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Category: Media analysis

  • News channels, BJP leaders’ claim that UPA got St. George’s Cross back on Navy flag is false

    On September 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new flag of the Indian Navy in Kochi. The St George’s Cross was removed from the erstwhile flag and it was replaced with an octagonal shield inspired by the seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with the national emblem above the anchor. Below that, there is the motto of the Indian Navy, ‘Sham No Varunah’. Earlier, the flag featured the St. George’s Cross with the national emblem in the centre and ‘Satyamev Jayate’ written below it.

    There was a flurry of debates on news channels regarding the change. Back in 2001, the flag of the Indian Navy had also been changed during the tenure of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the colonial emblem of St. George’s Cross was removed. The flag was again changed in 2004 and the St. George’s Cross was brought back. News channels and BJP leaders blamed the Congress, including the UPA government and the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for the change. It was claimed that the flag was revised after the change of power in 2004 when the UPA government was at the Centre and Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister. BJP leaders accused the Congress party and Sonia Gandhi of bringing back the St George’s Cross on the Indian Navy flag because of their ‘attachment’ to the colonial symbol.

    On August 30, anchor Shiv Aroor on India Today News Channel’s 5ive Live show claimed that Atal Bihari Vajpayee had removed the St. George’s Cross from the Navy’s flag in 2001, but in 2004, the UPA government brought it back. In the same show, Gaurav Sawant, managing editor and anchor of India Today channel made the same claim. In the beginning of the show, Shiv Aroor introduced Gaurav Sawant and stated that when the St George’s Cross was re-introduced in the Indian Navy flag back in 2004 under Manmohan Singh’s government, Sawant had first reported it. It is worth noting that Shiv Aroor is also the founder of Defence and Aerospace news website LiveFist.

    On August 31, Aroor also claimed on India Today’s digital news video vertical NewsMO that the Manmohan Singh government brought back the St George’s Cross to the Indian Navy flag. India Today also tweeted a video of this. (Archived link)

    On September 1, Aaj Tak news channel consulting editor and anchor Sudhir Chaudhary claimed in his show ‘Black and White’ that the St. George’s Cross was removed from the Indian Navy flag in 2001 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. In 2004, when the UPA government came to power and Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister, the St. George’s Cross was brought back on the Indian Navy flag.

    On September 2, several BJP leaders and supporters targeted the Congress party and the UPA government, claiming that the Congress brought back the St. George’s Cross, a symbol of the colonial past, on the Indian Navy flag after Dr. Manmohan Singh became prime minister in 2004. Gave. BJP MP Tejashwi Surya, and BJP leader Tajinderpal Singh Bagga also tweeted the same claim.

    Right wing influencer Anshul Saxena and BJP Goa tweeted the same claim as well. However, Saxena deleted the tweet later. (Archived link)

    After this, media channels in their shows blamed Congress and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for bringing back the St. George’s Cross to the Indian Navy flag in 2004.

    On Aaj Tak news channel, in anchor Chitra Tripathi’s show ‘Dangal’ on September 2, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia showed the printed copy of a graphic claiming that the St. George’s Cross was removed from the Indian Navy flag during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2001. He then said that the Cross was brought back after the Congress came to power in 2004. After this, supporting the BJP spokesperson’s claim, the news anchor repeated that the Cross was re-introduced after Congress came to power, and asked Congress spokesperson Alok Sharma who loved the symbol so much that it had to be brought back?

    On September 3, Rajat Sharma, editor-in-chief and chairman of India TV, claimed in his show ‘Aaj Ki Baat‘ that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had removed the British symbol (St. George’s Cross) in 2001. But in 2004, Manmohan Singh’s government came and brought it back.

     

    Fact-check

    Anchors of major TV news channels and BJP leaders claimed on TV that the Navy flag with the St. George’s Cross was brought back under the Manmohan Singh government. However, this is not true.

    First, we used Google Advanced Search to collect documents related to the change in the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001. We performed keyword searches on Google using the date and website filters. We found an archive from 2001 on the website of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Government of India. According to this press release issued on August 8, 2001, on August 15, 2001, the St. George’s Cross was removed and a new mark was added on the Indian Navy flag. Using this information, we performed a keyword search on Google with the help of date and file filters. This led us to the original scanned copy of this press release on the Press Information Bureau (PIB) website. Both have been shown below.

    Alt News examined the Lok Sabha website to gather more information. We found an Unstarred question which Thawar Chand Gehlot, the then Lok Sabha member from Shajapur, had asked the defence ministry. Gehlot inquired whether warships and submarines of the Indian Navy were still operating with the foreign flag with the St. George’s Cross on it, and if so, if the government had given them permission to change the said flags. The then defence minister George Fernandes responded on March 21, 2002, saying that all Indian Navy ships, submarines and shore installations carry the Indian Navy flag. The Indian Navy flag has been displayed on Indian Navy ships and submarines since January 26, 1950. This flag was white and divided into four parts by the Red Cross, and the Indian flag was on the left section. The new Indian Navy flag is affixed on Indian Navy ships, submarines and shore installations August 15, 2001 onwards.

    Next, we performed a keyword search on Google with the date filter to gather more information about the change in the flag of the Indian Navy in 2004. We found a news report related to this published on the Rediff website on April 24, 2004. According to this news, on that day, the St George’s Cross was brought back on the flag of the Indian Navy. The reason for this was a complaint shared by the Indian Navy. It said that in the change in the flag in 2001, the St. George’s Cross was removed from the flag and a new mark was added. Due to its blue colour, the ocean and sky used to mix with the blue, and the flag was not visible from a distance. It is worth noting that on April 25, 2004, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India. Dr. Manmohan Singh took his oath as the Prime Minister on May 22, 2004.

    To verify the information, we checked the archives of ‘The Hindu‘ newspaper dated April 24, 2004. Here, we also found information related to the change in the flag of the Indian Navy. We also got the news related to this published on April 24, 2004 in the Financial Express archives. This confirms that the flag was changed on April 25, 2004 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India.

    We checked the website of Rajya Sabha for more details, and found an Unstarred question then Rajya Sabha MP Eknath K. Thakur had asked the defence ministry. He asked whether it was true that the Indian Navy wanted to adorn its ships, submarines and installations with new ensigns, flags and pendants, along with the reasons for this. The then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee replied on July 14, 2004 saying – “Yes, from April 25, 2004, the new emblem of the Indian Navy, distinctive flags and pennants have been introduced. The reason for the change in the flag was that the earlier flags had a combination of blue and white which was not clearly visible from a distance, especially at sea.” In other words, in 2004, when the Indian Navy’s flag was changed, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister.

    To sum it up, the news channels of India Today, Aaj Tak, and India TV along with BJP leaders circulated a false claim. It was said that in 2001, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had removed the St. George’s Cross from the Indian Navy  flag, but when the UPA government came to power in 2004 and Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister, he added the St. George’s Cross back on to it. In fact, both the changes in 2001 and 2004 happened during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

    In a fact-check article dated September 5, Aaj Tak also termed the claims made by these BJP leaders as false and wrote that this decision was taken only during the Vajpayee government. However, the channel did not mention that. Many of their own anchors amplified the false claim on television. This is not the first time Aaj Tak has spread fake news and later fact-checked the same.

    The post News channels, BJP leaders’ claim that UPA got St. George’s Cross back on Navy flag is false appeared first on Alt News.

  • Media houses shared unrelated video from MP as sadhus beaten up for child theft in Maharashtra

    In the past few weeks, there have been multiple reports of people getting attacked across the country over rumours of child kidnapping. This wave of rumours began circulating after a particular incident in Mathura in which the abduction of a child from Mathura railway station was caught on CCTV and shared widely. Police later found the child in the house of a BJP councilor. Following this, claims about child abductors and organ traders wandering in the guise of sadhus began circulating on social media. In some cases, unrelated and old videos and audio clips were used.

    The impact of these rumours was felt largely in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand, where people began attacking any unknown individual or group of people deemed suspicious. The victims included mentally challenged persons and ordinary people. For example, a mentally ill woman was beaten up in Sitapur, UP. Mentally challenged boys were being beaten up on charges of child theft in Bhadohi in UP.

    A similar pattern had also been observed in 2019, when people were beaten up in several parts of India over rumours of child theft. Alt News had debunked these rumours back then, and continues to keep an eye on the situation. Taking cognizance of these cases, police have, in many isntances, dismissed the rumours. Sitapur Police, Moradabad Police, Bareilly Police and Hardoi Police have issued statements.

    On September 13, news broke of four sadhus being beaten up in Maharashtra’s Sangli district over child theft rumours. The police arrested six people while investigating this case. Reporting on the incident, ABP News aired a video in which a mob is seen beating up sadhus with sticks in front of a shop. ABP News ran the footage as sadhus being thrashed in Maharashtra by locals who mistook them for child kidnappers in Sangli district of Maharashtra. (Archived link)

    News18 India also played several videos claiming this, in which the first is of the mob thrashing sadhus in front of the shop. (Archived link)

    Times Now Navbharat also amplified this video with the same claim. (Archived link)

    Several news outlets followed suit, including Aaj Tak, Republic Live, News18 Lokmat, RSS mouthpiece Organiser Weekly, Zee Salaam, Maharashtra Times, India TV Hindi, Bharat 24, Amar Ujala, right-wing portal OpIndia, and The Lallantop. Navbharat Times journalists ‘Bhadohi Wala’ and Alok Kumar along with India TV Hindi journalist Vikash Tiwary and ISKCON vice-president and spokesperson Radharaman Das also shared the video claiming the incident was from Sangli.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact-check

    Alt News had already investigated the video in question a few days ago. However, other media organisations remained oblivious to this and amplified the video without prior verification.

    Actually, this video is not from the incident in Sangli district of Maharashtra, nor were the sadhus seen in it beaten up due to the allegation of child theft. The real incident took place in Maharashtra’s Raisen district. IBC24 reported on the incident on August 8, 2022. According to the caption, it took place in Raisen where a group of men had come to commit theft disguised as sadhus. They were later attacked by villagers.

    Navbharat Times also reported about this incident on August 7. According to the article, some sadhus had robbed a woman after knocking her unconscious in Paloha, located in the Mandideep police station area of ​​Raisen district. The perpetrators, who were dressed as sadhus, stole jewellery and cash from the woman’s house. The villagers tried to find them and discovered they were staying in Pipaliya Gajju village, adjacent to Paloha. After thrashing the sadhus, the locals handed them over to the police. Mandideep Police registered a case against six people in this case and started an investigation. The article quoted police as saying that the accused were residents of Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh.

    In its coverage of the incident, One India shared a few screengrabs from the video. Police have identified the accused as Bacchu Joshi, Lovelesh Goswami, Mithilesh Goswami, MLA Goswami, Gulab Joshi and Ramswaroop Goswami.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Alt News also reached out to the Mandideep Police Station for more information. SHO Manoj Singh told us that the accused were there to are known to commit some petty theft, disguising as sadhus. The villagers caught and beat them up. They were later taken into custody. 

    Alt News also spoke to Raisen SP Vikas Kumar Sehwal. The police officer told us that the incident was not one of sadhus trying to kidnap children. He said that the sadhus had come to the village to perform a pooja. They asked a woman for gold and silver jewellery for the ceremony. They stole those ornaments and fled. Police registered a case and sent the accused to jail.

    In other words, this incident is actually from the Paloha village located in Maharashtra’s Raisen district in which locals nabbed a group of thieves who were dressed as sadhus. A video of this was falsely promoted by media organisations as sadhus being beaten up in Maharashtra’s Sangli district over suspicions of child theft. 

    At the same time, such incidents are nothing new. Media outlets have often aired visuals accompanied by misleading claims without verifying them first. Alt News has debunked such fake news circulated by other outlets several times in the past. 

    The post Media houses shared unrelated video from MP as sadhus beaten up for child theft in Maharashtra appeared first on Alt News.

  • NDTV, Hindustan Times share 4-yr-old video as footage from Sept 11 Papua New Guinea earthquake

    A video of an earthquake is being circulated widely on social media as footage of the 7.6-magnitude quake that hit Papua New Guinea, an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, on September 11. The video shows people panicking and running while large cracks develop on the road as a result of the quake. People can also be heard praying in the background.

    NDTV has used a still from the video as the Feature Image in its report of the Papua New Guinea tremors. (Archived link)

    NDTV cited Reddit user ChrisM707 as a source. His post had garnered 2.8k upvotes. (Archived link)

    The Hindustan Times tweeted a compilation of several videos of the incident. The first of these videos is the viral clip (Archived link). However, a text superimposed at the top of the video reads, “HT doesn’t vouch for the authenticity of the videos”.

