Datasets:

common-pile
/

news

Dataset card Data Studio Files Files and versions Community

Split (1)

train · 172k rows

id int64 0 103k	text stringlengths 0 63.9k	source stringclasses 17 values	added stringdate 2024-05-27 14:45:34 2024-05-27 18:51:38	created stringlengths 0 222 ⌀	metadata dict
131	Old images and videos of farmer protests shared as recent - Alt News Kinjal 30th September 2020 / 8:50 pm Farmers have been holding demonstrations across the country in protest of the agricultural ordinances that were recently passed in the Parliament. Amidst this, some pictures and videos were being circulated on social media with claims that they were taken during the recent protests. Siyaram Gurjar, associated with the Indian Youth Congress, Rajasthan, shared a video on Facebook on September 23 where hordes of people can be seen out on the streets. The Hindi caption with the post read – “This flood of farmers in Panipat is telling, the time for BJP to go has arrived. In some time we will march towards Delhi, the more they try to stop us, the harder we will fight…” It is noteworthy that farmers in Panipat had taken out a rally where they walked to Delhi. This video received around 1.84 lakh views at the time of writing. (archived link to the post) Posted by SiyaRam Gurjar on Wednesday, 23 September 2020 The clip was also shared on Twitter as scenes from Panipat, Haryana. (archived link to the tweet) हरियाणा के पानीपत में उमड़ा किसानों का ये सैलाब बता रहा है, कि भाजपा के अंतिम विसर्जन का समय आ चुका है !!#भाजपा_हटाओ_किसान_बचाओ #IStandWithIndianFarmers pic.twitter.com/w8DiWHlnm9 — Ashish Narula (@Aapka_Ashish) September 25, 2020 Another video was shared with claims that it shows farmers protesting the new bills in Delhi. A Facebook page called ‘Tetsip’ shared the video (archived link to the post). Another Facebook page shared the clip. Farmers marching in #delhi #barakhamba road yesterday In Protest Against New Farm Bills Posted by Tetsip on Thursday, 24 September 2020 Several other images have also been shared on social media as visuals of the farmer protests in Panipat, Haryana. Yet another picture has been shared with the claim that it shows farmers gathering in Delhi’s Rajpath. Apart from these, a photo of a huge procession of crossing a bridge is being shared with the hashtag ‘#standwithfarmerschallenge’. Old videos and pictures are being circulated on social media as the recent farmer protests. We will fact-check each of these one by one. Video 1 A reverse image search of one of the frames of the video led us to a tweet by CPI(M) on February 21, 2019, according to which farmers marched from Nashik to Mumbai. Zee News also covered the ‘Kisan long march’ held last year. #KisanLongMarch is on its way leaving Nashik towards Mumbai despite refusal of permission by police. #KisanMarchesAgain #BJPBetraysKisans pic.twitter.com/cFUH6lLh9V — CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) February 21, 2019 Video 2 A reverse image search of the video’s keyframes took us to a tweet by ANI dated November 30, 2018. The video depicts farmer protests in Delhi two years ago. The tweet stated that farmers from all over the country had reached the capital to demand loan waivers and better Minimum Support Price (MSP) among other concerns. This clip had been taken at Barakhamba road in Delhi. A page named ‘Left’ had also posted the video stating that it was shot in Delhi on November 30, 2018. Delhi: Farmers from all across the nation hold protest for the second day over their demands of debt relief, better MSP for crops, among others; latest #visuals from near Barakhamba Road. pic.twitter.com/Po5aGAhuSk — ANI (@ANI) November 30, 2018 Image 1 With a reverse image search, we found this picture on a Facebook post from September 5, 2017. CPI(M) had also tweeted this image on September 5, 2017, stating that it was shot in Rajasthan. In addition to this, an article in Sabrang India from September 11, 2017, carried the photo reporting that farmers in Rajasthan had taken out a rally demanding loan waivers and pension schemes. Image 2 An article by The Indian Express dated September 12, 2018, carries images of farmer protests that began in March 2018. According to the report, around 40,000 farmers rallied from Nashik to Azad Maidan in Mumbai on foot. The agitation was organised by All India Kisan Sabha. The farmers arrived in Mumbai after travelling for six days. While we were unable to find the identical image, one of the pictures carried in The Indian Express report matches with the viral photo. Image 3 We found this picture in a report by The News Bangla from November 29, 2018, which stated that farmers in West Bengal took out a procession starting from Singur. The march saw completion after travelling 52 kilometres to Kolkata’s Raj Bhavan. A Twitter user had shared some photos of this procession on November 30, 2018. Image 4 A reverse image search of this picture revealed that it was shared as farmers gathering at Delhi’s Rajpathin December 2018. A Newsclick article dated November 30, 2018, carried the image as Delhi. Apart from this, Sabrang India reported on December 1 2018, that the picture was taken at a rally by farmers and tribals from Ramlila Maidan to Parliament. This group took out a rally on November 29-30 against the Modi government’s policies ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, a slew of old pictures and videos from previous farmer protests are being falsely identified on social media as visuals from the recent demonstrations. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	30th September 2020 / 8:50 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-set-of-old-unrelated-images-and-videos-are-viral-as-recent-farmer-protests/", "author": "Kinjal" }
132	Videos of health workers 'pretending' to inject COVID vaccine are NOT from India - Alt News Kinjal 5th June 2021 / 3:59 pm / Last updated: 5th June 2021 As countries vaccinate their population against the novel coronavirus, several videos showing healthcare workers administrating empty syringes have surfaced on the Indian social media ecosystem. Facebook user Shashi Dhar Mehta wrote, “Be careful during vaccination. Don’t turn your face getting the jab, check if the medicine has been administered or not. The staff only prick the needle and take it out. Be careful during this difficult time.” He shared four videos to support the claim. Be careful during Vaccination टीका लगाते समय मुँह ना घुमायें, यह देख ले कि दवाई अंदर गयी है या नहीं… स्टाफ केवल सूई चुभा कर निकाल लेते है इस कठिन समय में सतर्कता बरतें..👆👆 Posted by Shashi Dhar Mehta on Wednesday, 2 June 2021 The videos were also shared on Facebook group ‘निजी अस्पतालों की लूट’. Several individual users on Facebook have amplified the clips. टीका लगाते समय मुँह ना घुमायें, यह देख ले कि दवाई अंदर गयी है या नहीं… नर्सिंग स्टाफ केवल सूई चुभा कर निकाल लेते है इस कठिन समय में भ्रष्टाचार की हद हो गयी … दोनों वीडियो में देखें Posted by Raju Gantelman on Tuesday, 1 June 2021 The videos are also widespread on Twitter. Video 1 This video shows an elderly woman wearing a dark blue T-shirt getting a vaccine dose in a vehicle. The video shows the healthcare worker insert the needle in the woman’s arm but not push the syringe to inject the vaccine. A reverse image search of the video’s keyframes on Google revealed that the video is from the Brazilian city of Goiania. Facebook page ‘CBN Goiânia’ had posted the video on February 10. The page wrote that the daughter, 57, of an 88-year-old woman, claimed that her mother was not vaccinated by a nurse. The daughter, Luciana Jordão, had recorded the video. The nurse apologised upon Jordão’s questioning and gave the excuse that she did not realise that the syringe wasn’t pushed. CBN contacted the Municipal Health Department for comment and the outlet was told that the matter is under investigation. DENÚNCIA \| A filha de uma idosa de 88 anos denuncia que a mãe não recebeu a vacina contra a Covid-19 na primeira aplicação, na manhã desta quarta-feira (10), em Goiânia. À TV Anhanguera ela disse que a enfermeira enfiou a agulha no braço da mãe, mas não injetou a dose do imunizante. O momento foi filmado pela aposentada Luciana Jordão, de 57 anos, filha da idosa. Segundo Luciana, a mãe só foi devidamente imunizada após ela perceber que o líquido na seringa não havia sido aplicado e questionar a enfermeira, durante a vacinação no Setor Universitário. Luciana relata que a enfermeira respondeu que havia vacinado, mas, ao ser confrontada sobre o líquido estar na seringa, pediu desculpas e disse que não tinha percebido. A CBn foi atrás de uma resposta da Secretaria Municipal de Saúde e, segundo a SMS o caso já chegou até eles e que o órgão está averiguando caso. #noarnacbn Posted by CBN Goiânia on Wednesday, 10 February 2021 ‘mais goias’ reported that the incident took place on February 9 and the nurse was removed from the post. Video 2 This video shows a healthcare worker using an empty syringe on an elderly man. Alt News had debunked this video in April. With the help of the digital verification tool InVid, Alt News broke the video into multiple keyframes, then performed a Google reverse image search of one of the keyframes. We found that the video is from Mexico. A report published by the Mexican newspaper El Universal stated that the incident occurred in Macro Vaccination Unit based at the National School of Biological Sciences Zacatenco Unit of National Polytechnic Institute (IPN). A press release issued by the Secretariat of Health of Mexico City informed, “This event was reported by a family member accompanying the elderly adult, who was offered an apology and proceeded to apply the vaccine correctly, without major complications in the presence of his family, who in turn witnessed the procedure and reported on their social networks that the situation was corrected. It is reported that the volunteer vaccinator was removed from the corresponding vaccination cell.” [Translated via Google translate] ⚠️ TARJETA INFORMATIVA⚠️ Con relación a los hechos ocurridos en la jornada de vacunación de ayer en la Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, la #Sedesa y @Tu_IMSS lamentan lo ocurrido e informan lo siguiente: pic.twitter.com/PYnWtea2rL — Secretaría de Salud de la Ciudad de México (@SSaludCdMx) April 4, 2021 Video 3 The third video was shared on social media as an incident from Indonesia but Indonesia-based Antara News published a fact-check report stating that the incident took place in Brazil. ‘Turnbackhoax‘ also published a fact-check which said that the video has been circulating on Brazilian websites. Argentinian website ‘minutouno‘ too reported that the incident took place in Brazil. Video 4 Another video of a nurse removing the needle without injecting the vaccine was shared by Ecuador-based Twitter handle @gabriela_ma94 on April 26. Former Minister of Health of Ecuador Dr Camilo Salinas responded to the handle that the nurse and the patient have been identified and an investigation has been launched. Saludos Tenemos identificado al enfermero y el paciente . Se inicia la investigación daremos detalles pronto. — Dr.Camilo Salinas Ochoa (@CamiloSalinasOF) April 25, 2021 CNN en Español reported that Secretary-General of the Cabinet of the President of Ecuador Jorge Wated said that the man, 55, fraudulently passed the queue for people above 65 years of age to get vaccinated. The nurse did not vaccinate him at first, as seen in the video, but later did give him a dose. They were both detained for investigation. The Ministry of Health of Ecuador had tweeted a press release on April 26 itself that said the nurse was identified. The incident took place at a vaccination centre in Mucho Lote in Guayaquil. COMUNICADO \| Ante lo ocurrido hoy en el punto de vacunación #MuchoLote, informamos a la ciudadanía que el profesional de la salud fue identificado y será investigado por las autoridades pertinentes. Manténgase informado por los canales oficiales. pic.twitter.com/4LaWYvjXUs — Salud_Ec (@Salud_Ec) April 26, 2021 A set of videos from across the world have been circulating in India with the false claim that healthcare workers are inserting needles and taking them out without administering vaccines on patients. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	5th June 2021 / 3:59 pm / Last updated: 5th June 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-set-of-videos-from-out-of-india-where-health-worker-pushing-empty-syringe-without-vaccine-viral-on-indian-social-media/", "author": "Kinjal" }
133	A tale of untruths and innuendo by Major Gaurav Arya and Major Surendra Poonia - Alt News Pratik Sinha & Arjun Sidharth 20th March 2019 / 10:08 pm / Last updated: 21st March 2019 On March 3, Republic TV published a report claiming that Baloch Republic Army (BRA) had attacked and destroyed 3 Pakistani Army posts. It was claimed that BRA fighters attacked the Pakistani Army outpost in Mand area of Kech district on February 27, 2019. A few days later, two Indian army veterans, Major Surendra Poonia and Major Gaurav Arya posted a video with two different claims on Twitter. Poonia tweeted on March 12, while Arya tweeted the same video on March 14. In the video, multiple semi-clad uniformed men, who are blind-folded and have their hands tied behind their back, can be seen being beaten-up by two men in uniform. Both their tweets claimed that the video is related to the alleged attack by BRA fighters on Pakistani army outposts. Poonia’s tweet claimed that the uniformed men being beaten up are Baloch freedom fighters while Arya’s tweet claimed that the men being beaten up are members of Frontier corps, Pakistan’s paramilitary force. Later Poonia deleted his tweet, an archived version of which can be accessed here. Major Gaurav Arya’s tweet can be seen below. On 27 Feb freedom fighters of Baloch Republic Army attacked 3 Pak Army posts in Mand area, Distt Kech, Balochistan. So ferocious was the attack that soldiers of Frontier Corps ran away. They were caught by Pak Army SSG & thrashed brutally. See Pak Army without clothes 👇 pic.twitter.com/9faFdSV8gz — Major Gaurav Arya (Retd) (@majorgauravarya) March 14, 2019 As can be seen above, Poonia claimed that the video represented human rights violation of Baloch freedom fighters at the hands of the Pakistani army while Arya claimed that the video showed members of Frontier corps being thrashed by Pakistani army personnel after the former had deserted their post when attacked by Baloch fighters. It goes without saying that both claims cannot be correct. In fact, Alt News found out that both the claims are false. After Alt News fact-checked their claims, the two Army veterans put out multiple tweets and Facebook posts challenging the Alt News fact-check. This post delves into their counter-claims and the allegations/innuendos that they made in their follow-up. Alt News had fact-checked the video and established that both Arya’s and Poonia’s claims are false. Arya claimed that the incident depicted in the video had occurred on February 27, whereas Alt News found that the same video had existed online at least 22 days earlier i.e on February 5, when it had been uploaded on YouTube. According to Republic TV‘s report, the alleged attack by BRA fighters on Pakistan outposts happened on February 27. Thus the video that both Poonia and Arya posted cannot be representative of that attack. Moreover, the claim made by both Arya and Poonia was false, as the video depicted a training module of the Pakistani army who were seemingly undergoing a torture-proofing exercise. Alt News’ fact-check can be read here. Unfazed by the fact that their claims were misplaced, Major Gaurav Arya and Major Surendra Poonia defended themselves vehemently, speaking in one voice. 1/1 Dear Alt News,Jai Hind 😘 1-How do you know that @majorgauravarya ‘s tweet is wrong ? Are U from army background? 2-Are U from Special Forces background ? 3-Or are U in touch with Pakistan Army ? If your answer to all of the above is NO, then U are lying n peddling FAKE news. https://t.co/8GoZqP7u7d — Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) March 18, 2019 The above tweet by Poonia was retweeted by Arya, who further tweeted, asking why Alt News is “defending Pakistani army so aggressively?“, oblivious to the fact that his claim with regard to the video was misleading. For the record, it will take much more than @AltNews & @JantaKaReporter to scare me. Go ahead…write long articles & have me trolled. “That” Tweet stays. One question…why are both news portals defending Pakistan Army so aggressively? What’s the truth? — Major Gaurav Arya (Retd) (@majorgauravarya) March 18, 2019 Major Gaurav Arya also wrote a Facebook post in which he claimed to have spoken to some unnamed friends of his in Para SF who suggested that it is ludicrous to claim that Pakistan Army trains in the manner depicted in the video. In his post, he also quoted Poonia stating, “I have never, ever heard of this danda parade in SF”. However, Alt News found multiple videos of Pakistan from the past which match the videos posted by Arya and Poonia in many ways. In all these videos, the men who are being beaten up are blind-folded and have their hands tied behind their back. The men who are torturing are all uniformed. – and the men who are tortured are lined up in identical gear This is a 2 and a half minute video posted on YouTube in March 2018 titled “SSG training survival moments 2018“. This is 10 minute video posted on YouTube in September 2017 labelled as “SSG training video“. This is a 2 minute video posted in February 2018 labelled as “SSG Commando training“. