A video is going viral on social media with the claim that it shows students of Glocal University in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur raising slogans of 'Pakistan Zindabad'. This video was published as news by several mainstream media outlets such as Aaj Tak, ABP News, Republic Bharat, and Times Now Navbharat, with the claim that B-Pharma and D-Pharma students from the university had chanted 'Pakistan Zindabad' in a moving bus.
BOOM found these claims to be false, and that the media channels had misreported the issue. We spoke to several students, and a teacher from Glocal University, who were present in the bus during the chanting of the slogans, who clarified that the slogans being raised said 'Zaid Sir Zindabad' and 'Monish Sir Zindabad'.
Times Now Navbharat shared the video as breaking news with the caption, “#BreakingNow: Pakistan Zindabad slogans raised in Saharanpur, Glocal University students raise slogans.”
You can find an archive of the tweet here.
Right-leaning media outlet The New Indian captioned the video as, "Students of Glocal University, Saharanpur raise slogans of Pakistan Zindabad."
View an archive of the tweet here.
ABP News also published the video with the same claim.
Zee News Hindi also published the same, and added that the police have registered a case against 2 students, and are gathering information about the remaining students.
Furthermore, the report added, “There is a fanatical thinking in society, where despite living in India, they does not consider India as its own. Such people, despite taking all the benefits from the country, have kept Pakistan in their hearts till date. They are attracted by the romantic thought of Ghazwa-e-Hind, due to which they themselves do not even know when they start anti-national activities."
Other media outlets to report this video with the claim of 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans being raised are Amar Ujala, Dainik Bhaskar, Aaj Tak, Republic Bharat, Patrika, ETV Bharat, and UP Tak.
Right-wing Twitter handle Megh Updates , journalist Himanshu Mishra, entrepreneur Saurabh Singh and several social media users targeted the Muslim community, claiming the video featured 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans.
This video has also been shared extensively on Facebook.
After this video surfaced, the police have filed a report under section 153 (b)/505 (2) against two students in this matter. According to news reports, Glocal University has subsequently expelled both the students.
Fact-Check
BOOM analysed the audio of the viral video closely, to decipher the slogans being raised. We cleaned up the audio by removing the noise, slowed it down, and listened to the highlighted audio.
We found that there were mainly three slogans raised in it – 'Zaid Sir Zindabad' (Long Live Zaid Sir), 'Monish Sir Zindabad' (Long Live Monish Sir) and 'Monish Sir Amar Rahein' (May Monish Sir Be Immortal), which have been misheard/misreported as 'Pakistan Zindabad'. The slowed down and audio highlight versions of the video can be heard below.
BOOM got in touch with the two students - Mohammad Soban Ahmed and Mohammad Shaban, who were mentioned in the FIR.
Both the students rejected the claim of raising 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans and said that the names of their teachers Zaid and Monis were raised in the bus on February 3, 2023.
Shaban said, “We were going to a program at JV Jain College in Saharanpur. Zaid sir and Monish sir were also with us. We were raising their slogans only.”
To corroborate this, we contacted three more students - Aslam, Sameer, and Shubham, who were present in the bus when the video was shot.
Talking to BOOM, Aslam said that there were no slogans of 'Pakistan Zindabad', and that slogans being raised were of "Zaid Sir" and "Monish Sir Zindabad".
Sameer told BOOM that everyone was having fun in the bus when the students raised slogans of 'Zaid Sir Zindabad,' 'Zaid Sir Zindabad', 'Monish Sir Zindabad' and 'Long Live Monish Sir'.
Additionally, Shubham, a D-Pharma student present in the bus, also clarified to BOOM that slogans like 'Zaid Sir Zindabad', 'Zaid Sir Zindabad', 'Monish Sir Zindabad' and 'Monish Sir Amar Rahe' were raised.
He told that both Zaid and Monish are faculty in the pharmacy department of Glocal University.
We contacted Zaid, a teacher at the Department of Pharmacy at Glocal University, who told us that he was also present in the bus. Refuting the claims being made with the viral video of 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans being raised, he said, “Pharmacy students were going to JV Jain College in Saharanpur. Since, his behavior with the children is friendly, the children were chanting his name in jest."
He also confirmed to BOOM that the students chanted 'Zaid Sir Zindabad', 'Monish Sir Zindabad' and 'Monish Sir Amar Rahein' in the bus.
BOOM contacted Saharanpur SSP Vipin Tada, who told us that an FIR has been registered on this matter, and that no arrests had been made yet, and the video was yet to be investigated.
CO of Behat also confirmed to us that a case had been registered in this matter, and that they are currently checking the video.