Following the central government’s announcement of Agnipath scheme for army recruitment, protests have erupted in many parts of country, opposing the scheme. Protesting students have set trains on fire and destroyed other public property. Incidents of students committing suicide have also been reported in multiple states. In this context, a video showing a young man sitting on a chair and setting himself on fire using inflammable substance is being widely shared claiming the visuals show a student committing suicide after the announcement of Agnipath scheme. We have received the same video on our tip line to verify the veracity of the video. Few social media users also shared this video, in the context of the agnipath scheme. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of a student setting himself on fire following the announcement of Agnipath scheme.
Fact: This is an old video and is available on the internet at least since April 2021. When the same video went viral in Jordan lately, Jordanian news agencies have reported the video is from Pakistan’s Karachi. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The central government’s recent announcement of Agnipath scheme for the army recruitment has caused a stir among the students. Following the announcement of the scheme, multiple incidents of students committing suicide have also been reported (here & here).
However, the viral visuals are not related to any recent incidents of suicide, following the announcement of Agnipath scheme. These visuals are doing rounds on the internet for quite some time. Reverse image search of the screenshots of the viral video, yielded a couple of old social media posts which shared the same video (here & here). One such post dates back to April 2021, suggesting the video is old one.
Lately, the same video went viral in countries like Jordan and Egypt, claiming the visuals show an incident that happened in their respective countries. However, Jordan’s media spokesperson for the Public Security Directorate rubbished the claim.
Further, a couple of news agencies have reported that their investigation found that the video is from Pakistan’s Karachi, wherein a man set himself on fire because of family disputes (here & here).
Although we could not independently verify the exact location and context of the video, the available evidence suggests that the visuals are old and have nothing to do with the Agnipath scheme.
To sum it up, an old & unrelated video of a man setting himself on fire is being shared linking it to the Agnipath scheme.
