CLAIM
A photo of a youth wearing a shoe garland is being circulated on social media with the claim that he belongs to the oppressed class and was made to wear this garland for saying a few lines of Dr BR Ambedkar, following which the boy killed himself.
It is further said that the incident happened in Pune but adds that the rest of the details of the incident are not known.
The caption alongside the picture reads, “यह फोटो कोई आम फोटो नही है बल्कि एक आत्म हत्या का कारण भी है | सुबह सुबह स्कूल की प्रार्थना मे #बाबा_साहेब भीम जी की दो लाइन बोलने पर मनुवादी समाज ने इस बच्चे का यह हाल किया ऐसी खबर है घटना कितनी सही है इसका अभी तक कुछ कहना जल्द बाजी होगी यदि ऐसा हुआ है तो बहुत #निन्दनीय है घटना भिवरी ता , पुरंधर जिला पुणे का है पोस्ट स्त्रोत अज्ञान (This photo is the reason why someone killed self. The boy said a few lines of Dr BR Ambedkar during the morning prayer and look what the people have done to him. It will be too soon to say anything else but it happened in Pune.)
The same photo with the same message has been posted by multiple users on Facebook.
The post also found its way to Twitter.
TRUE OR FALSE?
The caption of the photograph is completely false. The photograph pertains to an incident which happened in Bangladesh in 2017 and not Pune. Further, this boy was garlanded for eve teasing a girl of Bashabaid High School in Ghatail area of Bangladesh’s Tangail District.
According to a news report in Bangladesh Pratidin, the boy was identified as Mostafa a student of Sagardighi School and College. He used to regularly harass the girl but was caught by the locals one day following which he was punished and was made to wear a garland made of shoes of the students.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
On conducting a reverse image search on the image, we came across a news article published in 2017 by a website called ‘PNSNews24.com’. Detailing the incident, the report added that the boy was garlanded in front of students and parents for harassing the girl.
Taking a cue from here we searched for more reports and stumbled upon this report by Bangladesh Pratidin which quoted the Bashabaid High School Head Teacher Mozammel Haque as saying that more than 100 students, guardians and locals were present when the boy was punished.
So, the claim that the boy was garlanded for saying something about Ambedkar and that it happened in Pune is completely false.
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