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Delhi Assembly Results - 2015 Candidate Wise - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 11, 2015

created: February 11, 2015


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Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had not converted to Christianity for volunteering in Missionaries for Charity - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 14, 2021
A screenshot of a tweet purportedly made by Supreme Court lawyer and BJP Uttar Pradesh spokesperson Prashant Patel Umrao is being shared on social media claiming that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is an anti-Hindu and a Crypto Christian. This post claims that Mother Teresa had converted Kejriwal to Christianity in 1992 and thereafter, Kejriwal had volunteered for Missionaries of Charity for 6 months. Also, this post claims Kejriwal as a member of an international syndicate against Hinduism. Let’s verify the claims made in the post.
Claim: Mother Teresa converted Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal into Christianity and thereafter, he volunteered for Missionary of Charity for 6 months.
Fact: This tweet is now not available on Prashant Patel Umrao’s Twitter handle and we could not confirm if he made any such tweet. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal multiple times proclaimed himself as a devout Hindu and a Hanuman follower. While it is true that Arvind Kejriwal had worked with Mother Teresa and volunteered for Missionaries of Charity, there is no evidence to prove that Arvind Kejriwal had converted to Christianity as mentioned in the post. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On searching for this tweet on the Prashant Patel Umrao’s Twitter handle, we could not find this tweet. However, we could not confirm if he made any such tweet. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in multiple interviews proclaimed himself as a ‘devout Hindu’ and a follower of Hanuman. During the 2020 town hall address with News 18 channel, Kejriwal identified himself as a devout Hindu when the anchor questioned his religion. Reporting this information, ‘Hindustan Times’ published an article on 03 February 2020.
When we searched to check whether Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had worked as a volunteer for Missionaries of Charity, it is found out that Kejriwal had volunteered for Missionaries of Charity. Arvind Kejriwal through a tweet confirmed that he had worked with Mother Teresa for few months at Nirmal Hriday Ashram in Kolkata. Arvind Kejriwal had described multiple interactions with Mother Teresa during the ‘News 18’ interview conducted in 2016. According to the ‘News 18’ article, Arvind Kejriwal joined Missionaries of Charity after he resigned from Tata Steel in Jamshedpur. In 2013, ‘India TV’ reported that Arvind Kejriwal while explaining his work experience with Mother Teresa had said, “There were lots of people in these villages who had started turning to Christianity. Somehow, I started feeling guilty. Is Hinduism doing sufficient things for its own people? What are we doing for them?”. But he had never said that he converted to Christianity to serve Missionaries of Charity.
Arvind Kejriwal as the Chief Minister of Delhi had visited multiple churches and Christian events in Delhi. In 2019, while addressing a Christian and New Year Celebration at the Delhi Assembly, Arvind Kejriwal said, “Our government has completed five years and the satisfaction we have is that we have tried to run it on the path shown by Christ”. Arvind Kejriwal made this statement to explain that his government is considering the diversity of the country and giving equal importance to all religions. Kejriwal had never identified himself as a crypto Christian. Also, there is no such organization called ‘International Syndicate against Hinduism’ for Arvind Kejriwal to be a part of it.
To sum it up, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had not converted to Christianity for volunteering in Missionaries for Charity.

source: news-factly

created: September 14, 2021

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Crimes against Women: Delhi continues to report the most Crimes for every lakh Women
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 29, 2017
While Uttar Pradesh reported the most number of crimes against women, Delhi with thrice the national average continues to report the most crimes against women for every lakh women.
The Nirbhaya incident in 2012 brought infamy to Delhi as an unsafe place for women. Even after 5 years, data indicates that Delhi continues to report the most number of cases of crime against women for every lakh women. It is the only state along with Assam that has reported more than 100 crimes against women for every lakh women, in each of the years from 2014 to 2016.
Only 3 states report more than 30000 crimes against women
In 2016, a total of 3.52 lakh crimes were reported against women. This is about 20000 more than the number of crimes reported in 2015. Uttar Pradesh reported the most number of crimes (48757) followed by West Bengal & Maharashtra respectively. Uttar Pradesh & West Bengal are the only two states that have reported more than 30000 crimes against women in each of the years from 2014 to 2016. A total of six (6) states reported more than 20000 crimes each in 2016 while 14 states reported more than 10000 crimes each.
The six states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh & Assam accounted for 55% of all the crimes reported against women while they together account for 47% of the total female population in the country. Of all the states with more than a crore female population, Punjab reported the least number of crimes against women.
Uttar Pradesh has the best Conviction Rate of the bigger States
Conviction rate is defined as the percentage of cases that resulted in conviction out of the cases whose trial was complete in a particular year. In terms of conviction rate in cases of crime against women, some of the North-Eastern states are way ahead of the rest of the states. Mizoram has reported a conviction rate of more than 75% in each of 2014, 2015 and 2016, the best for any state.
Of the bigger states with more than 50 lakh female population, Uttar Pradesh reported a conviction rate of more than 50% consistently. Uttarakhand, which was previously part of Uttar Pradesh also reported more than 40% conviction rate on a consistent basis. The conviction rate in both these states is more than twice the national average conviction rate. Of the states that reported more than 10000 cases of crime against women, both Karnataka & West Bengal reported a conviction rate of less than 5% in 2016, the lowest for such states.
Delhi continues to report the most Crimes against Women for every lakh Women
If the number of cases of crime against women is normalized with the female population, Delhi continues to report the most number of crime against women for every one lakh women. While the national average stands at 60 crimes per lakh women in 2016, Delhi reported more than thrice this number at 197 crimes per lakh women. In 2015, Delhi reported more than 200 crimes per lakh women, the only such instance till date. Only Delhi & Assam have consistently reported more than 100 crimes against women per lakh women in each of the last 3 years.

created: September 29, 2017


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Delhi HC upholds CIC order on uploading latest amended legislations on the Government website - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 31, 2016
The Delhi High Court in a recent judgement upheld the order of the Central Information Commission directing the Legislative Department of the Government of India to upload all the laws enacted by Parliament as amended from time to time.
The Delhi High Court, in a recent judgement has upheld an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the Legislative Department, Government of India to upload on the official website all laws enacted by Parliament as amended from time to time. It has also upheld the CIC’s direction to the Government to examine the functionality of the official email addresses of officers of the Department.
A law student at the National Law School of India, University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, could not find the complete version of a law passed by Parliament with all the latest amendments online on the website of the Legislative Department, Government of India. He then submitted an RTI application to the Legislative Department and he claimed that the email bounced back. This application was filed in 2012. He approached the CIC through a complaint in September, 2015.
The Law student wanted to study the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1972 from the website, but   he   couldn’t. Though   he   could   find   the   Bare   Act   from the India Code website, it   was   impossible   to   read   as   the PDF   of   Bare   Act   was   not   at   all formatted. The sentences were not continuous and it was so confusing and difficult to correlate content and make out even a single sentence. He contended that as a student of law, for his course work he required to refer to several Bare Acts to ascertain the correct position of law, but India Code website is not in a position to help the students of law in any way.
Disposing of the case, the CIC pointed out:
“It is the minimum responsibility of state to provide updated information about amendments, which will go in long way in helping people. The access to law is not just a requirement of Law student and law researchers, but a necessity of all citizens. For instance, the Parliament by the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, has amended section 100 of Indian Penal Code, which provide a right of private defence of body even to the extent of causing death in case of acid attack. Many men or women are not even aware of self defence right that they can even kill assailant if the later is attacking to kill, rape or throw acid, or cause grievous hurt etc.”
The CIC directed the Legislative Department as follows:
“11. The Commission directs the respondent authority, Legislative Department to inform the complainant and the Commission as to what action has been taken including details of the programme of updation, the possible date of its completion, expenditure involved, personnel employed etc. The Commission also recommends the department to recognise urgency and significance of the issue, expedite the process, allocate more fund to employ more personnel and complete the process of updation as soon as possible.
12. The Commission also directs the respondent authority to examine the functionality of the email ID in view of the Complainant’s claim that most of the email IDs have failed. The Legislative Department also should have perfect RTI filing system and answer mechanism.”
Despite the fact that the RTI was filed in 2012 and was resolved by the CIC only in November 2015, the CIC directed the Legislative Dept. to pay Rs. 10,000/- as compensation to the NLSIU as an exemplary measure. The Legislative Dept. challenged the CIC’s order before the Delhi High Court.
The Delhi High Court refused to interfere with the directions of the CIC. Upholding both CIC directives relating to RTI, the Court said:
“3. In the present writ petition, it has been averred that the respondent never filed an RTI application in the prescribed form and the requisite fee. It is also stated that the respondent did not file the first appeal and hence the second appeal could not have been entertained by the CIC.
The High Court upheld the CIC’s order for token compensation saying:
“6. This Court also take judicial notice of the fact that in challenging the imposition of costs of Rs.10,000/-, the Government of India would have spent more money in filing the present writ petition. Consequently, this Court is of the view that the costs of Rs.10,000/- which was directed to be paid by the CIC, should be recovered from the salary of the Government officials who authorized the filing of the present writ petition.”
This landmark judgement, thanks to the intervention of the law student who ultimately had little use for the information sought, by the time the case was decided, is significant for multiple reasons:
The short but insightful order of the Delhi High Court contributes to the expansion of the regime of transparency established by the RTI Act.
Featured image: High Court of Delhi


