a news report on ABP news shows.

Kanhaiya was indeed asking for “azadi” but it was freedom from hunger, sanghwaad (RSS-ism), feudalism, capitalism, Brahminism and Manu-ism. The NewsX/India News video edited these words out, leaving Kumar’s claims for “azadi” open to feverish interpretation. The channel then ran the video with the subtitle: “Hear Kanhaiya’s ‘seditious’ rant”.

After this video was aired, it also made its way around social media.

Innocent student Kanhaiya seen demanding "Azadi" along wit alleged Jaish-E-Mhd mole Umar Khalid who's absconding now pic.twitter.com/CtxLydlOJl — Revolutionary Monk (@RevolutionMonk) February 17, 2016

Kanchan Gupta, director of the recently shut right wing portal, Niti Central shared the video. However, he later deleted this tweet.

Rupa Subramania, columnist for Swarajya, shared and then deleted the doctored video: "I can't be 100% sure if KK looking for Kashmir's independence or freedom from something else. Apologies"

I checked with responsible people. There is a part of video clip I retweeted that may be dodgy. I erred & say so openly. Larger q's remain. — Swapan Dasgupta (@swapan55) February 19, 2016 Journalist Swapan Dasgupta's clarification for sharing the doctored video.

Shekhar Gupta, senior journalist, shared the undoctored video and said that maybe Kanhaiya deserved an apology from the Delhi Police.

Watch: Kanhaiya demanding Azaadi, but from rioters, capitalism, Manuvad, Brahminvad. He is owed a Del Police apology https://t.co/N5j1TIU9cE — Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) February 18, 2016

Senior journalist Barkha Dutt contextualised this with the sudden softening of the Delhi Police’s stance towards prosecuting Kumar.

No wonder @ShekharGupta @BhimBassi is now talking about not opposing bail ! https://t.co/9lMk1LNrgv — barkha dutt (@BDUTT) February 18, 2016

Further confirming that there was no evidence whatsover against Kanhaiya Kumar, the Hindu ran a report saying that the Delhi Police may have to drop the sedition charges altogether.

Watch the undoctored video on ABP news.

Update, Friday, Feb 19, 11:15pm: The allegedly doctored video had also apparently been shown on Times Now on February 17, 2016. In the video posted below, Arnab Goswami, an anchor at the channel, asks Sambit Patra, the Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson to play the video on his tablet. The cameras then zoom in on the video [watch from 22:00].

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Also see: ‘We have complete faith in the constitution’: Watch Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech hours before his arrest