No, this is not a photo of people fleeing India’s Gujarat state

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on November 7, 2018 at 12:45
  • 1 min read
  • By AFP India

Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.

A Facebook post contains a photograph it claims shows people fleeing the western Indian state of Gujarat. The photograph is an image from near the northern Indian city of Mathura that was taken more than eight years ago published by international news agency Reuters.

The photo, posted to Facebook on October 9, shows a train with people on the roofs of the carriages and hanging out its doors. 

An accompanying caption in Hindi translates as: “People from state of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar fleeing Gujarat, this mass exodus is a reminder of India-Pakistan partition in 1947.”

Snapshot of misleading post

The misleading post was published to Facebook as Indian media reported that violence against non-Gujaratis had triggered an exodus of migrants from the state. 

However the original photo was published by Reuters on July 24, 2010, and can be seen on the company’s website here.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

Contact us

Next article Previous article