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Delhi High Court upholds TRAI order on Dropped Calls - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 29, 2016
In October 2015, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued an order to all Mobile Service Providers to compensate consumers in the event of dropped calls. This was challenged by the Mobile Service Providers in the Delhi High Court with the contention that such an order was not within the powers of TRAI and that the order was arbitrary. The Delhi High Court dismissed the plea and upheld the TRAI order.
In October 2015, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued an order to all Mobile Service Providers to compensate consumers in the event of dropped calls. These directions were to be applicable from 1st January, 2016. Among other things, TRAI directed the service providers to
Following this order, various mobile service providers approached the Delhi High Court challenging the validity of these directions. The Delhi High Court dismissed the plea of service providers and upheld TRAI’s order. This paves the way for the implementation of the compensation provisions in the event of dropped calls.
The order is well within TRAI’s power
One of the points raised by the service providers was that TRAI had no power to make such a regulation. The court said, ‘There can be no dispute that the impugned regulations have been made to ensure quality of services extended to the consumers by the service providers’. Maintaining that ensuring the quality of service provided by the service providers is one of the important functions of TRAI, the Court concluded that this order was well within its powers.
The court also said that the compensation provided under the regulations does not amount to penalty and is only notional compensation to consumers who have suffered as a result of call drop.
Regulations do not demand 100% Performance
The court mentioned that the technical paper published by TRAI had ascertained from the equipment manufacturers that network counters/indicators are capable to pin point the exact cause for the call drop.  TRAI’s technical paper also mentions that due to technological advancement, the issue of call drop can now be addressed by the service providers by adopting various other means.
The service providers also contended that they are facing problems in installation of mobile towers resulting in frequent call drops. But this point was disputed by the Additional Solicitor General (ASG). The ASG quoted the drive tests conducted by TRAI in 2014 and 2015 and that the problem of call drops has been identified in various places for reasons unrelated to mobile towers. The court refused to enter into this controversy.
The service providers also contended that the new regulations demand 100% performance and that the compensation for dropped calls is contradictory with tolerance of 2% imposed by the Quality of Service Regulations.The court  maintained that the Quality of Service Regulations are prescribed as a quality parameter for the entire network area and the same is distinct and different from the compensation provided to the consumers for the dropped calls specifying an individual standard. Emphasizing that the compensation is limited to only 3 dropped calls per day, the court said this cannot be termed as demanding 100% performance.  Hence the court did not appreciate the contention of the service providers that Quality of Service Regulations and Consumer Regulations are mutually contradictory.
The court concluded by saying that these regulations are not arbitrary and that TRAI can take appropriate steps for compliance of these regulations. It remains to be seen if the service providers challenge this order in the Supreme Court.

created: February 29, 2016


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Delhi Police personnel were not burning the bus in the viral video - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 17, 2019
A video and its screenshots are being shared widely on social media with a claim that the Delhi Police personnel were burning a bus and framing the protestors. Let’s try to analyze the claim made in the post.
Video of Delhi Police personnel burning the bus.
Fact: The Police personnel in the video were trying to douse the fire. The same bus was found in the depot in the same condition as in the video.  Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
By looking at the video, it can be observed that the police were extinguishing the fire on one side and pouring something into the bus. It is not clear from the video as to what was being poured. Some people on social media mistook it to be some fuel, which they thought was used by the Police to set the bus on fire. Even Manish Sisodia has tweeted blaming the Delhi Police.
चुनाव में हार के डर से बीजेपी दिल्ली में आग लगवा रही है. AAP किसी भी तरह की हिंसा के ख़िलाफ़ है. ये बीजेपी की घटिया राजनीति है. इस वीडियो में ख़ुद देखें कि किस तरह पुलिस के संरक्षण में आग लगाई जा रही है. https://t.co/IoMfSpPyYD
In the video, the bus number can be seen, which is ‘DL 1PD 0299’.  If the bus was burnt by the Police, then the bus should have been charred. But, in a video uploaded by ‘India TV’ on 16 December 2019 regarding the incident, the bus was found to be in the same condition as seen in the viral video. It confirms that the Police personnel were not pouring fuel on the bus and did not set fire to it later. Journalist Rahul Kanwal has also tweeted the pictures of the bus saying that ‘the bus which Delhi Police supposedly set on fire is safe in the yard’.
Talking to media, the police officials Chinmoy Biswal (DCP of South-East Delhi) and Mandeep Randhawa (Delhi Police PRO) clarified that the police were just dousing the fire and have asked the people not spread the rumours.
DCP, South-East Delhi, Chinmoy Biswal: This (Police burnt buses) is an absolute lie. When mob was setting fire to properties, police tried to douse the fire by asking for water from residents. As far as the particular bus is concerned, Police saved it by using water from a bottle pic.twitter.com/mI1Vq7gXKA
Another tweet by Barkha Dutt which includes a video by MOJO STORY terms this as fake news. The video includes the version of the police officer in question along with the eyewitnesses version.
As rumours swirl in #Jamia, our ground report shows that its absolute fake news to suggest that the @DelhiPolice torched a bus with a canister. We unpack how that rumour started here: https://t.co/SKfVvdUAnq
To sum it up, the Delhi Police personnel were not burning the bus in the viral video.
Did you watch our new Episode of the DECODE series?

created: December 17, 2019


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Delhi Public School management has clarified that the face masks in circulation are neither manufactured nor sold by them - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 9, 2020
A photo with a face mask that has the name and logo of Delhi Public School (DPS) is shared on social media claiming that DPS is selling them to its students at a cost of Rs 350/- per mask. But as the message went viral, managements of various branches of DPS across the country have clarified through social media posts that their School is not selling those masks. These posts can be seen here, here and here. Mansur Ali, board member of DPS has also sent messages to parents of its students that the masks in the photo are not associated with DPS.
Sources:
Claim –
1. Facebook post (Archived)
Fact –
1. Facebook post (DPS Halwani) – https://www.facebook.com/dpshld/posts/3042690395825431
2. Facebook post (DPS Bangalore North) – https://www.facebook.com/DelhiPublicSchoolBangaloreNorth/posts/1909488565849062
3. Facebook post (DPS Secunderabad) – https://www.facebook.com/dpssecunderabad/photos/a.438451786231059/3083315445078000/
4. News article – https://www.deccanherald.com/city/top-bengaluru-stories/not-selling-mask-says-delhi-public-school-as-fake-news-goes-viral-846375.html
Did you watch our new video?


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Demand for Currency Notes increasing despite greater use of Card & Wallet payments
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 27, 2015
The use of plastic currency like credit & debit cards has been growing rapidly in the country. Despite the double digit growth in the use of plastic currency, the demand for currency notes & coins is also increasing at a decent pace of 8%.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) publishes an annual report every year. One of the chapters in this Annual Report is on Currency Management. This chapter deals with the trends in demand for banknotes of various denomination, currency management infrastructure and trends in counterfeit notes among other things.
Proportion of 10, 500 & 1000 rupee notes in total volume rising
Despite card transactions growing by over 10% each year, the demand for currency notes hasn’t come down. The number of currency notes in circulation has increased for all the denominations except 2 & 5 rupees. There are variations in growth of different denominations leading to an increasing proportion of 10, 500 and 1000 rupee notes in the total volume of bank notes in circulation.
The data with the RBI indicates that the proportion of 10, 500 & 1000 rupee notes in total volume of banknotes in circulation is rising each year from 2013 to 2015. The number of 2 & 5 rupee notes in circulation is more or less constant through the years 2013 to 2015. There is a steep increase in the number of 10 rupee notes in circulation in 2015. From around 25000 million notes in 2013, the 10 rupee notes in circulation went up to more than 30000 million in 2015. While there is a marginal rise in the number of 20, 50 and 100 rupee notes in circulation from 2013 to 2015, their proportion in the total volume has gone down in these three years. There is a steady rise in the number of 500 rupee and 1000 rupee notes in circulation. The proportion of 500 rupee notes in the total volume went up from 14.7% in 2014 to 15.7% in 2015.
500 & 1000 rupee notes contribute to 85% Value of all the notes in circulation
Because of their higher value, the 500 & 1000 rupee notes contribute to 85% of the value of all the notes in circulation. Except for these two denominations, the proportion of contribution of all the other denominations has come down from 2013 to 2015. While the contribution of 2 & 5 rupee notes is nominal at around 0.3%, the contribution of 10 rupee notes is around 2.1%. This is particularly interesting since the number of 10 rupee notes has gone up substantially in 2015. Despite the increase, the contribution has not gone up because of the lower denomination. The contribution of 500 rupee notes is close to 46% and the contribution of 1000 rupee notes is close to 40%.
What about Coins?
Despite the increase in the use of plastic currency & high value denomination currency like 500 & 100 rupee notes, the demand for coins of lower denomination has also increased continuously from 2013 to 2015. While there has been no increase in the number of small coins, there has been steady increase in the number of 1 rupee and 2 rupee coins. Even the 5 rupee & 10 rupee coins have seen a marginal increase in these 3 years. Both 1 rupee & 2 rupee coins account for close to 50% of the total value, while the 5 rupee & 10 rupee coins account for about 47% of the total value.
The Menace of Fake Notes
During 2014-15, a total of 5,94,446 pieces of fake notes were detected in the banking system compared to 4,88,273 fake notes in 2013-14. The number of fake notes increased in 2014-15 for all denominations except 2 & 5 rupees. While the number of fake notes seems to be increasing, their percentage compared to the notes in circulation is negligible. The percentage of fake 500 rupee & 1000 rupee notes is about 0.002%, the percentage of fake 100 rupee notes is about 0.001%. The percentage of all fake notes in 2014-15 is about 0.0007%.
To deal with the menace of fake notes, the RBI has initiated steps like withdrawal of the pre-2005 series of bank notes. In accordance with the international practice of not having multiple series of banknotes simultaneously in circulation, the process of withdrawal of pre-2005 series of banknotes, in phases, was initiated in 2014. The RBI has extended the date of withdrawal to December 31, 2015 to ensure least inconvenience to public.
Featured Image: Sudipto Sarkar | Flickr

