A video of a man breaking the glass window of the semi-high speed train Vande Bharat is viral on social media with a false communal claim that a Muslim was destroying the train.
BOOM found that the video was shot during the maintenance of the Vande Bharat express at Kankaria, a coaching depot in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Also, the person who changed the window glass was not Muslim.
A user on X shared the video and wrote in Hindi, "Train Jihad is at its peak...It is not known where the video is from But you can see how the terrorist of ISIS module is carrying out his conspiracy by breaking the glass of "Vande Bharat" train. Repost the video so much that. This terrorist should be caught."
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Sharing the video, another X user wrote, "Radical caught destroying windows of a train in India. What can be done with these ppl? They are destroying the country like termites."
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The video is also viral on Facebook with a similar communal claim. Archive here.
Fact Check: Video Shows Maintenance Work on Vande Bharat Train
BOOM found that the viral claim is false. We found that the man breaking the glass is neither Muslim nor was he damaging the window pane of Vande Bharat express.
We noticed many users on social media had already pointed out that a process of replacement of broken window glass was being shown in the video.
The X account Trains of India shared the viral video in a post with the text, "No, He isn't damaging the train but breaking an already damaged glass to replace it with a new one at maintenance depot, as the glass is glued tightly with the body it needs to be broken first."
While sharing another video, the user also explained the process involved in the changing of window glasses of Vande Bharat trains.
Additionally, a Facebook user also shared the link to the Instagram profile of the person who was breaking the damaged window of the train. Archive here.
We scanned the profile of this user (signare _ mahi _ manish) but was unable to find the viral video there. However, according to an India Today article, on September 10, an Instagram story which also included a screenshot of the viral video was shared on this account.
The account belongs to Manish Kumar, a resident of Arrah in Bihar. Manish Kumar who currently resides in Ahmedabad works as a contractual employee in the Railways. Speaking to The Lallantop, Manish Kumar confirmed that the person in the video is him but the officials have prohibited him from speaking to the media so he cannot divulge more information regarding this.
Person Doing Maintenance Work is Not Muslim
BOOM contacted Western Railway for further confirmation. Pradeep Sharma, senior public relations officer of Western Railway, Ahmedabad, told BOOM that this is an old video shot during the maintenance of Ahmedabad-Mumbai Vande Bharat at Integrated Coaching Depot Kankaria.
"The window glass of Vande Bharat is made of toughened glass keeping in mind the safety of the passengers so that no harm is caused to the passengers when any external object hits them," the public relations officer said. Pradeep Sharma further added, "The man (contractual labourer) was breaking the window glass with the help of a hammer after it cracked. Another contractual employee had shot the video at that time." He also told us that the man does not belong to the Muslim community.
"Videography is prohibited within railway premises, strict action has been taken against the contractual employee for videographing the maintenance work and posting it on social media," Sharma added.