    The Weather Channel also used this video while reporting on the Papua New Guinea quake. (Archived link)

    This video was also tweeted (archive) several times with claims that it was shot in Papua New Guinea. (Archived link)

    Fact Check

    Upon reverse image searching one of the key-frames of the video, Alt News was led to an Advanced Earth and Space Science blog post by Dave Petley dated October 15, 2018. Professor Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide. This particular post contained a geological analysis of the lateral spreading that had been witnessed in Sigi Biromaru, a suburb of Palu in Indonesia, during the Sulawesi earthquake in September 2018.

    In the blog post, Professor Petley uses screengrabs from the footage that was shot in Sigi Biromaru, during the earthquake. The photographs used by him match the viral video.

    On searching the keywords “Sigi Biromaru 2018” on YouTube, we found a longer version of the viral video uploaded on October 7, 2018.

    In the video, two important stills confirm the fact that the video was indeed shot in Indonesia. At 1:56 in the video, a signboard consisting of an arrow pointing downwards, and the text ‘MASUK’ can be seen. ‘Masuk’ is the Indonesian word for ‘enter’. Moreover, at the 3:53-minute mark, a typical gas station signboard is visible with the text ‘PERTAMINA’. According to its website, Pertamina is the national energy company owned by the Government of Indonesia.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Getty Images had also uploaded this video on their website. Provided to them by Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah, the video shows the moment a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Sulawesi Island, which triggered tsunamis in Donggala and Palu cities. The death toll stood at 2,045 at the time of the video getting uploaded.

    Through a keyword search in Indonesian on Twitter with a time filter, Alt News found several posts about the aftermath of the 2018 earthquake on Sigi Biromaru. Out of them, we found some pictures and videos of the Pertamina gas station and its surrounding areas that had been wrecked in the earthquake. (1, 2, 3)

    The number on the signboard could be retrieved in a clearer picture. The number read “74.943.18”.

    While searching for the number on Google, Alt News was led to a Pertamina media file. The 10th page of the file contains an image of this particular gas station labelled with the subsequent number. Alongside this is an image of the shop opposite the gas station, which can be seen in the viral video as well.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The image is titled ‘Kondisi SPBU Pertamina 74.943.18 di Kecamatan Sigi setelah diguncang gempa 7,4 SR.’ (Translation: Condition of Pertamina gas station 74,943.18 in Sigi District after being rocked by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake). The bottom of the page reads, ‘SPBU Pertamina di Kabupaten Sigi luluh lantak pasca bencana. SPBU tersebut tidak dapat beroperasi lagi karena permukaan tanah di sekitar SPBU terangkat karena dampak gempa dan likuifaksi’ (Translation: Pertamina gas station in Sigi Regency was destroyed after the disaster. The gas station can no longer operate because the ground level around the gas station has been raised in the impact of the earthquake and liquefaction).

    According to a Wartakota report dated October 8, 2018, residents looted this gas station, which is located close to Palu-Palolo highway in Sigi as it was not guarded by authorities. The report further states that the condition of the gas station when the Tribune was at the location was also very worrying. The entire roof and support poles were slanted. The ground had cracked.

    Interestingly, this video has been shared with misinformation in the past as well. The same video had been circulated and viewed tens of thousands of times on social media posts with the claim that it showed a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Banten on January 14, 2022. AFP fact-checked this misleading claim. This video had also been shared after another earthquake hit Palu on October 9, 2018. The truth had been subsequently clarified.

    Hence, it is evident an old video of the impact of the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake on the neighbouring areas of Sigi Borimaru in Indonesia is being falsely circulated with the claim that it is the footage of the recent earthquake in Papua New Guinea.

    The post NDTV, Hindustan Times share 4-yr-old video as footage from Sept 11 Papua New Guinea earthquake appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • News channels air old video of Pak fans breaking TV sets as visuals after loss to India in Asia Cup

    On August 28, India defeated Pakistan by five wickets in the 2022 Asia Cup. Against this backdrop, media channels aired a video of a group of young men destroying a TV set on the street, connecting it to this recent match. Media outlets claimed that the video featured Pakistani fans’ reaction after the team lost to India in the Asia Cup.

    ABP News aired the visuals during its ‘Bharat Ki Baat’ program on August 29, 2022, at 7:30 PM. Describing it as a recent incident, the channel claimed that fans were smashing a television set over Pakistan’s loss against India in the 2022 Asia Cup. (Archived link)

    Times Now Navbharat also made a similar claim while airing this video. (Archived link)

    India TV also ran the viral clip as the aftermath of India’s victory against Pakistan in the 2022 Asia Cup. (Archived link)

    Several other users also amplified the video as recent. 

    Fact-check

    Due to the poor quality of the video, we suspected that it was likely very old. Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube to find out whether the video was authentic. We came across the full clip uploaded on YouTube on June 6, 2019. This makes it evident that this incident could not have occurred after the recent match. 

    In addition, the video features a sound byte from one of the Pakistani fans who smashed the TV. He states, “They didn’t play well against Afghanistan either. We kept losing to India till today, and now to a weak team like Bangladesh. We are deeply sorry for this.” In other words, it is evident that this is a video of Pakistani cricket fans breaking TVs in anger after their team’s loss to Bangladesh, and not India.

    Alt News also performed a search on Facebook to find more information on this video. This led us to a report by Pakistani news channel ARY News dated September 28, 2018, carrying the video. Here, while talking to the anchor, the reporter says that fans destroyed the TV after their team lost the match to Bangladesh.

    جن سے امیدیں لگائیں انھوں نے دھوکا دیا ۔۔ قومی ٹیم کی ناقص کارکردگی پر شائقین نے ٹی وی توڑ دیئے

    جن سے امیدیں لگائیں انھوں نے دھوکا دیا ۔۔ قومی ٹیم کی ناقص کارکردگی پر شائقین نے ٹی وی توڑ دیئے

    Posted by ARY News on Thursday, 27 September 2018

    Pakistani news channel Samaa TV also aired the video on September 27, 2018, on Facebook. 

    Cricket Fans

    پاکستان کی شکست پر شائقین کرکٹ کو غصہ آگیا، ٹی وی ہی توڑ ڈالا
    https://bit.ly/2N5VdK3

    Posted by Samaa TV on Thursday, 27 September 2018

    It is worth noting that on September 26, 2018, the Bangladesh and Pakistan cricket teams went head to head during the 2018 Asia Cup with the former defeating the latter by 37 runs.

    To sum it up, media channels aired a 2018 video taken after the Pakistan-Bangladesh cricket match, in which Pakistani cricket fans destroyed a TV set in anger due to their team’s loss to Bangladesh as a video of their reaction after a recent Asia Cup 2022 match.

    The post News channels air old video of Pak fans breaking TV sets as visuals after loss to India in Asia Cup appeared first on Alt News.

  • Media channels air an old clip of a landslide as recent visuals from Nashik

    On July 13, media outlets reported a landslide occurrence near Gujarat’s Saputara region. As per the reports the landslide occurred on July 11 and disrupted the road connectivity to the remote areas of the district for eight to twenty-four hours. The calamity also affected the roadways from Gujarat to Maharashtra’s Nashik.

    Against the backdrop of this news, a video of a drastic landslide has been aired on multiple news channels. As per these reports, the video in question shows a landslide in Nashik.

    The video was aired on TV9 Bharatvarsh’s on July 12 as visuals from Nashik.

    Zee24 Taas and InKhabar also followed suit and amplified the footage. 

    In addition, Punjab Kesari Madhya Pradesh/Chattisgarh shared the visuals on Facebook as scenes from the landslide in Nashik. ETV Bharat wrote an article covering the incident. The media channel also posted the clip on its Facebook page.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Video verification

    Alt News performed a keyword search on Twitter. This led us to a tweet by ANI on July 11 related to the landslide in Saputara. Next, we performed a reverse image search using frames from the viral video. This led us to a tweet from June 20 posted by one Devodatta. The video in this tweet is identical to the one aired by news channels. As per the user, the video shows a landslide that occurred on the route from Silchar to Mizoram. This confirms that the viral footage is old and is not related to the recent calamity in Saputara.

    The Hans India had also shared the same video on Facebook on June 24 as footage of a landslide on the Silchar-Mizoram highway.

    We performed another search on YouTube and found the same video uploaded by many users as the Mizoram-Silchar Highway. Contradicting the claims made on YouTube, Assam-based news portal Sangbad Prahari posted this clip on their Facebook page on June 21 and said the incident took place in Meghalaya.

    Alt News cannot confirm the location of the landslide. However, it is safe to conclude that the clip viral as visuals from the July 11 landslide in Saputara is actually an old video and was available in the public domain much before the incident took place.

    To sum it up, several media channels aired an unverified clip from June and claimed that it is related to the landslide that occurred in Nashik in July.

    The post Media channels air an old clip of a landslide as recent visuals from Nashik appeared first on Alt News.

  • Media outlets air scripted video of drunk groom offering varmala to sister-in-law as real incident

    A video purportedly from a wedding has gone viral on social media. In the video, the groom, who appears to be in an inebriated state, offers the wedding garland (varmala) to the woman standing next to the bride. The woman with the garland subsequently slaps the groom in anger.

    Several users have shared this clip and pointed out that despite the alcohol prohibition in Bihar, the groom appears to be drunk and made the sister-in-law wear the varmala instead of the bride.

    A Twitter user shared this video and wrote, “Liquor is banned in Bihar.” (Archived link)

    Times Now posted the viral video along with the headline “Oops! Drunk groom puts varmala around sister-in-law’s neck, gets slapped”.

    Dainik Jagran and India Times also amplified the claim in their report.

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    In addition, several other media outlets aired the video with the same claim. Among them were Asianet News Kannada, Free Press Journal, Telugu Stop, National Dastak, iDiva and Pakistan’s Geo TV. Social media users also amplified this clip with the same claim.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact-check

    A closer look at the video clarifies that it is scripted. Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube and found the source video uploaded by a YouTube channel called Mithila Bazaar on May 16, 2022. The video’s description reads, “All characters and story in this video are fictional and intended for entertainment purposes only.”

    The description also mentions the names of the artists. On checking the timeline of this channel, we found that they often make staged videos for entertainment.

    The same actors can be seen in a different video. Alt News noticed that their clothes and the location are also the same. However, the script of this video is different. Here, the marriage is interpreted because of the groom’s forced feeding of sweets to the bride. Thus, it establishes that the viral video is scripted and was made for entertainment.

    To sum it up, several media outlets circulated a scripted video of a drunk groom offering a wedding garland to a woman standing next to the bride as a real incident.

    The post Media outlets air scripted video of drunk groom offering varmala to sister-in-law as real incident appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Media misreports link 2021 IAF rescue operation in Andhra to recent Telangana floods

    On July 13 media reports stated that the rise in water level of the Godavari river triggered widespread floods in Telangana. The low-lying areas are facing the brunt of the natural calamity. The devestation of this can be seen when two farmers trapped on top of a water tank were safely rescued by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

    In the backdrop of this, multiple media channels have aired a clip of people being rescued by an Indian Air Force (IAF) chopper. As per their reportage, it shows scenes of a rescue operation at the Godavari river where people are stranded on a crane surrounded by a rapid stream of water.

    India Today aired the visuals as people being evacuated from floodwater in Telangana.

    Times Now Navbharat and Times Now also broadcasted the footage with the same claim.

    Zee Bihar Jharkhand also aired the same video

    Mirror Now, another English laguage national channel, followed suit.

    Even TV9 Kannada also promoted the visuals with the same reportage.

    News18, news agency IANS, Telangana Today, Telugu Stop, Mirror Now, Times Now, VV Balakrishnan of The New Indian Express tweeted the video as rescue operations in Telangana. Several other media outlets, including Public TV, ETV Telangana, Siasat, and India.com made the same claim.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Old video

    We noticed many users replied to The New Indian Express journalist VV Balakrishna’s tweet clarifying that this was an old video from Andhra Pradesh.

    Using this clue, we performed a keyword search which led us to news reports by NDTV and Hindustan Times from November 2021. These reports covered IAF’s rescue of 10 people trapped in the Chitravathi River in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district.

    We also found this footage in a news bulletin aired by NDTV in 2021.

    A YouTube channel named ‘Extreme Videos‘ also posted the video in 2021 which is at present being passed off as visuals from recent rescue operations.

    In fact, in November 2021, the Indian Air Force tweeted photos with details about the rescue operations. 

    To sum it up, multiple news channels misreported the 2022 Telangana floods by airing footage of the 2021 rescue operation in Andhra Pradesh by the IAF as the latest visuals.

    The post Media misreports link 2021 IAF rescue operation in Andhra to recent Telangana floods appeared first on Alt News.

  • ‘Flood jihad’ – NewsX, other media outlets, journos communalise Silchar floods

    While reporting on the Assam floods in June, The Indian Express stated that Silchar — southern Assam’s biggest town and the gateway to the three districts on the bank of the Barak river — had submerged in water unlike “ever before in its history”. By the first week of July, the total death toll in the state had crossed over 170.