created: November 27, 2015


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Demolition of illegal encroachments along Dal Lake is falsely associated with Rohingyas - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 10, 2021
A post accompanying a video that appears to be of a group of officials demolishing a few constructions is being shared on social media platforms with a claim that the video shows officials demolishing illegal constructions of Rohingyas in Jammu & Kashmir. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video showing officials demolishing illegal constructions of Rohingyas in Jammu & Kashmir.
Fact: Multiple Kashmiri local news agencies reported the video as demolition of illegal encroachments along the banks of Dal Lake by Lakes & Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) of J&K. None of these reports associated the constructions to Rohingyas. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
The video in the post carries a watermark which reads ‘JAMMU LINKS NEWS’. Taking a cue from this, YouTube search led us to the original video on a channel with the same name. According to the description provided in the video, the Lakes & Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) demolished illegal encroachments in areas of Lashkari Mohalla, Doji Mohalla, Burzhama, Wangut Teilbal & Nishat.
Further search with relevant keywords yielded a news report by ETV Bharat which reported the same incident. According to this report, Lakes & Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) of Jammu & Kashmir demolished illegal encroachments in Lashkari Mohalla, Dobi Mohaka, Barzahama, Wangat, Tel Bill, Nishat and other adjoining areas.
Further, multiple J&K local news agencies reported the same incidents and published similar visuals.  Even according to these reports, the video shows LAWDA officials demolishing illegal encroachments along Dal Lake which were raised without any prior permission. These reports can be read here, here & here. Few other videos related to the demolition drive can be seen here and here.
TV9 , India Today and Zee news also reported the demolition drive being conducted by the LAWDA along the Dal Lake. However, all these reports suggest that these are illegal constructions along the banks of the Dal Lake but none of these reports associated these constructions with Rohingyas, which suggests these encroachments have nothing to do with Rohingyas.
To sum it up, demolition of illegal encroachments along Dal Lake is falsely associated with Rohingyas.


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The Demonetization Numbers - Number of 1000 Rupee Notes - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 4, 2017
A total of 685.782 crore Rs 1000 notes were demonetized on November 8th, 2016. As per RBI’s annual report, 676.882 crore Rs 1000 notes have been deposited in the banks as of March 31st, 2017. In other words 98.7% of the demonetized Rs 1000 notes are back into the banks.

created: September 4, 2017


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The Demonetization Numbers - Number of 500 Rupees Notes
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 4, 2017
A total of 1716.506 crore Rs 500 notes were demonetized on November 8th, 2016. As per RBI’s annual report, 1702.306 crore Rs 500 notes have been deposited in the banks as of June 30th, 2017. In other words 99.17% of the demonetized Rs 500 notes are back into the banks.


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The Demonetization Numbers - Share of Currency in Circulation
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 4, 2017
As on March 31st 2016, the total currency in circulation was Rs 16.41 lakh out of which Rs 500 and Rs 1000 made up for more than 86% by value. As on March 31st 2017, the total currency in circulation came down to Rs 13.1 lakh crore on account of demonetization. Rs 2000 notes alone accounted for 50% of the value while the share of Rs 500 notes came down to 22.5%. The share of both Rs 100 notes and other smaller denomination notes almost doubled.


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The Demonetization Numbers - Number of Fake Old Notes Detected
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 4, 2017
The number of fake currency notes (old Rs 500 & Rs 1000) detected increased to 3.18 lakh fake Rs 500 notes and 2.56 lakh Rs 1000 notes. This is after most of the old notes are back into the system. The number of such notes detected in 2015-16 was 2.62 lakh Rs 500 notes and 1.43 lakh Rs 1000 notes.


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The Demonetization Numbers - Expenditure Incurred on Printing Notes
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 4, 2017
The cost of printing currency notes increased significantly in 2016-17 because of the introduction of the new Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. While Rs 3762 crore was spent on currency printing in 2014-15, Rs 3421 crore was spent in 2015-16 and Rs 7965 crore was spent in 2016-17, an increase of more than 130%.


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Demonetization Numbers
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 4, 2017
1. A total of 685.782 crore Rs 1000 notes were demonetized on November 8th, 2016. As per RBI’s annual report, 676.882 crore Rs 1000 notes have been deposited in the banks as of March 31st, 2017. In other words 98.7% of the demonetized Rs 1000 notes are back into the banks.
2. A total of 1716.506 crore Rs 500 notes were demonetized on November 8th, 2016. As per RBI’s annual report, 1702.306 crore Rs 500 notes have been deposited in the banks as of June 30th, 2017. In other words 99.17% of the demonetized Rs 500 notes are back into the banks.
3. Currency worth Rs 15.44 lakh crore was demonetized on November 8th, 2016. As per RBI’s annual report, currency worth Rs 15.28 lakh crore has been deposited in the banks as of June 30th, 2017. In other words 98.96% of the demonetized currency is back into the banks.
4. The cost of printing currency notes increased significantly in 2016-17 because of the introduction of the new Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. While Rs 3762 crore was spent on currency printing in 2014-15, Rs 3421 crore was spent in 2015-16 and Rs 7965 crore was spent in 2016-17, an increase of more than 130%.
5. The number of fake currency notes (old Rs 500 & Rs 1000) detected increased to 3.18 lakh fake Rs 500 notes and 2.56 lakh Rs 1000 notes. This is after most of the old notes are back into the system. The number of such notes detected in 2015-16 was 2.62 lakh Rs 500 notes and 1.43 lakh Rs 1000 notes.
6. Even the new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes could not escape the scourge of fake notes. In 2016-17, 638 fake notes of Rs 2000 and 199 fake notes of the new Rs 500 note were detected.
7. As on March 31st 2016, the total currency in circulation was Rs 16.41 lakh out of which Rs 500 and Rs 1000 made up for more than 86% by value. As on March 31st 2017, the total currency in circulation came down to Rs 13.1 lakh crore on account of demonetization. Rs 2000 notes alone accounted for 50% of the value while the share of Rs 500 notes came down to 22.5%. The share of both Rs 100 notes and other smaller denomination notes almost doubled.


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Denial and Impunity: Indian Army on the Pathribal Encounter
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 25, 2017
In a recent hearing conducted by the Central Information Commission, the Indian Army said on record that there was no Court of Inquiry in the Pathribal Encounter case.
The Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Indian Army denied information in reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application seeking details of an alleged encounter that killed five civilians in Pathribal, Jammu & Kashmir on March 25, 2000.
Under Section 8(1)(h), a public authority may deny access to information if disclosure will impede the process of investigation or the arrest or the prosecution of persons accused of committing crimes.
However, the Indian Army later clarified that even though the investigation was not pending, there were some legal roadblocks in regard to the alleged encounter’s Court of Inquiry at the time of receiving the RTI in 2015.  Dissatisfied with the reply, the petitioner filed a second appeal with the central Information Commission (CIC).
The representatives of the Indian Army as well as the petitioner appeared before the CIC for a hearing on October 25, 2016. During the process of the hearing, the Indian Army representative claimed that there was a factual error in his initial reply and that a Court of Inquiry into the Pathribal Encounter was never instituted in the first place and hence he cannot provide any information regarding it. He also dismissed the petitioner’s claim that media outlets widely reported the Court of Inquiry and stated that the claim is false.
Indian Army’s Investigation
According to documents obtained by Factly, the Indian Army conducted an investigation into this incident including recording and examining of evidence from at least 55 witnesses, forensic reports and other pertaining documents.
The document is dated January 2014 and clearly states that a hearing of charge was conducted, summary of evidence was recorded and that the Indian Army dismissed charges against the accused officers of the 7 Rashtriya Rifles for lack of evidence.
It appears the Indian Army is trying to mislead the petitioner and everybody involved by taking advantage of matters of technicality. While the document states that the matter was investigated by conducting a hearing of charge and summary of evidence, it explicitly does not mention Court of Inquiry. Perhaps it is the only way out for the Indian Army to guard its investigation or the lack if it from the public eye.
Why else would they deny information about a case they closed in January 2014? Why would they suggest that they have some legal matters pending in the case and then retract their statement to say that they never held an investigation into the matter by the name of Court of Inquiry?
It is very clear that the aim of the petitioner is to get the details of the investigation and how the Indian Army arrived at dismissing the charges, while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had charge sheeted the officers of the 7 Rashtriya Rifles for the same.
CBI vs. Indian Army:  History of Pathribal Encounter Investigations
On 20 March 2000, unidentified gunmen in an army uniform massacred 36 Sikh civilians in Chattisingpora in Anantnag district. Coincidentally, the eve on Bill Clinton’s visit to India. The CBI as well as the civil society organizations believe that the 7 Rashtriya Rifles unit staged the encounter four days later in an attempt to showcase that it has nabbed the suspects of the massacre.
In May 2006, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge sheeted five officers of the 7 Rashtriya Rifles regiment alleging that the evidence against them confirms that they faked an encounter in March, six years earlier killing 5 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.
CBI Chargesheet
The CBI charge sheet outlines that five civilians were picked up by armed men in military uniform in separate incidents in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, the day before the alleged fake encounter.
The families and relatives of missing persons filed reports in the local police stations after not seeing them again. In the process of investigating the missing complaints, the investigation team conducted post mortem on the five dead bodies handed over to the police by the Rashtriya Rifles unit alleging that they were killed in an encounter and might be foreign militants.
The CBI submitted the investigation report to the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Srinagar in 2006. The charge sheeted officers filed a petition in the same year stating that no prosecution could take place before obtaining sanction (approval) by the central government under the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA) and that the charge sheet should be returned to the CBI.
According to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1990 (AFSPA), no suit, legal proceedings or prosecution can be instituted against an armed forced personnel who might have purported or done anything in exercising the powers of Act.
According to an Amnesty International Report, the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Home Affairs have stated in replies to Right to Information (RTI) requests from human rights activists in J&K that no sanction has been granted between 1990 and 2012 by either ministry.
The Supreme Court of India gave its final judgment in the Pathribal encounter case in 2012 upholding the officer’s petition to impunity under AFSPA. It directed the Indian army to take a decision within eight weeks on whether they want to try the accused by court martial, a judicial procedure within the army or allow criminal courts the sanction to proceed with the trial. The Indian Army opted to court martial and was handed over the case in June 2012. In January 2014, they closed the case and dismissed the charges against their officers.
Impunity
This is not the first time the Supreme Court of India has given blanket impunity to the armed forces under AFSPA.  While it is understood that its hands are tied regarding taking cognizance in the case, it could have used the opportunity to revisit AFSPA, which was introduced as an emergency provision but has remained for over 26 years. It is within the purview of the court to argue that AFSPA is indeed a violation of the Indian constitution and the citizens killed in the encounter have a right to justice that they agree to be fair.  Instead it chose to put the case in the hands of the alleged perpetrators and closed its eyes.
A G Noorani, a leading constitutional expert wrote in The Hindu dated July 26,2013, “On January 30, 2013, Justice (retd.) J.S. Verma said: “For anyone to think that sexual assault could in any way be associated with the performance of any official task, well needs to think again.” He added, “What we [his Committee]have said is only that in a case like this, there should be no need for a prior sanction” for the court to take cognizance. Does not this principle apply also to a cold-blooded murder, which is what a fake encounter really is? “
In a 2012 report by International People’s Tribunal for Human Rights and Justice and Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons, states that the clause requiring sanction to prosecute accused officers in spite of evidence “ highlights the pervasive climate of secrecy and non-disclosure and misuse of sanction process.
The cycle of heavy military presence, dissent, resistance, violence, oppression and disappearance is a story too familiar in Kashmir. The Pathribal encounter was one of the most publicized fake encounters in the history of India. But 16 years and hundreds of encounters later, nothing has changed in Kashmir. AFSPA still remains; the military justice system continues to be secretive, self- serving and inefficient and the accused in the case have climbed up the ranks within the army.
Featured Image:Pathribal Encounter

