Recently, a black and white image of a large gathering of people is being widely shared on social media platforms with a claim it is a ‘rare’ picture from Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev’s funeral. The image started doing rounds on Martyr’s Day, which is observed every year on March 23, to commemorate our bravehearts who made the supreme sacrifice for India’s freedom struggle.
A Facebook user shared the image with a caption in Hindi that translates to, “Rare picture of a funeral! For 70 years, they were not able to declare them martyrs, on the other hand, insulted their sacrifice and called them terrorists. I pay my heartfelt tribute to such brave martyrs Bhagat Singh, Martyr Rajguru, Martyr Sukhdev on Martyr’s Day!”
(Original:अंतिम संस्कार की दुर्लभ तस्वीर !! 70 वर्षों में इन्हें शहीद तो घोषित कर नही पाये ,उल्टा आतंकवादी कहकर उनके त्याग और बलिदान का अपमान किया ? ऐसे वीर शहीद भगतसिंह ,शहीद राजगुरु,शहीद सुखदेव को शहीद दिवस पर मैं ह्रदय से अश्रुपूरित श्रधांजलि अर्पित करता हूँ !!!)
The same image is also doing rounds on Twitter with the same claim.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the viral image and found it to be shared with a false claim.
On performing a Reverse Image Search, we found the same picture in an article on discoversikhism.com. The article talked about the ‘1978 Amritsar Massacre’. “All that remained were the ashes… and the inspired example of their lives in accordance with the highest traditions of the Khalsa,” reads the caption with the image.
The same image was also carried on another website All About Sikhs. According to the report, the image shows visuals of an incident of violence on April 13, 1978, in which 13 people from the Sikh community lost their lives. Nearly 25-30,000 people gathered for their last rites. More details about the incident can be found here.
We further checked for details about Bhagat Singh’s funeral and found a report by The Print that says, “Afterwards, their bodies were hurriedly taken down from the gallows. They were dragged along the dirty passageway, chopped into pieces and stuffed into sacks, which were then whisked out of the jail compound surreptitiously. Outside the jail, the remains were unceremoniously stacked on a truck. The truck made haste, speeding northwards from Lahore to Kasur, some two hours’ drive away. There, on the banks of the River Sutlej, two holy men awaited. The harried men, dressed in full priestly garb, clutched their prayer books for solace. One was Sikh, and the other Hindu. The priests read out the final prayers over the dismembered bodies, which were quickly loaded onto a funeral pyre to burn fiercely in the eerie silence of the night. Before the pyre had fully burnt out, and as dawn threatened to break over the silent waters of the Sutlej, the roaring fires were hastily put out. The charred remains were then hurled into the river. The precise spot was to be later identified as Post No. 201. Once the priests and the policemen had departed, villagers who had been looking on with suspicion went into the water. They retrieved the body parts and set about cremating them properly. Having always been of the people, it was the people who gave Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru the dignity in death they already had in life.”
Hence, with the above information, it can be concluded that the viral claim is false.
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