Baljinder Singh, a resident of Sujanpur in Punjab’s Pathankot district, has reportedly been sentenced to death by a court in Saudi Arabia in connection with a drug trafficking case. Singh has reportedly been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for around three years. His family members have appealed to both the Punjab government and the central government to intervene and provide assistance. They have sought help to understand the legal proceedings and explore possible avenues for relief. The case has drawn attention in Punjab, with the family seeking government support to pursue available legal and diplomatic options to help Singh (here, here, and here).

In this context, a video is being shared on social media (here, here, and here) with the claim that it shows actor Shah Rukh Khan criticising Saudi Arabia and reprimanding the country over Baljinder Singh’s death sentence. Let’s verify the truth behind the video in this article.

The archived post can be found here.

Claim: The video shows actor Shah Rukh Khan criticising Saudi Arabia and reprimanding the country over Baljinder Singh’s death sentence.

Fact: The video has been digitally altered to depict Shah Rukh Khan criticising Saudi Arabia and speaking about Baljinder Singh’s death sentence. The original footage is from a 2015 event at the University of Edinburgh, where Khan spoke about life lessons. AI voice detection tools, including Hive and Hiya, indicated that the audio was likely AI-generated or manipulated. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.

To verify the claim, we conducted a Google search using relevant keywords but found no credible reports confirming that actor Shah Rukh Khan criticised or reprimanded Saudi Arabia over Baljinder Singh’s death sentence. Had such a statement been made, it would likely have received significant media coverage; however, no such reports were found.

We also reviewed Shah Rukh Khan’s official social media handles (here, here, and here). Still, we found no reference to the case or any statement regarding Baljinder Singh’s death sentence that could substantiate the claim.

We then conducted a reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video, which led us to an extended version of the same video uploaded on the University of Edinburgh’s YouTube channel on 16 October 2015. The background in the original video matches that seen in the viral clip, confirming that both videos are from the same event. In the video, Shah Rukh Khan speaks about various life lessons. At the event, the University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary doctorate, and he spoke about lessons he learned through his film roles. Combining humour with introspection, Khan discussed the importance of embracing one’s unique identity, facing fears, and maintaining self-confidence in the face of challenges. He also shared anecdotes from his film career and explained how different characters had helped him view life from new perspectives. However, he made no mention of Baljinder Singh or his death sentence in the video.

We then analysed the viral video using multiple AI voice detection tools, including Hive and Hiya. The analysis indicated that the audio was likely AI-generated or manipulated. This suggests that the viral video has been digitally altered, with the original footage paired with fabricated audio to falsely depict actor Shah Rukh Khan making statements he never made.

To sum up, this viral video of Shah Rukh Khan reprimanding Saudi Arabia over Baljinder Singh’s death sentence is AI-manipulated.