created: January 25, 2017


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Denmark did not pass legislation barring Muslims from voting in elections. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 11, 2020
A post claiming that Denmark has passed legislation barring Muslims from voting in elections is being widely shared across social media platforms. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Denmark has passed legislation barring Muslims from voting in elections.
Fact:  According to Denmark’s electoral legislation, ‘any person who has attained the age of 18, is a national of Denmark and resides in the country is eligible to vote, provided that such person shall not have been declared incapable of conducting his or her own duties’. Also, there are no news articles stating Muslims are barred from voting in Denmark. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Google research with relevant keywords did not fetch any news articles of relevant official documents stating Muslims are barred from voting in elections. Further search led us to a legislation which elaborates about the electoral system of Denmark. According to these legislations ‘any person who has attained the age of 18, is a national of Denmark and resides in the country is eligible to vote, provided that such person shall not have been declared incapable of conducting his or her own duties’.
Laws detailing the electoral process of Denmark can be read here and here. According to these documents, it is clear that Denmark does not bar any person from voting based on their religion.
To sum it up, Denmark did not pass legislation barring Muslims from voting.

created: November 11, 2020


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Design of a proposed overpass in Ukraine is passed off as design of Vaishnavdevi circle in Ahmedabad - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 16, 2021
In the wake of the ongoing construction of an under-bridge on the Sardar Patel ring road at the Vaishnodevi circle in Ahmedabad, a social media post with an image claiming to be that of the design of the proposed Vaishnodevi Circle is being widely shared across all social media platforms. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image showing the proposed design of the Vaishnodevi circle in Ahmedabad.
Fact: This is actually the design of the proposed interchange at the Shuliavka metro station in Kiev city, Ukraine. The images is available on internet at least since 2010, and has nothing to do with the proposed Vaishnodevi circle in Ahmedabad. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On 14 August 2021, the Times of India in an article reported the status of the ongoing construction of the proposed under-bridge on the Sardar Patel ring road at the Vaishnodevi circle in Ahmedabad. It published the mirror image of the viral photo as a representational image of the proposed under-bridge. The article has categorically stated the image is ‘an artist’s impression of how it will look after the construction’. In all probability, this representational image could have been misconstrued as the design of the proposed Vaishnodevi circle.
As far as the viral image is concerned, reverse image search yielded multiple old Ukrainian news articles which published the same image. As per one such news article which dates back to 2012, the image shows the design of the proposed interchange at the Shuliavka metro station in Kiev city, Ukraine. The article quoted Viktor Petruk as the designer of the project.
Another 2010 news article that attributed the same image to the proposed overpass in Shuliavka as mentioned above can be read here. However, the proposed design was not selected as this news article reports. The article provides more details about the design and the reasons for its rejection.
Hence all these prove that the viral design is available on the internet at least since 2010 and has nothing to do with the Vaishnodevi circle in Ahmedabad. Further, the very same Times of India article mentioned at the beginning of this article also published another image that shows the current status of the ongoing construction of the under-bridge at the Vaishnodevi circle in Ahmedabad.
Earlier when the same image went viral claiming to be the design of the proposed NAD flyover in Vizag, FACTLY debunked the same.
To sum it up, the design of a proposed overpass in Ukraine is passed off as the design of Vaishnavdevi circle in Ahmedabad.


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Despite a 10-0 loss in the first round, Sangeeta Phogat eventually won the Bronze Medal for India in the Hungary Ranking Series tournament - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 25, 2023
A photo is being shared on social media claiming that wrestler Sangeeta Phogat suffered a devastating loss with a score of 0-10 in the Hungary Ranking Series tournament. Sharing the picture, many users taunted Sangeeta Phogat for participating in the protests. Sangeeta Phogat was one of the six wrestlers who took part in the protests against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Sangeeta Phogat suffered a devastating 0-10 defeat in the Hungary Ranking Series tournament.
Fact: Despite a 10-0 loss in the first round against US wrestler Jennifer Page Rogers, Sangeeta Phogat made a strong comeback and eventually won the Bronze Medal for India at the Hungary Ranking Series tournament. Hence, the claim made in the post is Misleading.
When we searched for the details of the claim made in the post, we found the results and videos of the Hungary Ranking Series tournament on the United World Wrestling website. As per the details provided on this website, Sangeeta Phogat in her first round at the Hungary Ranking Series tournament suffered a devastating 0-10 defeat against the US wrestler Jennifer Page Rogers.
But she made a remarkable comeback with a resounding 12-2 win against US wrestler Reyna Brenda Olivia in her second match. Following a loss in the semi-final match, Sangeeta Phogat defeated Hungarian wrestler Viktoria Borsos in the bronze play-off and secured a Bronze medal for India in the women’s 59 kg category. Reporting Sangeeta Phogat’s Bronze medal victory in the Hungary Ranking Series tournament, several news sites published articles. They can be seen here and here.
Celebrating her victory at the Hungary Ranking Series tournament, Sangeeta Phogat made a tweet on 15 July 2023. Sangeeta Phogat in the tweet dedicated her medal to all the women fighting against crimes against women.
आप सभी के बधाई के संदेश मुझ तक पहुँच रहे हैं इस पल पर बहुत भावुक हूँ।
आप सभी का बहुत बहुत शुक्रिया। यह मेडल सिर्फ़ मेरा नहीं है। सब आप सभी का मेडल है
मैं इस मेडल को दुनिया की उन सभी संघर्षशील महिलाओं को समर्पित करती हूँ जो महिलाओं के विरुद्ध हुए अपराधों के ख़िलाफ़ संघर्षरत हैं।… pic.twitter.com/FyJnqhaHVZ
To sum it up, despite a 10-0 loss in the first round, Sangeeta Phogat made a strong comeback and eventually won the Bronze Medal at the Hungary Ranking Series tournament.


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Details of pending criminal cases against candidates contesting Lok Sabha & Assembly elections will now be on Newspapers & TV - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 6, 2018
Following the judgment of the SC in September, the ECI has now issued directions to candidates & political parties on the format to be followed for publication of pending criminal cases in newspapers & TV channels. Here is a look at all the changes.
In a judgment on 25th September 2018, the Supreme Court (SC) refused to debar candidates with pending criminal cases (where charges have been framed) from contesting elections. But in the same judgment, the SC gave certain directions to promote transparency and flow of information about contesting candidates & the pending criminal cases against them. Among other things, the SC gave the following directions.
Now the Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued specific directions & formats for such disclosure through newspapers and TV channels.
The Candidate has to publish the information at least thrice
The ECI in its instructions has specified a format (C-1) in which the contesting candidate has to publish the details of pending criminal cases against him/her in newspapers with wide circulation. The same format is applicable for publishing in TV channels. The instructions also mention that the font size has to be 12 and that they should be published at least thrice from the day following the last day of withdrawal of nominations and up to 48 hours before the actual polling.
The concerned political party also has to publish this information for all the candidates put by by the party in a format C-2. Similar timelines are applicable for the party as well.
Both the candidates & the political parties are required to submit the compliance reports to the respective officers designated by the ECI. The report has to contain paper clippings of the relevant publication.
In addition to the declaration in newspapers & TV channels, the candidates will now have to disclose the details of pending criminal cases and cases that resulted in conviction , in BOLD letters in the Form 26. They also have to give a declaration that they have informed the party about such cases.
Where should these details be published & who will bear the expenses?
The ECI has recently clarified regarding the choice of newspapers & TV channels where this information has to be published. It also clarified on the question of expenses. The ECI in its clarification has asked the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of the various states to get an indicative list of newspapers & TV channels which have wide circulation. These details are to be obtained from the Information & Public Relations departments of states. Such a list would be shared with parties as well as contesting candidates. Candidates with no pending cases are not required to follow these instructions.
The ECI has also clarified the question of expenses. The ECI in its clarification mentioned that since this is an expenditure connected with the elections, the same has to be borne by the candidates & the political parties. It also clarified that this expenditure would also be counted for the purpose of election expenditure of the candidate.
Changes to affidavit format in case of pending Dues & Contracts
Earlier, the candidates contesting Lok Sabha or Assembly elections were required to submit an additional affidavit regarding public dues. Now the ECI has included these details in the same Form 26. The details of dues should include dues for any government accommodation, Income Tax dues, GST dues, Municipal/Property tax dues, and any other dues. In addition, the candidates are required to disclose the sources of income of self, spouse and all dependents. Dependents are now defined as parents, sons, daughters or any other person dependent on the candidate and who has no other means of livelihood.
In addition to the pending dues, the candidate also has to provide details of the contracts with government or any public company in his name or in the name of the spouse/dependents.

