A video going viral on social media (here, here, here, and here) claims to show a young Muslim man vandalising a railway track on the occasion of Eid. Let’s verify the claim made in the post through this article.
Claim: The video shows a young Muslim man vandalising a railway track on the occasion of Eid.
Fact: The viral video dates back to January 2022 and shows a protest by students in Sitamarhi, Bihar, against alleged irregularities in the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) Non-Technical Popular Category (NTPC) exam. The Indian Railways also clarified on its official Facebook page that this is an old video and urged people not to believe in rumours. We could not independently confirm the religious identity of the person seen damaging the railway tracks in the video. However, based on the available evidence, there appears to be no communal angle to this incident. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to the same video (archived) shared by Delhi BJP spokesperson Ajay Sehrawat on his X handle (formerly Twitter) on 27 January 2022. He shared the video with the caption, “This gentleman is an applicant for a job in the railways” (translated from Hindi). In the comments section, several users mentioned that the video is from Bihar.
We also found that a longer version of the same video was shared by the media outlet News18 Bihar on its X handle (formerly Twitter) on 27 January 2022. The caption read, “Watch how protesting students are breaking the locks of the railway track sleepers. This video from Sitamarhi is going viral ” (translated from Hindi). A similar video of the incident was also uploaded on the News18 Bihar Jharkhand YouTube channel on the same day.
Based on this information, an internet search using relevant keywords led to a news article published by ETV Bharat on 27 January 2022, which reported the same visuals as seen in the viral video. According to the article, the incident occurred during a protest by students who alleged irregularities in the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) Non-Technical Popular Category (NTPC) exam results. As part of the protest, students vandalised a railway track in Sitamarhi, Bihar, which escalated into a violent clash between the protesters and the police. When ETV Bharat contacted the Station Superintendent of the Sitamarhi Railway Station, he reportedly said he was unaware of the exact location within the Sitamarhi district where the incident had occurred.
In January 2022, widespread protests erupted across Bihar by railway job aspirants over alleged irregularities in the RRB NTPC exam (here, here, and here). Several districts witnessed violence, with incidents such as arson, stone-pelting, and clashes with police reported from Patna, Gaya, Ara, Nawada, Nalanda, Muzaffarpur, and Sitamarhi. Protesters torched railway property, including an empty train coach at Gaya Junction and a maintenance engine in Nawada. Security forces used tear gas, water cannons, and lathicharge to control the situation. The Railway Ministry responded by halting the exams temporarily and forming a high-level committee to address the grievances. Similar demonstrations also took place in Uttar Pradesh. However, none of the reports linked the protests to any religious motive or identified individuals involved in the Sitamarhi incident.
The Railway Ministry addressed the viral video through its official Facebook account on 08 April 2025, clarifying that “the video is old” and urging the public to “ignore the rumours.”
While we could not independently confirm the religious identity of the individual seen vandalising the railway tracks in the viral video, available evidence indicates that the incident does not have any religious angle.
To sum up, a 2022 student protest video from Sitamarhi, Bihar, over alleged irregularities in the RRB NTPC exam is now being shared with a communal spin.