    On June 26, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that the flooding in Silchar was “man-made”. “If the embankment at Betukandi was not breached [destroyed by people], this would not have happened,” he said. Betukandi is less than 10 kilometres away from Silchar.

    In the first week of July, four men — Kabul Khan, Mithu Hussain Laskar, Nazir Hussain Laskar and Ripon Khan — were arrested for their alleged involvement in causing the breach. Dyke or embankment is a structure that typically runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastlines. Its purpose is to keep the course of rivers from changing and to protect against flooding of the area adjoining the river or coast.

    From ‘man-made’ disaster to ‘flood jihad’

    Around July 5, a section of the mainstream media reported the alleged breach as ‘flood jihad’. The channel had conducted a prime-time debate regarding flooding in Silchar. The panellists were former diplomat Bhaswati Mukherjee, former Home Ministry official RVS Mani, Aurelius Corporate Solutions founder Sumit Peer (as a political analyst), and Editorial Director at iTV Network (parent company of NewsX) Madhav Nalapat. All panellists, including the anchor, were of the opinion that “flood jihad” took place. (Archived link)

    After introducing the panellists, anchor Meenakshi Upreti asked, “…this doesn’t seem like an innocuous mischief… would you say it’s a simple mischief or do you smell a more sinister plot… do you think perhaps… at the highest level the Indian government should be alerted…” Mukherjee called this incident “a matter of internal sabotage”, “an act of treason”. Responding to Upreti, Nalapat said that this incident was “a plan for mass murder”. All panellists opined that the incident was an attempt to destabilise the BJP-ruling state.

    Hindi media outlet Dainik Jagran didn’t use the phrase “flood jihad” but its report stated, “There are signs of a deep conspiracy behind this.”

    OneIndia published an article titled ‘Flood Jihad: Assam floods may have more than meets the eye‘ authored by Vicky Nanjappa. Pro-BJP propaganda outlets such as The Frustrated Indian also reported along similar lines. (Archived links 1 and 2)

    “Journalists” of varying influence also described the incident as “flood jihad” — Live Hindustan’s Deputy Chief Content Producer Himanshu Jha; India Today anchor Gaurav C Sawant; Nishant Azad, senior correspondent at RSS mouthpiece Organiser; the founding editor of Earshot Abhijit Majumder; Ashwani Mishra, special correspondent at Panchjanya; and journalist Vicky Nanjappa.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Rahul Nagar, National Social Media In-charge for BJP’s OBC Morcha, also made the same claim. He shared a clip of the four accused and wrote, “Succeeded in drowning the whole of Assam, what should we name it now. #FloodJihad”. (Archived link)

    NewsX and others communalise Silchar floods

    Two days after NewsX and other media outlets dubbed the alleged Betukandi embankment breach as “flood jihad”, CM Sarma said, “It is not a big deal. There was no need to use words like jihad. A few people with small brains did that.” While he refuted the “jihad” angle, Sarma seemed to have stuck with his narrative that the Silchar floods were “man-made”.

    The Hindu reported, citing India Meteorological Department, that Assam received 41% above normal rainfall during the pre-monsoon season (March to May), and it has received 71% more than normal rainfall up to June 25. As per the report, Assam’s annual normal rainfall between 1961 and 2010 has been 2,239.4 mm. However, it received 1,891.9 mm of rainfall between just March 1 to June 24 — which is close to the annual rainfall level in less than three months.

    On July 7, in a press interview, Cachar SP Ramandeep Kaur stated she came across the phrase “flood jihad” for the first time in her life and categorically refuted the communal angle to the incident. She urged news outlets and others to not give the incident a communal angle. Around the 1:15 mark, she said, “… a few days ago we got a complaint from the irrigation department stating that the dam [embankment] was broken. They also did not know how the dam was broken… In our preliminary investigation, we learnt few people broke it and based on that, four people have been apprehended…”

    Cachar SP Ramandeep Kaur warns against rumors on ‘Flood Jihad’

    #Northeastlive | A new angle to the recent devastating flood in Silchar has come to the fore with a section of the media including news channels, web portals and social media have tried to give a new connotation to the calamity. The recent incident of devastating floods in Silchar caused as a result of breach at the Bethukandi dyke has even been termed by a section of the media and in various social media platforms as ‘Flood Jihad’.

    Dismissing such claims, Cachar Superintendent of Police Ramandeep Kaur said that a section of the media encompassing platforms have attempted a give a communal angle to this dyke damage incident.

    #floodjihad #silcharfloods #dyke #assamfloods #northeastlive

    Posted by Northeast Live on Wednesday, 6 July 2022

    On July 4, SP Kaur told Telegraph that the police started probing the case after the irrigation department lodged a complaint on May 23 about miscreants damaging the Bethukandi dyke. As per the same report, the alleged breach was 30 meters.

    The report stated that the accused allegedly caused the breach in May to reduce water logging in Betukandi. East Mojo, on May 19, had reported, “Torrential rains cause flash floods in Barak Valley, hundreds affected”.

    Telegraph’s report also added that the residents of Bethukandi had made several requests to the authorities to find a permanent solution to water logging. Alt News spoke with multiple journalists from the region who had visited the affected area, out of which two are associated with national news portals. On the request for anonymity, they confirmed that the water logging pushed the community to take such drastic measures, i.e., to allegedly breach the embankment/dyke. Additionally, they also opined that state authorities should have fixed the embankment much sooner. A source told Telegraph, “They should not have damaged the dyke and the administration, too, should have taken timely action against the miscreants and plugged the breach on time.”

    Regional photojournalist Partha Sheel shared images of the embankment from May 23 and July 4. “To the best of my knowledge, the rebuilding started around June 26 and was completed by July 6 or 7,” he said over a telephonic call.

    Click to view slideshow.

    In fact, in May, local news outlet Way2Barak reported that an executive engineer of Silchar WR Division sent a formal message to the state government saying, “The most vulnerable dykes at Bethukandi area, Berenga area, Ringbund area, Bagadahar area at Silchar town are also in threat due to flooding.” Another regional media outlet also warned that the affected area could face flooding if authorities don’t take action.

    Several media outlets have reported that embankments have become the Achilles heel in Assam and other states prone to flooding. Times Now wrote that “building embankments to control floods started from the 1950s. It has now led to an “embankment economy” of sorts, in which large amounts of money are invested in construction, maintenance and repair of embankments every year. They often give away during high flood season and the intensity of the water then released causes more damage”.

    The Sentinel reported, “Nearly 70% of embankments in Assam have outlived their span which explains the devastation following a recurrence of breaches in every wave of flood in the state in recent years.” According to a report in Firstpost, “Building embankments alone is not sufficient, steps must also be taken to protect erosion and these need to happen simultaneously.”

    Alt News spoke with Parthankar Choudhury, Professor at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Assam University, Silchar. He said, “If the breach was the only cause of the flood, then why didn’t the concerned departments and the administration give urgent attention to the problem? This had to be done on war footings. Excessive rainfall (<1900mm) was in place and the city experienced the first phase of flood in the month of May. To have a long-term solution for ‘Silchar-flood’, the government should consider sanctioning ‘water canal’ infrastructure.”

    He added, “Yet, some national news media’s reportage has called it “flood Jihad”. They couldn’t report when the people were suffering. However, now that the situation is improving, they are trying to politicise the incident by giving it communal shade. Absolutely shameful!”

    It’s worth noting CM Sarma and SP Kaur have refuted that the alleged act of breaching the embankment was communally motivated. Furthermore, Alt News spoke with several regional journalists who stated that it was done to get relief from water logging.

    This isn’t an isolated case of a mainstream media outlet branding an incident as communal by the use of the term “jihad”. Zee News dedicated an entire show in 2020 to “report” on different types of “jihad” – from “love jihad” to “economic jihad” to “film and music jihad”. The police filed an FIR against then Zee News chief Sudhir Chaudhary. In the same year, Sudarshan News, a pro-BJP news channel, broadcasted a controversial show on Muslim “infiltration” in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination after the Supreme Court overturned a Delhi High Court order staying the program. Alt News debunked six falsehoods in the one-hour-long broadcast. Sudarshan News’s broadcast was termed as a “communal and irresponsible piece of journalism” by the Indian Police Service Association.

    To sum it up, on May 23, the irrigation department sent a complaint to the concerned police station about the alleged breaching of the Betukandi embankment which is less than 10 km away from Silchar. The town on Silchar submerged in water unlike “ever before in its history” around June 19. In the first week of July, four Muslim men were arrested for allegedly breaching the embankment. Local reporters said that the embankment was damaged in May to relieve water logging. More than a month after this incident, Assam’s Chief Minister called the flooding in Silchar a “man-made” disaster. Several media outlets then added an anti-Muslim spin by reporting that the floods were a part of the “larger controversy”. Instead of reporting on the nuances of the calamity, media outlets and journalists dubbed the incident “flood Jihad” to blame the Muslim community for the floods in Silchar. It is unfortunate that the reports were carried at a time when communal tensions have flared up in several parts of the country.

    As per Cachar SP Ramandeep Kaur, the investigation is still in process. However, both the CM and SP have refuted any communal angle to the incident.

    The post ‘Flood jihad’ – NewsX, other media outlets, journos communalise Silchar floods appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Media outlets misreport pro-Pak chants raised in MP’s Katni after Muslim sarpanch’s win

    A video is viral on social media. It has been shared along with the claim that pro-Pakistan slogans were raised in Katni, Madhya Pradesh following the victory of a Muslim leader in sarpanch elections. The video was also aired by several media organisations with the same claim, including News18. (Archive link)

    Dainik Bhaskar similarly wrote, “Slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ after Muslim becomes sarpanch: Supporters in Katni chant, ‘Pakistan won’.” (Archive link)

    Newsroom Post tweeted, “Pro-Pakistani Elements: Echoes of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in Katni, Madhya Pradesh, sloganeering after Muslim candidate’s victory”. (Archive link)

    Several other news outlets – Dainik Jagran, News Nation, TV9 Hindi, Asianet News, Jansatta, Zee Madhya Pradesh – amplified the claim, along with the right-wing propaganda website Kreately. Shivam Dixit and Ritesh Kashyap of RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya, ABP News journalists Brajesh Rajput and Adarsh Jha, BJP Madhya Pradesh media in-charge Lokendra Parashar, right wing propaganda website Falana Dikhana, Santosh Chauhan of Sudarshan News, and Sujeet Swami of Newsroom Post were also among those who furthered the claim on social media.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The video is widespread on Facebook and Twitter with the accompanying claim.

    Fact-check

    We examined the viral video carefully and noticed that the slogans being chanted were ‘Wazid bhai won – Wazid bhai won’ (जीत गया भाई जीत गया – वाज़िद भाई जीत गया) and ‘Long live Wazid bhai’ (वाज़िद भाई ज़िंदाबाद). We also slowed down the video and could not hear any pro-Pakistan sloganeering. Below is the video at 0.80x speed.

    Sheikh Saeed alias Wazid is the husband of Rahisha Begum, the candidate who won the sarpanch election from the Chaka Gram Panchayat in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni district. Women are often fielded as proxy candidates in India for seats that have women’s reservations or if the candidate’s husband is already occupying another position. Therefore, a female contender’s victory is often celebrated with cheers for her husband.

    We reached out to Wazid who also said that there were no slogans raised in support of Pakistan. Furthermore, the mobile phone from which the video was recorded was seized by the police and submitted for investigation. He also revealed that after the video went viral, several “anti-social elements” claiming to represent the Bajrang Dal and Karni Sena chanted slogans outside his home. However, he denied the direct involvement of the Bajrang Dal. Wazid added that his wife has been associated with the BJP for years and this was the second time she became sarpanch.

    Sheikh Saeed alias Wazid also shared three videos of the incident with AltNews. After listening to all of these carefully, it became evident that the slogans being chanted were not ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ but ‘Wazid bhai Zindabad’. Given below is a compilation of the three clips.

    To sum it up, a number of media organisations, journalists and social media users falsely claimed that pro-Pakistan sloganeering took place following the victory of a Muslim sarpanch in Katni, Madhya Pradesh. In reality, supporters were chanting ‘Wazid bhai Zindabad’.

    The post Media outlets misreport pro-Pak chants raised in MP’s Katni after Muslim sarpanch’s win appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Zee News falsely claimed Rahul Gandhi termed Udaipur murderers “children”

    Following the grisly murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, the police arrested two men from the Bhima area in the Rajsamand district. The accused have been identified as Mohammad Riaz and Ghaus Mohammad. The accused recorded the heinous crime on camera and called it “vengeance” against BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s controversial remarks on the Prophet of Islam.

    On July 1, Zee News aired a video of Rahul Gandhi and claimed that he referred to the accused in the Udaipur murder as “children”. The channel also tweeted the footage, but later deleted the post. In the clip, anchor Rohit Ranjan can be heard saying, “People from all corners of the country feel this crime is barbaric, wrong, and the accused should receive a severe punishment. Being the senior-most leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi’s words matter a lot. But what message does it send if Rahul Gandhi himself is calling the accused ‘children’? Was Kanhaiya’s murderer, someone who killed him so brutally, a child?”