created: November 6, 2018


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Details of the understanding reached between India & US regarding the Civil Nuclear deal - Factly
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 8, 2015
There has been much speculation & confusion surrounding the understanding reached with the United States on January 25, 2015 during the visit of President Obama to India with respect to the Civil Nuclear deal. This is supposed to be the Administrative Arrangement to implement the September 2008 bilateral 123 Agreement between both the countries. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) today released a list of ‘Frequently Asked Questions and Answers on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010 and related issues’. The FAQs are available on the MEA website.
Q1. What is the understanding reached with the United States on January 25, 2015 during the visit of President Obama to India?
Ans. India and the United States have reached an understanding on the issues related to civil nuclear liability and finalized the text of the Administrative Arrangement to implement the September 2008 bilateral 123 Agreement. This will allow us to move towards commercial negotiations on setting up reactors with international collaboration in India and realize the significant economic and clean energy potential of the civil nuclear understanding of 2005-2008.
Q2. How was this understanding reached?
Ans. It may be recalled that during PM’s visit to the U.S. in September 2014, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to implement fully the India-U.S. civil nuclear cooperation agreement and established a Contact Group on advancing the implementation of civil nuclear energy cooperation. The Group, comprising representatives from Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Atomic Energy, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Law & Justice, in addition to the representatives from U.S. Government, also had an interface with the companies – NPCIL on the Indian side and Westinghouse and General Electric on the U.S. side. It met three times in New Delhi (16-17 December 2014), Vienna (6-7 January 2015) and London (January 21-22, 2015). Based on these discussions, an understanding was reached with the U.S. on the two outstanding issues on civil nuclear cooperation, which was confirmed by the leaders on January 25, 2015.
Q3. Has India agreed to amend its Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010 (CLND Act 2010) and the CLND Rules of 2011? If not now, would they be amended in the future?
Ans. There is no proposal to amend the Act or the Rules.
Q4. How have U.S. concerns over the CLND Act then been resolved?
Ans. During the course of the discussions in the Contact Group, using case law and legislative history, the Indian side presented its position concerning the compatibility of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (CLND) Act and the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC). The idea of the India Nuclear Insurance Pool as a part of the overall risk-management scheme for liability was also presented to the U.S. side. Based on the presentations by the Indian side, and the discussion thereon, there is a general understanding that India’s CLND law is compatible with the CSC, which India has signed and intends to ratify.
Q5. What is the CSC?
Ans. The objective of the 1997 Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC) is to establish a worldwide liability regime and to increase the amount of compensation available to the victims of nuclear accidents. A State which is a party to either the 1963 Vienna Convention or the 1960 Paris Convention could become a party to the CSC. A State which is not a party to either of these conventions could also become a party to the CSC if its national law on nuclear liability is in compliance with the provision of the CSC and its Annex, which is an integral part of the CSC. India not being party to the Vienna or the Paris Conventions signed the CSC on 29 October 2010 on the basis of its national law namely the CLND Act.
Q6. Is India’s CLND Act compatible with the CSC?
Ans. The provisions of the CLND Act are broadly in conformity with the CSC and its Annex in terms of channeling the strict/absolute legal liability to the operator, the limitations of the liability in amount and time, liability cover by insurance or financial security, definitions of nuclear installation, damage, etc. In fact, the CLND Act provides the basis for India joining an appropriate international liability regime such as the CSC. Article XVIII of CSC requires that the national law of a Contracting Party that is not a Party to either the Vienna Convention or the Paris Convention has to comply with the provisions of the Annex to this Convention. The CLND Act is compliant with the Annex to the Convention.
Q7. Does the Act channel the liability to the Operator of a nuclear plant as envisaged under CSC?
Ans. Section 4(1) provides that the Operator of the nuclear installation shall be liable for nuclear damage caused by nuclear incident. Further, Section 4(4) provides that the liability of the Operator of the nuclear installation shall be strict and shall be based on the principle of no fault liability. Section 8(1) provides that the Operator shall before he begins operation of his nuclear installation, take out insurance policy or such further financial security covering his liability. All these provisions along with the long title of the Act are clear and ensure that the liability is strict, and channeled to the Operator through a no fault liability regime.
Q8. What about Section 17 and the right of recourse against the supplier in Section 17(b)? Are they not going beyond the Annex to the Convention?
Ans. Section 17 of the Act provides that the operator of the nuclear installation, after paying the compensation for nuclear damage in accordance with section 6, shall have the right to recourse where-
a. Such right is expressly provided for in a contract in writing;
b. The nuclear incident has resulted as a consequence of an act of supplier or his employee, which includes supply of equipment or material with patent or latent defects or sub-standard services;
c. The nuclear incident has resulted from the act of commission or omission of an individual done with the intent to cause nuclear damage.
Article 10 of the Annex to the CSC covers situations envisaged in Sections 17(a) and 17(c); Section 17 (b) is ostensibly in addition to situations identified for the right of recourse provided in Article 10 of the Annex to the CSC. However, the situations identified in Section 17(b) relate to actions and matters such as product liability stipulations/conditions or service contracts. These are ordinarily part of a contract between the operator and the supplier. This situation is not novel but is rather a normal element of a contract. Thus this provision is to be read along with/in the context of the relevant clause in the contract between the operator and supplier on product liability. It is open for the operator and the supplier to agree on the terms of their contract relying on the applicable law. The parties to a contract generally elaborate and specify the extent of their obligations pursuant to warranty and indemnity clauses that are normally part of such contracts.
Article 10(a) of the CSC Annex does not restrict in any manner the contents of the contract between the operator and the supplier including the basis for recourse agreed by the operator and supplier. Therefore, in view of the above, in so far as the reference to the supplier in Section 17(b) is concerned, it would be in conformity with and not in contradiction of Article 10(a) of the CSC Annex. Its operationalization will be through contract conditions agreed to by the operator and the supplier.
Q9. Does Section 17 establish a mandatory statutory right of recourse?
Ans. Section 17 states that the operator shall have a right of recourse. While it provides a substantive right to the operator, it is not a mandatory but an enabling provision. In other words it permits but does not require an operator to include in the contract or exercise a right of recourse. However, even though there is no mandatory legal requirement under the CLND Act to provide for a right of recourse in a contract, there may be policy reasons for having a risk sharing mechanism including a right of recourse. As a matter of policy, NPCIL, which is a public sector undertaking, would insist that the nuclear supply contracts contain provisions that provide for a right of recourse consistent with Rule 24 of CLND Rules of 2011. Article 10 of the CSC Annex does not specify what position either the operator or the supplier can take in contract negotiations. In this regard, the India Nuclear Insurance Pool has been instituted to facilitate negotiations between the operator and the supplier concerning a right of recourse by providing a source of funds through a market based mechanism to compensate third parties for nuclear damage. It would enable the suppliers to seek insurance to cover the risk of invocation of recourse against them.
Q10. Who is the ‘supplier’? Is the supplier always a foreign company?
Ans. Rule 24 of the CLND Rules explains that ‘supplier’ shall include a person who:
(i) manufactures and supplies, either directly or through an agent, a system, equipment or component or builds a structure on the basis of functional specification; or
(ii) provides build to print or detailed design specifications to a vendor for manufacturing a system, equipment or component or building a structure and is responsible to the operator for design and quality assurance; or
(iii) provides quality assurance or design services.
The supplier may not always be a foreign company; there may be domestic suppliers who fulfill the above criteria and in some cases the operator (NPCIL) itself may be a supplier as it provides build to print or detailed design specifications to a vendor.
Q11. Does Section 46 permit claims for compensation for nuclear damage to be brought under statutes other than the CLND Act?
Ans. Concerns over the broad scope of Section 46 have been raised by suppliers, both domestic and foreign. Section 46 of the CLND Act provides that “the provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any other law for the time being in force, and nothing contained herein shall exempt the operator from any proceeding which might, apart from this act, be instituted against such operator”. The language in section 46 of CLND Act 2010 is similar to such language in several other legislations such as Telecom Regulatory Authority Act, Electricity Act, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act, Insurance Commission Act. Such language is provided routinely to underline that other relevant laws continue to be operable in their respective domains.
Q12. Does Section 46 extend to suppliers in violation of the CSC?
Ans. No. The CLND Act channels all legal liability for nuclear damage exclusively to the operator and Section 46 does not provide a basis for bringing claims for compensation for nuclear damage under other Acts. That this section applies exclusively to the operator and does not extend to the supplier is confirmed by the Parliamentary debates at the time of the adoption of this Act. It may be noted that the CLND Bill was adopted by a vote. During the course of the vote on various clauses of the Bill, in the Rajya Sabha two amendments were moved for clause 46 that finally became Section 46 of the CLND Act that inter-alia sought to include suppliers in this provision. Both those amendments were negatived. A provision that was expressly excluded from the statute cannot be read into the statute by interpretation. It is well-settled principle of law that every statute is to be interpreted in accordance with the intention of the legislature or maker of the Statute (M/s. Turtuf Safety Glass Industries V Commissioner of Sales Tax U.P., 2007 (9) SCALE 610, and State of Kerala & Anr V P.V. Neelakandan Nair & Ors, 2005 (5) SCALE 424).
Q13. Does Section 46 allow victims to go to foreign courts against the operator or the supplier?
Ans. Section 46 exclusively covers the remedies that are available against the operator. It does not exempt the operator from any other proceedings instituted against him, apart from this Act, nor derogates from any other law in force in India. The provision “in addition to and not in derogation of” has to be given its normal plain meaning. Section 46 does not affect the applicability of other laws. Therefore it does not exempt the operator from application of other laws covering matters other than the civil liability for nuclear damage. At the same time it does not create the grounds for victims to move foreign courts. In fact that would be against the basic intent of the law to provide a domestic legal framework for victims of nuclear damage to seek compensation. The fact that a specific amendment to introduce the jurisdiction of foreign courts was negatived during the adoption of the CLND Bill buttresses this interpretation.
Q14. How will the proposed insurance pool operate for operators and suppliers?
Ans. The India Nuclear Insurance Pool is a risk transfer mechanism formed by GIC Re and 4 other PSUs who will together contribute a capacity of Rs 750 crores out of a total of Rs 1500 crores. The balance capacity will be contributed by the Government on a tapering basis. The pool will cover the risks of the liability of the nuclear operator under Section 6(2) of the CLND Act and of the suppliers under Section 17 of the Act. The Pool envisages three types of policies, including a special suppliers’ contingency policy for suppliers other than turn key suppliers. Operators and suppliers instead of seeing each other as litigating adversaries will see each other as partners managing a risk together. This is as important for Indian suppliers as it is for US or other suppliers. An international workshop will be held in India to exchange information on international experience with the 26 insurance pools operating around the world in countries such as France, Russia, South Africa and the U.S.
Q15. What are the kind of insurance policies and premiums envisaged under the Pool?
Ans. The Pool covers risks pertaining to the liability of the nuclear operator under Section 6(2) of the CLND Act as well as the liability of the suppliers under Section 17. Three types of policies are envisaged: a Tier 1 policy for operators; a Tier 2 policy for turn key suppliers and a Tier 3 policy for suppliers other than turn key suppliers. The pricing of premiums will depend on factors such as risk probability, possible severity of damage and exposure to people and property around nuclear installations. GIC Re, the Pool Administrator, is engaged with NPCIL and others to work out the premiums based on risk appraisal. To assist this exercise, a Probabilistic Safety Assessment based study has been carried out by DAE. The scheme is scientific, market based, and benchmarked to international best practices innovated to suit the Indian circumstances.
Q16. Wouldn’t this burden the taxpayer and raise costs of nuclear power?
Ans. It should be understood that there is no extra burden on the taxpayer or the Government. The CLND Act already requires NPCIL (Operator) to maintain a financial security to cover its maximum liability for civil nuclear damage (Rs 1500 crores). Currently, NPCIL takes out a bank guarantee for this amount against which it pays an annual fee. With the India Nuclear Insurance Pool (INIP), a market based international best practice will be followed. The NPCIL will take out insurance under the Pool for the same amount and just as it pays an annual fee now it will pay an annual insurance premium to the Pool. The Government will indeed make available Rs 750 crores to the Insurance Pool for the first few years till the insurance companies are able to maintain it on their own. However, the Government will earn a proportionate share of the premium on this sum, which will be utilized only in case of a nuclear accident. The impact on the cost of power plants of the premium payments by operator and suppliers is expected to be minimal. The international experience of 26 insurance pools is that the operators pay only a very small fraction of the total cost of the plants.
Q17. How much compensation is payable under the CLND Act?
Ans. Section 6(1) of the CLND Act presently prescribes that the maximum amount of liability in respect of each nuclear incident shall be the rupee equivalent of three hundred million Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). As the current value of 1 SDR is about Rs 87, three hundred million SDRs are equivalent to about Rs 2610 crores. Section 6(2) of the Act lays down that the operator’s maximum liability shall be Rs 1500 crore. In case the total liability exceeds Rs 1500 crores, as per Section 7 (1) (a) of the CLND Act, this gap of Rs 1110 crores will be bridged by the Central Government. Beyond Rs 2610 crores, India will be able to access international funds under the CSC once it is a party to that Convention.
Section 7 (2) of the CLND Act provides that the Central Government may establish a “Nuclear Liability Fund” by charging such amount of levy from the operators, in such manner, as may be prescribed. The constitution of a Nuclear Liability Fund has been under consideration for some time. Such a Fund is proposed to be built up over 10 years by levying a small charge on the operators based on the power generated from existing and new nuclear plants. This is not expected to affect the consumer’s interests.
Q18. Could operators and suppliers be asked to pay more compensation in the future on existing contracts than currently provided under the law?
Ans. As regards the question of possible enhancement of the amount of compensation in the Act in future and its effect on recourse against suppliers with respect to existing contracts, there is well established jurisprudence that a change in law cannot alter the terms of an existing contract made under the then extant law. A retrospective law which affects the substantive vested rights of a Party under a contract would not be sustainable in a court of law. In M/s Purbanchal Cables & Conductors Pvt. Ltd. V Assam State Electricity Boards & Another, [2012] 6 S.C.R. 905, the Supreme Court held that though the legislature can make laws with retrospective effect, the test is that it should not take away vested rights or impose new burdens or impair existing obligations.
Q19. What are the next steps?
Ans. It will be now up to the companies to follow up with their own negotiations and come up with viable techno-commercial offers and contracts consistent with our law and our practice so that reactors built with international collaboration can start contributing to strengthening India’s energy security and India’s clean energy options.
Source: MEA Website

