The real story behind the viral photo of ‘Punjab Police officer Harleen Mann’

While the Internet is a noted platform for acquiring knowledge and digging out any sort of information, it is also a space where fake news and hoaxes to spread without much check. Such fake news have spanned from photos being wrongly identified to quotes taken out of context that went on to create quite a stir.
Well, one such incident recently happened when a photograph of a woman wearing the Punjab Police uniform went viral on social media.

Here the badge in the picture identified the woman as Harleen Mann, and many believed her to be the Station House Officer (SHO) of Punjab Police. As beautiful as the ‘officer’ is, many went gaga over her looks and re-posted the picture with comments such as ‘I surrender’ and ‘people are in queue to get arrested’. The photograph was widely shared on prominent social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, etc, creating quite a buzz online.

However, there’s more to the photo than what meets the eye. But before we expound on that, check out some of the reactions to the photo here.

Well, turns out, the reality is quite different from what was being assumed. The person in the viral picture is actually actor Kainaat Arora, who in her upcoming Punjabi movie Jagga Jiundae, is playing the role of a police officer named Harleen Mann. Arora has previously acted in movies such as Grand Masti and Khatta Meetha. After being bombarded with the picture and multiple messages on social media, Arora took to Instagram to clarify the misunderstanding.

In her post, she said that ‘Harleen Mann’ is the name of her character in the film that she is doing currently and to further avoid any confusion, she also added that she is not a real police officer. Here is what she wrote:

Dear People … harleen maan is my character name in the film #jaggajiundae .. it’s just a #film .. my phone memory is bombarded with forwards Frm al over d world , people sending messages & jokes : ready to get arrested etc . i Am no REAL POLICE 🙄🐶.. 3 days and stil this photo is viral across the continent

Let this be a lesson for all those who blindly believe in photos circulated online, and the importance of verification. Nevertheless, if Arora’s photo alone has created such a lot of stir, the movie might just be quite a hit as well.