    Several BJP leaders, journalists, and social media users amplified the video, criticising Gandhi. Most of these people promoted the claim while sharing the Zee News clip.

    Kannauj BJP MP Subrata Pathak tweeted a video of Rahul Gandhi claiming that he called the accused “children” who somehow mistakenly committed a murder. (Archive link)

    In a now-deleted tweet, former Union Minister and BJP leader Rajvardhan Rathore also shared the video claiming that Rahul Gandhi had called terrorists “children”.

    MLA Kamlesh Saini, from Bijnor district’s Chandpur constituency, made the same claim while tweeting the video. (Archive link)

    Those who circulated the video also included BJP spokesperson Ajay Sehrawat, BJP supporter Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, Himanshu Mishra, Sagar Kumar of Sudarshan News, Zee Rajasthan anchor Qamar, and Nishant Azad, who is affiliated with RSS mouthpiece Organizer, among others.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact-check

    Alt News noticed that Congress leaders were insisting that the viral claim was fake. Many users replied to the viral tweets stating that Rahul Gandhi was actually referring to those who vandalised the Congress office in Kerala as “children”.

    Taking a closer look at the viral video, we saw a mic belonging to the news agency ANI. When we searched through ANI’s tweets, we found a frame from the same video. In this clip, Rahul Gandhi was giving a statement on an incident of vandalism at his Wayanad office.

    Mics from a few regional media outlets are also visible in the viral clip. We performed a search on YouTube by translating some keywords related to Rahul Gandhi and his office into Malayalam. This led us to the full-length video on Manorama News’s YouTube channel. The Congress leader is saying that the young men who vandalized his office were “children”. He added that the boys acted irresponsibly and that what happened was unfortunate.

    To sum it up, Zee News falsely claimed that Rahul Gandhi called the Udaipur murderers “children”. Following this, a number of BJP leaders, journalists, and social media users amplified the claim on social media. In reality, Rahul Gandhi was actually referring to the young men who vandalized his party’s office in Wayanad. Workers representing student organization SFI were allegedly behind the attack on the Congress office.

    Zee News acknowledged the error after Alt News Hindi published an article debunking the claim.

    The post Zee News falsely claimed Rahul Gandhi termed Udaipur murderers “children” appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Zee News claims Buddhists “clashed” with Muslims in Ladakh. But what is the truth?

    On June 16, Zee News posted a two-minute broadcast that showed people marching on hilly terrain. The march was carried out to create awareness for establishing a Gompa in Kargil, which has been pending since the 1960s. As per BBC, Gompa is a Tibetan institution that combines a shrine, a vihara and a meditation hall. Some contain facilities for study and learning. Collins Dictionary refers to it as a Buddhist monastery.

    The channel insinuated that a “clash” took place between the “peace-loving” Buddhist community and “radical Muslims”. Videos aired by Zee News show a large crowd marching, along with representational clips of monks and the Leh region. At the 50-second mark, Zee News alleged that in order to “protect” Buddhism, the monks “clashed” with radical Muslims. The channel did not report on the nature of the “clash”, albeit no physical altercation can be observed in Zee News’s broadcast. The video gained over 24 lakh views on YouTube.

    [English transcript of the opening 50 seconds of Zee News broadcast: “An incident took place in Ladakh of which the entire nation was unaware. The news must be viewed by the nation so they know why the eternal, peace-loving Buddhists got enraged suddenly. Actually, in Ladakh, Maulvis and radicals have stopped Buddhists to build their temple due to which turmoil began. This issue is gaining momentum because of the march by the minority community of Buddhists [in Ladakh] against Maulvis and radicals. In order to protect their religion, Buddhists have clashed with Muslims. In order to protest against Maulvis and radicals, thousands of Buddhists joined the march. Let us inform you that this clash dates back decades…”]

    Zee News also posted this on Facebook on June 16 and June 17. The posts gained over one lakh likes and over 12,000 shares cumulatively. The June 16 post gained over two million views.

    We also noticed that multiple pro-BJP and pro-Hindutva Facebook accounts shared this video. If you have access to CrowdTangle, you can view these posts here.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact-check

    Zee News claimed “clashes” took place between Buddhists and Muslims in Ladakh without providing an explanation of the nature of the clashes. It must be noted that the video does not depict any violence, either verbal or physical.

    In order to understand the nature of the incident, Alt News spoke with all relevant stakeholders and rummaged through other news reports.

    On June 12, Amar Ujala reported that Tibetan religious leader and the eighth Choekyong, Palga Rinpoche, led several hundred Buddhist community members on a ‘padayatra’. On May 27, Rinpoche’s Facebook page posted an image that listed details about the march. It took place from May 31 to June 14. As per the post, the march was organised to raise awareness about the restoration of the Kargil Gompa.

    Capturing the historical context, Firstpost reported, “As per reports, 15 March, 1961, the then-Government of Jammu & Kashmir, General Department, Ladakh Affairs, sanctioned the land to Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) for the construction of Buddhist Temple and Sarai. It was clearly mentioned in the order that religious construction was allowed on the land. However, in 1969, the government issued another order, stating that the land allotted to LBA could only be used for the construction of residential or commercial buildings and refused to allow religious construction on the land.” Thus, this is essentially a land dispute dating back to 1961.

    Alt News spoke with Skarma Dadul, president of the Kargil Buddhist Association (KBA). Dadul shared the true copies of the 1961 and 1969 documents [view PDF]. He said, “I had joined the march. The aim of this march was to create awareness about the Kargil Gompa by laying the foundation. The video of people marching shown by Zee News is from June 12.”

    Click to view slideshow.

    When we enquired if there was a “clash” during the march, he responded, “There was no clash. BJP Ladakh President and MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal met the group of people marching near Mulbekh Monastery (view on Google Maps) and stated that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has communicated to stop this march. We stopped the march as requested.” Dadul clarified, “The protest was peaceful.”

    YouTube user Stanzin Zingtak has uploaded a speech by BJP MP Namgyal. In the speech (from 8:27 to 8:47 minutes), Namgyal claimed that Amit Shah requested Palga Rinpoche to stop this padayatra. He said, “Yesterday when Home Minister Amit Shah called me… He didn’t say it’s my order to Rinpoche rather, he said my humble request to Rinpoche ji to call off the march.”

    Upon speaking with locals from Kargil, we found that the Muslim community feared that the padayatra, which sought to lay the foundation stone of the Kargil Gompa, was inspired by BJP co-founder late Lal Krishna Advani’s rath yatra that sought to erect the Ram temple where Babri Masjid was situated. They were concerned that a march by thousands of Buddhists in Kargil could disrupt harmony.

    As per regional police sources, “The construction of Gompa in Kargil is a sensitive issue in the region. The march reached the Mulbekh region on June 9. The police stopped the march because beyond this region lies the Muslim community (The Mulbekh region is about 40 kilometres from the site for Gompa in Kargil). The footage shown in Zee News is not prior to that. As per our estimate, it shows events between June 9 to June 13. However, Palga Rinpoche’s remark to lay the foundation of a Gompa in Kargil steered controversy. Subsequently, AJUIAK president Sheikh Nazir Mehdi added to the controversy by stating that if the government doesn’t take the measure to stop this march, they will have to do it.” The police official requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the story.

    Nazir made a remark on June 10 where he said (0:17 to 1:02), “As you are aware, the Palga Lama has started a walk in the name of peace from Leh and entered Kargil districts. The administration is well aware of the negative outcome of this yatra but they have maintained silence on the issue and haven’t stopped them. Letting them enter Kargil districts is an illogical move and they [administration] have to stop it before it’s too late.”

    A minute later, he added (2:18 to 2:48), “When Dalai Lama visited… the whole Muslim community gave him a warm welcome. Everyone gave respect to him; this is our way of dealing with people. Those who will come with respect will get respect, those who will come to talk with us, we will sit at the table and start the talk, but those who come to fight us we will fight too.” He continued, “If you want to maintain peace & harmony in the region, then stop them before it’s too late. If you [administration] won’t stop them or don’t know how to stop them, then keep it in mind we know how to stop it. When we will stop it, then you will be helpless. Therefore, send them back before it is too late.”

    On June 15, Rinpoche told News Nation that the land belongs to LBA. He added that LBA shall act autonomously to determine the use of the land. He also pointed out that this was the first initiative to set up Gompa after Ladakh was reconstituted as a union territory in 2019.

    In 2020, Outlook reported, “The Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), an amalgam of different political and religious parties based in Ladakh’s Kargil region, reiterated that it doesn’t recognize the Union Territory status of Ladakh. The KDA has demanded complete statehood for Ladakh and the Alliance has accused the BJP government of disempowering the people of the region by taking away legislative and governing powers from them. Hitting out at the Centre’s move of making Ladakh a Union Territory last year, the KDA alleged that the government has imposed autocracy in the region.”

    In an interview with JK24x7News Ladakh, between 5:50 to 6:45, LBA President Shri Thupstan Tsewang,  said that LBA and KDA are in dialogue to resolve the issues after discussions with all socio-religious organisations. He disagreed with Rinpoche’s declaration to lay down the foundation for the Gompa.

    news

    LBA President Shri Thupstan tsewang response to the allegations made by His Eminence Palga Rimpoche. #LBA #palgarimpoche #thupstantsewang #Kargilgonpa #allegations #UTLadakh .

    Posted by JK24x7News Ladakh on Friday, 3 June 2022

    KDA member Sajjad Kargil shared a press release that confirms the meeting between LBA and KDA over the construction of Gompa. The document has four signatures, including that of Tsewang.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Alt News spoke with Ghulam Mohd, Bureau Head Gulistan News Ladakh, who said, “This issue has been unresolved since the 1960s. If there was a genuine will, it would have been resolved long back. But the good news is that a dialogue has been started between LBA Leh, who originally owned the land, and Kargil’s leadership and both communities must wait with patience for a positive outcome. This delay has impacted the construction and renovation of both religious groups over the years. If such issues are resolved timely, the administration and public can focus on other aspects of the State’s welfare.”

    To sum it up, Zee News shared a misleading broadcast that claimed a “clash” took place between Buddhists and Muslims near Kargil. The broadcast referred to Muslims as “radicals” and Buddhists as “peace-loving”. An issue with significant historical context was given an offhanded reportage using rousing narration. The police and the president of multiple Buddhist associations have refuted claims of a “clash”. In fact, LBA President Shri Thupstan Tsewang was not in favour of Palga Rinpoche’s padayatra.

    The post Zee News claims Buddhists “clashed” with Muslims in Ladakh. But what is the truth? appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Chemical blast in Hyderabad mosque? False news by Aaj Tak, OpIndia

    A section of the media reported that a chemical blast at the Gowliguda Masjid in Hyderabad left one Bharat Bathod dead and his father Venugopal seriously injured.

    Aaj Tak published this story but later updated it. An archived version of its original article can be read here.

    Right-wing propaganda website OpIndia also covered the incident. It claimed that a chemical blast had taken place in a mosque in Hyderabad. (Archive link)

    News portal Inkhabar amplified the claim. (Archive link)

    This claim is viral on Facebook and Twitter.

    Fact-check

    Alt News conducted a keyword search on Google which led us to news reports on the incident by Jansatta, The News Minute, Outlook, news agency ANI and The New Indian Express. According to these reports, the explosion took place when a chemical container near a drain in the jurisdiction of Afzalgunj police station, Hyderabad, was being cleaned. One person died on the spot and another was injured. According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Bharat Bathod and the wounded has been identified as Venugopal, the father of the deceased.

    The Siasat Daily has also published a report on this incident. According to this article, Bharat Giriraj was involved in chemical business with a company. He had been dumping expired chemicals into a manhole located in front of his house, for a long period of time. On June 12, Bharat dropped a load of chemicals in the drain which led to clogging. He then poured water to clear the blockage, resulting in the blast.

    Alt News reached out to SHO of Afzalgunj Police Station Ravindra Reddy. He informed that the deceased used to run a chemical shop. He discarded expired chemicals in the drain, leading to a blockage that he tried to clear with a rod. SHO Reddy said that the pressure led the chemicals to drop at the bottom of the drain and caused a blast. Bharat lost his life while his father was seriously injured. According to eyewitnesses, the blast was so strong that Bharat’s body was blown to pieces and the drain was also destroyed.

    Since the case is still being investigated by a forensic team, Alt News cannot confirm what triggered the explosion. However, it is clear that this blast did not happen inside a mosque.

    The incident was, therefore, given a false anti-Muslim shade.

    The post Chemical blast in Hyderabad mosque? False news by Aaj Tak, OpIndia appeared first on Alt News.