created: February 8, 2015


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Devoleena Bhattacharjee did not act in ‘The Kerala Story’; She married Shanwaz Shaikh in December 2022 way before the release of the film - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 18, 2023
A photo is being shared on social media claiming that ‘The Kerala Story’ film actress Devoleena Bhattacharjee married a Muslim man even after the release of her film. The post claims that Devoleena Bhattacharjee despite working in the film ‘The Kerala Story’, knew it is a propaganda film and boldly married a Muslim named Shanwaz Shaikh. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: ‘The Kerala Story’ actress Devoleena Bhattacharjee married a Muslim man after the release of her film.
Fact: Devoleena Bhattacharjee did not work in ‘The Kerala Story’ film and the photo shared in the post shows Devoleena Bhattacharjee posing for a picture with her co-artist Vishal Singh. Devoleena Bhattacharjee married her gym-trainer Shanwaz Shaikh in December 2022 way before the release of the ‘The Kerala Story’ film. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found published by different news websites in December 2022. These news websites reported it as the photo of Devoleena Bhattacharjee posingfor a picture with her co-actor and best friend Vishal Singh during her Haldi and Mehendi ceremony. Vishal Singh shared the same photo on his Instagram handle on 14 December 2022.
When we searched to find further sources, we found that Devoleena Bhattacharjee got married to her gym trainer Shanwaz Shaikh on 14 December 2022. Several news websites published articles reporting about Devoleena Bhattacharjee’s marriage in December 2022. They can be seen here, here and here.
Devoleena Bhattacharjee shared a picture taken with both Vishal Singh and her husband Shanwaz Shaikh on her Instagram handle. When we searched to check whether ‘Saath Nibhaana Saathiya’ tv serial fame Devoleena Bhattacharjee acted in ‘The Kerala Story’ movie, we could not find her name in the cast list of ‘The Kerala Story’ movie.
Reacting to a tweet narrating a story of how an interfaith relationship came to an end after watching ‘The Kerala Story’ movie, Devoleena Bhattacharjee tweeted, “Its not always like that. My husband is a Muslim & came with me to watch the movie & he appreciated it. He neither took it as an offence nor he felt it was against his religion. And I feel that’s how every Indian should be like.” Devoleena Bhattacharjee made multiple other tweets related to ‘The Kerala Story’ controversy. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that Devoleena Bhattacharjee had not acted in the film ‘The Kerala Story’ and that the photo shared in the post shows Devoleena posing a picture with her co-star Vishal Singh, not with her husband Shanwaz Shaikh.
Its not always like that. My husband is a muslim & came with me to watch the movie & he appreciated it. He neither took it as an offence nor he felt it was against his religion. And i feel thats how every indian should be like. #TheKeralaStory https://t.co/Qr0NSd87X1
To sum it up, Devoleena Bhattacharjee did not act in ‘The Kerala Story’ movie and she got married in December 2022 way before the release of the film.


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Dhoni hasn’t tweeted that he will play the 2020 ICC T20 WC - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 15, 2019
On Facebook, few users are sharing a video that has a tweet purportedly made by MS
Dhoni after the Semi-Final loss in the recent World Cup. In the tweet, it was written, “I know all India disappointed with us after this semi and trolling about my retirement. But this is not the right time to leave my team like this. Fans, no need to worry, I will play 2020 ICC T20 World Cup in Aus. Keep Supporting”. In the tweet, there is also an
Instagram link- ‘instagram.com/p/BrhgZDdlQTe/’. Let’s try to check the authenticity of
the tweet seen in the video posted.
MS Dhoni has tweeted after India’s Semi-Final loss in the World Cup 2019 that
he will not retire and will be playing for India in the T20 WC in 2020..
Fact: MS Dhoni hasn’t tweeted recently. His last tweet was on May 6, 2019. So,
the tweet seen in the video  is a morphed one. Hence, the claim made in the post
is FALSE.
When checked on MS Dhoni’s Twitter account regarding the claim made in the post, it was found that he hasn’t tweeted recently. He was found to have last tweeted on May 6, 2019. In that tweet, he wrote, “Use your Power” and included an Instagram link. But, India has played its World Cup 2019 Semi-Finals with New Zealand on July 9, 2019. So, the tweet seen in the video is a photoshopped one.
Use your Power https://t.co/YAA9IlkwVF
When one opens the Instagram link seen in the tweet, a video was found which was uploaded on December 18, 2018. With this information, when performed Twitter Advanced Search, the original tweet was found. This December 18, 2018 tweet was edited and is being circulated with a false narrative.
Were you wondering who the mystery icon panerai_india, @PaneraiOfficial and panerai_me were referring to? Guess no more! I am very happy to announce my collaboration with my new Panerai… https://t.co/8crjHU9Xvf
To sum it up, Dhoni hasn’t tweeted after India’s WCSemi-Final loss that he will not retire and will be playing for the T20 WC in2020.
Did you watch our new Episode of the DECODE series on Parliament?


