In our investigation, we found that the claim that police were vandalizing public property and setting vehicles on fire during the protest by students of Jamia Milia Islamia University against CAA is entirely false and misleading.

Amid widespread protest in the National Capital Region by students of Jamia Milia Islamia University against the Citizenship Amendment Act, a video is being shared with a claim that Delhi police is vandalizing public property by burning them to frame students. Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia shared a video by NBT Dilli with a caption that can be roughly translated to, "Due to fear of defeat in elections, BJP is setting fire in Delhi. The AAP is against violence of any kind. This is the cheap politics of BJP. In this video, see how the fire is being set under the protection of the police."

At the time of writing this article, this tweet has been shared more than 6000 times. Another AAP leader Atishi tweeted the video to claim that police are setting fire to buses.

Mohammed Zubair who is the co-founder of Altnews added fuel to this rumor when he tweeted, "It is another thing that Police under British India torched vehicles and pelt stones on students just like Delhi Police did". Ironically, this co-founder of a fact checking portal is not new in spreading rumours and unverified news. We have debunked his claims on several occasions in the past. (case 1, case 2, case 3)

It should be noted that in its post, Navbharat Times nowhere mentioned that police are setting the vehicles on fire.

You can watch the complete video down below.

In this video, a large police force can be seen, out of which, some policemen are dousing the vehicles. Some people on Twitter are claiming that the liquid in the yellow containers which police were pouring on the bus was kerosene.

The truth behind the claim

We found this claim to be completely false and misleading.

After the rumors were shared on social media, the Quint has shared a post in which police officials clarified that they were carrying water in yellow-containers.

You can watch the video here:

Few journalists who have covered the protests also came out and called out these claims to be untrue.

Sahil Murli Menghani wrote on Twitter, "I have got official version from Delhi Police on this viral #Jamia video. Top Police Sources- “Policemen were DOUSING and not fuelling fire. There was water in the can. One can even head someone in the video saying “bujh gayi” “ STOP spreading unverified stuff. #JamiaProtests"

Another journalist named Arvind Gunasekar also put out a tweet the burning two-wheeler in the video was set on fire by the mob, and police was extinguishing the fire.

The claim was also debunked by India TV.

In conclusion, the claim that police were vandalizing public property and setting vehicles on fire during the protest by students of Jamia Milia Islamia University against CAA is completely false and misleading.