Ranjana Agarwal, X-ray Eyed Girl Who Can See Blindfolded: Fact Check

Story:

Fourteen year old Ranjana Agarwal is a human X-ray machine who has the ability to see blindfolded, she had been granted a government award certifying that she can see blindfolded.

Picture about Ranjana Agarwal, the X-ray Eyed Girl who can See Blindfolded — Ranjana Agarwal, the X-ray Eyed Girl who can See Blindfolded

Fact Check:

As told in the message, this is the story of a 14 year old Ranjana Agarwal who is claimed to have a special ability of seeing things blindfolded – there are few videos supporting this claim. Although the videos appear to show the girl having an ‘X-ray sight’ to see things blindfolded, the claim is not a fact. The story is a hoax.

How Ranjana Agarwal became Popular

This story of Ranjana Agarwal became popular after she was seen giving her ‘Blindfolded Sight‘ performances in couple of Television reality shows in India. The present video shown is from a Television reality show called ‘Shabaash India Special Talent‘. Ranjana Agarwal also claimed to have a certificate awarded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of India that she had the power of seeing with a cloth tied over her eyes. This made many people believe that the girl indeed has a special power, and thereby she came to be known as ‘X-ray eyed girl‘.

An Investigation into her Special Powers

In 2010, Professor Narendra Nayak, the President of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA) along with his team has attended one of her live shows on India TV channel on 18th June and insisted that the girl did not have any special talent to see blindfolded. He believed that the girls is able to see those things held under her nose, through the gap between the blindfold and her cheeks. It is to be noted that Nayak was not allowed to test the special ability of the girl by applying dough in the gap between her cheeks, as the girl started crying and the TV hosts insisted that the child must not be subjected to any trauma. You can read about this complete investigation process from the reference section below.

Actual Facts

Ranjana Agarwal is an ordinary girl with Myopia (short sight), who is projected to possess X-ray eyes to see things blindfolded, and this is most certainly the result of her publicity-hungry parents, and the TRP-crazy media. When you watch the girl in the video closely, you will see that the frames where the girl sees things peeking through the gap between her cheeks are avoided from the sight of the viewers.

The video above is a performance of the girl in another reality show called ‘Entertainment ke liye kuch bhi karega‘, which means ‘Anything for entertainment’. The fourteen year old girl, along with the TV show hosts show that she can see and read things blindfolded. With various tests and activities, the hosts and the girl try to convince the audience that the girl does have this special ability to see blindfolded. She was approved to possess some special powers and was also awarded a cash prize. But if you observe the girl, she has a microphone around her cheeks, and as she was being blindfolded, the camera moves away and does not show her ears (which was shown in the above video).

Staged Show?

So, there is every possibility that the girl can have a speaker in her ear which is blinded from the audience. And the video also shows the girl seeing and reading books from below – the way she puts things below her eye-level. This trick of the girl, combined with the possible support from the TV show people had staged all this magic of ‘Blindfolded Seeing’. The girl was initially approved for special abilities and selected into the final performance on the show, but was not approved later in the finale – it all makes sense now!. The attention seeking parents and the TRP crazy media – the same thing Professor Nayak mentioned in the earlier Live Show of the other channel.

But it is surprising to know that the government certificate she has from the ministry of HRD, seems to be genuine – as checked by the Narendra Nayak team.

To conclude, the story of Ranjana Agrawal having the ability to see blindfolded is a hoax. She is an ordinary girl suffering with myopia, and manages to see things down her nose, through the gap between her eyes and cheeks – perhaps also supported by the media people. In no way, this is a healthy practice. Parents should understand that encouraging children into false motives like this is never a good idea, it is like a dangerous play with their future. Media should not move away from their basic responsibility to put forth the actual facts before people. It is a powerful source of knowledge and communication, so it is very important for them to maintain values.