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Did this building collapse because of breaking a pillar as part of renovation? Not really - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 19, 2021
A social media post accompanying a video of a building collapse is being shared with a claim that a person in Bangalore broke a pillar as part of renovation which resulted in the collapse of the building. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: A person in Bangalore broke a pillar as part of renovation which resulted in the collapse of the building.
Fact: The video shows a building collapse in the Kasturi Nagar area of Bengaluru. the building developed cracks and tilted a few days back. BBMP officials had evacuated the building and the occupants of the surrounding building to safe places. And eventually the building collapsed on itself on 07 October 2021 and no casualties were reported. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Google search with relevant keywords yielded multiple news stories which reported the same video of a building collapse. As per one such report, the video shows a three-storey building collapse in the Kasturi Nagar area of Bengaluru.
As per the news reports, the building developed cracks and tilted a few days back, and the residents of the building informed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) about this. Sensing the danger, the BBMP officials had evacuated the building and the occupants of the surrounding buildings to safe places and were planning to demolish the building with help from the Bengaluru City Police and Fire and Emergency Services. However, the building collapsed by itself on 07 October 2021 and no casualties were reported.
Further, the article reported that “the building plan was approved in 2012-13 for building ground plus two floors. However, the builder violated the sanctioned plan by building three floors and was building a penthouse illegally.”
This is not the only incident of building collapse in Bengaluru in recent times. As reported in this news article, at least five buildings have collapsed in Bengaluru in the last three weeks alone. ‘While most of these buildings are old, some of them are new buildings which are apparently now weak and built without following due procedure’, reported the article. Another news article that reported the series of collapses in Bengaluru can be read here.
To sum it up, this building in Bangalore did not collapse because of breaking a pillar as part of a renovation.

created: October 19, 2021


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Different Presidents, Different Decisions: The tale of Mercy Petitions in India
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 30, 2015
The rejection of Yakub Memon’s mercy plea by the President has once again brought the issue of mercy petitions to the limelight. While some presidents were kinder, others were not. However, there is no consistency in the decisions taken by different Presidents. While Smt. Prathiba Patil rejected only 14% of the petitions disposed by her, Shri Pranab Mukherjee on the other hand rejected 92% of the petitions disposed by him. A total of 4802 mercy petitions were disposed by the President of India since independence.


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Different Presidents, Different Decisions: The tale of Mercy Petitions in India
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 24, 2017
As Shri Pranab Mukherjee is nearing the end of his term as the President, we look at the way various Presidents have dealt with the mercy petitions. While some presidents were kinder, others were not. However, there is no consistency in the decisions taken by different Presidents.
As Shri Pranab Mukherjee is nearing the end of his term as the President, we look at the way various Presidents have dealt with the mercy petitions. Historical data on mercy petitions clearly indicates that different Presidents have acted differently in dealing with mercy petitions. While some chose the path of commutation in majority cases, others rejected majority of the petitions. Since 1948, a total of 4825 mercy petitions are disposed  by the President of India out of which 3256 are rejected. In 1569 petitions, the death penalty was commuted to life sentence.
The Mercy Petition
Under Article 72 of the Constitution, the President has the power to grant pardon and decide on mercy petitions. The article does not put any limitation on the time within which this power has to be exercised. But, the Supreme Court has observed in certain recent cases that delays in disposal of mercy petitions may be minimized and that the condemned prisoners have a very pertinent right in insisting that a decision in the matter be taken within a reasonable time.
Though it looks like the President holds the power, former President Smt. Prathiba Patil in a well known press release issued in 2012, said that the President takes the decision only with the aid and advice of the Government of India as per Article 74 of the constitution.
Numbers through the Decades
As per information available with the Government and data compiled by Bikram Jeet Batra in his book ‘Court of Last Resort’, the number of mercy petitions filed & disposed by the President of India has come down drastically in the last four decades.
More than 1000 mercy petitions were disposed in each of the first three decades after independence i.e., 1948-1954, 1955-1964 & 1965-1974. Since 1974, the number of mercy petitions filed & disposed has come down drastically. It has come to such a low that only 9 petitions were disposed during 1995-2006. Shri K.R.Narayanan & Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam were in the Rashtrapathi Bhavan during this period.
The numbers are so skewed that 94% of all the mercy petitions were disposed in the first 26 years while a mere 6% were disposed in the 43 years after that. According to Bikram Jeet Batra, the decline in death sentences in general could be due to the impact of the new CrPC, 1973 which made life imprisonment the ordinary punishment for murder and death sentence the exceptional punishment. He also says that in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the death penalty was a subject of great controversy in the Supreme Court which led to the landmark Bachan Singh formulation of the death penalty being awarded only in the ‘rarest of rare’ case. This looks like a plausible explanation since the number of death sentences and the subsequent number of mercy petitions to the President have come down drastically after the 1970s.
Rejections & Commutations
There seems to be no uniformity in either the rejection of mercy petitions or commutation to life sentence. A look at the percentage of commutations since independence substantiates this conclusion. While commutations accounted for 24% of the decisions in the first few years after independence, these accounted for 29% from 1995-1964. The greatest percentage of commutations (more than 50%) was in the period 1965-1974 when Shri V V Giri & Dr. Zakir Hussain were in the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. Since then, the proportion of commutations has been fluctuating based on the President in office. The least percentage of commutations (8.9%) was in the period 1985-1994 during Shri R Venkataraman’s presidency.  This percentage rose to 36.6% during 2006-2017  primarily because of the 19 commutations by Smt. Prathiba Patil.
Different Presidents – Different Decisions
A cursory glance at the data for the last six Presidents reveals the inconsistency in the decisions involving mercy petitions. While Shri R Venkataraman rejected all 40 mercy petitions during this tenure, Smt. Prathiba Patil rejected just 3 of the 22 petitions disposed by her. Shri Pranab Mukherjee on the other hand rejected more than 85% of the mercy petitions disposed by him. Shri K R Narayanan did not dispose even a single petition during his tenure while Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam disposed only two during his tenure,rejecting one and allowing commutation in the other. Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma rejected 70% of the petitions while allowing commutation of the death sentence in the remaining 30%.
Shri Pranab Mukherjee decided on the mercy petitions by 49 convicts, rejecting 42 of them and commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment in the remaining 7. As per the Rashtrapathi Bhavan website, there is not a single mercy petition pending with the President now. The new President will not have to deal with any pending mercy petitions.
Featured Image Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/matthigh/


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Digital Art from 2019 is being falsely shared as a video of Cyclone Shaheen - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 26, 2021
A video accompanied by a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that the visuals are of Hurricane Shaheen on the shores of Oman. The post even claims that the video was photographed from Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Video of Hurricane Shaheen on the shores of Oman photographed from Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Fact: The video is a digital art creation by an artist named Brent Shavnore. In 2019, the same video went viral with the claim that it was of Hurricane Dorian; Shavnore confirmed then to AP that it was his creation. Shaheen was a tropical cyclone which made landfall over the northern Oman coast on 03 October 2021. The cyclone had brought heavy rains and winds of up to 150km/h, killing at least 13 people after it had affected parts of Oman and Iran. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE
When reverse image search is done on the screenshots of the video with relevant keywords, the same video was found on Instagram. The Instagram video was posted on 20 May 2019 by a user named, Brent Shavnore who describes himself in his bio as an ‘Artist’. Skimming through the profile of Brent Shavnore shows that he makes such types of images and posts them online quite frequently. A similar picture was posted earlier in his Instagram profile on 12 April 2019.
The same video went viral earlier when it was being shared as Hurricane Dorian as seen moving towards Florida in 2019. The Associated Press did contact Brent Shavnore when they had written a fact-check in 2019 about a similar claim. Shavnore confirmed that he created the visual.
Shaheen was a tropical cyclone that made landfall over the northern Oman coast on 03 October 2021. The cyclone had brought heavy rains and winds of up to 150km/h, killing at least 13 people after it had affected parts of Oman and Iran.
To sum it up, digital art from 2019 is being falsely shared as a video of Cyclone Shaheen.

