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Fact-Check: Viral Video of People Damaging Railway Tracks Is Old!

The video dates back to June 2022 and reportedly shows an Agnipath scheme protest in Rajasthan's Bharatpur.

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A video which shows people damaging railway tracks has gone viral on social media, nearly a week after a horrific train accident in Odisha's Balasore, which claimed at least 288 lives.

The claim: The clip is being shared with text in Hindi, which reads, "देखिए ये कौन लोग हैं। सब कुछ पॉलिटिक्स की वजह से हो रहा है। 2024 का चुनाव जो आ रहा है और मोदी विरोधी लोग अपनी औकात पर आ गए हैं"

Those sharing the viral clip have not provided any context regarding the date or location of the video.

[Translation: Look at these people. Everything is happening because of politics. 2024 election is coming and anti-Modi people are showing their true colours.]

The Quint received several queries for the video's verification on its WhatsApp tipline.

(Archives of more claims can be seen here, here, and here.)

But...?: The video is not a recent one. The clip dates back to June 2022, and shows people protesting against the Centre's Agnipath scheme in Rajasthan's Bharatpur.

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How did we find out?: Using InVID, a video verification tool, we divided the viral video into multiple keyframes.

  • We then ran a reverse image search on one of the viral keyframes using Yandex, a Russian search engine.

  • The results led us to a tweet with the same video, which was shared on 19 June 2022.

  • It mentioned that the visuals were related to the widespread protests against the Centre's Agnipath scheme.

  • The video was also shared on the social media website Reddit on 19 June 2022 with a similar title, where the original poster mentioned that it was from Rajasthan's Bharatpur.

  • Taking a cue from this, we looked for related reports.

  • We found that Hindi news organisation Dainik Bhaskar had carried the same visuals in its year-old report about the protests.

  • It mentioned that protesters had gathered on the railway tracks at Bharatpur Railway Station in Rajasthan on 17 June, and damaged the tracks and fish plates.

  • Stone pelting began when police personnel arrived at the spot, which left one policeman injured.

  • The report added that maintenance took about three hours before trains could be allowed to pass the railway station.

Conclusion: The video dates back to June 2022 and is not a recent video of people damaging railway tracks.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com, and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)

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