Video of a man setting himself on fire viral with Misleading Caption
Amidst shortage of food and water due to lockdown, a lot of fake news has been floating around. Recently a video went viral with a claim that a youth set himself on fire due to shortage of food supplies.
CLAIM
A video is taking rounds on social media with the following claim that a young man in Hyderabad set himself on fire due to hunger and unemployment. The video carried the following caption-
लॉकडाउन की वजह से अाई भूखमरी और तंगी से परिशान युवक खुद पर पेट्रोल डाल कर आत्मदाह की कोशिश #जेडिमीतला #हैदराबाद
Translation-
Hunger and unemployment due to the lock down has resulted in a youth setting himself on fire using petrol #Jeedimetla #Hyderabad
This post was uploaded by a Facebook page ‘दिल है हिंदुस्तानी’ on 20th May and has over 155k views and 3.1k shares.
The following post was uploaded on 19th May by ‘Imran Bankwi’ and has garnered over 28k views and 1.4k shares.
सरकारें सो रही हैं, दिल्ली में बैठे हुए सत्ताधीशों बडी हाय लगेगी इन ग़रीबों की इतना जुल्म ना करो।
लॉकडाउन की वजह से अाई भूखमरी और तंगी से परिशान युवक खुद पर पेट्रोल डाल कर आत्मदाह की कोशिश #जेडिमीतला #हैदराबाद pic.twitter.com/RLFXVEophw— मीडिया आलोचक (@001Habeb) May 19, 2020
The following video was tweeted on 19th May by ‘मीडिया आलोचक’ and has over 5.5k views and 353 retweets.
TRUTH
The claim is false. The man in the viral video set himself on fire because of a spat with his wife and not because of hunger or unemployment.
Using some keywords like ‘Hyderabad’, ‘Youth’, ‘on fire’ the same video can be found on facebook with a caption claiming that a man set himself on fire after a fight with his wife.
The following video was uploaded by ‘The AT news’ on their Facebook page on 15th May with the caption-
Warning: Kamzor dil wale log is video ko na dekhe. (Translation- Coward people should not watch this)
Couple fight turns ugly !! husband set himself on fire in Jeedimetla of #Hyderabad after angry wife left home. Thankfully, alert locals managed to put off the flames and sent him to the hospital where persons identified as Bhuvan Reddy struggling for life.
The post also has a Youtube link-
Google search with keywords ‘Hyderabad’, ‘man’, ‘wife’, ‘fire’ led to a story published by Sakshi Post.
The picture used for the article is a still from the video. The following news was also covered by Telangana today and The New Indian express.
As reported by the newspaper, the man in the video is identified as Bhuvan Reddy, a 35 year old resident of Sudharshan Reddy Nagar in Jeedimetla, was upset after his wife refused to live with him and as a result took such drastic steps. The following fake news was also busted by Newsmobile.
Hence the caption of the viral video is misleading.
