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Muslims across India observed Shab-e-Barat, one of the holiest nights on Thursday, February 13, 2025. The night dubbed as “Night of Forgiveness” is observed on the 15th night of Sha'ban, the eighth month of the Islamic lunar year. The believers spend this revered night in prayer and seeking forgiveness from the Almighty Allah.
Shab-e-Barat holds deep spiritual significance in Islam as Muslims believe that on this night Allah determines the destinies of individuals for the coming year, forgiving the sins of those who sincerely repent. People attend evening prayers in mosques. Many also visit the cemeteries and pray for their loved ones by their graves.
Meanwhile, a video showing Muslim youth in large numbers gathered at the Delhi metro station capturing others jumping the AFC (Automatic Fare Collection) gates. This video is widely being circulated on various social media platforms claiming Indian muslims are “mass evading fares in Delhi metro station yesterday after Friday prayers.”
Claim: Indian Muslims peacefully mass evading fares in Delhi metro station yesterday after Friday prayers. This is the first time I have seen American style fare evasion in a metro station in India.
The viral claim link is here and the archive link here.
Here’s the screenshot of the viral post.
🎥 In a video going viral on internet people are caught on camera evading fares in Delhi Metro after Friday prayers#ViralVideo #DelhiMetro pic.twitter.com/QOk3CSQpsv
— The Statesman (@TheStatesmanLtd) February 15, 2025
Fact Check:
During the investigation, the Telugupost fact check team found the claim of Muslim youth evading the fares in a metro station to be misleading.
Before we began our investigation, we extracted the keyframes from the viral video and ran them through Google Reverse Image Search tool. We came across a few recent news article links which reported on the viral video.
According to the NewsX article, the viral video showing a group of young men jumping over the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates at a Delhi Metro station has sparked a heated debate on social media due to the apparent lack of intervention from security personnel.
We also came across a video posted by Aaj Tak on its YouTube channel. The Hindi news channel reported that the incident took place around 11 am on February 13, 2025 (Thursday) when two trains reached the station at the same time leading to chaos. Following the non-functioning of AFC gates, the crowd was hard to manage and therefore the security officials allowed the people to exit from the side gate. As people were leaving the station from the side gate, some youth were seen jumping over the gates.
When we continued our search, we found a tweet by ANI. The news agency has retweeted the official clarification posted by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on its X account.
“In reference to a viral video circulating on social media regarding some passengers jumping over AFC gates to exit, DMRC would like to inform that said incident is reported from Jama Masjid Metro station on Magenta (violet) Line on the evening of 13th February 2025. There was a temporary surge of passengers for a brief time when some passengers bypassed the AFC gate by jumping over it to exit. Security personnel and other staff were adequately present to counsel such passengers and the situation was never out of control. Rather, it was a momentary reaction of some passengers due to sudden surge at AFC gates,” DMRC wrote in its X post on Saturday.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) tweets " in reference to a viral video circulating on social media regarding some passengers jumping over afc gates to exit, dmrc would like to inform that said incident is reported from jama masjid metro station on magenta line on the evening… pic.twitter.com/udeutleKiq
— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2025
In the light of above media reports and DMRC clarification, we can conclude that the incident occurred on Thursday night not after Friday prayers. The passengers are required to buy the ticket at the time of entering the metro station and not exiting it. Since the incident of jumping over the AFC gate happened at the exit gate therefore the claim of fare evasion or travelling without a ticket is incorrect. Hence, the viral claim is misleading.
Claim : Muslim youth evading fares at Delhi metro station after Friday prayers Claimed By : Social Media Users Claim Reviewed By : Telugupost Fact Check Claim Source : Social Media Fact Check : Misleading |
(Note: This story was first published by Telugupost and is republished by ETV Bharat as part of Shakti Collective.)
