Fact-Check: Video of Tractor Running Over Police During Farmers’ Protest Is Old

The video dates back to August 2023, when protesting farmers clashed with the Punjab police in Sangrur.

The video has no connection to the ongoing farmers' protest near the Punjab Haryana Shambhu border.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A video of a policemen getting stuck under a tractor's wheels during a rally by protesting farmers has gone viral on social media, where users are linking in to the ongoing farmers' protest near the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border.

• Follow the protest with The Quint's live coverage here.

The claim: The video is being shared with hashtags such as '#FarmersProtest2024', claiming that the protesting farmers crushed police personnel under their tractors.

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.)

Is it true?: No, the video is not recent as claimed.

• It dates back to August 2023 and shows visuals from Longowal in Punjab's Sangrur district, where farmers were protesting for compensation for lost harvest.

• One farmer who came under one of the vehicles lost a limb and eventually succumbed to his injuries, whereas the policeman under the truck was severely injured.

How did we find out?: We divided the viral video into multiple keyframes using InVID, a video verification extension on Google Chrome, and ran a reverse image search.

• It led us to a post carrying the same video on X, by journalist Gagandeep Singh, who had shared it on 21 August 2023.

The video is nearly six months old.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

• In his post, Singh mentioned a clash between protesting farmers and the Punjab police in Longowal, Sangrur, in which one farmer lost his leg after coming under the tyre of a tractor trolley.

• He added that the farmer passed away during treatment and that one policeman was severely injured.

• Taking a cue from Singh's post, we looked for more information using relevant keywords.

• An article by The Indian Express, which carried a screengrab of the viral video, said that farmers from Punjab were on their way to Chandigarh, to demand compensation for crop losses after a flood wreaked havoc in the state.

Indian Express article from August 2023. 

(Photo: Indian Express/Screenshot)

• We also came across a post by Sangrur Police's X account, which shared the video, expressing condolences for the deceased farmer who was "overrun by a rashly driven tractor trolley by protesters."

Conclusion: The video is from August 2023, when farmers protesting in Punjab clashed with the police in Sangrur district's Longowal village.

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