Fact Check: Viral post on migrant labourers’ exodus from Tamil Nadu fake, video originally of Palamu Express

New Delhi (Vishvas News): Amid rumours of attack on migrants in Tamil Nadu, a fresh video is being shared with another false claim that Hindi-speaking labourers are fleeing the southern state. In the viral video, people can be seen hanging from the general bogies of a moving train, which the post claimed to be running from Tamil Nadu to Bihar.

In Vishvas News investigation, this video also turned out to be fake like other videos and had nothing to do with the exodus of migrant workers from Tamil Nadu.

Claim:

Social media user ‘Dynamo Zams Gaming’ shared the video (archive link) with the claim that it is of migrant labourers returning from Tamil Nadu to Bihar.

Several other users have shared the same video with similar claims.

Investigation

In the viral video, a huge crowd can be seen risking their lives to travel in the general bogies of a train. In one of the frames obtained with the help of Invid tool, ‘Palamu Express’ can be seen written on the bogie of the train.

According to the information available on the official website of Indian Railways, this train runs between Jharkhand’s Barkakana Junction and Bihar capital Patna.

Dainik Jagran’s Palamu bureau chief Mutunjay Pathak confirmed that the ‘Palamu Express’ does not run between Bihar and Tamil Nadu, but between Bihar and Jharkhand.

It is clear from our investigation that the train seen in the viral video is not of migrant labourers returning from Tamil Nadu to Bihar, and the video is being shared with a false claim.

Significantly, unrelated videos and photographs have been shared on social media with fake and misleading claims of attack on North Indian migrant labourers in Tamil Nadu. Action has been initiated against the people spreading such videos and photographs by identifying them.

In this case, the Bihar Police, while investigating the video spreading hysteria with false and misleading claims, has registered a case against four people under various sections of the IPC and one of the accused has also been arrested.

Meanwhile, the team that went to investigate the issue in Tamil Nadu has returned to Bihar and submitted its report to the government. The team has said in its report that news and messages, along with seven videos, circulating in social media were found on the mobile phones of migrant workers from Bihar. These videos were found to be misleading.

Tamil Nadu Police is also taking continuous action in this matter, identifying and arresting such people, who shared videos and pictures with fake and misleading claims.

Recently, a video of a case of assault on a train with Hindi-speaking migrant workers in South India had surfaced and the police had arrested the accused in this case. Subsequently, several videos and photographs were shared on social media with misleading and false claims of violence against Hindi-speaking labourers in Tamil Nadu, which triggered the exodus of migrant workers. Fact check reports related to this can be seen and read on Vishvas News website and official Twitter handle.

The user who shared the viral video with the misleading claim is followed by over 150 people on Facebook.