  • Media outlets miseport jailed AAP leader Satyendra Jain’s face was ‘bruised’

    On May 30, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Delhi minister Satyendra Jain in an alleged money laundering case. He was then remanded in custody from May 31 to June 9. On June 9, the Rouse Avenue District Court in Delhi, on the orders of the Enforcement Directorate, extended the custody of the Aam Aadmi Party politician until June 13. However, in the meantime, his health deteriorated following which he was rushed to Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

    Against this backdrop, a photo of Satyendra Jain has gone viral with the claim that he is bleeding from his mouth.

    Punjab Kesari reported, “Photo of Enforcement Directorate detained leader Satyendra Jain bleeding from the mouth viral, ‘God will hold everyone in the BJP accountable’ – AAP”. (Archive link)

    Times Now Navbharat Pulkit Nagar journalist Pulkit Nagar tweeted the photo and wrote that this was an image of the individual who brought the Mohalla Clinic to Delhi. It was also retweeted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

    Several prominent news portals carried the image of Jain with the same claim. Among them were Jansatta, Navjivan, APN News, NDTV, Hindustan Times, Financial Express, Janta Ka Reporter, ABP News, and Sakshi News.

    Click to view slideshow.

    A number of Aam Aadmi Party leaders and social media users also amplified the photo.

    Fact-check

    Alt News performed keyword searches on Google and Twitter to gather more information on the picture. This led us to some similar photos of Satyendra Jain, in which he is seen in the same shirt he is wearing in the viral image. It is worth noting that there is no injury to his face nor is he bleeding in these pictures.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Rahul Singh, a photojournalist from news agency ANI, had tweeted a picture of Satyendra Jain in which a shadow of a tree was reflected on one half of his face. The background of the photo tweeted by Singh matches that of the viral photo perfectly. However, due to the two images being taken a few seconds apart, the shadow of the tree on Satyendra Jain’s face appears a bit different. Tweeting this, the photojournalist added that the photo was taken on June 9, 2022, when Jain was being brought to the ED office from the Rouse Avenue District Court.

    The viral image actually contains a shadow of a tree reflected on the car window. Given below are two photos of the same place, but the frames of both are different. It is noteworthy that the shape of the tree’s shadow is identical in both images. In the side by side comparison below, the shadow of the tree has been marked in the two photos. This shows the real origin of the marks seen on Satyendra Jain’s face.

    To sum it up, the blot seen on Satyendra Jain’s face in the viral image was actually the result of a reflection of a tree on the car window, and not an injury or blood stain. It was mistakenly circulated by several media outlets, politicians, and social media users as a blood stain.

    The post Media outlets miseport jailed AAP leader Satyendra Jain’s face was ‘bruised’ appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Aaj Tak, India TV air old video from Indonesia as bridge collapsing in Assam floods

    More than 6.6 lakh in 27 districts across Assam have been hit by the floods due to pre-monsoon rains in Assam. Nine people have died. While reporting on the flood situation in the state, Aaj Tak aired a video that shows an iron bridge collapsing due to the strong current of the water. (Archive link)

    India TV also played the same video while reporting on the floods in Assam. The video appears after 29 seconds into the broadcast. (Archive link)

    Apart from this, News18 Bangla, Bharat Samachar, Oriya news channel OTV News, short video platform Editorji aired the video while reporting on the Assam floods. However, Editorji added a disclaimer stating “authenticity unverified”.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The video has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.

    Fact-check

    According to a tweet by Guwahati Plus, this video is old and not from Assam.

    Netherlands ambassador to Indonesia, Labert Grange, had tweeted this video on April 6, 2021. He wrote that it depicted the floods in Eastern Flores in Indonesia.

    Australia’s ABC News reported, “Floods and landslides also hit several nearby islands in the Indonesian archipelago, including Flores, leaving at least 55 people dead.”

    Through the help of Google Street View, Alt News found that this is the Old Kambaniru Bridge. It was located in Sumba Regency, which is in Indonesia. We old found pictures of the bridge on  Google Street View.

    Ultimately, a one-year-old video of a bridge collapsing in the Indonesian floods was shared as the recent floods in Assam. It is noteworthy that a bamboo bridge collapsed in the Udalguri district in Assam. But several major media outlets, including Aaj Tak, shared an old video from Indonesia to report the flood situation in Assam.

    The post Aaj Tak, India TV air old video from Indonesia as bridge collapsing in Assam floods appeared first on Alt News.

  • Sudarshan News falsely claims Geeta Updesh Sthal was replaced with mazar

    On May 9, Sudarshan News tweeted a video claiming ‘land jihad’ was underway in Haryana’s Kurukshetra. The video shows a man at the ‘Geeta Updesh Sthal’ in Kurukshetra. Pointing the camera to a structure covered with a green sheet, the man claims that an Islamic tomb has been constructed there. The video tweeted by Sudarshan News garnered over 7,000 retweets at the time of writing. (Archive link)

    Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Prashant Umrao also tweeted the visuals claiming that a mazar was being built near the temple in Kurukshetra. (Archive link)

    Twitter user ‘@Trishul_Achuk‘, journalist Jitendra Pratap Singh of Sudarshan News (archive link) and the handle ‘Akhand Bharat Sankalp’ also amplified the video with this claim.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The video is widespread on Twitter and Facebook.

    Fact-check

    The individual in the video identifies the location as the Geeta Updesh Sthal in Kurukshetra. Upon further investigation, Alt News discovered that the video was indeed filmed at this location. The images we found on Google of the Updesh Sthal match the visuals in the clip. It is located in Jyotisar, Kurukshetra.

    We contacted Jyotisar Police Station. Station in-charge Ram Sanehi informed Alt News that there is no mazar at the site. He said, “The structure that is being talked about in the video was actually built by a Hindu family and is called a Bhorkha. There is a long-standing custom of erecting Bhorkhas in Haryana to honour the memory of one’s ancestors. A migrant who came to the Updesh Sthal mistook it for a mazar and uploaded the video.” He also stated that this particular Bhorkha was built by the ancestors of a Hindu Pandit named Satpal. After the video footage went viral, Satpal installed the Bhorkha at his farm.

    Alt News got in touch with Satpal’s son Vinod Sharma for more information. He explained that it was indeed his ancestors who got the Bhorkha constructed. However, an unknown individual placed a green sheet over it and made a video describing it as a mazar. “The viral video has hurt the sentiments of my family. And in order to not escalate this dispute further, we installed the Bhorkha in our field,” he added.

    Jagran reported that after the video went viral, Dr Naresh Bhardwaj, a member of the Green Earth organization, demanded that a case be filed against the individual who made the video for circulating propaganda.

    Following this incident, the tomb of an ancient Pir in Jyotisar was demolished. Dainik Bhaskar reported that the tomb was demolished and a saffron flag was erected at the site. The local police registered a case in this matter.

    To sum it up, a video of a Hindu Bhorkha (a structure made to honour ancestors) at the Gita Upadesh Sthal in Haryana was falsely described as a mazar and given a misleading communal spin. Sudarshan News aired the video without verification.

    The post Sudarshan News falsely claims Geeta Updesh Sthal was replaced with mazar appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Ban on namaz on road did not provoke sloganeering in Saharanpur; media misreports

    A video of a group of Muslim demonstrators raising slogans outside a mosque is making the rounds on social media. It has been claimed that Muslims staged a demonstration in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh after they were stopped from offering prayers on the street.

    Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand made the same claim in one of its broadcasts. The outlet reported that there was sloganeering in Saharanpur after Muslims were not allowed to offer prayers on the road. (Archive link)

    In its live broadcast, News18 Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand claimed that Muslim devotees created a ruckus outside the Jama Masjid in Saharanpur.

    ‘ABP Ganga’ claimed during one of its broadcasts that worshippers started shouting slogans against the police outside the Jama Masjid after the administration prevented them from offering prayers on the road.

    Newsroom Post’s Ashish tweeted this video claiming that a group of locals clashed with the administration. In a now-deleted tweet, Rahul Roshan, CEO of pro-BJP propaganda website OpIndia, retweeted the tweet, adding, “Faithfuls are driven by pious spiritual feelings, not political muscle flexing.” (Archive link)

    Navbharat Times editor Alok Kumar, journalist Shivam Pratap of Zee News, Sudarshan News journalist Rajat Mishra, and News Nation’s Amit Chaudhary also amplified the claim on Twitter. Dainik Jagran, Sudarshan News Uttar Pradesh, VK News were also among the outlets promoting this claim. The footage is also widespread on Facebook and Twitter.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Fact-check

    The official Twitter handle of the Saharanpur Police issued a statement by SSP Akash Tomar in connection with the viral video. It reads, “The Alvida Namaz prayers at Jama Masjid were completed safely. Following that, when people were returning after offering prayers at the mosque, some media persons asked them provocative questions during which some young boys created a ruckus. But the situation was later resolved. It is now calm and normal. There has not been any dispute here. I’m at the scene with the District Magistrate and administrative officers and the law and order situation is normal. Misleading and fake news is being circulated by certain media channels. A notice will be issued against them by the administration and clarification will also be sought.”

    After performing some keyword searches, we found a tweet dated April 28 containing an announcement about the prayer on the letterhead of Waqf Jama Masjid Kalan. This tweet was posted by Tasleem of ETV Bharat Urdu. It reads, “On April 29, the Juma Alvida Namaz will be offered only inside the Jama Masjid, not on the streets and markets. Please proceed to the mosques in your locality for the Juma Alvida Namaz.” (Archive link)

    We spoke to a local journalist regarding this matter who sent us a video statement issued by the Imam of Jama Masjid Saharanpur, Mohammad Arshad Gora. He says that the Alvida Namaz prayers were carried out without any issues. When the worshippers were exiting the venue after the prayers, a camera person asked questions that angered the crowd and people started shouting slogans. They were sent home after some persuasion. The administration managed the entire situation very well, and all the work was completed peacefully.

    Alt News also spoke with another journalist who was present at the scene. On the condition of anonymity, the journalist revealed that the news being broadcast on social media and some channels is not true. “Like every year, this year also the Jama Masjid in Saharanpur was crowded as people came to offer prayers. However, there is not enough space inside the mosque. Since there is a fixed time for the prayer, the members of the mosque committee asked the devotees standing outside to return to the mosques in their localities to offer prayers. And the people went back peacefully without any protest. However, after the prayers, some news channels asked provocative questions to those exiting mosque, which led to the sloganeering. However, the matter was resolved within 7-8 minutes and the police took control of the situation. It was not a big issue at all,” said the journalist.

    To sum it up, devotees in Saharanpur did not raise chants after the administration “prohibited them from offering prayers on the road”. The slogans were raised after certain news personnel allegedly asked “provocative” questions to devotees exiting the mosque. According to the police and local journalists, the matter was resolved within minutes.

    The post Ban on namaz on road did not provoke sloganeering in Saharanpur; media misreports appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • News18 falsely claims temple razed in Alwar as “revenge” for Jahangirpuri demolition drive

    Delhi’s Jahangirpuri witnessed communal violence during a recently held procession marking Hanuman Jayanti. In the aftermath of the violence, the municipal corporation of North Delhi carried out a demolition drive in Jahangirpuri against “illegal encroachments” with the help of bulldozers. Apart from shops razed in the area’s Muslim-majority C-Block, the revered Jama Masjid’s gate and boundary walls were also destroyed against a status quo order by the Supreme Court.

    Following this, videos of temples being demolished in Rajasthan’s Alwar district were widely shared on social media and covered by mainstream media. It was claimed that the Congress government in Rajasthan demolished temples in seeking “revenge” for the demolition of Jama Masjid’s gate in Jahangirpuri. A 300-year-old Shiva temple was among the structures demolished in Sarai Mohalla, Rajgarh in Alwar.

    According to a report by Aaj Tak, a master plan was devised for the construction of a “Gaurav Path”. All “encroachments” coming in the way of this construction were removed including the Shiv temple. Congress alleged that the Rajgarh Municipal Corporation where the BJP has a thumping majority was responsible for the decision to demolish the temple whereas the BJP has accused Congress and alleged this was an administrative decision taken by the party.

    News18 TV channel ran the story in its show “Desh Nahin Jhukne Denge” with Aman Chopra and claimed thus follows: “जहांगीरपुरी का बदला, महादेव पर हमला ” (Revenge for Jahangirpuri, attack on Mahadev). During the show, a video of the mosque in Jahangirpuri being demolished was shown with graphics suggesting that the event took place on April 20, 2022, while the video of the temple in Alwar being demolished was played stating that it took place two days later on April 22, 2022.