created: October 26, 2021


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The Government of India has launched Digital Locker
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 25, 2015
Sharing documents with various government and private agencies for different purposes is a tedious task. From Income Tax Returns to University Degrees to PAN Cards, various agencies need these documents for processing loans, providing services etc. The Government plans to do away with physical sharing of documents with these agencies and hence has launched the Digital Locker, aimed at creating a repository of digital documents for each resident of the country.
Digital Locker is one of the key initiatives under the Digital India Program of the Government of India. A beta version of this initiative has been released on 10th Feb. 2015, by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
Digital Locker is aimed at minimizing the usage of physical documents and enable sharing of e-documents across agencies. The sharing of the e-documents will be done through registered repositories thereby ensuring the authenticity of the documents online. Residents can also upload their own electronic documents and digitally sign them using the e-sign facility. These digitally signed documents can be shared with Government organizations or other entities. Examples of such documents are Income Tax Returns, University Degrees etc.
An e-document is an electronic document in XML format issued to one or more individuals (Aadhaar holders) in appropriate formats (both as XML and printable) compliant to digital locker technical specifications. One may also upload govt. issued scanned documents and also digitally sign the same.
An Issuer is an entity issuing e-documents to individuals in a standard format and making them electronically available e.g. CBSE, Registrar Office, Income Tax department, etc.
A Requester is an entity requesting secure access to a particular e-document stored in the repository (e.g. University, Passport Office, Regional Transport Office, etc.)
A Repository is a Collection of e-Documents which are uploaded by issuers in a standard format for secure real-time search and access.
For citizens & residents who sign up for the digital locker, the following features are available,
For issuers who issue these e-documents like Universities, a facility to upload e-documents in a standard XML format in the digital locker repository and push e-document URI in the resident’s digital locker has been provided.
For Requesters, secure access to documents in repository or in digital has been provided.
To Sign-up for the Digilocker, one must have a valid Aadhaar number registered with UIDAI. The following is the process for signing up
Once the authentication is done, you will be asked to set a username and a password.
Every user account would have two types of documents.
Each uploaded document can be a maximum of 1MB in size and can be in pdf, jpg, jpeg, png, bmp or gif file type.
For sharing an e-document, a facility to share is provided. One can click on the ‘Share’ link provided against the document one wishes to share. Then the email address of the recipient has to be entered. The document will be then shared with the recipient via email. The recipient will receive an email. The subject line of the email will mention the document name and document type. The email body will have the URI link of the document and the sender name and Aadhaar number. The recipient can access the document using the URI link provided in the email.
The Beta version of the digital locker was launched in February, 2015. Since then, more than 2.5 lakh people have registered and uploaded more than 1.8 lakh documents according to the latest available data. In terms of states, Madhya Pradesh has more than 31000 users followed by Uttar Pradesh with close to 31000 users followed by Maharashtra with more than 23000 users. Incidentally, the BJP or its allies rule five of the top 6 states in terms of the Digital Locker users.
The Digital Locker website has a list of FAQs from where one can learn more about the initiative. It also has a user manual with detailed step by step instructions on the processes. You could also go through the introductory note to understand more about the initiative. The technical specifications are also available for those who wish to go through them.
Source: Digital Locker Website
Featured Image: digitallocker.gov.in


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Digital portrait falsely shared as picture of the woman who posed for the ‘Statue of Liberty’ - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 9, 2021
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as the picture of the woman who posed for the iconic ‘Statue of Liberty’ sculpture in the United States of America. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of the woman who posed for the iconic ‘Statue of Liberty’ sculpture in the United States of America.
Fact: The photo shared in the post shows a digitally created hyper-realistic portrait of the historic ‘Statue of Liberty’ sculpture. Bas Uterwijk, an Amsterdam-based artist had re-created this portrait of ‘Statue of Liberty’ using Artificial Intelligence software. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo using the keywords, a similar photo was found published in an article published by the ‘New York Post’ on 02 July 2020. This article reported it as a hyper-realistic portrait of the iconic ‘Statue of Liberty’ sculpture located in New York, US. Bas Uterwijk, an Amsterdam-based artist had reportedly re-created this stunning portrait of the ‘Statue of Liberty’ woman using the Artificial Intelligence software. Reporting the same, several websites published articles. They can be seen here and here.
The ‘Daily Mail’ news website published an article about the artworks of Bas Uterwijk. According to the article, Bas Uterwijk uses Artbreeder, a deep-learning software to create life-like images from scratch or based on different portraits. The same hyper-realistic portrait of the ‘Statue of Liberty’ was also published in the Bas Uterwijk official website and Instagram handle. They can be seen here and here.  Bas Uterwijk had created multiple realistic portraits of famous figures depicted in paints and sculpture.
The ‘Statue of Liberty’ sculpture was designed by the French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. According to the ‘Britannica’ website, the original model of the ‘Statue of Liberty’ statue was inspired by the figure of a female Egyptian peasant. Bartholdi reportedly produced a series of drawings of a gigantic female fellah, or Arab peasant, and gradually evolved it into a colossal goddess of Liberta, the subject of the Statue of Liberty.
To sum it up, a hyper-realistic digital portrait of the Statue of Liberty is falsely shared as the picture of the woman who posed for the ‘Statue of Liberty’ sculpture.

created: September 9, 2021


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Digitally altered image is shared as that of a two-bodied cow with single head - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 20, 2022
A social media post with an image of a cow with a single head and two bodies, is being widely shared. Let’s fact-check this claim through this article.
Claim: Image of a two-bodied cow with single head.
Fact: The image of the cow in the post is photoshopped; a single cow’s body is flipped to make it look like two. It is possible that cows are sometimes born with two heads, which is a condition known as Poycephely. But there are no reported incidents of a cow born with two bodies and one head. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
We performed a reverse image search on the post’s image but did not find any relevant information about such a cow. There are also no news reports on the web about a cow that was born with two bodies and one head. Upon inspecting the image in the viral post, we found a few hints that giveaway that it is digitally created or altered. You can see these observations in the below graphic.
It is possible that animals are sometimes born with multiple heads. This condition is known as Polycephaly. According to The Guardian, ‘The condition of having more than one head is known as polycephaly and happens in much the same way that conjoined twins are formed: an embryo that has begun to split into identical twins stops before fully dividing.’ News reports about calves born with two heads can be read here and here.
To sum up, a digitally altered image is shared as that of a two-bodied cow with single head.

created: October 20, 2022


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Digitally altered image of an old comic strip is passed off as COVID-19 prediction in 1957 itself - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 25, 2021
A social media post accompanying the image of a comic strip, wherein the popular character phantom encourages wearing a mask in order to be protected from ‘China Virus’ is being shared widely. The post claims that the cartoon was published in 1957, alluding they predicted the coronavirus back in 1957 itself. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Image of Phantom cartoon which predicted the coronavirus back in 1957.
Fact: The original comic strip which was initially published in 1957 actually comes with the text which reads ‘Tie it on as I do this will protect you from the ‘sleep death’ in the valley’. This original strip is digitally altered, and text is inserted so as to allude that the comic strip predicted the COVID-19 back in 1957 itself. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
“The Phantom” is a serial comic strip that was first published in 1936. The viral photo is part of a comic strip published between 01 July 1957 and 21 September 1957 with the name ‘The valley of no Return’.
In the original panel, the popular character Phantom encourages people to wear a mask so as to protect themselves against ‘sleep death’, a mysterious illness that puts people to sleep. The actual text accompanying the comic strip reads ‘Tie it on as I do this will protect you from the ‘sleep death’ in the valley.’ The collection of these comic strips can be seen here.
Another strip where the Phantom can be seen wearing mask while dealing with the sleeping mystery can be seen below. From this, it is evident that an old comic strip featuring the phantom is digitally replicated altering the original text so as to make people believe that COVID-19 was predicted back in 1957 itself.
To sum it up, a digitally altered image of an old comic strip is passed off as COVID-19 prediction in 1957 itself.

created: November 25, 2021


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Digitally altered image shared as recent picture of Joe Biden eating ice cream in Ukraine - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 22, 2023
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it is a recent picture showing US President Joe Biden eating ice cream in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The post claims that the picture was taken during Joe Biden’s recent visit to war-torn Ukraine. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent picture of US President Joe Biden having ice cream in Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv.
Fact: The post shared a digitally altered image created by merging a picture of Kyiv’s street food centre and an old image of Joe Biden taken while he was eating ice cream during his visit to Ohio in May 2021. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found published on the ‘Reuters’ in May 2021. But the background in the original photo does not show a Ukrainian street food centre as seen in the photo shared in the post. The description of the photo states, “U.S. President Joe Biden eats an ice-cream during a visit to Cleveland, Ohio, U.S., May 27, 2021.”  So, it can be confirmed that the photo was taken in May 2021, before the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.
When we searched for the details of the background picture in the digitally-altered photo, we found that the background photo shows the Kyivska Perepichka street food centre in Kyiv, Ukraine. More details of this street food center in Kyiv can be seen here and here. A few pictures taken during US President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Ukraine can be seen here.
To sum it up, a digitally-altered image was shared as a recent picture of Joe Biden having ice cream in Ukraine.

created: February 22, 2023


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Digitally altered video is shared as visuals of Sanjay Raut crying in front of the media - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 28, 2022
A video is being widely shared on social media claiming it as visuals of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut getting emotional and shedding tears in front of the media. In the wake of the ongoing Maharashtra Political crisis, this video is viral on social media. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut getting emotional and shedding tears during a live interview.
Fact: The video shared in the post is a digitally altered video. This video was digitally created using the ‘crying’ filter in the ‘Snapchat’ application. The original video does not show Sanjay Raut getting emotional and crying in front of the media. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When we searched for this video using relevant keywords on the internet, we found the original version of the video that was published on the ‘Aaj Tak’  YouTube channel on 21 June 2022. Amid the political crisis facing the Maharashtra Government, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut spoke to the ‘Aaj Tak’ news channel and accused the Gujarat Police of capturing their rebel MLAs as hostages in Surat, Gujarat.
From 0:06 seconds of the video, we could see Sanjay Raut making similar gestures as shown in the viral video. But in the original video, Sanjay Raut was not seen getting emotional and crying in front of the media.
The video shared in the post was digitally created using the ‘Crying’ filter in the ‘Snapchat’ application. A comparison between the original and altered versions of the Sanjay Raut’s interview video can be seen below. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that the video shared in the post shows a digitally altered video created using the ‘Snapchat’ application.
To sum it up, a digitally altered video is being shared as visuals of Sanjay Raut shedding tears in front of the media.