Authors
Twitter users shared a video claiming that a farmer died at the Singhu border on camera. The video shows an elderly man falling over a barricade and knocking his head on an earthen pot.
One of the many tweets shared with this video reads, “लाइव देखिए कैमरे के सामने किसान ने सिंधु बॉर्डर पर दम तोड़ा. बाकी जिनको पिज़्ज़ा बिरयानी, जीन्स, बीएमडब्लू से लैस किसान आतंकवादी लगते है वो भी देख ले”
Translated from Hindi to English it reads, “Watch live, the farmer died on the Indus border in front of the camera. The rest, who are armed with pizza biryani, jeans, BMW, seem to be terrorists.”
Fact Check/ Verification
With the seventh round of talks concluded between Union ministers and representatives of various farmers’ unions, there is still no consensus. Farmers remain insistent on the new farm laws being scrapped. Farmers have been protesting at various northern borders for nearly 40 days against the new agricultural laws introduced by the central government.
Amid this, a video showing an elderly man fall to the ground is shared multiple times on Twitter with the claim that he died.
We first did a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes on InVid, a video verification tool, but found nothing related to the claim.
Next we did a relevant keyword search on Google and Facebook. We found a video posted by the Deputy News Editor of News18 Punjab, Vijay Pal Brar, on Facebook. In its caption he explains that the elderly man seen in the claim’s video is safe. As per Brar’s post, the old man, S. Iqbal Singh fell due to dizziness and received immediate medical attention.
On further Google search, we found a tweet posted by journalist Gagandeep Singh on 3 January ‘21 which included Brar’s video. Its caption reads, “This morning, the news of the death of a farmer due to a fall has gone viral. Be sure to listen to this video.”
He also shared the viral video stating that the farmer who collapsed on the protest site is now in a stable condition. His caption reads, “A farmer collapsed on the protest site. He’s in a stable condition now but let’s pray for his speedy recovery and pray for all the people who are protesting in this cold weather. #farmerprotest #farmers #istandwithfarmers”
We reached out to Gagandeep who said that the claim going viral with the video is false. The old man seen in the video is Iqbal Singh who fell unconscious due to low BP. He further said that Singh is now safe and with his family.
You can listen to our conversation with Gagandeep Singh below.
Gagandeep also sent us a photograph of Iqbal Singh after he regained consciousness, and was seen safe and sound.
Newschecker has previously debunked a variety of misleading and false claims related to the ongoing farmers’ protest.
This claim was earlier debunked in our Punjabi fact-check.
Conclusion
Our research makes it clear that the video showing an old man fall to the ground is being shared with false claims that he died at the ongoing farmers’ protest site. The man from the video, Iqbal Singh, is well and safe.
Result: Misleading
Our Sources
Vijay Pal Brar, Deputy News Editor, News18 Punjab: https://www.facebook.com/vijay.brar.121/videos/10215742587272238/
Gagandeep Singh, Journalist: https://twitter.com/Gagan4344/status/1345761151267741697?s=20
Newschecker’s direct conversation with Gagandeep Singh: https://soundcloud.com/shaminder-singh-mahi/aud-20210104-wa0022-amr
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