    Host Aman Chopra tweeted a part of the show with the question, “जहांगीरपुरी में बुलडोजर का दंड, अलवर में शिवलिंग खंड खंड?” (Bulldozer justice in Jahangirpuri, Shivling broken into pieces in Alwar). Although he later deleted the tweet (archive link). Chopra stated during his show, “It is such a big coincidence that two days after a bulldozer was used to demolish the gate of a mosque in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, three temples were demolished in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. One of the temples is 300 years old. Is this a mere coincidence or are these events interconnected? Is this revenge for Jahangirpuri?” (Archive Link)

    On Aaj Tak’s show, “Halla Bol With Anjana Om Kashyap”, the story was run with the graphics “मंदिर पर बदले का बुलडोज़र” (Bulldozer of revenge against temple). BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed on the show that the manner in which Congress attempted to make a legal demolition drive in Jahangirpuri a communal issue, using bulldozers to demolish the temple in Alwar clearly shows that it is an act of revenge. Sambit Patra can be heard making this claim at 4:10 minutes into the broadcast. Another BJP spokesperson, Gaurav Bhatia, made similar claims regarding the demolition of the temple in Alwar insinuating that it is an act of revenge in response to the demolitions that took place in Jahangirpuri. Gaurav Bhatia can be heard making this claim at 9:55 minutes. (Archive Link)

    On April 22, 2022, Republic Bharat ran a promo for its 5 PM show claiming that Hindu sentiments have been hurt after the demolition of the temple in Alwar. The channel took a jibe at Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot insinuating the Congress party’s involvement in the demolitions. Himani Naithani, the show’s host, reiterated the claims in a tweet. (Archive Link)

    A tweet from BJP Rajasthan’s official Twitter handle claimed when the demolition drive against “rioters” in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri was taking place, temples were being razed in Alwar under the Congress government’s watch. This tweet was later deleted. (Archive Link)

    These claims are also widely circulating on social media.

    Fact-check

    Upon performing a keyword search on Google, we found an article published by Aaj Tak. The report mentions that the Alwar district administration carried out the demolition of the “encroachments” on April 17 and 18. We also found a tweet dated April 17, by Zee Rajasthan, referring to the demolition of houses and shops in the Alwar district under the Rajgadh master plan. Therefore, this incident had clearly taken place before April 20, when Jama Masjid’s gate was demolished in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri.

    We then performed a keyword search on Twitter using the date filter and found two different videos from Alwar documenting the demolition of temples, dated April 18 and 19. The two videos aired on News18 and passed off as events that took place in Alwar on April 22 were already in existence on social media before the demolition drive in Jahangirpuri was carried out on April 20. This means that the temples in Alwar could not have been demolished as “revenge” for Jahangirpuri demolition drive.

    The District Collector and Magistrate of Alwar tweeted a press note which also said that “encroachments” were removed on April 17 and 18.

    Several mainstream TV channels and BJP leaders and supporters falsely claimed that temples were razed in Alwar as a response to Jama Masjid’s gate being destroyed in a demolition drive in Jahangirpuri. Rajasthan police have reportedly filed an FIR against News18 anchor Aman Chopra under sedition and other sections for publishing a provocative report.

    The post News18 falsely claims temple razed in Alwar as “revenge” for Jahangirpuri demolition drive appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • No, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ wasn’t chanted during nomination rally of Jharkhand Mukhiya candidate

    A video shot during the nomination of a Mukhiya candidate Shakir Hussain in Dokidih panchayat of Giridih district in Jharkhand is viral on social media. It is being claimed that slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were raised in the nomination rally. Several mainstream media channels and news outlets carried the video with this claim. After the video went viral, an FIR was lodged against Shakir Hussain and others under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including but not limited to Section 124A (sedition) and Section 153A (disturbing public peace). The Jharkhand police have arrested the chief candidate and three of his supporters.

    In a video report, News18 Bihar Jharkhand claimed that slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were raised in the nomination procession for Dokidih mukhiya candidate ‘Shafiq Haider’ who did not stop his supporters. News18 accused the Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) force of Gandey police station of inaction. News18 Jharkhand claimed the same from the channel’s Twitter handle. (Archive link)

    Newsroom Post wrote, “Jharkhand: Pakistan Zindabad slogans raised in nomination procession of mukhiya candidate in Gandey block of Giridih.” (Archive link)

    Many prominent news outlets Zee News, Aaj Tak, News18, Dainik Jagran, India TV, Times Now, Hindustan, NDTV, New Indian Express, India Today, Navbharat Times, First Post, Republic Bharat, Dainik Bhaskar, among others, ran the video with the identical claim. Pro-BJP propaganda website OpIndia and RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya ran similar stories.

    Click to view slideshow.

    This video is viral on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim.

    Fact-check

    Alt News contacted local residents of Dokidih to investigate the viral video. We were told that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were not raised during the procession. Apart from the viral videos, we found several other videos taken from different angles.

    We watched one of these videos in slow-motion at 0.75x speech and found that the chants made during the nomination procession were “Shakir Hussain Zindabad, Shakir Hussain Zindabad, Dokidih Panchayat ka mukhiya kaisa ho – Shakir Hussain jaisa ho”.

    We request readers to use earphones while listening to the video below.

    In the viral video, IRB forces posted at the entrance of the block can be heard saying, “Bas teen aadmi andar jayenge (Only three people can go inside)”. In the video shared by local residents (video 1), the forces deployed at the entrance can be heard giving the same instructions. We matched the frames of both the videos and found they were recorded during the same time.

    We were sent another video (video 2) by locals taken during the procession. We matched this video with video 1 and found that one frame of video 2 matches video 1. Therefore, video 2 was also taken during the same rally.

    We also watched video 2 in slow-motion at 0.75x speed. In this video, the slogans are clearer than in video 1 and ‘Shakir Hussain Zindabad’ can be heard much better.

    We request readers to use earphones while listening to the video below.

    In conclusion, slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ were not raised but ‘Shakir Hussain Zindabad’ slogans were raised during the nomination procession of Shakir Hussain, the Dokidih Mukhiya candidate of Giridih district of Jharkhand. Many news organisations ran the video without verifying the facts.

    That pro-Pakistan slogans were raised in a political or a religious rally is a common piece of misinformation used to target the opposition or non-BJP-ruled states. Recently, a false claim was shared on social media stating that supporters of AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans in Jaipur.

    The post No, ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ wasn’t chanted during nomination rally of Jharkhand Mukhiya candidate appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Sudarshan News falsely accuses Pawan Hans of discriminating against Hindu students

    On April 14, Sudarshan News claimed during a broadcast that Pawan Hans Limited is indulging in “job jihad”. The channel’s editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke asserted that the government-owned company was only recruiting Muslim aspirants and Hindu students were being discriminated against. Pawan Hans Limited is a Category I Miniratna company under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India.

    In a subsequent broadcast of its flagship show ‘Bindass Bol’, Chavhanke said to his viewers, “After studying aviation courses from all across India and spending lakhs of rupees in fees, people are still unemployed. But Jamia Millia Islamia! Pawan Hans has a partnership with the Delhi campus [of Jamia Millia Islamia]. I have the agreement documents. But in the recent recruitment drive, Pawan Hans has taken 100% of students from Jamia. No advertisements, not even an appeal was circulated [regarding the drive]. As if the company is owned by some sheikh and whoever caught his whims has been taken. There are more questions regarding the company’s violation of recruitment protocols set by the Indian government.” During the show, Chavhanke asked for serious measures to be taken against the company.

    Ashok Srivastav, senior editor at DD News, tweeted an image of a list on April 7. The list carried the names of nine interns recruited by Pawan Hans, all of whom hailed from the Muslim community. Srivastav wrote that the company did not release any official declaration of an upcoming recruitment drive but directly contacted the authorities at Jamia Millia and the university’s coordinator sent them this list. His tweet drew over 7,000 likes.

    OpIndia and Sudarshan News’s Sagar Kumar amplified the claim.

    Click to view slideshow.

    An aspirant named Ansh Aggarwal’s father Rajiv Aggarwal tweeted that his son had the highest CGPA in the mechanical branch, yet he did not get selected. He urged the government to pursue an inquiry into the matter.

    Fact-check

    According to the notifications issued on the Pawan Hans website, the organization has been running a full-time basic aircraft maintenance training course for two and a half years with Jamia Millia Islamia. The agreement between the parties was made on July 27, 2017. Information regarding this was also shared on Jamia Millia’s Facebook page at the time. According to the information on the website, the total fee of this course is Rs 1.30 lakh and during the year 2018, a total of 60 students were admitted (30 students in section B1 and 30 students in section B2). Upon completion of the course, 30 students go through an interview round after which 10 are selected for an internship. The interns serve a training period of one year during which they are given a stipend of Rs 15,000.

    Sudarshan News claimed that the company discriminated against Hindu students. While we were unable to get a statement from Pawan Hans, we spoke with students who were enrolled in the course. This included students named in the internship list and others who did not make the cut. Some of them hailed from the Hindu community.

    It is likely that the students selected for the internship hailed from the Muslim community because Jamia Millia Islamia has a 50% Muslim quota. Lists of students enrolled in BSc aeronautics mechanical and BSc aeronautics avionics have been attached below. These are the students enrolled in the 2020-2021 batch. There are 29 students in the mechanical department and 28 in aeronautics. A total of 57 students continued till the last semester. Out of the 57 students, 11 are Hindu – five from BSc aeronautics, and six from BSc aeronautics aviation.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The list shared by Ashok Srivastav names nine students from BSc aeronautics and BSc mechanical who were selected for the internship. One student from the avionics department had opted out. A student told us that based on the marks obtained in BSc aeronautics, 30 students were selected for the personal interview round. Out of the selected 30, four had opted out because they wanted to pursue higher studies or for personal reasons. Out of the four students, three were Hindu. We spoke with these four students and they denied facing any instances of discrimination during the selection process based on their religion.

    Shubh Solanki, who was among the students shortlisted for the personal interview round, said, “It’s not true that only Muslim students are selected. If you have marks, you will get selected. I received an interview call but I rejected the offer because I was preparing for something else. The selection is based on the CGPA acquired in all the semesters. As far as I know, students who secured a CGPA of 8.5 and higher were called for a personal interview. The second factor was the DGCA module. The director-general of the aviation academy conducts 10 modules. The students who clear the maximum number of modules have a higher chance of getting selected. Some clear two rounds while some clear six. I have also heard that women have a 30% quota. Pawan Hans has a college in Mumbai too.”

    We accessed the list of selected candidates at Pawan Hans Helicopter Training Institute Mumbai. Out of the 13 selected candidates, 10 were Hindu. We haven’t attached the list to protect the privacy of the students since the list is not publicly available.

    One of the Muslim students who was selected for the internship told us on the condition of anonymity, “We have two branches in our course, one mechanical and another avionics. Both the courses have seats for 30 students each. Some students dropped out during the first and second years of the course so in the end only 56 students were left. Out of these 56 students, 30 were selected for the interview round. These 30 students are selected based on the CGPA and the DGCA modules. Out of the 30, four opted out of the interview round. A total of 26 students finally appeared for the interview round and this included both Muslim and non-Muslim names.”

    Did Pawan Hans discriminate against Hindu students?

    Sudarshan News claimed that Pawan Hans discriminated against Hindu students and selected only Muslim students. We found that out of 57 students enrolled for the course, 11 were Hindu. There were five Hindu students in BSc aeronautics mechanical and four out of them did not appear for the modules.

    We contacted the fifth student, Ansh Aggarwal, who did not get selected and whose father had questioned the authenticity of this selection procedure. When we asked Ansh if he was treated differently based on his religion, he said, “It might be the case because people with a lower CGPA than mine did get selected, people who passed less number of modules than me also got selected. My interview round went very well as well. I don’t know what other reason there might be.” We asked Ansh if the students who were selected despite lower CGPA and less number of modules were women. He said they were.

    Out of the 10 students selected for the interview, three were female. Out of the three, two were unable to clear any modules. The viral list has the names of two female students who were selected even though they could not clear a single module. This is because of the 30% women’s quota. The rest of the seven students cleared more modules than the remainder of the class. Alt New has accessed the results of the modules.

    We further contacted the six Hindu students from BSc aeronautics aviation. Out of the six, two received a call for the interview round but rejected the offer since they wanted to pursue higher studies. One of the students said they had cleared less number of modules and did not get an interview call. The remaining three students informed that their module results and CGPA were lesser than the other students.

    The total number of students selected by Pawan Hans this year is as follows – nine students from Jamia, 13 from its campus in Mumbai, and five engineering graduates. Out of these 38 selected students, 25 are Hindu and 13 are Muslim. So the claim that Pawan Hans only recruited Muslim students and discriminated against Hindus is untrue. The list that went viral only showed the students selected from Jamia. A few students from the course had also opted out of the interview round for higher studies, and some failed to receive interview calls due to low CGPA and less number of cleared modules.

    The post Sudarshan News falsely accuses Pawan Hans of discriminating against Hindu students appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Media outlets fall for staged video of groom refusing marriage if not given dowry

    A purported video of a groom threatening that he will not go through with the marriage unless he is given a dowry was widespread on social media. The incident was alleged to have taken place in a village in Bihar. The groom can be heard demanding cash, a ring and a chain. He also says that he is a government employee. @humlogindia was the first to post this video on Twitter.