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTG-Vw9maUE This is a 13 minute video uploaded to YouTube in January 2017 labelled as “SSG Commandos survival“. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0tZZgVelE8 This is a 3 minute video labelled as “Pakistan Army SSG Commandos Training Special Documentary” and uploaded in August 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJPzEasZW8s We also found other videos on social media platforms which show uniformed men being beaten up in an organised manner, again being shared with the narrative that these are Baloch being tortured. #RealFaeOfPak : #PakArmy Brutally Torture a #Baloch Youth just because he is opposed to #CPEC . #Balochistan #BalochistanIsNotPakistan #Pakistan #MeanGirlsDay #Kashmir #instagramdown #CWCTrophyTour#NationalAssembly #RanaMashood #IshaqDar #اشاعه_ماصدقتها#FreeBalochistan pic.twitter.com/YtyqA3BkOp — Rubeena Jan (@RubeenaJan1) October 3, 2018 In all of the above videos, the common pattern that can be seen is uniformed men beating up other uniformed men in an organised manner. The similarity across multiple videos that have been leaked across different years suggests that it is a training regime, and not a one-off video as claimed by Arya and Poonia’s tweet. This isn’t the first time Major Gaurav Arya or Major Surendra Poonia have put out misinformation on social media. There have been multiple such instances. 1. In March 2017, Arya tweeted an image of a pathology report, claiming it to be the report of Syed Salahuddin, a Kashmiri separatist militant and the head of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. The report claimed that Salahuddin had contracted HIV. We found that the image was a photoshopped image made from a sample available online. The photo of Salahuddin used in the report was a PTI file photo. 2. In February 2017, Arya tweeted two images claiming it to be Pakistan Army executing Baloch fighters. Alt News found that the images were of November 2009. The image on the left was credited to AFP and was of Pakistan troops seizing Taliban militants. The same image was published by Guardian in 2010, with the same description and credits. The image on the right had the same soldiers and Talibani militants as the image on the left, and thus represented the same incident. 3. In June 2017, during the Gorkha protest, Arya circulated the image of a bloodied man with the text, “@MamataOfficial Please treat Gurkhas of Darjeeling with respect & honour. You have seen them in peace. You are very fortunate.” It turned out that the image was of Col DK Rai who commanded the 6/8 Gorkha Rifles. He was attacked by the police during the Gorkhaland protest in 2008 and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the veteran CPI(M) leader, was the chief minister of West Bengal at that point of time. Major Gaurav Arya had responded to the Alt News fact-check on the right-wing portal OpIndia to which Alt News had responded here. 4. In Aug 2017, Poonia had tweeted a video and claimed that Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s supporter was smuggling heroin by stuffing it inside onion. आतंकवादी गिलानी का साथी देविंदर बहल प्याज़ में हेरोईन को छुपा कर ड्रग का धन्धा कर रहा था ! कमीनेपन और गद्धारी की हद है यह तो ! @adgpi pic.twitter.com/fphiVnteLA — Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) August 8, 2017 Fact-checking website SMHoaxSlayer had fact-checked this video and found it to be a 2 year old video from Saudi Arabia. While Major Surendra Poonia deleted his own tweet without an iota of explanation, he posted a tweet question funding of Alt News. He also posted a Facebook post questioning, “Why do You trust Pakistanis more than #MajorGauravArya? Reason ?? Funds कम पड़ गये क्या? किसके लिये पर काम कर रहे हो ? (Are you low on funds? Who are you working for -translated)” 1/2 Alt News I am a Special Forces Veteran. I have privilege/honour to serve n operate with best SF in the world.Danda Parade is not part of SF training anywhere in world. Any1 who tells U this is lying. U trust Pakis more than @majorgauravarya ? Reason ?Funds कम पड़ गये क्या🤔? https://t.co/8GoZqP7u7d — Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) March 18, 2019 It is very common for people whom Alt News has fact-checked to question Alt News funding. However, the fact that such defamatory innuendo is coming from a retired Army personnel is unfortunate. Alt News operates under the aegis of Pravda Media Foundation, a registered not-for-profit company and the funding details of Pravda Media Foundation are available on our website. Facts are not malleable. While Poonia quietly deleted his tweet, he also continued to defend Arya’s tweet which had the same video. Arya claimed that the video he tweeted represented an incident which took place on February 27, whereas the same video was available online at least three weeks prior. Neither Arya nor Poonia presented any evidence except for ‘unnamed sources’. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	20th March 2019 / 10:08 pm / Last updated: 21st March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-tale-of-untruths-and-innuendo-by-major-gaurav-arya-and-major-surendra-poonia/", "author": "Pratik Sinha & Arjun Sidharth" }
134	Photo of elderly woman sitting on road with oxygen cylinder was taken before pandemic - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 21st April 2021 / 7:57 pm India has seen a huge surge in the number of COVID positive cases in the past few weeks. On April 20, the country reported close to 3 lakh new cases. The second wave has overwhelmed citizens, with many among those severely affected unable to get ICU beds or oxygen cylinders. The official handle of the Tipu Sultan Party shared an image where an elderly lady is seen sitting on the road with an oxygen cylinder. “India suffers in coronavirus pandemic,” reads its caption. We never thought that the condition of our India would be like this, #कोरोना_काल_देश_बेहाल pic.twitter.com/sS1HNuBQ2a — Tipu Sultan Party ٹیپو سلطان پارٹی (@TSP4India) April 20, 2021 Prithvi Reddy of the Aam Aadmi Party also shared this picture. Several other Twitter users including @vijaypks51, @Sachin88617922 and @biharnumber1 have shared the image, claiming it was taken during the pandemic. A reverse image search of the viral image on Yandex led us to a report by India Times published on April 7, 2018. The report is credited to ANI. According to the report, the woman was waiting for an ambulance within the premises of Agra Medical College. An oxygen mask was put on her while her son carried the oxygen cylinder on his shoulder. ANI had also covered the incident on a video report. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrdRKSMkAVM] This incident was reported by NDTV, The Times of India and News18. While the image is not recent, there are several visuals of patients waiting to get admitted to a hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. .@ArvindKejriwal @msisodia @dilipkpandey, sir a very serious patient is waiting outside Lok Nayak Hospital. Hospital has turned them back saying we don’t have any oxygen or ICU beds available. Patient’s oxygen saturation is below 50. He’s gasping for breath. Please do something pic.twitter.com/Oedtszrqfz — Tanushree Pandey (@TanushreePande) April 20, 2021 Varanasi. The heart wrenching images of people dying due to lack of medical care later robbed of dignity in death. All this in the VVIP constituency. pic.twitter.com/v5MWom73jz — Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) April 20, 2021 Alt News had earlier debunked an image of a man carrying an oxygen cylinder and his COVID positive mother on a motorcycle. The image is from Bangladesh. Another image of mass cremation from 2012 was shared as recent. A journalist and a dilettante person who always strives to learn new skills and meeting new people. Either sketching or working. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st April 2021 / 7:57 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-three-year-old-image-of-a-woman-and-her-son-carrying-oxygen-cylinder-viral-as-recent/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
135	Coronavirus: No, this video of bats removed from a rooftop is not from China - Alt News Kinjal 11th February 2020 / 7:54 pm On February 10, The New York Times reported that Coronavirus killed 97 people in a single day in China. The epidemic has spread to other countries as well and according to several media reports, India ranks 17th at risk of importing coronavirus cases. A three-minute video of bats being cleared from a rooftop has gone viral. Several Marathi social media users posted the video with the text, “They are saying the bat that was responsible for Coronavirus’s origination in Wuhan province in China….that bat’s presence in this house you can see… (Translated from Marathi: चीन देशातील वुहाण प्रांतात जेथे कोरोना रोगराईचा ज्या वटवाघळांनमुळे लागण झाल्याची शक्यता आहे त्या वटवाघळांचे येथील एका घरातील उपस्थिती किती आहे ते पहा….).” On February 2, a Facebook user shared (archive) the viral video along with the Marathi text. Since then it has been viewed over 900 times. चीन देशातील वुहाण प्रांतात जेथे कोरोना रोगराईचा ज्या वटवाघळांनमुळे लागण झाल्याची शक्यता आहे त्या वटवाघळांचे येथील एका घरातील उपस्थिती किती आहे ते पहा…. Posted by Hemant Parab on Sunday, February 2, 2020 The video has been posted (archive) on Twitter with the same message in Hindi, “चीन देशातील वुहाण प्रांतात जेथे कोरोना रोगराईचा ज्या वटवाघळांनमुळे लागण झाल्याची शक्यता आहे त्या वटवाघळांचे येथील एका घरातील उपस्थिती किती आहे ते पहा सारांश हिंदी में चायना में जहाँ से कोरोना वायरस फैला उस शहर के एक मकान के छत से कितने पंछी दुबक कर बैठे हैं….देखिए “ This post was shared by other Facebook accounts as well. Alt News did a keyword search on Google and found a 12-minute video which shows bats being cleared from a rooftop. The video was uploaded by Istueta Roofing in 2011 which is a roofing company based out Miami, Florida in the US. Alt News noticed that the viral video begins at 6:55 mark. The viral video has been created by compiling different portions of the original clip. At the 30-second mark, it has the exact frame as seen at the 3:20 mark in Istueta Roofing’s video. In both the screenshots (attached below), we see that tiles have the same initials – KTP. Alt News noticed that Istueta Roofing has uploaded other videos of the incident. (video 1 and video 2). Therefore, the social media claim that video is from Wuhan, China where coronavirus originated, is false. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th February 2020 / 7:54 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-video-from-florida-is-shared-as-china-where-birds-effected-by-coronavirus/", "author": "Kinjal" }
136	Youth fed water from shoe for being with a woman, video falsely given casteism spin - Alt News Kinjal 16th October 2020 / 6:20 pm / Last updated: 25th August 2022 A video has been shared with the claim that a Dalit man was fed water from a shoe by upper-caste men.Twitter user @kanishksinghASP shared this video with the caption “हिन्दू धर्म मे पैदा होने वाले जो अपने आप को ऊंची जाती का मानते हैं और अपने समाज को सभ्य सामाज कहते हैं। ऐसे लोगो के दिमाग मे दीमक लगा पड़ा है, हज़ारों साल से। यह इसका treatment भी नहीं कराना चाहते हैं। जिसके कारण पूरा देश नफरत की आग मे झुलस रहा है। इंसान को इंसान नहीं समझते।” (Translation: People who are born as Hindus, who consider themselves to be upper caste and belong to a “civilized society” have termites stuck in their minds for thousands of years. They don’t even want to treat it, which is why the whole country is burning in the fire of hatred). The tweet garnered almost 4000 likes and over 2000 retweets. Twitter user @newswaseemzaidi shared the same video with the same claim and garnered almost 4000 likes. Users @Banwari60103223 and @Golden_0786 also shared the video with similar claims. The video has also been shared multiple times on Facebook. The same video had also gone viral two years ago in October 2020 with similar claims of caste-based violence. Twitter user @anita_goutam1 tweeted the clip and subsequently took it down. Her tweet was quote-tweeted by @bkarwadiya who also deleted it later. The video had been shared with similar claims by several Twitter users. देखें जातिवाद का एक और घिनौना चेहरा। कहते है जातिवाद नहीं है इससे शर्मनाक कुछ हो नहीं सकता।😡😡 pic.twitter.com/TCb9bSFfl5 — Amit Kumar (Sound of Democracy)🇮🇳 (@AmitKum57479658) October 14, 2020 “This video puts an end to the class difference between upper and lower castes. An upper-caste Hindu feeding his Dalit brother water from a shoe with love. He is setting an example of brotherhood by breaking barriers of casteism and untoucability. This is today’s new India, my country is indeed changing. (उच्च और नीच की भेदभाव को दूर करती यह वीडियो एक उच्च जाति का हिन्दू भाई अपने एक दलित भाई को प्यार से जूते में पानी पिलाते हुवे। जातपात छुआछूत के बंधन तोड़ आपसी भाईचारे की मिसाल देते हुए। ये है आज का नया भारत वाकई मेरा देश बदल रहा है।)” – read the sarcastic message shared with the clip on Facebook. People can be heard speaking in a Rajasthani dialect in the video. A search based on this led us to a report by Dainik Bhaskar published on June 16, 2020. According to the report, this incident is from Sumerpur in Pali district of Rajasthan. The youth was kidnapped and brought to Suparna (Sardarpura) village, Sirohi on June 11, 2020, on the accusation of getting involved with a married woman in the village. He was beaten, forced to drink urine from a liquor bottle and fed water from shoes. The accused also called the youth’s brother and uncle and kept them tied to a tree overnight. They took Rs 5000 from them. According to the report, the police filed a complaint on June 15, 2020, after a video of the incident went viral on social media. Five people were subsequently arrested – Laxmanram Dewasi, Jawanaram, Bhimaram, Navaram and Dargaram Dewasi. A minor was also taken into police custody. The report stated that the accused threatened the victim’s family. News18 had also reported on the incident. A report by Patrika dated June 17, 2020, identifies the victim as Kaluram Dewasi. It is noteworthy that some of the accused hailed from the same caste. Free Press Journal also reported that the victim was Kaluram Dewasi. Dainik Jagran uploaded a video report on the arrests made by the police which carries the statement of Kota SP Rahul. He informed that the victim was in love with a woman which enraged the accused who took him to Sirohi. He was beaten and fed water with shoes in the village. A total of six people were arrested by the cops. Rajasthan में युवक को जूते में भरकर पिलाया पानी Rajasthan के सिरोही में युवक को जूते में भरकर पिलाया पानी, आरोपियों को पुलिस ने किया गिरफ्तार Posted by Dainik Jagran on Wednesday, 17 June 2020 Alt News had contacted Pali police to know if there were any updates on the case. A senior police inspector of Pali informed, “This case is 3-4 months old. The youth was beaten after accusations that he was in a relationship with a woman. The incident has nothing to do with casteism. These people belong to the Dewasi community who usually work in animal husbandry.” The officer further told us that 11 accused have so far been arrested in the case. A video of a youth beaten and fed water from a shoe for being in love with a woman is therefore circulating again on social media as caste-based violence. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th October 2020 / 6:20 pm / Last updated: 25th August 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-video-from-rajasthan-forcing-boy-to-drink-water-from-a-shoe-shared-with-false-caste-angle/", "author": "Kinjal" }
