For the past month, the ongoing protests have targeted the Bihar government over the delayed release of the Bihar Public Service Commission’s second-phase teachers’ recruitment results. Despite Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary’s assurance in January, students are voicing frustration on social media. Amid this, a viral post surfaced on social media showcasing a non-judicial stamp paper from Bihar, claiming a candidate will vote NOTA with their family if results aren’t released, featuring the name “Vikash Kumar” with a passport-size photo, instead of the signatory.
A Facebook user posted with a caption: “BPSC TRE में SUPPLEMENTARY RESULT ना देने पर, वर्तमान सरकार को वोट ना करने का शपथ लेता हुआ अभ्यर्थी।” (English translation: Candidate taking oath not to vote for the present government if BPSC TRE does not give SUPPLEMENTARY RESULT.)
The above post can be seen here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above claim, and found it to be FAKE.
Going through the document carefully, the NM team found that the stamp paper lacked the mandatory special serial number, which is mentioned in all such documents. Running a Reverse Image Search, we found the image on the stamp paper to the Instagram profile of renowned YouTuber Wasim Ahmed. The photo was posted on June 09, 2021, with a caption: “Passport size photo 😂 #round2hell #wasimahmadofficial.”
We also discovered the viral stamp paper in a post by a Twitter account, named ‘Educators of Bihar’, dated February 16, 2022, with a caption: The affidavit and medical certificate of the selected teachers will be something like this. Prospective teachers should get both these documents prepared before 23rd February. #नियुक्ति_पत्र”. It clarifies that all original text on this stamp paper was erased, and the message about boycotting voting was added in its place. This strongly suggests that the viral stamp paper was tampered with editing techniques.
Also, the notary stamp is missing from this particular image. Upon closer inspection, it was observed that the signature of the alleged candidate provided below had not been attested by a notary and the signature section appeared to have been added separately. Upon zooming in, a line was noticed above the candidate’s signature, suggesting that it may have been cropped from another source and inserted here.
Using an online tool — Foto Forensics — we conducted an Error Level Analysis (ELA) of the viral photo. In our analysis, we discovered indications of editing on the alleged stamp paper. The text written on it appeared separately, highlighted in white colour.
This observation strongly suggests that the text was added to the stamp paper through separate editing.
Hence, we can conclusively say that the viral stamp paper featuring an oath by a candidate is fabricated and shared with false claims.
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