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No, This Image Doesn’t Show Hindus Setting a Sikh Man on Fire

The image shows a student trying to self-immolate during anti-Mandal protests.

Published
WebQoof
2 min read
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An image of a man caught in a blaze as several people try to extinguish the fire is going viral to claim that it shows a Sikh man trying to save his son after the latter was set on fire by "Hindu extremists".

What does the viral post say?: Sharing the image, a user captioned it, "A helpless Sikh father trying to save his son from a fire set by H extremists and H crowd watching it cowardly. Those militants who killed Hindus were encountered but the Sikhs have not got justice till date."

The image shows a student trying to self-immolate during anti-Mandal protests.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

This post received over 50,000 views on the platform.

Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.

What are the facts?: The image dates back to August 1990, when a student named 'Rajiv Goswami' had attempted self-immolation during the anti-Mandal protests.

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How did we find that out?: Using the help of Google Lens, we performed a reverse image search and found the same image shared on Times Content website.

  • As per the available details, the image was taken on 20 August 1990.

  • Its caption said, "A man tries to extinguish fire on the body of a student protester, Rajiv Goswami, who attempted self-immolation in the Deshbandhu College in South Delhi as a part of the anti -Mandal agitation. This action sparked off a series of attempts of self-immolation by students who were against implementation of Mandal commission's recommendations."

The image shows a student trying to self-immolate during anti-Mandal protests.

The image captured during Anti-Mandal protests.

(Source: Times Content/Screenshot)

Other sources: The Quint had published a report in 2017 about the anti-Mandal protests, which carried the same image. It talked about students' protests after the implementation of the Mandal Commission report by the then Prime Minister VP Singh.

The image shows a student trying to self-immolate during anti-Mandal protests.

This report was published on 5 August 2017.

(Source: The Quint)

Conclusion: It is evident that the image is being shared with a false communal claim.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , 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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