Jantar Mantar 'live protest' video is old footage, Delhi Police says

A video shared as a live, massive protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar was called false by the DCP New Delhi account on Saturday, 26 September 2026. The police said the footage was archived material from a past event. The claim that this clip was a protest happening that day is misleading. That verdict is about the clip. It is not a claim that Delhi had no protests that week.

The post, as Hindustan Times, the Times of India, ANI, The Statesman and India TV quote it in the same words, reads: "MISINFORMATION ALERT The claim of a live, massive protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar today is false. The Video is Old: The footage being shared is archived material from a past event. Legal action will be taken against those found deliberately spreading misinformation or circulating misleading content." The X post was not opened directly for this check. The wording rests on those identical quotations. Hindustan Times published on 27 September. The Statesman's report is timed at 9:19 IST that day.

The account is the DCP New Delhi account. Hindustan Times and India TV attribute it to DCP (New Delhi) Sachin Sharma. The quoted post itself carries no signature. This report therefore says the DCP New Delhi account, which is how the post is identified, and records the name only as those two papers' attribution.

The post warns of legal action against those found deliberately spreading misinformation. That sentence is a warning. No action against any named person has been reported in the sources checked. This article does not say that anyone who shared the clip lied on purpose.

Fact-checkers place the pictures earlier. Factly, The Quint and PIB Fact Check, the last of those via Factly's 27 September note, link the footage to an anti-EVM rally at Jantar Mantar on 31 January 2024. Factly's account says 22 organisations took part, including Bharat Mukti Morcha, and that Waman Meshram addressed the rally. A Facebook copy dated 7 February 2024 is also reported. The same notes say Gyanesh Kumar was not an Election Commissioner on that January day: he joined on 15 March 2024, and has been Chief Election Commissioner since 19 February 2025. Those dates are the fact-checkers' context for why a January 2024 rally was not a protest about him as Chief Election Commissioner. The police statement did not name the event or the date. The 2024 identification is the fact-checkers' work, not a line in the police post.

The clip was shared as a current scene. Hindustan Times, the Times of India and ANI reported a post by Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut whose caption, in their account, said protests against "Gyanesh Kumar hatao" had begun in Delhi, called the pictures "Today's Jantar Mantar scene", and spoke of a fight to the finish. The Quint reported that Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan also shared the clip. Those are reports of who posted it. They are not a finding that either person set out to deceive. A view-count attached to one of those posts was one outlet's figure and is not used here.

Real protests that week are a separate fact. Factly, The Statesman and the Times of India report gatherings demanding the Chief Election Commissioner's resignation, including at Jantar Mantar on 25 September. The Statesman noted another Jantar Mantar protest scheduled for 29 September. A Left parties' protest week is described as running from 26 September to 2 October. Those events can be real and this clip can still be old. The police alert and the fact-checks say the circulating video is not those protests.

What's next

The 'live protest today' claim is misleading. The DCP New Delhi statement is verified as what the papers quote. The 31 January 2024 anti-EVM link is the fact-checkers' identification, which the police post does not itself make. Nothing in this check says Delhi saw no protest that week, and nothing in it reports that legal action has been taken.