Unrelated image shared as retired army captain injured in the recent farmers' protest - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 2, 2020
A post with the photo collage of a Sikh man in military uniform and an elderly Sikh man whose eye is injured is being widely shared on social media platforms with a claim that both the images show captain PPS Dhillon. It is alleged that he sustained this injury on his eye during the ongoing farmers’ protests. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Military veteran and retired captain PPS Dhillon injured his eye in the recent farmers protest.
Fact: The photo collage actually does not show the same person. The  Sikh man in army uniform is actually PPS Dhillon, a retired Army Captain. His son shared this image on Facebook on the occasion of his birthday. When we reached out to his son, he cleared the air saying that man with the injured eye is not his father, and also that his father is not associated with the ongoing farmers’ protest. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Reverse image search of the image in the post led us to a post by a Facebook user which had the same image of the Sikh man in army uniform. According to the post, the image is of his father Pirthipal Singh Dhillon, a military veteran. He also shared the image similar to the one in the post in a Facebook group called Sikh Military History Forum on the same day.
When we reached out to him through Facebook messenger, he cleared the air that the image of the man in army uniform is of his father’s and his father is at the moment with him in their house. He said that he shared this image on Facebook on the occasion of his father’s birthday. He categorically stated that the elderly injured Sikh man shown in the collage is not his father.
On further search, we found that the image of the Sikh man with injured eye is being shared on social media associating him with the farmers protest. A few social media posts which shared this image can be seen here and here. However, we could not find additional information about the injured person.
In the light of the ongoing farmers’ protests opposing the new farm laws, posts like these are being widely shared on social media platforms with misleading claims.
To sum it up, an unrelated image is being shared as that of retired army captain PPS Dhillon, who injured his eye in the recent farmers protest.