    Dayanand Kamble, Deputy Director (News) at the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations, Government of Maharashtra, tweeted the video gaining over 8 lakh views.

    It was also shared by IPS officer Dipanshu Kabra.

    Several mainstream media organisations published reports on the video based on the viral claim. Jansatta wrote that the groom refused to marry because he was given less dowry than his demand. The Indian Express, Zee News, NDTV, DNA India, Times of India, Lokmat, India.com, IBC 24, News18 Kannada are among the news outlets that reported on the video.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The Times of India shared this video on the day of International Women’s Day and posed the question – “Would you wish her a happy women’s day”. The report stated, “Sitting next to a man on a marriage podium she is trying to negotiate her dowry so that he accepts her as his wife. The man is blatant and brazen in his illegal demand. This is the state of some women in India in 2022. So, what do you think?”

    Fact-check

    With a keyword search, we found this video was posted by a Facebook page called ‘Divya Vikram’ on February 25 and has been viewed more than 70 lakh times. However, the page does not clarify that the video is staged.

    We noticed that the page has posted many such videos and it describes itself as a “video creator”.

    We contacted the channel and found that it is run by an individual named Vikram Mishra. He told Alt News that he runs a channel called ‘Jai Mithila’ along with his team. Both the people seen in the video are actors. Their names are Amit and Rani. He also informed that the page has posted another video similar to the one viral.

    Vikram Mishra also connected us with Amit and Rani who corroborated that they are actors and have worked in many such videos. They found that their video is being shared as a real incident but this isn’t true. Amit and Rani are married to each other and work together.

    Two more videos of Amit and Rani were posted on March 8 from the page ‘Divya Vikram’. In the first video, the groom comes for his wedding in a drunken state and the bride refuses to go ahead with the marriage. The second video shows a clumsy Jayamala ceremony.

     

    देखिये बिहार में मास्टर लड़का ने शादी के मंडब में क्या हंगामा मांग दहजे नहीं दिया तो कर दिया शादी करने से मना

    Posted by Divya Vikram on Tuesday, 8 March 2022

     

    जयमाला बिहार शादी वीडियो #reels

    Posted by Divya Vikram on Tuesday, 8 March 2022

    Several media outlets, thus, picked up a video from social media without verifying the facts of the incident. The video shows a staged drama but was believed to be true.

    The post Media outlets fall for staged video of groom refusing marriage if not given dowry appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • This video of girl confronting soldier is 10 years old and from Palestine

    All India Parisangh (AIP) recently tweeted a video of a young girl screaming at an armed soldier and gesturing punches at him. The soldier subsequently walks away. The tweet was later taken down but an archived link can be viewed here.

    NDTV India also published a report based on the viral video while adding a disclaimer that it could not independently verify the visuals. (Archive link)

    NDTV shared the article from its Facebook page and Twitter handle. Though the tweet was deleted, the Facebook post is accessible as of this writing. Lokmat Marathi and Asianet also covered the video. A part of Asianet’s title reads, “Even Putin would feel defeated seeing this little girl’s spirit.”

    2022-02-28 15_21_45-NDTV India – Posts _ Facebook – Brave

    A few social media users also shared a screengrab of the video linking it to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

    Fact-check

    In the comments of one of the posts sharing the video, some users wrote that it is nine years old and the little girl was from Palestine. Alt News performed a keyword search based on this information and found a longer version of the video posted on YouTube in December 2012. The girl has been identified as Ahed Tamimi.

    Another video of Ahed Tamimi, where she was seen slapping an Israeli soldier, went viral in 2017. Following this, then 16-year-old Ahed was taken into custody for eight months. Al Jazeera aired a video report on the activist in 2018, which carried a photo from 2012 of her confronting the army man. The report also states that she was only 11 years old at the time, and has now become a symbol of resistance. In 2012, Israeli soldiers had arrested Ahed’s older brother. This prompted her to raise her hand while yelling at the troops in protest.

    To sum it up, the viral video is actually from 2012 and features a Palestinian girl confronting the Israeli army. It is not linked to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

    The post This video of girl confronting soldier is 10 years old and from Palestine appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.

  • Air India flight in war-tone Ukraine? No. Misinfo believed to be true

    Amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, several distressing videos of Indian students trying to escape Ukraine have surfaced on social media. On February 28, The Indian Express reported that four Union Ministers will visit as Special Envoy of the Indian government in neighbouring countries to expedite the rescue of Indian citizens from Ukraine.

    In the backdrop of this, a screenshot from PlaneFinder, a United Kingdom-based real-time flight tracking service, has gone viral since February 24. The image shows the trajectory of Air India flight number 121 (AI121) with the claim that it shows the aircraft flying through the warzone to rescue stranded Indians.

    Republic TV published an article with the headline, “Air India lone airliner to brave through war-ridden Russia-Ukraine airspace: Report” along with the viral image. This report was later deleted without any clarification.

    News18 anchor and managing editor Amish Devgan and Akhilesh Mishra, former director of the BJP government’s online citizen engagement initiative ‘MyGov India’, posted this image on February 27. Both have deleted their tweets.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Using social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle, we found that over 100 accounts [view PDF] shared this image online including pro-government pages like Modi Once More and Saffron Tigers. The latter shared the image and wrote, “[sic] This single plane which is flying on sky of Russia Ukraine war zone is showing the power of new India. When no country has dare to fly there it is #AirIndia which is going to airlift Indian Nationals who are stuck there. This is new India under the able leadership of PM Narendra Modi ji. This single picture tells the whole story.” This post has been shared over 11,000 times and liked over 40,000 times.

    On the same day, FB page ‘Modi Once More’ shared this image and wrote, ” [sic] That’s Air India rescue flight on its way…Modi Ji – I got Swag Mitron!”

    Prior to all the posts, on February 24, Twitter user @QuebecTango posted the viral image and alleged AI121 was flying in a no-fly zone and dubbed it as ‘Leeroy Jenkins’ moment – a western slang for doing something extraordinary. This tweet was retweeted over 12,000 times.

    AI121 is not Ukraine-bound

    It must be noted that a day after @QuebecTango shared the image, he claimed, “[sic] End result: it was a glitch in the app. It corrected itself but not before a screengrab was taken. I saw said screengrab and immediately tweeted the Leeroy Jenkins take without realising it was a glitch. End result: cries of “fake” but still happy with the joke.” Twitter user @YourAnonNews also shared this image and called it a “meme”.

    Looking at the viral image, we can see that the screenshot itself reveals that flight AI121 is heading to Frankfurt (Germany) not Ukraine.

    As per PlaneFinder, AI121 is operational on all days of the week except Wednesdays. It was Thursday on February 24, thus the flight was operational. The image below is a screenshot from PlaneFinder that shows the trajectory of flight AI121 on February 24.

    It is must be noted Press Trust of India reported that an Air India plane that took off to bring back Indians from Ukraine on February 24 was called back to Delhi after Ukrainian authorities issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) stating that civil flights within the country “are restricted due to potential hazard”.

    An Air India official told Alt News, “All flights have pre-defined air navigation routes guided by the air traffic control. In case of any exigences, non-availability of airspace or aerodrome, a NOTAM is issued and subsequently, a route is re-defined. I must stress that no commercial aircraft will enter any area(s) declared as no-fly zone.” Thus, it is safe to state that no ‘Leeroy Jenkins’ moment took place in relation to AI121 flight.

    On February 25, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted, “The first batch of evacuees from Ukraine reach Romania via Suceava border crossing.”

    To sum it up, Republic TV and News18 anchor Amish Devgan shared an unverified screenshot with the false claim that it shows India’s rescue mission on February 24. The Government of India began the rescue operation in question on February 25.

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  • Mathrubhumi, TV9 Kannada air video game clip as airstrike in ongoing Ukraine crisis

    The ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine has given rise to online misinformation, with several individuals linking old and unrelated videos to the crisis. The video below is circulating with the claim that Russian fighter jets escaped Ukrainian airstrikes after bombing the country.

    This video has gained lakhs of views @SHEKHAR66355869 [close to 2 lakh views]; @jabaligainz [over 1 lakh views]; @BowiSammy [close to 2 lakh views]; and @schoolboyefr.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Kerala-based news channel Mathrubhumi also aired this clip during a broadcast. So did TV9 Kannada.

    Click to view slideshow.

     

    Video game clip

    Upon reverse searching the video’s keyframes, Alt News found YouTube channel Compared Comparison had uploaded the video earlier this year in January. Thus, the clip doesn’t show footage from the ongoing crisis.

    This clip is 14 seconds longer than the viral clip. The viral section begins 10 seconds into the video. The description and the title establish that the video is a playthrough of the 2013 video game ARMA 3.

    ARMA 3 is an open-world, realism-based, military tactical shooter video game.

    This video game’s clips are often circulated amid military conflicts. Alt News has debunked the video several times in the past.

    The post Mathrubhumi, TV9 Kannada air video game clip as airstrike in ongoing Ukraine crisis appeared first on Alt News.

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  • News24 airs 2015 video of port explosion in China as Russia bombing Ukraine

    Amidst Russia’s ongoing military operations in Ukraine, a video of an explosion has been linked to the crisis. Viral claims suggest that the video shows Russia bombing Ukraine.

    BREAKING: NEW FOOTAGE FROM KYIV OF RUSSIA BOMBING UKRAINE

    Posted by Sandeep Gupta on Wednesday, 23 February 2022

    The video was picked up by Hindi news channel News24.

    The same video was part of another News24 broadcast where it was again played as heavy “bombing” in Ukraine by Russia.

    Old video from China

    We broke down the viral video into keyframes and ran one of the stills through Google reverse image search. This led us to various news reports about a port explosion in China in 2015. We checked a news broadcast by CBS and noticed some similarities to the viral video.

    Taking this broadcast as a clue, we performed a keyword search on YouTube and came across the full video on BBC News’s YouTube channel. The video was recorded by an American tourist named Dan Van Duren.

    Hence, a video of an explosion in China in 2015 was part of News24’s broadcast of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. News24 has aired multiple instances of misinformation on the Ukraine crisis that can be read here and here.

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  • Times Now, Republic air old video of fighter jets as Russian invasion in Ukraine

    Amid the ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine, several Indian media outlets broadcas a video clip of fighter planes flying at a low altitude over a city. Times Now tweeted the clip along with the text, “#RussiaUkraineCrisis: Ukraine says 5 Russian planes, 1 helicopter shot down in Luhansk #PutinOnTheMarch #Russia #Ukraine. [sic]”

    Jan Ki Baat tweeted the same video along with the text, “BREAKING : Russia Launches Air strike on Khariv, Ukraine [sic]”. This video gained over 2,000 retweets.

    News24, Republic World and NewsX also aired the video as footage of the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Old, unrelated video

    Using the video verification tool InVID, we performed a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes and found that the video was uploaded by a YouTube channel on May 4, 2020. As per the YouTube video’s title, it is from Moscow.

    Russia celebrates Victory Day, a holiday that commemorates the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, on May 9 each year. There are several such media reports and clips on YouTube. The Moscow Times reported that V-Day rehearsals in 2020 took place on May 4. In this video, we spotted the identical formation of jets as seen in the viral video.

    To sum it up, several Indian media outlets shared a two-year-old video of aircraft flying in Russia with the false claim that it shows the country’s recent military operations in Ukraine.

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  • TV9 Bharatvarsh depicts BJP members as “Muslim voices” in UP’s Bijnor supporting BJP

    On January 29, TV9 Bharatvarsh broadcasted a special report called ‘The M factor’. In the opening remarks, anchor Samir Abbas stated that this report conducts a ground test in Western UP’s Bijnor district to understand which party is attracting Muslim votes. Just a day prior to this report, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had conducted a door-to-door campaign in Bijnor.

    BJP’s National Spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted a 47-second clip from this broadcast. It showed a woman endorsing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and CM Adityanath. It was also posted by BJP Uttar Pradesh on Twitter. The video from these two accounts has gained over 2 lakh views cumulatively. The woman in the video has been identified as “Noorpur’s Muslim voter”. Noorpur is a city in Bijnor.

    TV9 interviewed 11 Muslim individuals in the vox pop, out of which 10 expressed support for the BJP. TV9’s Managing Editor Sant Prasad Rai quote-tweeted Patra’s tweet. In a gleeful tweet, he wrote that the video is “massively viral” and lauded reporter Shree Nivash for presenting an “actual report”.

    Propaganda as news?

    Vox pop is a form of journalism where a reporter conducts short interviews with the public to present popular opinion. It is derived from the Latin phrase Vox populi which translates to “voice of the people” in English. One of the key features of vox pop is that the interviews are with ordinary members of the public and they aren’t rehearsed. The idea is to get the opinions of people at random to present the “majority” opinion.