137	Video of youth forced to drink urine in Rajasthan viral with false 'Dalit oppression' claim - Alt News Kinjal 1st August 2020 / 5:40 pm / Last updated: 1st August 2020 A video of a man tied to a tree and force-fed from a bottle was shared on social media. Social activist Kush Ambedkarwadi tweeted the video on July 30 claiming that a Dalit youth was forced to drink urine in Rajasthan. He wrote, “राजस्थान में दलित उत्पीड़न चरम पर है। बाढ़मेर में एक दलित समाज के व्यक्ति को खम्बे से बांधकर पेशाब पिलाने की घटना स्तब्ध कर देने वाली है लेकिन न्याय की उम्मीद किससे करें?” As of this writing, the video drew nearly 3 lakh views and over 2,000 retweets. राजस्थान में दलित उत्पीड़न चरम पर है। बाढ़मेर में एक दलित समाज के व्यक्ति को खम्बे से बांधकर पेशाब पिलाने की घटना स्तब्ध कर देने वाली है लेकिन न्याय की उम्मीद किससे करें ? @Mayawati @BhimArmyChief @ReallySwara @anubhavsinha @anuragkashyap72 pic.twitter.com/e5pIhfTXlL — कुश अम्बेडकरवादी (کش) (@Kush_voice) July 30, 2020 Twitter handle @ambedkariteIND tweeted the video and similarly wrote, “Some dominate caste mob torturing a dalit, man tied with rope and forcing to drink urine publically.” Dalit oppression is at a peak in Rajasthan. Some dominate caste mob torturing a dalit, man tied with rope and forcing to drink urine publically.#DalitLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/g0UjCuklZA — The Dalit Voice (@ambedkariteIND) July 30, 2020 Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani also shared the video and questioned Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government. What the hell? This is absolutely obnoxious, inhuman and horrendous. @ashokgehlot51 government must act now, like right now. Not only all the accused be arrested but an explanation be sought from concerned DM and SP as to what preventive measures did u take to stop such violence? https://t.co/1EKsgMtyo2 — Jignesh Mevani (@jigneshmevani80) July 30, 2020 The clip is widely circulating on Twitter and Facebook. People can be heard speaking in a Rajasthani dialect in the video. We performed a keyword search based on this information and found a Dainik Bhaskar report from July 31, 2020. According to the report, a person was beaten up and tied to a tree on the suspicion of an illicit relationship with a woman in Konar village of Chohtan police station area, Barmer district, Rajasthan. The victim hails from the Bhil caste and is a resident of Mogawan Bakhasar. As per the report, he entered a woman’s house in Ratanpura and stayed the night. When locals in the area learned in the morning, they tied the youth to a tree, beat him up, shaved off his hair and forced him to drink urine. The case did not reach the police as the village panchayat helped both parties reach an agreement. But after a video of the incident went viral on social media, Chohtan police took cognisance of the matter and registered a case against the accused. The report quotes Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Ajit Singh who said that both sides hail from the Bhil caste. Jagran also published a report on the incident on July 31. We spoke with Barmer SP Sharma who informed that the case does not depict Dalit oppression but a family issue. The youth who was thrashed belongs to the Bhil community (Scheduled Tribes) and the people who attacked him also hail from the same community. Sharma said that this incident is from Chohtan police station area, Barmer district. He was caught with a woman and subsequently beaten up. His hair was also shaved off. SP Sharma said that no complaint was lodged with the police as this was a family issue. But the cops took cognisance of the matter after a video went viral and filed a case. The names of the accused can be seen in the complaint attached below. After Barmer police noticed that the video was circulating with false context, they clarified on Twitter that the incident was related to a family dispute. The tweet also stated that six people have been arrested so far. https://t.co/BqqRSWsnrV इस वीडियो में गलत बताया है कि एक दलित व्यक्ति को वर्चस्वी जाति द्वारा प्रताड़ित किया गया। जबकि वास्तविकता यह है कि यह घटना 5 दिन पहले पारिवारिक विवाद को लेकर घटित हुई थी। पुलिस ने प्रसंज्ञान लेते हुए अपनी तरफ से FIR दर्ज कर 6 लोगों को गिर. किया है — Barmer Police (@Barmer_Police) July 31, 2020 An incident where a youth from the Scheduled Tribes Bhil sub-caste was thrashed by people from his own community was shared on social media with the false claim that a Dalit man was tortured in Rajasthan. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	1st August 2020 / 5:40 pm / Last updated: 1st August 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-video-from-rajasthan-where-a-young-man-was-tied-to-a-tree-shaved-and-fed-urine-shared-with-false-dalit-oppression-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
138	Video viral as non-Muslims offering namaz after coronavirus outbreak in China is baseless - Alt News Kinjal 21st February 2020 / 3:55 pm / Last updated: 21st February 2020 A two-minute video which shows a group of people offering namaz (Islamic prayers) is viral on social media. In the video, while one group can be seen offering prayers facing a mosque, another group is facing a different direction. Several social media users have posted this video claiming that it is from China. According to the claim, “By the grace of God, no Muslim has been affected by the coronavirus outbreak in China, the reason being five times a day namaz offered by them. As a result, non-Muslims are also offering namaz but they don’t know which direction they are supposed to face. They are offering namaz wherever they find a place (translated).” A Twitter user posted (archive link) the viral video with the above-mentioned claim in Hindi, “चाइना में अल्लाह के फजलों करम से एक भी मुस्लिम कोरोना वाइरस की चपेट में नहीं आया है इसका राज पांच वक्त की नमाज़ हैं अब नॉन मुस्लिम भी नमाज़ पढ़ने पहुंचे जबकि उनको ये भी मालूम नहीं है कि नमाज़ किस दिशा में चेहरा करके पढ़ी जाती है जिसको जहां जगह मिली वहां नमाज़ पढ़ने खड़ा हो गया।” चाइना में अल्लाह के फजलों करम से एक भी मुस्लिम कोरोना वाइरस की चपेट में नहीं आया है इसका राज पांच वक्त की नमाज़ हैं अब नॉन मुस्लिम भी नमाज़ पढ़ने पहुंचे जबकि उनको ये भी मालूम नहीं है कि नमाज़ किस दिशा में चेहरा करके पढ़ी जाती है जिसको जहां जगह मिली वहां नमाज़ पढ़ने खड़ा हो गया। pic.twitter.com/tDobKKgx6l — NIKHAT KHAN (@Nikhat69) February 10, 2020 Another Twitter user posted (archive link) the viral video and wrote, “Non Muslims Chinese attend Jumma Namaz ,,they don’t know which side Stand for Namaz Religion does not say to hate?” Non Muslims Chinese attend Jumma Namaz ,,they don’t know which side Stand for Namaz Religion does not say to hate?pic.twitter.com/7k3xueTXyu — Desi bhai#🇮🇳VSGT🇮🇳 (Shaheenbagh wale) (@BhaiDesibhai10) February 7, 2020 Alt News has received several requests to fact-check the images on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160), and on our official mobile application where we have also received the viral video along with a message in Gujarati. “ચીન મે અલ્લાહકા કરીશમા મુસલીમ બહુમત ઈલાકોમે કોરોના વાઈરસ કા કોઈઅશરનહીદીખતા ઈસા પ્રભાવીતહોકે ચીન કે નોન મુસલીમ આજ જુમ્મા કી નમાજ પઠને કે લીયે હજારો કી તાદાતમે જમાહોકર જુમ્માકી નમાજ આદાકરતેહુવે ચીની અવામ યે હે હમારે ઈસ્લામ કી તાકાત ચીન મે એક દૌર થા જો મુસલીમો કો મસ્જીદોમે નમાઝ નહી પઠનેદીયા જાતાથા આજ ચીન કા પ્રેસીડન્ટ જીંમ્પીગ ખુદ નમાઝ અદાકરહા હૈ ” Factcrescendo had published a report on February 11 verifying the viral video. The fact-checking outlet had found a live video which was uploaded by Mak Mohamed on June 5, 2019. The caption of the live-video read, “Eid prayer in China, Yiwu, Zhejing province.” It is important to note that last year Eid-ul-Fitr was observed on June 5. Eid prayer in China, Yiwu, Zhejing province Posted by Mak Mohamed on Tuesday, 4 June 2019 Alt News analysed both the videos and observed that the viral video is a clipped version of the Facebook live uploaded by Mohamed. The viral video starts from 4:49 to 7:06 in Mohamed’s video. Alt News found another video from 2016 on Mohamed’s profile which shows a close-up shot of a mosque which looks similar to the one in the Facebook-live. In order to authenticate that the video is from Yiwu, Alt News performed a keyword search [“Yiwu + mosque”] on Google. The result showed a mosque on Jiangbin W Road in Yiwu. This mosque looks identical to one in the videos uploaded by Mohamed. In the screenshot below you can compare between the still from Mohamed’s video (left) from 2016, Facebook-live video from 2019 (centre) and the image on Google maps (right). Therefore the mosque in the viral video is from Jiangbin W Road in Yiwu. Thus, the claim that the video shows people praying after the coronavirus outbreak is false. It is from last year’s Eid celebrations in Yiwu, a city in China’s Zhejiang province. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st February 2020 / 3:55 pm / Last updated: 21st February 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-video-is-viral-with-false-claim-that-non-muslims-are-offering-namaz-for-protection-against-coronavirus/", "author": "Kinjal" }
139	Video of Sikh man being beaten up is from Ludhiana, and not Pakistan - Alt News Kinjal 22nd March 2022 / 3:14 pm [Warning: This viral video is graphic in nature. We request our readers to watch at their own discretion.] A video of a man in a yellow T-shirt beating another man is circulating widely on social media. It has been claimed that the visuals depict an incident of violence against the Sikh community from Pakistan. Twitter handle ‘@KumarAblesh’ shared the clip with this claim. At the time of writing, it had racked up over 13,800 likes. (Archive link) पाकिस्तान में सरदार का ये हाल है और यहां का सरदार मुल्लों के साथ मिलकर खालिस्तान का ख्वाब देख रहा है pic.twitter.com/IVW9DnQiC0 — अबलेश कुमार राष्ट्रवादी TAF 100% फॉलो बैक (@KumarAblesh) March 18, 2022 Another Twitter user promoted the visuals and accompanying claim. (Archive link) The video is widespread on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim. Alt News performed a reverse image search using frames from the video. This led us to a tweet carrying the video along with another clip from the same occasion. The user has also mentioned that the incident occurred in Ludhiana. You’ll be surprised to hear, at-least I was. This video is from Ludhiana, Punjab. https://t.co/Z4Quydk866 — Jas Oberoi \| ਜੱਸ ਓਬਰੌਏ (@iJasOberoi) March 5, 2022 We performed a Punjabi keyword search using this information and came across a report by Punjabi outlet PTC News dated March 5, 2022. According to the report, the incident is from Ludhiana’s Tibba Road, where a group of people beat a Sikh man. The individuals forcibly removed the man’s turban and also dragged him by his hair. There was uproar among the Sikh community after the footage came to light. The police stated that the victim was beaten as he was caught stealing by his assailants. It is also mentioned here that a case was registered against the group that attacked the man. TV 7 Punjab had also covered the incident in a video report from March 5. On March 5, Sikh Sangat News broadcasted a Facebook Live covering the violence. Arvind Chawla from the outlet had also recorded the Livestream. At the 7:28 mark, Ludhiana SI Premchand explains that the incident occurred in Ludhiana in the Tibba Police Station area. Furthermore, he explains that the man was attacked on March 1. Named Fateh Singh, the man was riding pillion on a motorcycle. A migrant worker (the man in the yellow T-shirt) was drinking tea near the factory area. Fateh then asked the man if he could borrow his phone to make a call, but the migrant worker refused. When the man received a call on his phone and began talking, Fateh snatched it from him and tried to flee. This prompted the young man to attack Fateh. The police revealed that Fateh worked as a delivery boy and was addicted to drugs. They added that he has similarly been charged under a robbery case in the past. Fateh’s condition was said to be stable in the video. सिख के साथ बर्बरता वाली वीडियो की सच्चाई आयी सामने,जरूर देखें पुलिस ने क्या बताया मामला ? Posted by Sikh Sangat Uttrakhand on Friday, March 4, 2022 To sum it up, a video of a Sikh man being beaten was falsely circulated online as violence against Sikhs in Pakistan. However, the video has no communal angle to it. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd March 2022 / 3:14 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-video-of-a-sikh-man-beaten-up-in-ludhiyana-shared-as-pakistan-with-communal-narrative/", "author": "Kinjal" }
140	Fact-check: Police action against illegal construction in Kanpur falsely given communal twist - Alt News Priyanka Jha 1st November 2022 / 3:09 pm Twitter user @IRONMONK002 recently shared a purported video from Kanpur of a group of policemen beating two people with sticks and lathis on the terrace of a building. Two bulldozers are also seen in the video. Sharing the visuals, the user wrote, “Some jihadis (a pejorative term used by the Right Wing for Muslims) pelted stones at Hindus and the police from their terrace in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. After this, some brave cops sneaked onto the terrace, taught them a lesson with their fists and lathis, and also got the building demolished.” (Archived link) छत पर कुटाई वाली कार्रवाई और नीचे सङक पर बुलङोजर वाली कार्रवाई UP के कानपुर में कुछ जेहादी ने छत से हिन्दुओं और पुलिस पर पथराव किया। इसके बाद कुछ बहादुर पुलिस ने बिना सीढी ही छत पर जाकर पकड़ लिया और घूंसे लाठियां बरसा कर उनकी दिवाली हैप्पी कर दी ,और बिल्डिंग भी तोड़ दिया 😇😇 pic.twitter.com/pYII0ujyGG — ɨʀօռʍօռᏦ 002 🚩🇮🇳 (@IRONMONK002) October 26, 2022 A user named Vishnu Mishra also made the same claim while sharing the clip. Mishra also praised Yogi Adityanath and the swift action taken by the police. (Archived link) यह वीडियो देखकर आनंदित हो जाओगे, छत पर कुटाई वाली कार्रवाई और नीचे सङक पर बुलङोजर वाली कार्रवाई 🤪😂 बाबा जी महाराज का अद्भुत न्याय,,🤷🏻‍♂️ यूपी के कानपुर में कुछ जेहादी 🐖 मुल्लों ने छत से हिन्दुओं और पुलिस पर पथराव किया।इसके बाद कुछ बहादुर पुलिस ने बिना सीढी ही छत पर जाकर सुअरो pic.twitter.com/Sg8RVVLHQH — VISHNU MISHRA (@VISHNUK35030487) October 26, 2022 The viral video is also being shared widely on Facebook with the same claim. A page titled ‘Sangathit Hindu‘ also amplified it. Alt News performed a keyword search and located the source video posted on Twitter by journalists Priya Singh and Gyanendra Shukla. In the information provided with the video, the incident is described as one in which two youths who pelted stones at the police were beaten up by cops. Also, it has been described as a video of Kanpur Dehat. Sharing two videos of the incident, Gyanendra Shukla wrote, “While the police were carrying out a court order to remove Malikchand, who had been forcibly squatting on Satyadev’s land, the former’s sons threw stones at them. After many were injured, the police taught the boys a lesson. An incident from Kanpur Dehat.” सत्यदेव के मकान पर जबरन काबिज मलिकचंद के कब्जे को हटाने के कोर्ट के आदेश के पालन के दौरान मलिकचंद के बेटों ने पुलिस पर पत्थर फेंके कई जख्मी हुए तो फिर पुलिस ने रौद्र रूप धरकर सबक सिखाया, कानपुर देहात का मामला pic.twitter.com/tUWiJBrLIm — gyanendra shukla (@gyanu999) October 20, 2022 We also came across an October 20 report by Dainik Bhaskar covering the incident. It also carried a screenshot of the viral video. According to the report, “On the orders of the court in the Bhognipur police station area in Kanpur Dehat, a team had arrived to demolish a house. Two youths pelted stones at the team members that had come there to carry out the mandated action. The police sent both to jail after registering a case under several sections of the IPC including obstruction of government duties. Nowhere in the report has the incident been described as communal. As far as the land dispute is concerned, it has been reported that two youths were beaten up for pelting stones at the police who went to demolish a home that was illegally constructed. It is important to note here that Motilal’s full name is listed as Manikchand Shankhwar. The Dainik Bhaskar report identifies the two youths beaten up by the police as Sameer and Karthik. It states that the land dispute between Satyadev and Motilal was being heard at a court in a locality of Kanpur Dehat. After a lengthy trial, the court ruled in favor of Satyadev, directing the police to demolish the illegally constructed house built on the land. Following the court’s directive, the police arrived there with a bulldozer. Meanwhile, Sameer and Karthik started throwing bricks and stones from the terrace of the house, seriously injuring a young bystander. A few policemen were also injured. Following this, the stone-pelting duo was taken into custody by the police. On October 18, police issued a statement on the matter. It mentions that the police officers who went to remove the illegal construction were attacked with stones. Furthermore, the stone-pelters were taken into judicial custody and sent to jail. #Kanpurdehatpolice थाना भोगनीपुर क्षेत्र के कस्बा पुखरायां में हुयी घटना के सम्बंध में क्षेत्राधिकारी भोगनीपुर द्वारा दी गयी बाइट। pic.twitter.com/kuV0SiF9el — Kanpur Dehat Police (@kanpurdehatpol) October 18, 2022 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Aaj Tak published a ground report covering the incident on October 19. This report also includes a statement by Motilal, whose house was bulldozed. Along with this, there is also the statement of Amin Mukesh Mishra who claims that the court ordered the demolition of Motilal’s illegal construction. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TAf-UVWgqw] To sum it up, an unrelated video of police action on stone-pelters from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur Dehat area was falsely circulated as cops teaching a lesson to Muslim stone-pelters. In reality, the officers were following court orders and sent there to demolish an illegal construction. She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	1st November 2022 / 3:09 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-video-of-cops-beating-up-two-men-in-kanpur-dehat-falsely-shared-with-communal-angle/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
