An image of a man in tears is doing the rounds on social media with false claims that he is an UPSC aspirant who failed to clear the civil service examination because of the reservation system and the stipulated cut-off marks of the 'General' category.
Facebook posts misleadingly identifies the man as one Rajesh Tiwari from Lucknow. However, BOOM identified the man as Sayeed Rimon, a Bangladeshi influencer who has been running awareness campaigns on social issues using impactful photographs featuring him.
The photo is viral with a caption, "The image below is of Rajesh Tiwari, 29, Lucknow, India. The Only person who earns in the family of 7 Members. He is crying because he failed to crack the IAS examination. He Got 643 Marks in the UPSC Civil Services exam this year But Failed coz Cut Off for General Category was 689 this year. For SC/ST it was 601. So according to this the one who has got 601 will become our next Bureaucrat. The fault of Rajesh Tiwari & thousand of other like him is only that they have born in #General Category. So despite having a financial crisis they have to be called Upper Caste..."
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Several Twitter users also shared the image with a similar narrative.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on the photograph and found the photo in a 2019 article published by Bangladesh based TV Channel Ekushey TV. The article identified the man as one Sayeed Rimon and reported on his awareness campaigns on social issues using impactful photographs.
According to the report, Sayeed Rimon, a textile engineer, runs awareness campaigns on social media platforms on issues like road accidents, pickpocketing, unemployment, using photographs. He runs these awareness drives through social media and public campaigns.
Dhaka Tribune too reported about Rimon's innovative initiative in 2017.
Furthermore, a keyword search on Facebook led us to Rimon's Facebook account where the viral picture was uploaded on November 30, 2016. The Facebook post addressed the rise in unemployment issue in the country.
On June 2, Rimon took to Facebook to debunk the viral claim with his picture saying, " A much talked about picture in India. But I'm a Bangladeshi".
BOOM reached out to Sayeed who confirmed us the image was taken in 2016 at Uttara, Dhaka to raise awareness about unemployment issues.
He said, "I started doing these campaigns after experiencing a road accident of a neighbour from my area which happened around 12 years ago. I still do these awareness campaigns."
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