    However, as it turns out, a large number of the people supporting the BJP in TV9’s vox pop were existing members, workers and supporters of the BJP.

    Alt News watched the entire broadcast and identified people associated with the BJP.

    At the 8:45 mark, one Alisha Siddiqui was interviewed about the upcoming elections in UP. She said, “I feel that this time Yogi ji will be elected…” TV9 has identified her as “Noorpur’s Muslim voter”.

    However, searching her name on Facebook and rummaging her profile reveals that she is a member of the BJP. We found a poster of the BJP created on the occasion of Parakram Diwas (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti) that carries Siddiqui’s photograph. There are many other images on her profile that establish she is a BJP member. (1 and 2)

    At the 7:05 mark, an unnamed man is also introduced as a “Muslim voter from Noorpur”. He named BJP’s Bijnor-based leader CP Singh when the reporter asked, “Who is the one to turn hatred to love?” After the man mentioned Singh, the reporter asked, “Who is CP Singh?” The Muslim man said, “He is our MLA… BJP’s candidate.” The reporter then asked the man multiple times, “Are you from BJP?” to which the man responded – “Yes”.

    Alt News spoke with regional journalist Narendra Pratap who identified several others in TV9’s broadcast.

    At the 14:36 mark, one Amjad Ali Ansari was interviewed. Pratap informed us that Ansari is BJP’s district leader representing minorities.Pratap also shared a political poster of the BJP that has Amjad Ali Ansari’s image.

    At 16:12, a “Muslim voter” from Dharampur was interviewed. Unlike most interviewees, TV9 didn’t mention this person’s name.Pratap revealed that this man is Javed Multani. He also shared an image of him on a BJP poster. In the poster below, Multani is the man on the right while BJP’s Dhampur MLA Ashoke Rana is on the left.

    Upon performing a keyword search on Facebook, we found Multani’s profile with the same poster as the display picture.In addition to this, Pratap also shared a selfie clicked by Multani with CM Adityanath.

    At the 17:18 mark, one Daud Ali was interviewed who was identified by Pratap as a personal bodyguard of BJP MLA Ashoke Rana. Alt News spoke with Rana who refuted this claim and said, “Daud Ali and I are associates for a long time. He is present at all BJP-related meetings.”

    We also spoke with Ali who informed us, “Most people in the interview are associated with the BJP in some capacity.” At the 13:56 mark, right before BJP district minority leader Amjad Ali Ansari was interviewed, TV9 aired a bite by Nazakat Hussian. Ansari told Alt News that Hussain is a BJP worker but he doesn’t hold an official post in the party.At the 15:17 mark, Mohammed Mubin was interviewed. Ansari told Alt News that Mubin is also associated with the BJP but does not hold an official post. Three more Muslim men were interviewed by TV9 during the broadcast but we were unable to identify them. However, at least seven out of the 11 “Muslim voters” interviewed by the channel are members or workers of the BJP. TV Bharatvarsh presented them as ordinary “Muslim voices” supporting the BJP ahead of Uttar Pradesh polls.

    Alt News has reached out to TV9 Bharatvarsh for a statement. The article will be updated if the channel responds.

    The post TV9 Bharatvarsh depicts BJP members as “Muslim voices” in UP’s Bijnor supporting BJP appeared first on Alt News.

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  • RRB-NTPC protest: Dainik Jagran uses 2019 photo while reporting on police excess

    [Warning: The visuals depict violence and can be distressing for some. Viewer discretion is advised.]

    On January 25, a large number of the applicants of the RRB-NTPC exams in UP had gathered to protest on railway tracks in Prayagraj against the Railways’ decision to hold the exam in two stages. During the protest, the students were chased down by the police and some students allegedly responded by pelting stones. In response to this, the police forcefully entered a nearby hostel and lathi-charged students. A video of the police excess went viral on social media after which six policemen were suspended.

    Reporting on the protest on January 28, Dainik Jagran published an article that carried an alleged photo of a student injured in police violence.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Based on Jagran’s report, the same photo was shared on Twitter by journalist Anup Panday.

    The photo is viral on Facebook as well with the claim that it shows a student injured in the recent protest.

    Old, unrelated image

    We performed a Google reverse image search on the photo and discovered that it is at least two years old and has been viral in various languages. It first went viral on Facebook in Bangladesh with the claim that the person in the photo had violated COVID lockdown guidelines and as a result, the police thrashed him. It was shared with a series of photos that suggests how the incident unfolded.

    While one of the three photos (vegetables scattered on the road) is from West Bengal, the image of cops thrashing a man has been morphed. The policewoman is not wearing a mask in the original photograph. The photos had enraged the public in Bangladesh when they were viral last year, following which the Bangladeshi police issued a statement debunking the claim.

    The same photo of the injured youth was viral in Malaysia in 2020 with the claim that the soldiers of the Malaysian Armed Forces assaulted a boy while enforcing the movement control order (MCO). It was debunked by the Armed Forces saying that the photo is originally from Bangladesh and was uploaded in 2019.

    The Armed Forces did not provide any links to the original photos from Bangladesh but taking their word as a clue, we further looked for the photos and found them on a Bangladeshi Facebook page uploaded in July 2019. Alt News could not find the original context of the photos. This is the oldest instance of the photo that we were able to trace.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Hence, an old and unrelated photo was published by Dainik Jagran to depict police brutality on protesting students in Uttar Pradesh. The image is at least three years old.

    The post RRB-NTPC protest: Dainik Jagran uses 2019 photo while reporting on police excess appeared first on Alt News.

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  • Mazar built over Shiv Mandir in Rajasthan? Sudarshan News shares communal misinfo

    A two-part video was shared by Sudarshan News on January 21. In the first part, a man representing the Dharohar Bachao Samiti claims that a Shiv Mandir has been shut by the Devsthan Vibhag in Rajasthan and a Mazar has been built over it. The second part of the video simply highlights the dome of the Mazar from a different angle. The man criticises the Congress-led Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan.

    At the time of writing, the tweet had received over 5,000 likes and close to 4,000 retweets.

    The video is viral on both Twitter and Facebook.

    Fact-check

    We took a closer look at the video and noticed the name of the temple – Mandir Shri Lakshmi Narayan Ji Bai Ji temple. It is located in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

    The Mazar can clearly be seen in a stock image from January 29, 2020, available on Alamy.

    We then looked for videos of the temple and came across a vlog by one RJ Saroj Swami. In the vlog, at 6:45 minutes, the Mazar is clearly visible and an inscription written on it reads, “Sayed Chandi Wale Baba…” The vlog is from October 2020.

    Using this as a clue we looked for more details and came across another video uploaded on March 5, 2017. The video provides some insights into this Mazar and says that Sayed Chandi Wale Baba’s Mazar is a prime example of communal harmony and both Hindus and Muslims visit this place to offer their prayers. The video also suggests that the Mazar is 30-40 years old.

    Alt News reached out to a local who owns a business near the temple. He is now in his mid-40s and said that he can remember the Mazar being there since he was a child.

    We also spoke with Anand Srivastava, Jaipur Police Commissioner, who corroborated the details revealed in our investigation. He further said that the temple is not closed and the Mazar became an issue because someone posted a picture of it on social media. “In the last 30-40 years no one had any issue with it until the photo became viral,” he said, adding that he was unaware why the door that can be spotted below the Mazar appears to be locked.

    Sudarshan News amplified a false claim that a mandir was closed in Rajasthan as a Mazar has been built in its place. Upon investigating it was found that the Mazar has been there for over 40 years now.

    The post Mazar built over Shiv Mandir in Rajasthan? Sudarshan News shares communal misinfo appeared first on Alt News.

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  • Bajrang Dal members apprehend two adults traveling in a train, falsely claim ‘love jihad’

    On January 16, a Hindi-language website called Humlog published an article that claimed Bajrang Dal apprehended Aatif, a Muslim man, who attempted to abduct a married Jain woman.

    This post has been shared on/by several high network Facebook pages/groups such as — RSS राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ✅ [over 2 lakh followers]; Cm Yogi Adityanath [over 1.5 lakh followers]; पूछता है भारत ®️ ☑ [over 4 lakh followers]; SONU SOOD (Actor)The KingStar◎▼◎ [over 2 lakh followers]; Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi Fan Club [over 2 lakh followers]; Shifuji [over 4 lakh followers].

    Humlog’s article includes a bite given by a Bajrang Dal member to regional media outlet Lokmanch Today. He said, “After being tipped off, Bajrang Dal reached the railway station. We apprehended the man and the woman from bogie number B1 (13, 14) on the train going to Jaipur from Ajmer, and took them to Government Railway Police Force (GRPF) station. The 30-year-old man is from Mhow, he is married and has a child.”

    Hindi news outlets Amar Ujala and Dainik Bhaskar also published similar reports. While Amar Ujala said that a young woman was travelling with a Muslim man, both of whom were married, Dainik Bhaskar reported that Aatif was taking a Hindu woman to Ajmer to get married to her. As per both reports, the man and woman hailed from Mhow.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Twitter user @Saffron_Smoke posted a longer video of the controversy in which we see a Bajrang Dal member assaulting the Muslim man in question inside the train compartment. The video also shows the man and the woman being escorted to a GRPF station on the railway platform. Subsequently, the bite that the Bajrang Dal member gave to Lokmanch Today is played. This video has gained over 50,000 views.

    Co-founder of DoPolitics and former OpIndia Hindi editor Ajeet Bharti shared this video and taunted Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair to fact-check this video. His tweet gained over 1,500 retweets.

    False communal spin added to justify moral policing

    Alt News spoke with the GRP inspector of Ujjain, RS Mahajan. He said, “This incident took place on January 14. There is no ‘love jihad’ angle to the incident. Both the man and woman are married [not to each other]. They were travelling from Indore to Jaipur. Both of them are friends and their families are acquainted. They were released shortly after the commotion.” Mahajan added, “No case was registered by the victims.”

    We also spoke with Nivedita Gupta, Superintendent of Police for GRP. She confirmed that the incident was not related to ‘love jihad’ and refrained from sharing any details related to the victims in order to protect their privacy.

    We performed a keyword search on YouTube and found a report by Live Hindustan. At the 1:20 mark, the woman can be heard saying inside the police station, “Do you understand that your misunderstanding has spoiled my entire life? You are making videos and taking pictures… you should have asked us. I’m an adult… I know what’s right and wrong. Professionally, I’m a teacher, I teach high school students.” The Bajrang Dal member responds to her by saying, “I am not even talking to you. Do I have anything to do with you?” thus completely disregarding an adult woman herself clarifying that she wasn’t coerced.

    With the help of MP-based reporters, Alt News was able to identify the Bajrang Dal member who assaulted the Muslim man. His name is Pintu Kaushal (man in the middle in the image below).

    Bajrang Dal members, therefore, apprehended two friends travelling in a train and accused the man of committing ‘love jihad’. Not only have the police clarified that the incident does not have any communal angle, the woman herself can be heard saying, “I am an adult and I know what is right and wrong”.

    The post Bajrang Dal members apprehend two adults traveling in a train, falsely claim ‘love jihad’ appeared first on Alt News.

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  • Man dancing to ‘Tip Tip Barsa Paani’ in viral video is NOT Pakistani MP, media misreports

    An Aaj Tak report from January 6 claimed that a Pakistani member of parliament drew widespread flak after a video of him dancing to the Bollywood track ‘Tip Tip Barsa Paani’ surfaced. The report states, “A video of Pakistan National Assembly member and TV host Aamir Liaquat Hussain is viral on social media. In the clip, he is seen dancing to the Aamir Khan and Katrina Kaif-Akshay Kumar Bollywood song ‘Tip Tip Barsa Pani’.”

    Hussain is a member of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf.

    ANI, Navbharat Times, Hindustan, Zee News UP-Uttarakhand, News24, Punjab Kesari, Navodaya Times, Zee Salaam, Lokmat published similar reports amplifying the claim.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The majority of these reports, barring ANI, are based on a tweet by Aman Malik.

    Fact-check

    One Twitter user replied to a person who had shared the video. The user stated that the man in the video is not Hussain but dancer and choreographer Shoaib Shakoor.

    Shakoor had posted the same video on his Instagram handle three days prior on January 4.

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    A post shared by Shoaib Shakoor (@shoaibshakoor)

    A Facebook page named HS Studio Pakistan posted several videos from the same occasion, including the one in question. Shakoor has been tagged here and the title is ‘Shoaib Shakoor on Tip tip’.

    To sum it up, a video was falsely circulated on Indian social media as a Pakistani politician dancing to a Bollywood song. Several prominent media outlets amplified the claim without verifying it first. Aaj Tak later updated its report, but the archived version can be accessed here. It is worth noting that even in the updated story, Aaj Tak did not acknowledge the error.

    The post Man dancing to ‘Tip Tip Barsa Paani’ in viral video is NOT Pakistani MP, media misreports appeared first on Alt News.

    This post was originally published on Alt News.