141	Video of minor girl who died in UP viral with false rape and communal spin - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 12th November 2020 / 8:21 pm Recently, a video has gone viral on Twitter and Facebook in which police personnel and others can be seen crowding around the corpse of a young girl. Social media users shared the clip, claiming that the girl had been raped and murdered. Posting the video, Facebook user Sadhana Saini wrote, “Tejvir Prajapati’s 3-year-old girl was raped and killed in Aligarh. I request everyone to share this widely so that she gets justice as soon as possible. Such monsters have no right to live in our society.” The clip received more than 3.3 lakh views and over 8,500 shares at the time of writing. (Archive link) (Disclaimer: This article does not carry any links to the video due to its disturbing nature.) Twitter user @bharatmali_ also shared this video and the accompanying claim of rape and murder. Her post received more than 650 retweets at the time of writing. Similarly, many other Twitter users shared the viral clip and claim. (Archive link) Several users also gave the incident a communal angle, claiming that the girl was raped and murdered by her Muslim neighbour. Twitter user @sawalaramparmar wrote, “In Aligarh, a 38-year-old Muslim neighbour raped Tejvir Prapati’s three-year-old daughter and fled. More than 600 people retweeted this post at the time of writing. (Archive link) Alt News also received a request to fact-check the video on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160). When we did a keyword search on Twitter, we found a tweet by Aligarh police which said that the girl died in a road accident on November 4 in Akrabad. In their tweet, the police clarified that the social media claims circulating about the three-year-old’s death were completely baseless. थाना अकराबाद क्षेत्रान्तर्गत 03 वर्षीय बच्ची की सड़क दुर्घटना में हुई मृत्यु के सम्बन्ध में सोशल मीडिया पर वायरल भ्रामक/निराधार/तथ्यहीन है। सत्यता की जानकारी किये बिना भ्रमित ट्वीट न करें । सत्यता जानें ….@Uppolice pic.twitter.com/04Pd2SKIi9 — ALIGARH POLICE (@aligarhpolice) November 7, 2020 Agra AGD Twitter handle also replied to a user making the rape claim. Alt News spoke with Umesh Chandra Sharma, a police officer at Akrabad police station. “The husband and wife were in a personal dispute for six years. Both are fighting cases in court. The deceased girl was living with her mother in Nanihal and her father was in Jahangirabad, Bulandshahr, where he has a home. I was at the scene of the crime. All the senior officials, including the SP, IPS, and CO were present as well. We visited all the homes in the neighbourhood to collect evidence and ascertain whether there was a possibility of such an incident happening,” he informed. The officer further said that the father of the girl who levelled the rape allegations was present during the postmortem and had seen everything. Sharma also said that injuries were visible on the private parts of the girl because the vehicle had run over her. Her knees were also wounded. “Only a case of accident has come up in the postmortem report. All investigations have taken place from the top level.” When we questioned Sharma on the deceased’s father refusing to accept the postmortem, he said, “He has been threatening his wife and her family. We took a video statement of the wife in the presence of locals and sent it to our officials. The husband eventually left, saying that he would send everyone to jail ” The tweet below contains the wife’s statement. दुर्घटना में मृत बच्ची की मां द्वारा दिया गया बयान pic.twitter.com/94eWDPzhud — ALIGARH POLICE (@aligarhpolice) November 8, 2020 We contacted the mother of the deceased and asked her about the possibility of her daughter being raped. She said, “No, nothing of this sort has happened. I was sweeping inside and my girl went outside to play. When everyone heard her scream and rushed outside, we saw that a car had hit her and fled… This case has been going on for six years (between the deceased’s mother and her father). That’s why my husband started this rumour.” It is noteworthy that the name of the deceased’s father is claimed to be Tejvir Prajapati in viral posts. However, as confirmed by his wife, his name is Arun Kumar. We reached out to Arun Kumar and asked if he had made allegations of rape. He told Alt News, “Whether or not she was sexually violated, the fact is that they are hiding what really happened. I do not believe that a car hit her. You can look at the photo or video, there is no such mark on her body to indicate this. It does not look like what they are saying actually happened. They had told some relatives that the girl got crushed by a tractor while playing.” We asked him whether he had shot the viral video. “In the video, I am standing next to the child (with a white cloth tied on his face). The video has been shot from my viewing angle but many people were standing next to me with phones. I do not know who made and uploaded this clip online. ” He further told us, “I am not saying there was rape. Bit whatever happened, it was definitely not a tractor accident.” Apart from this, Kumar said that there was no mark on the child’s body. However, Alt News noticed a black mark on the foot of the deceased, as reported by the police. We are not including the picture to protect the identity of the minor girl. The Muslim perpetrator claim was later added to the video. However, Alt News did not find evidence of a communal angle during our fact-check. In this case, neither the police nor the parties involved mention any Muslim neighbour. A journalist and a dilettante person who always strives to learn new skills and meeting new people. Either sketching or working. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th November 2020 / 8:21 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-video-of-three-year-old-dead-girl-viral-with-false-rape-and-communal-angle/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
142	Fact-Check: Muslim youth with a knife threatens a Hindu woman for marriage in Indore? - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 1st August 2022 / 9:10 pm A video of a man threatening a young woman with a knife while another stands behind her crying is viral on social media. She tries to reason with the perpetrator as he continues to threaten. The word ‘Indore’ can be seen superimposed on the screen. It is being claimed that the man hails from the Muslim community and this was another case of ‘love jihad’, a conspiracy theory according to which Muslim men are trained to ‘trap’ women of other faiths. Twitter user Kajal Hindustani tweeted this video, claiming that a ‘love jihadi’ was entrapping Hindu girls by force. Hindu fundamentalists often use the word ‘Jihadi’ on social media to target Muslims. Mukesh Kumar, channel head of Sudarshan News, quote-tweeted Kajal’s post, calling for the castration of such individuals. At the same time, he used a pejorative word for transgenders in the tweet. (Archived link). A user named ‘Yogi Yogesh Agarwal’ also tweeted this video with the same communal claim. (Archived link) यह देखो लव जिहादी हिंदू बच्चियों को केसे डरा धमका कर अपने जाल में फंसाते है😡अगर किसी भी बच्ची को कोई भी इस प्रकार से धमकाए तो डरने की जरूरत नही है तुरंत अपने घर वालो को जानकारी देकर पुलिस में रिपोर्ट दर्ज कराए*तो यह लोग अपने मकसद में कामयाब नही हो पाएंगे😡 pic.twitter.com/9FTTZ9Xnio — योगी योगेश अग्रवाल (धर्मसेना) (@yogeshDharmSena) July 27, 2022 One Rajesh Keshri also tweeted the footage with the same claim. (Archived link) Various other users amplified the video with the accompanying claim. Alt News noticed the word ‘Indore’ on the screen. Using this as a clue, we performed a keyword search on Twitter, which led us to a July 26 tweet by Vikas Singh Chauhan, a Network18 journalist. He tweeted the video as an incident from the MIG police station area of Indore. He also mentioned that the name of the accused threatening the girl with a knife outside a cafe in broad daylight is Piyush alias Sanu, who has been arrested by the police. #इंदौर के एमआईजी थाना क्षेत्र में बदमाश की करतूत कैमरे में कैद, दिनदहाड़े कैफे के बाहर युवती को चाकू से धमकाते कैमरे में कैद, #पुलिस ने सिरफिरे युवक को किया गिरफ्तार,युवती को धमकाने के बाद आरोपी ने खुद के गले पर भी रखा चाकू,आरोपी का नाम पीयूष उर्फ शानू, pic.twitter.com/a0vWQKRJvw — vikas singh Chauhan (@vikassingh218) July 26, 2022 We performed a keyword search on Google and came across a News18 article dated July 27 covering the attack. According to the report, the incident occurred in the MIG police station area of Indore. The assailant wanted to marry the girl by threatening her with a knife. After the video went viral, the police took cognizance of the matter, registered a case and arrested the accused. The police identified the accused as Piyush alias Sanu, who also confessed to his crime. They also recovered the knife that was used to threaten the woman. The article also contained a picture of the accused after he was arrested by the police. It further confirms that this is indeed the youth seen in the viral video. We reached out to Gopal Meena, Head Constable of the MIG police station in Indore. He clarified that there was no communal or ‘love jihad’ angle in the matter. He identified the accused as Piyush Rawat, son of Bharat Singh Rawat. Head Constable Meena also confirmed that both the accused and the victim are Hindus, and the former was in police custody. To sum it up, a video of a young man threatening a woman at knifepoint to force her into marriage was shared by social media users with a communal claim. In reality, both the victim and the accused are Hindus and there is no communal angle in the case. Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	1st August 2022 / 9:10 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-video-of-youth-threating-girlfrind-with-knife-in-indore-shared-with-false-communal-angle/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
143	Video from Patna school falsely shared as DAV public school, Hyderabad - Alt News Priyanka Jha 7th July 2020 / 7:09 pm A two-minute video is viral where a woman is probing a purported staff member of a school about the institution’s policy on transportation charges, tuition fees and annual fees amidst the lockdown. The accompanying message says that DAV Public School in Kukatpally, Hyderabad is looting parents. “See the conduct of DAV PUBLIC SCHOOL Kukatpally, Hyderabad, The Principal & School staff have looted the parents. Please circulate this video to be reached by ministry of Education and KTR for necessary…” reads the viral text (archived link). See the conduct of DAV PUBLIC SCHOOL Kukatpally, Hyderabad, The Principal & School staff have looted the parents. Please circulate this video to be reached by ministry of Education and KTR for necessary action.@DAVPublicSchoo3 @KTRTRS @MinisterKTR #schoolsreopening #schoolloot pic.twitter.com/7Z2VmSNTeH — ishika singh (@Iishikasingh) June 30, 2020 Several Twitter and Facebook users have posted the viral video. Alt News has also received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+917600011160) and on our official Android application Alt News found that on June 20 Facebook user Dharmendra Kumar had posted four videos including the one viral. His post, which drew over 41,000 shares and millions of views, claimed that the clip was shot in Bishop Scott Girls School in Patna. The women seen in the video is the director of the school. This video belongs to BISHOP SCOTT GIRLS SCHOOL PATNA .This lady is director of school Posted by Dharmendra Kumar on Saturday, 20 June 2020 Using this as a clue, Alt News performed a keyword search on Google and found a June 26 report in International Business Times (IBT). As per the report, despite the government’s instructions to private schools to not charge fees during the lockdown period, many institutions are pressuring parents to deposit admission fees and school fees. “Not only does the lady from the school management threatens the parent, but she also apparently tries to snatch the phone from the parent’s hand and misbehaves,” reads the report. On June 23, News18 published a report in Hindi on the incident. As per the report, “Director of Primary Education Ranjit Kumar Singh ordered an inquiry against Patna’s Scort Girls School and set up a two-member investigation team. He reiterated that during the lockdown, the government had ordered that there would be no transportation charge and the school should not pressurize for fees. The government order is applicable to all the schools except minority schools. The department has ordered RDDE Surendra Sinha and DEO Jyoti Kumar Patna to investigate the issue.” The claim that the viral video shows an incident from DAV Public School in Hyderabad is false. It took place in Bishop Scott Girls School in Patna. She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th July 2020 / 7:09 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-video-where-parents-argue-with-school-administration-from-patna-shared-as-hyderabad/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
144	A woman's body discovered in a trolley bag in Yamuna Expressway is a case of honour killing - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 21st November 2022 / 7:37 pm / Last updated: 21st November 2022 Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the body of a young woman found on the Yamuna Expressway, with the claim that she had been murdered by a person of Muslim identity. Member of the Legislative Assembly, Om Kumar tweeted images of the body with the claim that the woman seen in the images was a victim of ‘Love Jihad’. He further suggested that a big campaign will have to be launched with the help of all the family members who are victims of Love Jihad. Kumar also made an indirect reference to the gruesome murder of Shraddha Walkar where the accused Aaftab Ameen Poonwalla is a Muslim. (Archive) Senior Correspondent at Hindi Khabar and a former journalist of Sudarshan News, Aanchal Yadav, tweeted the same sets of photos and stated that there is a new Aaftab every day. This is also in reference to the Shraddha Walkar murder case. (Archive) User @Shyamsrivastva1 also tweeted the images and stated that he was “100% confirmed” that the crime had been committed by a Muslim person whom he refers to as “Abdul”. (Archive) Users @VlKASPR0NAM0, @RoyalKushwahaS and @PBSINGH14648043 also tweeted the images with the same claim. The body of a young woman was found stuffed inside a trolley bag on a service road of the Yamuna Expressway. She was found on November 18. The police say that the woman appeared to be in her early twenties. According to the police, she had blood on her face and injury marks all over her body. Several journalists shared images of the body in order to identify the woman. According to journalist Sachin Gupta, she had a bullet mark on her chest. The official handle of Mathura Police put out a video statement on November 20 wherein they said that the woman in the images has been identified by her brother and mother. The victim’s family hails from the Badarpur region in Delhi. थाना राया क्षेत्रान्तर्गत एक अज्ञात युवती का शव के शिनाख्त होने के सम्बन्ध में अपर पुलिस अधीक्षक नगर, मथुरा की बाइट। pic.twitter.com/DhK9wJy97R — MATHURA POLICE (@mathurapolice) November 20, 2022 Upon a keyword search on Google, we found several articles which state that the woman had been identified as 21-year-old Ayushi Yadav, by her mother and brother. She was a resident of Delhi’s Badarpur. The articles further state that Yadav had been murdered by her father. According to an India Today article, a few days back, Ayushi went out without telling her father, Nitesh Yadav. After she returned home, her father lost his temper and shot her. He then wrapped her body in plastic, stuffed it in a trolley bag and dumped the bag on the Yamuna Expressway in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. According to an Aaj Tak article, the teams sent by the police found only the girl’s mother and brother at the address that they received. The police eventually found the father. During a late-night interrogation, the father confessed to killing the daughter. TV9, Amar Ujala and other news media outlets corroborate the same information. Alt News contacted Additional SP Martand Prakash Singh who refuted claims of a communal angle to the case. Mathura Police held a press conference on November 21, stating that upon interrogating the victim’s family, the police found that the victim had married somebody despite her parents’ disapproval. This caused tension in the family and as a result, the victim’s father shot her twice on November 17. The body was kept at the house overnight. At around 3 in the morning, the body was packed in a red suitcase and the parents drove to the Yamuna Expressway where they eventually discarded it. लाल ट्राली बैग में अज्ञात बालिका की जघन्य हत्याकाण्ड (आनर किलिंग) का सफल अनावरण करते हुये बालिका के माता पिता को मय आलाकत्ल व घटना मे प्रयुक्त कार सहित गिरफ्तार करने के सम्बन्ध में अपर पुलिस अधीक्षक नगर,मथुरा द्वारा दी गयी बाइट । pic.twitter.com/nmHnbLuUHX — MATHURA POLICE (@mathurapolice) November 21, 2022 On being asked about the motive behind the murder, Mathura Police further clarified that the victim, who was an adult, had married a man named Chhatrapal at the Arya Samaj Mandir despite her parents’ disapproval. Moreover, the victim would often leave her house without informing her parents. Mathura Police also tweeted that the heinous murder of Ayushi Yadav had been successfully solved. थाना राया व स्वाट टीम लाल ट्राली बैग में अज्ञात बालिका की जघन्य हत्याकाण्ड (आनर किलिंग) का सफल अनावरण करते हुये बालिका के माता पिता को मय आलाकत्ल व घटना मे प्रयुक्त कार सहित किया गिरफ्तार¬- pic.twitter.com/aKbaY9kcKI — MATHURA POLICE (@mathurapolice) November 21, 2022 Journalist Mamta Tripathi tweeted, “मथुरा सड़क किनारे सूटकेस में मिली आयुषी का कातिल उसका पिता है।