Protests have erupted in multiple parts of the country following the central government’s announcement of Agnipath scheme for army recruitment. There are also reports of a few individuals committing suicide. In this context, a set of social media posts (here & here), accompanying images of young men hanging themselves are being shared attributing them to the Agnipath scheme. Through this article let’s fact-check the authenticity of these images.
Claim: Visuals of students who committed suicide following the announcement of Agnipath scheme.
Fact: While it is true that there are reports of students committing suicide in light of the central government’s announcement of Agnipath scheme, none of the images shared in these viral posts are related to Agnipath scheme. All these images predate to the announcement of Agnipath scheme. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
It is true that there have been some sporadic incidents of students ending their life following the announcement of the Agnipath scheme. However, none of the images shared in these posts are related to those incidents. These are old images and have nothing to do with the Agnipath scheme. Let’s look into the authenticity of each image below in clockwise direction.
Image-1
Reverse image search of this photo led us to an old Facebook post, which shared the same image on 20 March 2020. As per the description associated with the photo, the incident took place in Ludana village in Haryana.
Image-2
Reverse image search of this photo led us to a 2018 news report which reported the same image. As per this article, the image is related to an incident of a couple who hanged themselves in a hotel room in Kurukshetra.
Image-3
Google search with relevant keywords yielded us a 2019 news report that reported the same image. As per the report, the image is related to an incident that took place in Madhya Pradesh.
Image-4
This image is available on internet since August 2021. An online news report published the same image stating image is from Meerut , Uttar Pradesh.
Image-5
An online portal published the same image in October 2020. As per the information provided in this report, the image is from Uttar Pradesh.
Image-6
This is an old photo and is available on the internet at least since 2007. An online blog shared the same image in 2007.
Image-7
Reverse image search of this photo yielded multiple new reports that reported the same in image in April 2022, much before the center’s announcement of the Agnipath scheme. As per these reports, Pavan, a resident of Biwandi, Haryana ended his life as he failed to clear the army test, and eventually he surpassed the maximum age limit of the test.
To sum it up, old & unrelated images of suicide are being falsely attributed to the protests related to the Agnipath scheme.