पिता नीतेश यादव ने बेटी के सीने पर गोली मारी, फिर सूटकेस में पैक कर फेंक दिया.. आयुषी की मां और भाई ने आज पहचान की. मामला ऑनर किलिंग का है…फिलहाल पिता गिरफ्तार है” (Translation: The murderer of Ayushi, whose body was found in a suitcase on the Mathura road side is her father. Father Nitesh Yadav shot at the daughter’s chest, then packed it in a suitcase and threw it away.. Ayushi’s mother and brother identified today. The matter is of Honor Killing… At present the father is arrested). Principal Correspondent ABP Ganga, Vivek K. Tripathi also tweeted that Ayushi had been shot by her father, who then packed her in a suitcase. He refuted the communal claims that were being associated with the case and said that the father had been arrested by the police. (Archive) Hence the murder of 21-year-old Ayushi Yadav was given a communal spin. Several verified handles on Twitter shared images of her dead body with the claim that a person of Muslim identity had murdered her. Many users also implied that Ayushi was another victim of ‘Love Jihad’. Alt News found these claims to be categorically false. Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st November 2022 / 7:37 pm / Last updated: 21st November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/a-womans-body-discovered-in-a-trolley-bag-in-yamuna-expressway-is-a-case-of-honour-killing/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
145	Aaditya Thackeray's 2019 photo cherry-picked to falsely portray 'Muslim appeasement' - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 8th September 2021 / 2:22 pm A photo of a billboard featuring Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray has been shared by BJP members and supporters to show him ‘appeasing’ the Muslim community. The billboard has a picture of Thackeray on a green background waving to people and a text in Urdu (سلام ورلی) that translates to ‘hello’. Below is a tweet by BJP national media panellist Charu Pragya. From Saffron to Green. From Marathi to Urdu. From Shiv Sena to ……………..? 🤦🏻‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/ciMiQ9pZLO — Charu Pragya🇮🇳 (@CharuPragya) September 7, 2021 Another user wrote that Thackeray is bidding farewell to his Marathi identity. मराठी अस्मितेला भावपूर्ण श्रद्धांजली💐💐 pic.twitter.com/ZZaSGnhRl9 — टमरेल तोंडया (@tamrel143) September 6, 2021 The image is massively widespread on Facebook. A reverse-image search of the photo takes one to an article published by News18 in 2019 about Aaditya Thackeray filing his nomination papers for the Maharashtra polls in Worli. The article has pictures of the billboard in question and other similar billboards with different background colours and texts in varied languages reading ‘hello’. The one in Gujarat reads ‘Kem Cho Worli’ while the Telugu and Hindi texts say ‘Namaste Worli’. The billboard that carries Urdu text was cherry-picked to give a false perception that Thackeray was appeasing Muslims when, in fact, he was appealing to people from different communities. The disinformation also brings forth the demonisation and communalisation of Urdu. A similar misleading narrative was attempted to be built around farmer leader Rakesh Tikait’s speech in Muzaffarnagar where he uttered ‘Allah hu Akbar’. Tikait was sharing a message of religious harmony, telling protestors at the ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ that Muzaffarnagar, a place that has witnessed communal riots, is known for farmers’ movements that invoke chants of both ‘Allah hu Akbar’ and ‘Har Har Mahadev’ together. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media….	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th September 2021 / 2:22 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aaditya-thackerays-2019-photo-cherry-picked-to-falsely-portray-muslim-appeasement/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
146	Aaj Tak, ABP misreport Jharkhand Rajya Sabha results, claim BJP won both seats - Alt News Alt News Desk 24th March 2018 / 1:27 am / Last updated: 6th August 2018 “Good news coming from Jharkhand…for BJP. BJP wins both Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand”, Aaj Tak made this announcement in its ‘Special Report’ on Rajya Sabha elections. The news turned out to be false as both Congress and BJP had won one seat each. In a busy newsroom, mistakes do happen. Specially when you are trying to be the first to break news. For Aaj Tak this was the second mistake in a span of 6 hours. Earlier today the channel has misreported the Delhi High Court verdict on office for profit case involving AAP MLAs. Aaj Tak, was not alone in its blooper. It was joined by ABP News. As Alt News has stated in an earlier article, the real time “breaking news” model is actually in direct conflict with fact checking. The pressure to be the first with the news break seems to leave no time for even a basic check that would involve verifying the news with the official sources. With the volume of fake news that is floating around at any given time, we need our media to pause and verify before breaking a news story. To be accurate with the reporting is after all equally, if not more important, as being quick. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th March 2018 / 1:27 am / Last updated: 6th August 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aaj-tak-abp-misreport-jharkhand-rajya-sabha-results-claim-bjp-won-both-seats/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
147	Aaj Tak falsely claims Congress candidate Maskoor Usmani hung Jinnah's portrait at AMU - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 17th October 2020 / 12:18 am / Last updated: 17th October 2020 The Congress party has fielded former Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) student leader Maskoor Usmani as a candidate for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. He will be contesting from Jale constituency in Darbhanga district of Bihar. Usmani’s candidature has given the BJP a fresh opportunity to criticise the Congress. The former has accused Usmani of being a ‘Jinnah supporter’. Aaj Tak ran broadcasts suggesting that the Congress will seek votes on the basis of ‘Jinnah’s genie’ while issues of development and corruption will take a backseat. Anchor Rohit Sardana in his daily show ‘Dangal’ invited several panellists to discuss Usmani’s candidature. The channel claimed multiple times (1:24 minutes and 6:20 minutes) that in 2018 Usmani installed a portrait of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah at AMU. The graphic plate below reads, “Maskoor Usmani had installed Jinnah’s portrait while he was AMU [students’ union] president.” At 6:20 minutes into the broadcast, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra expressed his grief over Congress’s decision to give Usmani a ticket — “It’s not important who wins or loses elections. Today, India is losing. The oldest national party because of which India was partitioned is again trying to gain votes by selling Jinnah. I am saddened, not happy.” — to which Sardana said, “Patra ji, you have peered into my heart. But look into your heart too and tell me if you’re not satisfied that they’ve given him a ticket and you can now highlight how he is a massive anti-national?” The complete broadcast can be watched below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS3kmAD8DVg That Jinnah’s portrait has been hanging in AMU since 1938 is public knowledge. The issue raked up controversy in 2018 when armed activists from the Hindu Yuva Vahini descended on AMU campus with alleged police support to demand that the portrait be taken down. Scores of students were injured in the violence. For Jinnah portrait hanging since 1938, Hindutva activists attack AMU students https://t.co/sf132cXZN6 pic.twitter.com/Um6lIYhCI7 — The Wire (@thewire_in) May 3, 2018 Visuals of police charging students with lathis and firing tear gas shells were also reported in the media. AMU vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor had dismissed the row over Jinnah’s portrait on the campus as a non-issue. “Jinnah’s portrait has been here since 1938. Jinnah’s portrait is at many places, including Bombay High Court and Sabarmati Ashram. No one was worried about the portraits until now, I think it is a non-issue,” he was quoted when asked if the portrait should be removed. “A country’s history has dark as well as bright pages. No one in AMU supports Jinnah’s two-nation theory, but we must accept that he is an important part of India’s history,” former AMU students’ union president Masksoor Usmani had told The Telegraph. Usmani’s objection to the BJP’s demands to remove the portrait was preserving history. His video statement was broadcast by News Nation on August 7, 2018 where Usmani said, “It is the students’ union’s autonomy to decide what should be done to the painting. This isn’t new. Why does this question keep coming up? It’s because they want to make Jinnah an agenda in the 2019 elections…the portrait is just history which has been in the campus not since today but 80 years. We have said multiple times that Jinnah is our history, not religion.” During the Jinnah row, 94-year-old Riaz-Ur-Sherwani who was present when AMUSU unveiled Jinnah’s portrait in 1938 told the media that the matter was a “personal affair” of the students. “Sherwani is known to vehemently oppose Jinnah and his policies, however, he says that when the portrait was put up, the “circumstances of the country were different” and no outsider can dictate what is to be hung in the university hall,” wrote News18 in a May 6, 2018 report. In an opinion piece on The Tribune, journalist Karan Thapar discussed that the decision to hang Jinnah’s portrait in AMU was based on his politics in the early 20th century. “The Jinnah of the first three decades of the 20th century was a very different person to the man the Pakistanis call Qaid-e-Azam,” Thapar wrote. Maskoor Usmani told Alt News that the narrative being peddled in the media, that he installed Jinnah’s portrait, is false propaganda. “I’d like to clearly and boldly state that I do not hold any views that support Jinnah in any aspect. The movement that had followed in AMU in 2018 had been on different issues and the corrupt ways of the media focussed to highlight a portrait hanging in the Union Hall to disrupt the movement and damage the name of the institution and mine as the leader of the students’ union at the time. Firstly, let me state this with complete assurance that the portrait issue was a controversy to divert the attention of the populace. Secondly, that particular portrait hangs there not because I deemed it so. Jinnah’s portrait hangs along with the greatness of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. At the time this issue had sprung up, I had addressed a letter to PM Modi and Rajnath Singh stating that neither the movement or I had no issue in removing the portrait in totality,” he said. The Congress gave Usmani a ticket instead of former Railway Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra’s grandson Rishi Mishra who said that he left JD(U) to contest from Jale. Mishra termed Usami “anti-national and Jinnah worshipper” claiming that he has the Pakistan founder’s photo in his office. “It is a shameful act by a person who wanted to acquire a ticket from Congress. Now when he has not gotten it, goes on to bash the Congress party’s name. All these statements being narrated are proof of how they fear the party moving up. I further suspect that people like him [Mishra] out of resentment for me and the party are spreading the propaganda to make me seem wrong in the eyes of the people and the party,” Usmani further said. Aaj Tak’s claim that Maskoor Usmani hung a portrait of Jinnah inside AMU campus is false. The portrait has been there since the pre-independence era. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	17th October 2020 / 12:18 am / Last updated: 17th October 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aaj-tak-falselt-claims-congress-candidate-maskoor-usmani-hung-jinnahs-portrait-at-amu/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
148	News channels, BJP leaders' claim that UPA got St. George's Cross back on Navy flag is false - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 16th September 2022 / 9:42 pm / Last updated: 17th September 2022 On September 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new flag of the Indian Navy in Kochi. The St George’s Cross was removed from the erstwhile flag and it was replaced with an octagonal shield inspired by the seal of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj with the national emblem above the anchor. Below that, there is the motto of the Indian Navy, ‘Sham No Varunah’. Earlier, the flag featured the St. George’s Cross with the national emblem in the centre and ‘Satyamev Jayate’ written below it. There was a flurry of debates on news channels regarding the change. Back in 2001, the flag of the Indian Navy had also been changed during the tenure of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the colonial emblem of St. George’s Cross was removed. The flag was again changed in 2004 and the St. George’s Cross was brought back. News channels and BJP leaders blamed the Congress, including the UPA government and the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for the change. It was claimed that the flag was revised after the change of power in 2004 when the UPA government was at the Centre and Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister. BJP leaders accused the Congress party and Sonia Gandhi of bringing back the St George’s Cross on the Indian Navy flag because of their ‘attachment’ to the colonial symbol. On August 30, anchor Shiv Aroor on India Today News Channel’s 5ive Live show claimed that Atal Bihari Vajpayee had removed the St. George’s Cross from the Navy’s flag in 2001, but in 2004, the UPA government brought it back. In the same show, Gaurav Sawant, managing editor and anchor of India Today channel made the same claim. In the beginning of the show, Shiv Aroor introduced Gaurav Sawant and stated that when the St George’s Cross was re-introduced in the Indian Navy flag back in 2004 under Manmohan Singh’s government, Sawant had first reported it. It is worth noting that Shiv Aroor is also the founder of Defence and Aerospace news website LiveFist. On August 31, Aroor also claimed on India Today’s digital news video vertical NewsMO that the Manmohan Singh government brought back the St George’s Cross to the Indian Navy flag. India Today also tweeted a video of this. (Archived link) On September 1, Aaj Tak news channel consulting editor and anchor Sudhir Chaudhary claimed in his show ‘Black and White’ that the St. George’s Cross was removed from the Indian Navy flag in 2001 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. In 2004, when the UPA government came to power and Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister, the St. George’s Cross was brought back on the Indian Navy flag. On September 2, several BJP leaders and supporters targeted the Congress party and the UPA government, claiming that the Congress brought back the St. George’s Cross, a symbol of the colonial past, on the Indian Navy flag after Dr. Manmohan Singh became prime minister in 2004. Gave. BJP MP Tejashwi Surya, and BJP leader Tajinderpal Singh Bagga also tweeted the same claim. Right wing influencer Anshul Saxena and BJP Goa tweeted the same claim as well. However, Saxena deleted the tweet later. (Archived link) After this, media channels in their shows blamed Congress and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for bringing back the St. George’s Cross to the Indian Navy flag in 2004. On Aaj Tak news channel, in anchor Chitra Tripathi’s show ‘Dangal’ on September 2, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia showed the printed copy of a graphic claiming that the St. George’s Cross was removed from the Indian Navy flag during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2001. He then said that the Cross was brought back after the Congress came to power in 2004. After this, supporting the BJP spokesperson’s claim, the news anchor repeated that the Cross was re-introduced after Congress came to power, and asked Congress spokesperson Alok Sharma who loved the symbol so much that it had to be brought back? On September 3, Rajat Sharma, editor-in-chief and chairman of India TV, claimed in his show ‘Aaj Ki Baat‘ that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had removed the British symbol (St. George’s Cross) in 2001. But in 2004, Manmohan Singh’s government came and brought it back. Anchors of major TV news channels and BJP leaders claimed on TV that the Navy flag with the St. George’s Cross was brought back under the Manmohan Singh government. However, this is not true. First, we used Google Advanced Search to collect documents related to the change in the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2001. We performed keyword searches on Google using the date and website filters. We found an archive from 2001 on the website of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Government of India. According to this press release issued on August 8, 2001, on August 15, 2001, the St. George’s Cross was removed and a new mark was added on the Indian Navy flag. Using this information, we performed a keyword search on Google with the help of date and file filters. This led us to the original scanned copy of this press release on the Press Information Bureau (PIB) website. Both have been shown below. Alt News examined the Lok Sabha website to gather more information. We found an Unstarred question which Thawar Chand Gehlot, the then Lok Sabha member from Shajapur, had asked the defence ministry. Gehlot inquired whether warships and submarines of the Indian Navy were still operating with the foreign flag with the St. George’s Cross on it, and if so, if the government had given them permission to change the said flags. The then defence minister George Fernandes responded on March 21, 2002, saying that all Indian Navy ships, submarines and shore installations carry the Indian Navy flag. The Indian Navy flag has been displayed on Indian Navy ships and submarines since January 26, 1950. This flag was white and divided into four parts by the Red Cross, and the Indian flag was on the left section. The new Indian Navy flag is affixed on Indian Navy ships, submarines and shore installations August 15, 2001 onwards. Next, we performed a keyword search on Google with the date filter to gather more information about the change in the flag of the Indian Navy in 2004. We found a news report related to this published on the Rediff website on April 24, 2004. According to this news, on that day, the St George’s Cross was brought back on the flag of the Indian Navy. The reason for this was a complaint shared by the Indian Navy. It said that in the change in the flag in 2001, the St. George’s Cross was removed from the flag and a new mark was added. Due to its blue colour, the ocean and sky used to mix with the blue, and the flag was not visible from a distance. It is worth noting that on April 25, 2004, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India. Dr. Manmohan Singh took his oath as the Prime Minister on May 22, 2004. To verify the information, we checked the archives of ‘The Hindu‘ newspaper dated April 24, 2004. Here, we also found information related to the change in the flag of the Indian Navy. We also got the news related to this published on April 24, 2004 in the Financial Express archives. This confirms that the flag was changed on April 25, 2004 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India. We checked the website of Rajya Sabha for more details, and found an Unstarred question then Rajya Sabha MP Eknath K. Thakur had asked the defence ministry. He asked whether it was true that the Indian Navy wanted to adorn its ships, submarines and installations with new ensigns, flags and pendants, along with the reasons for this. The then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee replied on July 14, 2004 saying – “Yes, from April 25, 2004, the new emblem of the Indian Navy, distinctive flags and pennants have been introduced. The reason for the change in the flag was that the earlier flags had a combination of blue and white which was not clearly visible from a distance, especially at sea.” In other words, in 2004, when the Indian Navy’s flag was changed, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister. To sum it up, the news channels of India Today, Aaj Tak, and India TV along with BJP leaders circulated a false claim. It was said that in 2001, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had removed the St. George’s Cross from the Indian Navy flag, but when the UPA government came to power in 2004 and Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister, he added the St. George’s Cross back on to it. In fact, both the changes in 2001 and 2004 happened during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In a fact-check article dated September 5, Aaj Tak also termed the claims made by these BJP leaders as false and wrote that this decision was taken only during the Vajpayee government. However, the channel did not mention that. Many of their own anchors amplified the false claim on television. This is not the first time Aaj Tak has put out false information and later fact-checked the same. Update: After the Alt News fact-check, India Today anchor Shiv Aroor issued a clarification in a tweet on September 16. He wrote that though his show 5ive Live on August 30 was about the latest change in the Indian Navy flag, he got the information about the 2004 re-introduction of the St. George’s Cross on the Indian Navy Flag wrong. He said it was an “honest mistake, no malafide, but MINE alone”. “Doesn’t lessen error, but made it clear navy proposed change,” he added. Regarding factcheck abt my show on Navy ensign, though story was abt latest change, I did get info WRONG on 2004 re-intro of cross. FWIW, honest mistake, no malafide, but MINE alone. Doesn’t lessen error, but made it clear navy proposed change. Will re-up in morn for visibility. — Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) September 15, 2022 In the evening of September 16, India Today issued a clarification on live TV about the mistake made on the 5ive Live show on August 30. .@ShivAroor issues a clarification for attributing reintroduction of the Navy flag to UPA govt, which actually happened under the then Vajpayee sarkar in 2004 \| #5iveLive pic.twitter.com/D1hBWyGjx2 — IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) September 16, 2022 Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th September 2022 / 9:42 pm / Last updated: 17th September 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aaj-tak-india-today-and-bjp-leaders-false-claim-that-return-st-george-cross-naval-flag-done-upa-manmohan-singh-govt/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
149	Did Aaj Tak, India Today, Zee News, ABP News, India TV, Dainik Jagran and Sambit Patra bluff about Indian Army retaliation? - Alt News Pratik Sinha 3rd May 2017 / 1:37 pm On May 1st, as reported by several Indian media outlets, Pakistan killed and mutilated two security personnel along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. A Pakistan border action team (BAT) crossed into Indian territory after being provided cover fire on Monday morning, killed two soldiers and beheaded their bodies in the Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch in Jammu & Kashmir. The personnel killed were identified as Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh of 22 Sikh and Head Constable Prem Sagar of the BSF 200 Battalion. [Source: Indian Express] Soon after, multiple news channels started reporting that Indian Army destroyed 2 Pakistani posts and killed 7-10 Pakistani soldiers in retaliation. Aaj Tak’s report claimed that 2 posts namely Kirpan and Pimple had been destroyed in retaliation. Aaj Tak was the first news channel to report on the issue of retaliation. Aaj Tak’s Facebook page first shared a report suggesting that 2 Pakistani army posts had been destroyed in retaliation. This post was shared on their Facebook page at 9:45 pm on May 1st. The same report was again shared at 11:21 pm on their Facebook page with the additional claim that 7 Pakistani soldiers have been killed. Screenshots of Aajtak’s report regarding retaliation by the Army were shared many times on social media. The screenshots show that Aaj Tak relayed their report at 9:10 pm (21:10) on their channel. Economic Times Journalist Manu Pubby who also reports on issues of defence, however, claimed that one of the two posts that Aaj Tak was claiming was demolished in retaliation is actually an Indian post and not a Pakistani post. India Today had initially named the Pakistani posts that they claimed were destroyed in their report. However, they quietly edited their report and removed the names of the posts. The initial archived version of the India Today report can be accessed here => http://archive.is/gZwbQ. In the archived version, Kirpan and Pimple posts are mentioned, but in the present version, they are not mentioned anymore. The screenshot below captures the change in India Today’s report, left one has been taken from the archived version, right is the present version. A report in Hindustan Times dated May 2nd now suggests that the retaliation never happened and that the TV channels went ballistic without confirmation. Following statement was given by a senior officer with the army’s northern command to Hindustan Times: However, it was not just the TV channels that went ballistic. Even official spokesperson of the ruling Government started quoting this story of retaliation. In a panel discussion on Aaj Tak in which Paramajit Kaur, wife of Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh, was present, BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed that Indian Army has destroyed 2 Pakistani posts and killed 7 Pakistani soldiers. He stated this around 1:00 minute into the video below. If the Hindustan Times report claiming that there was no retaliation by Army is indeed true, that would mean that BJP spokesperson was lying to a martyr’s wife on live television. Sambit Patra repeated the claim in another show with Aajtak anchor Anjana Om Kashyap. At 40 seconds into the video below, Sambit Patra repeats the claim about 2 Pakistani bunkers being destroyed. Besides Aaj Tak, the other channels that made elaborate reports on this issue of retaliation by Indian Army are Aajtak’s sister concern India Today, Zee News, ABP News and India TV. The video links to the four reports are as follows: In print media, Dainik Jagran, who had recently published an illegal exit poll during UP elections, carried this story on their front page. Curiously, the recent reports by Aaj Tak and India Today which came out yesterday do not mention their own claim about the retaliation by Indian Army even once. This follow-up 9-minute report by Aaj Tak on this issue dated May 2nd talks about Army vowing to retaliate but does not once mention their own claims about Army already having retaliated. Did the army retaliation actually happen or did 5 national news channels and 1 major Hindi newspaper made it all up? Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd May 2017 / 1:37 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aaj-tak-india-today-zee-news-abp-news-india-tv-dainik-jagran-sambit-patra-bluff-indian-army-retaliation/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
150	Aaj Tak, India TV, Jagran fell for Elon Musk's joke; Twitter didn't hire back two fired employees - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 23rd November 2022 / 6:19 pm / Last updated: 23rd November 2022 Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried out large-scale lay-offs. While many social media users made memes poking fun at the development, others sharply criticized the move. On November 15, Musk shared a picture of himself with two people, writing, “Welcoming back Ligma and Johnson!” In the tweet thread that followed, he added that it was important to admit when he was wrong, and that firing them was his biggest mistake. Welcoming back Ligma & Johnson! pic.twitter.com/LEhXV95Njj — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 15, 2022 Based on this tweet, India Today Group’s Hindi channel Aaj Tak shared the post on its social media channels, claiming that Elon Musk admitted that firing the employees was his biggest mistake. Aaj Tak also amplified this on Twitter and Facebook. However, the channel later deleted the tweet. Jagran also published an article based on Elon Musk’s tweet. The daily claimed that he reinstated two employees after firing them earlier, and accepted his mistake. (Archived link) Similarly, outlets like India TV, TV9 Bharatvarsh, and One India also promoted the same claim in their articles. Alt News noticed that Elon Musk had mentioned the names ‘Ligma’ and ‘Johnson’ in his tweet. When we performed a keyword search using related terms, we came across several news reports in which the two men posing with Musk in the picture have been identified as prankster duo Rahul Ligma and Daniel Johnson. It is worth noting that ‘Ligma‘ is not a surname, but an internet slang. According to a New York Times report, Twitter fired four top executives soon after Elon Musk took over the social media platform on October 27. This included Twitter CEO Parag Aggarwal, CFO Ned Segal, and Head of Legal Policy Vijaya Gadde among others. Taking a jab at the Twitter lay-offs, both these pranksters stood in front of the company’s headquarters with boxes on October 28. The stunt found coverage on a number of reputed media outlets like CNBC and Bloomberg, which mistook them for actual Twitter employees who had been fired. However, the outlets later rectified the error in their reports. American technology news site The Verge also clarified that the two were not, in fact, employed by Twitter. CNBC journalist Dierdre Bosa, too, interviewed both the pranksters assuming they were real Twitter employees, and claimed that Twitter’s data engineers had been fired. She later issued a clarification and apology. About Friday at Twitter HQ – I didn’t do enough to confirm and I regret the mistake pic.twitter.com/BGKEr8Osto — Deirdre Bosa (@dee_bosa) October 31, 2022 To sum it up, Hindi news outlets including Aaj Tak, India TV, TV9 Bharatvarsh and One India mistakenly promoted a stunt by two men claiming to be Twitter employees who had been fired as real. The two were actually pranksters, and Elon Musk posted the tweet in question as a joke. Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है… Trigger Warning: Violent visuals. Viewer discretion is advised. In the afternoon of October 4, the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd November 2022 / 6:19 pm / Last updated: 23rd November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aaj-tak-india-tv-fall-for-elon-musk-satire-tweet-rehired-fired-employees/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
151	Aaj Tak shares fake 'last' tweets of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, later deletes report - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 16th June 2020 / 7:06 pm / Last updated: 17th June 2020 An elaborate piece on late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s “last tweets” was published by India Today Group’s Aaj Tak on June 16. Rajput died by suicide on Sunday in his Bandra apartment. Aaj Tak wrote an emotionally-charged report on these “tweets” where the late actor allegedly hinted taking his own life but subsequently deleted his tweets. Aaj Tak later took down its report without clarification. Below is a scrolling video of the complete piece. Aaj Tak had also tweeted the article from its official Twitter account. An archived link of the tweet can be viewed here. The tweets were also featured on the websites newstracklive.com, news4nation.com, Navodaya Times, krkboxoffice.com and verified YouTube channel Fact Diaries. That these tweets are fake is evident after one close look. 1. Imperfect alignment: The alignment of the profile picture with the text is not in a straight line as it should be. Moreover, the alignment is not consistent across three tweets. 2. Time and date stamp (highlighted in red): ‘AM’ is in small letters ‘am’ and ‘Jun’ begins with the small letter ‘j’. Furthermore, the tweets are not part of a thread yet carry the exact time-stamp. Below is a genuine tweet from Rajput’s account where the date and time stamp are carrying capital letters. 3. ‘View Tweet activity’ (highlighted in green) is visible when somebody makes a tweet from their own account. The tweet on the left is a genuine tweet from Rajput’s account as seen on Twitter where ‘View Tweet activity’ is absent. Journalist Samina Shaikh wrote that Twitter has clarified that the tweets are fake and fabricated. All the tweets from @itsSSR’s Twitter before his death are fake & fabricated – @TwitterIndia has clarified on the same, kindly don’t believe in these tweets and don’t pass it further…Let him please rest in peace! Please, I beg! 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/w6pjNEkyFd — Samina Shaikh (@saminaUFshaikh) June 16, 2020 The media organisation posted its tweet at 7:58 am on June 16. While the fake tweets are being widely shared, the earliest we found was posted at 5:31 am by Twitter user @KRITI___BHARTI. Interestingly, while Alt News was writing this fact-check, the handle @KRITI___BHARTI has changed its username and the handle’s name to KANGANA RANAUT (@KANGNA_RANAUT_). Since Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide came to light, Aaj Tak has been at the forefront of insensitive reporting. A ticker during a show that ran late Sunday evening read, “Aise kaise ‘hit wicket’ ho gaye Sushant?” The channel visited the late actor’s grieving father in Patna. When the man did not respond to questions, Aaj Tak questioned his sister. The channel has also penned reports on the statement of Rajput’s relative. A Delhi-based lawyer has sent a legal notice to Aaj Tak for its “hit wicket” ticker. It is noteworthy that Aaj Tak runs a fact-checking desk while its English counterpart, India Today, is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). [Update: We have removed the references to Dainik Bhaskar and India.com from our story. The error is regretted.] Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th June 2020 / 7:06 pm / Last updated: 17th June 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aaj-tak-shares-fake-last-tweets-of-late-actor-sushant-singh-rajput-later-deletes-report/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
152	Aaj Tak's attempt at whitewashing a fake quote broadcasted on its show - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 15th February 2018 / 5:08 pm What ought to be expected from the ‘gold standard of credible journalism’ when a goof-up happens on-air? Most definitely a retraction and perhaps an apology. How about a cover up? Maulana Qadri ye keh rahe hain ki jab woh namaz ke liye aakhen bandh karte hain toh unhe Priya Varrier dikh rahi hain (Maulana Qadri is saying that when he closes his eyes for namaz, he sees Priya Varrier). This is what senior anchor with Aaj Tak Anjana Om Kashyap said at the beginning of her evening programme ‘Halla Bol’ on February 14. Alt News had published an article on how the quote attributed to Qadri was fake and was from a parody account which many social media users unwittingly fell for. What was shocking though was that Aaj Tak took the quote to be true and used it in its programme. The anchor however sought to rationalise the reportage when her channel was called out. Kashyap came up with a series of tweets that tried to explain why the programme was broadcast. Qadri in the following clip is speaking to Aaj Tak, where he says “If inappropriate words have been used for our Prophet, then it is wrong and cannot be tolerated. We condemn it and expect inquiry and legal action to be taken“. This statement of Qadri has been put by Kashyap in its defence to say that the programme was with regard to the objection over the song by certain groups. This is a special tweet with Maulana Qadri’s bite. He talks of action against the song in Priya Varrier video. Halla Bol debated the Raza Academy/ two Maulanas who wanted a ban on the song because it talks of Khadija Bibi the first wife of the Prophet. Know your facts. pic.twitter.com/whkCNhQidp — Anjana Om Kashyap (@anjanaomkashyap) February 14, 2018 The above tweet by Kashyap was retweeted by Aaj Tak. Interestingly, this sound bite of Qadri was NOT a part of the evening programme. However, his photograph and ‘quote’ was used by the channel for the show. Kashyap put out two more tweets emphasizing on Raza Academy’s stance vis-a-vis this issue claiming that the Academy wants a ban on the song and that the spokesperson of the academy was grilled because of their conservative stand regarding the issue. However the allegations levelled against her on social media were never about Raza academy. Alt News in the past has written about how Raza Academy have time and again tried to act as self-appointed guardians of Islam. Despite the spirited attempt at justification, Kashyap conveniently side-stepped the issue of using a fake quote from a parody account for its broadcast. The below tweet by Kashyap was in the run up to the programme on February 14. She says “Maulana ka gussa iss baat par hai ki namaz ke liye aakhen bandh karne par unhe iss ladki ka chehra dikhta hai! Vacuum cleaner lana!” (Maulana is angry because when he closes his eyes for namaz, he sees this girl’s face! Bring the vacuum cleaner!). Kashyap has now deleted her tweet. Words that he never uttered were attributed to an individual and conflated with the report of the police complaint that was filed in Hyderabad over the song. There was absence of due verification with regard to the details of the story. There can be no objection to a debate over the filing of the police complaint over the song or Raza Academy’s stand on the isue, but Kashyap and Aaj Tak’s attempt at whitewashing the tweet and the introduction to the programme only serves to garner even greater attention to the faux pas, not to mention the fact that a person has been maligned in the process and there is no semblance of an apology from the channel. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th February 2018 / 5:08 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aaj-taks-attempt-whitewashing-fake-quote-broadcasted-show/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
153	Chemical blast in Hyderabad mosque? False news by Aaj Tak, OpIndia - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 17th June 2022 / 8:02 pm A section of the media reported that a chemical blast at the Gowliguda Masjid in Hyderabad left one Bharat Bathod dead and his father Venugopal seriously injured. Aaj Tak published this story but later updated it. An archived version of its original article can be read here. Right-wing propaganda website OpIndia also covered the incident. It claimed that a chemical blast had taken place in a mosque in Hyderabad. (Archive link) News portal Inkhabar amplified the claim. (Archive link) This claim is viral on Facebook and Twitter. Alt News conducted a keyword search on Google which led us to news reports on the incident by Jansatta, The News Minute, Outlook, news agency ANI and The New Indian Express. According to these reports, the explosion took place when a chemical container near a drain in the jurisdiction of Afzalgunj police station, Hyderabad, was being cleaned. One person died on the spot and another was injured. According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Bharat Bathod and the wounded has been identified as Venugopal, the father of the deceased. The Siasat Daily has also published a report on this incident. According to this article, Bharat Giriraj was involved in chemical business with a company. He had been dumping expired chemicals into a manhole located in front of his house, for a long period of time. On June 12, Bharat dropped a load of chemicals in the drain which led to clogging. He then poured water to clear the blockage, resulting in the blast. Alt News reached out to SHO of Afzalgunj Police Station Ravindra Reddy. He informed that the deceased used to run a chemical shop. He discarded expired chemicals in the drain, leading to a blockage that he tried to clear with a rod. SHO Reddy said that the pressure led the chemicals to drop at the bottom of the drain and caused a blast. Bharat lost his life while his father was seriously injured. According to eyewitnesses, the blast was so strong that Bharat’s body was blown to pieces and the drain was also destroyed. Since the case is still being investigated by a forensic team, Alt News cannot confirm what triggered the explosion. However, it is clear that this blast did not happen inside a mosque. The incident was, therefore, given a false anti-Muslim shade. Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	17th June 2022 / 8:02 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aajtak-falsely-claims-hyderabad-chemical-blast-in-gauliguda-mosque/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
154	Aaj Tak misrepresents COVID facility in Delhi as Lucknow - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 23rd April 2021 / 3:59 pm On April 21, Aaj Tak reported that the Lucknow District Administration reserved 1,550 beds for people suffering from COVID-19. The channel tweeted a picture of rows of hospital beds inside a hall. (Archive link) UP Corona LIVE: 1550 बेड को लखनऊ जिला प्रशासन ने कोविड के लिए किया आरक्षित. पूरी खबर यहाँ पढ़ें: https://t.co/sbiGU8SDgh#UttarPradesh #CoronavirusIndia #Lucknow pic.twitter.com/IVkP8FzyPE — AajTak (@aajtak) April 21, 2021 However, the image does not show up when one clicks on the link to the article. Deomani Dwivedi, BJP MLA from UP’s Lambhua also claimed that the image is from Lucknow. “1500 more beds readied in Lucknow. The coronavirus will lose and the country will win…” he wrote. An archived version of the post can be found here. Some Facebook users also shared the photo as Lucknow. लखनऊ में 1500 बेड और तैयार किए गये, कोरोना हारेगा ,, देश जीतेगा। जय योगी जी Posted by Eqra Anwer on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 Several users replied to Aaj Tak’s post stating that the image used shows hospital beds in Delhi. AAP Chief Media Coordinator Vikas Yogi quote-tweeted Aaj Tak’s tweet and wrote that the photo is from Delhi’s Rouse Avenue. सूचना- UP के नाम पर लगाया गया ये फ़ोटो दिल्ली सरकार के Rouse Avenue स्कूल का है। https://t.co/Gtp9tYhAjG — Vikas Yogi (@vikaskyogi) April 21, 2021 On April 18, 2020, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had tweeted that the government school in Rouse Avenue in Delhi was being converted into a 125-bed hospital for COVID-19 patients. He also shared four images, one of them being the photo Aaj Tak shared as Lucknow. Delhi govt school at Rouse Avenue is being converted into Covid Hospital with 125 beds with the help of ‘Doctors for You’. Hon CM @ArvindKejriwal reviewed the progress at site. pic.twitter.com/xEo0N2joJO — Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) April 18, 2021 In the Aaj Tak photo, a ‘Doctors for You’ poster can be seen in the background. This is the NGO helping run this COVID-19 hospital. The same poster can be seen in the image tweeted by Manish Sisodia, behind CM Arvind Kejriwal. NDTV did a ground report from the government school, which was also shared by AAP. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sYocHjt7F4] Aaj Tak misrepresented a photo from Delhi as COVID-19 hospital in Lucknow. A journalist and a dilettante person who always strives to learn new skills and meeting new people. Either sketching or working. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd April 2021 / 3:59 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aajtak-shares-image-of-delhi-govt-school-turned-covid-hospital-as-beds-put-in-lucknow/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
155	Fake list viral to show majority AAP candidates for Delhi elections are Muslims - Alt News Priyanka Jha 31st January 2020 / 12:28 pm Ahead of Delhi Legislative Assembly elections set to be held on February 8, 2020, an alleged list of 27 Aam Aadmi Party candidates has been circulating on social media. According to the list, 21 out of 27 candidates hail from the Muslim community. On January 11, Facebook page Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh posted the viral list and wrote in Hindi, “Is this list from Delhi or Lahore Aam Aadmi Party’s first list of Delhi assembly released (followed by the list) Kejriwal aka Kejruddin, wants to turn Delhi into Pakistan. Everything is in front of you [Translted from: दिल्ली की लिस्ट है या लाहौर की? आम आदमी पार्टी की दिल्ली विधानसभा की पहली लिस्ट जारी की …. केजरीवाल उर्फ केजरुद्दीन दिल्ली को पाकिस्तान बनाना चाह रहे हैं l सब आपके सामने है…]” This list is also being circulated on WhatsApp as a text message. Alt News found that the viral list is fake. Most of the candidate names have been changed and presented on social media. On January 14, Ankit Lal, social media and IT strategist for AAP tweeted the final list of MLA candidates for the 70 seats of Delhi assembly. Final list of MLA candidates for the 70 seats of Delhi assembly. Best of luck to each of them. The team will work hard to ensure victory for each of them. pic.twitter.com/jmEuOW589f — Ankit Lal (@AnkitLal) January 14, 2020 AAP Twitter account also posted the full list along with photographs of all candidates in a tweet thread. Assembly wise list of #AAPkeCandidates. Congratulations to all candidates and all the best for the upcoming election. (Part 1/N) pic.twitter.com/EqXVJ5lzfA — AAP (@AamAadmiParty) January 14, 2020 Several media outlet including Hindustan Times, The Wire, Times of India, News 18 and ANI covered the news on January 14. One of the highlights of these reports was that AAP had dropped 15 sitting MLAs and offered the ticket to several new faces. According to the Hindustan Times, 23 new candidates were on the list. Alt News compared the names listed in the viral text and official list shared by AAP (table below). In the viral text, only eight names are correct while the remaining are fictional Muslim names. The correct names include Arvind Kejriwal, Padpadganj Manish Sisodia, Praveen Kumar, Sanjeev Jha, Atishi Marlena, Somnath Bharti, Amanatullah Khan and Imran Hussain. All other names on the list are fictional. The viral text message therefore grossly misinforms the readers that the majority of AAP MLA candidates are from the Muslim community. Several social media users have shared the fake list of AAP candidates on Twitter and Facebook. She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	31st January 2020 / 12:28 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aam-aadmi-party-aap-fake-list-muslim-candidates/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
156	Aam Aadmi Party passes off bridge in Netherlands as Signature bridge in Delhi - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 5th November 2018 / 1:56 pm On November 4, the Signature bridge was inaugurated by the Delhi government amid ruckus. The 675 metre long bridge, constructed across the Yamuna river connecting Wazirabad to the inner city, has been touted as a stellar achievement of the Delhi government. The Aam Aadmi Party on November 3 had posted pictures of the bridge, purportedly shot at night, on its official Twitter account. It did not take long for political opponents and social media users to point out that out of the three photographs posted by the party, the first one was NOT of the Signature bridge to be inaugurated in the national capital. It may be noted here that the other two photos are not in dispute. The photograph which has been disputed was posted by Ankit Lal, the social media coordinator of the Aam Aadmi Party. Tajinder Pal Bagga, Delhi BJP spokesperson was quick to latch on to this faux pas, pointing out that the photograph represented the Erasmus bridge in the Netherlands. . @ArvindKejriwal साहब विकास कर लिया होता तो नीदरलैंड के इरास्मस ब्रिज की फोटो चुराने की जरूरत नही पड़ती । ये रहा उसका लिंक जहाँ से आपने तस्वीर चुराई खैर चोरी/घोटाला तो आपकी फितरत में हैhttps://t.co/edwphH9ubn pic.twitter.com/w9Z8xHSkWc — Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) November 4, 2018 Bagga also tweeted a link to a YouTube video, titled ‘Illumination of the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam’. The video is posted below. The frame at 0:26 minutes nearly matches the photograph of the bridge posted by Aam Aadmi Party. Alt News independently verified that the bridge in question is indeed the Erasmus bridge in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Named after Desiderius Erasmus, the 16th century Christian scholar and humanist, the bridge is 139 metres tall and over 800 metres long. Like the newly inaugurated Signature bridge in Delhi, it is a long-cable suspension bridge. All political parties without exception portray infrastructural accomplishments as hallmarks of development and in the process, they sometimes go overboard. Recently, Chhattisgarh BJP had passed off pictures of roads in Gujarat and abroad to showcase improved highways in its tenure. Despite the similarity in the structure of the two bridges, AAP’s gaffe did not go unnoticed. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	5th November 2018 / 1:56 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aam-aadmi-party-passes-off-bridge-in-netherlands-as-signature-bridge-in-delhi/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
157	AAP activist's photo shared as Nikita Jacob named in 'toolkit' FIR with Arvind Kejriwal - Alt News Jignesh Patel 16th February 2021 / 12:49 pm On February 15, Delhi High Court lawyer Prashant Patel Umrao posted a picture of a woman with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with the message, “आआपार्टी कार्यकर्ता निकिता जैकब जो #Toolkit और हिंसा मामले में फरार है। (AAP activist Nikita Jacob who is absconding in the toolkit and violence case).” He claimed that the woman in the image is Mumbai-based lawyer-activist Nikita Jacob. A non-bailable warrant was issued against her in connection with the toolkit shared by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg over the ongoing farmers’ protest. [Read: Prashant Patel Umrao and his countless trysts with misinformation] While Umrao later deleted his tweet, a screenshot of the same is circulating on Facebook. A post by Facebook page I Support Yogi with over 9 lakh followers has garnered close to 400 shares so far. Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit also posted the image with the same claim. He said in a now-deleted tweet, “They are all together”. The image has been shared by several individuals on Twitter and Facebook. Alt News found several tweets by Aam Aadmi Party workers that pointed out that the woman in the picture is not Nikita Jacob but AAP activist Ankita Shah. Ankita Shah had shared her image with Arvind Kejriwal on Facebook on March 3, 2019. Moreover, a look at the Twitter profile picture of Nikita Jacob clearly suggests that there are obvious differences in her facial features when compared with AAP activist Aikita Shah. An image of AAP activist Ankita Shah was therefore shared with the false claim that she is lawyer-activist Nikita Jacob with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th February 2021 / 12:49 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aap-activists-photo-shared-as-nikita-jacob-named-in-toolkit-fir-with-arvind-kejriwal/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
158	AAP, BJP, Congress politicise Delhi HC's order to remove Hanuman temple at Chandni Chowk - Alt News Archit 13th January 2021 / 10:15 pm / Last updated: 16th January 2021 A Hanuman temple in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk was razed in the morning of January 3 as part of a beautification drive. The demolition sparked a political blame game where the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) accused each other of tearing down the Hindu place of worship. This has been reported by news media including Times Now, The Times of India, and The New Indian Express. That same day, AAP posted images of its members protesting against the BJP and wrote, “Useless BJP has demolished ancient Hanuman Temple in middle of the night. This action by BJP has hurt the faith of lakhs of people. AAP volunteers protest against this cruelty.” AAP leader and Delhi Jal Board Vice-Chairman Raghav Chadha tweeted criticising the BJP. This was retweeted over 800 times. (archived links 1 and 2) निक्कमी भाजपा ने चांदनी चौक के प्राचीन हनुमान जी का मंदिर आधी रात में तोड़ दिया। भाजपा के इस कृत्य से लाखो लोगो की आस्था को ठेस पहुंची है। भाजपा के इस कुकृत्य के खिलाफ आम आदमी पार्टी के कार्यकर्ता ने जोरदार विरोध किया। pic.twitter.com/0ymbOuVall — Aam Aadmi Party Delhi (@AAPDelhi) January 3, 2021 On January 4, BJP leader Adesh Gupta held a press conference refuting AAP’s allegation. Gupta called the Delhi Chief Minister anti-Hindu and alleged that AAP leader Satyendra Jain who heads the religious committee could have stopped the temple’s demolition. Gupta added that the temple was demolished under a beautification project by the Delhi government. (archived link) हनुमान जी के मंदिर को तोडना साफ़ दर्शाता है कि मुख्यमंत्री केजरीवाल हिन्दू विरोधी और मंदिर विरोधी हैं। अगर मुख्यमंत्री चाहते तो इस मामले को दिल्ली सरकार की रिलीजियस कमेटी में भेज सकते थे, जिसके अध्यक्ष इनके नेता सत्येंद्र जैन हैं- प्रदेश अध्यक्ष श्री @adeshguptabjp pic.twitter.com/6PHZNxULvY — BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) January 4, 2021 On January 5, AAP MLA Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj told the press that the temple was demolished at midnight when it was raining. Bhardwaj presented a promissory note that allegedly stated that North DMC said that they are ready to demolish the temple. He questioned the existence of such a document without the alleged knowledge of BJP mayors. He also mentioned NGO Manushi Sangathan filed a writ seeking demolition of the temple. Furthermore, Bhardwaj said that CBI should look into the matter and that this protest will be turned into a people’s movement. Important press conference by AAP MLA Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj \| Live Important press conference by AAP MLA Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj \| Live Posted by Aam Aadmi Party on Monday, 4 January 2021 Times Now reported on this tiff between AAP and BJP on January 5. At the 43-second mark, Chadha said, “An organisation under BJP demolished the temple. You [BJP] should apologise to devotees of Lord Ram and Hanuman for demolishing the temple. BJP should allot land for the re-establishment of the temple and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Lord Hanuman devotee Arvind Kejriwal will make the temple.” In the same Times Now bulletin, at 1:11 mark BJP member Manoj Tiwari said, “In order to demonstrate faith, he visited a temple during elections. A Hanuman temple of the same faith was demolished and Arvind Kejriwal ji doesn’t make any comments. And his religious committees’ chairman Satyendra Jain sanctioned this activity.” Congress too was not left behind. On January 12, its Delhi wing tweeted, “Anil Chaudhary head to Lieutenant Governor demanding the restoration of the ancient Hanuman temple.” (archive link) चाँदनी चोक में तोड़े गए प्राचीन हनुमान मंदिर को पुनः स्थापित करने की मांग को लेकर उपराज्यपाल को ज्ञापन सौंप कर आते हुए दिल्ली कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष @Ch_AnilKumarINC उपाध्यक्ष श्री @mudit_aggarwal पूर्व विधायक श्री @IncBhardwaj डॉ नरेन्द्रनाथ जिलाध्यक्ष मो उस्मान, श्री @hkjindalinc pic.twitter.com/T8Kh1GWlTN — Delhi Congress (@INCDelhi) January 12, 2021 According to India Legal Live, the decision of the Delhi High Court to remove the Hanuman Temple from Chandni Chowk in Delhi has been challenged in the Supreme Court by Jitendra Singh Vishen through Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain. This fact check has been divided into four sections. Alt News will establish that AAP, BJP and Congress politicised the court-mandated removal of the Hanuman Temple recognised as encroachment by the Public Works Department (under AAP) and North DMC (under BJP) in 2015. Alt News was able to pin the exact location of the Hanuman Temple on Google Maps based on a source’s intel who did not wish to be named. They also shared images of the aftermath of the teardown. Alt News compared the image on Google Maps and the images by the source and found a visual match. Based on this verification and our conversations with residents of Chandni Chowk, it is abundantly clear that the hanuman temple is indeed located in the middle of a road. The Indian Express reported that the temple was demolished on January 3 at 7 am. Additionally, Alt News spoke with the concerned police station’s SHO, a Delhi-based reporter and multiple people in Chandni Chowk — none of them stated that the temple was demolished at midnight, which means that AAP’s claim is false. On January 6, Delhi-based priest Ashok Kumar told The Print that they want the temple to be rebuilt at the same location. On January 12, Delhi Congress moved a memorandum to the Lieutenant Governor seeking the same. Readers should note that there are multiple Hanuman temples near the demolished temple, as per Google Maps. The idea to make Chandni Chowk a vehicle-free zone was first floated in a redevelopment plan conceived in 2003-04 by the then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. In 2010, The Hindu reported that the Delhi High Court asked the Delhi government, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Delhi police to constitute a joint Special Task Force (STF) to explore all questions pertaining to traffic in the capital. AAP was still two years away from being formally launched. As per The Hindu, the task force focused minimising congestion, reducing pollution levels of motor vehicles and ensuring equitable access to all classes of vehicles that ply on the roads, including non-motorised transport such as bicycles and cycle-rickshaws. Over a decade later, the Delhi government failed to control excessive road traffic and the capital emerged as one of the most post polluted cities in the world. In 2017, The Hindu reported that the North Corporation, PWD, and Delhi Metro couldn’t reach a consensus on many issues including usage of electric buses and whether commercial vehicles should be allowed into Chandni Chowk. In 2020, The Times of India reported that the delay in the removal of five unauthorised religious structures has caused a derailed the Chandini Chowk pedestrianisation project. Sanjay Bhargav, President, Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal, told TOI that all illegal structures and encroachments had to be removed for the pedestrianisation project to be successful. Alt News reached out to advocate Indira Unninayar as the controversy is related to a writ petition (WP) filed by her client Manushi Sangathan in 2007, an organisation founded by Madhu Purnima Kishwar. Our requests to interview Kishwar were turned down. Alt News: What was the writ petition about? Unninayar: The PIL sought realisation and effectuation of the rights of cycle rickshaw/ NMV (Non-Motorized Vehicle) pliers. The petition sought equitable access to road space for them, and it was moved after a ban on cycle rickshaws in Delhi by the then MCD in another case called Hemraj & Ors. It challenged some of the obsolete and arbitrary by-laws of the MCD including one that required the owner of the cycle rickshaw to also be its plier and an arbitrary ceiling of 99,000 on the number of cycle rickshaws in Delhi. There had been a separate municipal order in 2006 banning cycle rickshaws in Chandni Chowk as well, hence that order was challenged too. The matter was filed in 2007 by way of the writ petition WP(C) 4572/2007 which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012. Over a period of time, an intervenor in the case CCVM (Chandni Chowk Vyapar Mandal), pressed for the court to focus on Chandni Chowk redevelopment and the case came to be broadly divided into two — the holistic improvements all over Delhi and some specific improvements in Chandni Chowk. The latter came to be known as the Chandni Chowk/ Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Plan. Alt News: What was the reason behind the delay in the removal of encroachment in Chandni Chowk? Unninayar: The North DMC contested its responsibility of encroachment removal in April 2015 claiming that it had handed over these roads to the PWD or Delhi Govt. It took the Supreme Court’s confirmation of what the Delhi High Court had already clarified in its order that S 298 of the DMC Act vests streets in the municipality’s care and therefore requires it to remove encroachments. The order clarified that it would, of course, require the cooperation of the Delhi government authorities (meaning the Delhi police). The North DMC continued to evade implementing the order until yet another order was passed by the Delhi High Court in 2019 which too was challenged before the Supreme Court. In October 2020, the Delhi High Court took suo moto case related to the tardiness in the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corpn/ Chandni Chowk Redevelopment. Thus, the delay was the sheer reluctance of the DMC in doing its job. The entire case has witnessed inordinate delays as the government authorities do not see cycle rickshaws, NMVs and equitable access to road space and rights of the poor to share road space equitably as a priority. Even though it is very much a priority in the NUTP (National Urban Transport Policy), Master Plan for Delhi 2021 and the SDG (Street Design Guidelines) 2010, the officials on the ground treat such ideas as unimportant. Alt News: Why were the religious committee’s alternatives rejected? Unninayar: GNCTD, through its religious committee, suddenly after four years attempted to retain the Hanuman Temple. The temple had been identified as an encroachment by GNCTD and North DMC. It was rejected by the Delhi High Court because the decision of the religious committee was (1) contrary to earlier High Court orders, (2) not feasible as it would come in the way of orderly implementation of the redevelopment. Alt News: Who was directed to remove encroachments, including the Hanuman temple, in Chandni Chowk? Unninayar: The court orders clarified that “the MCD – in the light of Section 299 of the DMC Act is hereby directed to remove the said encroachments by the end of May 2015. Government of NCT of Delhi and the Delhi police shall extend their full cooperation in this regard.” Thus, the responsibility to remove the encroachment was that of the North DMC, and it was clarified that it would receive the necessary cooperation from the Delhi police. This is the support extended to maintain law and order during such encroachment removal actions. Alt News: AAP MLA Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj stated in a press conference that NGO Manushi Sangathan filed a writ seeking demolition of the temple. Is that true? Uninayar: The encroachments were identified by the authorities including the North DMC. It is incorrect to say that Manushi Sangathan filed a writ seeking demolition of the temple. It never did that but the case pertained to equitable access to road space for NMVs. Relevant court orders Unninayar and her legal team shared the relevant court orders with Alt News that establish — The following timeline (based on Unninayar’s analysis) lists all crucial details related to the Hanuman Temple controversy along with relevant court orders. 2012 In April 2012, the Supreme Court upheld and the Delhi HC judgement and said, “The Govt. of NCT of Delhi, the MCD, the Delhi Development Authority, the Delhi police, shall constitute a special task force to explore all the questions pertaining to road traffic in Delhi, with the objective of minimizing congestion, reducing pollution levels of motor vehicles, and ensuring equitable access to all classes of vehicles that ply on the roads, including non-motorized transport such as bicycles and cycle rickshaws. The Government of NCT of Delhi shall issue a notification within 6 weeks, for this purpose, and also accord adequate budgetary support for this purpose.” 2015 2016 In March 2016, North DMC submitted a status report before Delhi HC and listed out dimensions of encroachment by the five religious structures, as found in a survey conducted by North DMC. 2018 2019 2020 Conclusion The Hanuman Temple — technically two temples (Hanuman temple and Shiva temple) — was one of five religious structures. The encroachments were surveyed by both North DMC (under BJP) and PWD (under AAP) which submitted their respective status report in 2015. In 2016, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North DMC), stated in its status report that the unauthorised Hanuman temple needs to be removed. In April 2015, the Delhi High Court directed North DMC to remove these encroachments as none of the authorities appearing before the court disputed that these were encroachments. Based on the court orders, it’s evident that the North DMC being the land-owning agency was responsible for the removal of encroachments (including Hanuman temple). After the removal of the unauthorised temple AAP, BJP and Congress politicised the issue by “demanding” re-establishment of the temple which was already ordered by High Court. In 2018, the Supreme Court stated that the “responsibility to remove the encroachment is primarily of the Municipal Corporation [North DMC]. However, in such endeavour, [Delhi] Government must extend a support to the corporation”. More importantly, none of the government bodies questioned the Hanuman Temple’s encroachment status in court. Some other misinformation related to the incident include — 1) AAP falsely claimed that the temple was demolished at midnight. 2) AAP MLA Shri Saurabh Bhardwaj falsely stated in a press conference that NGO Manushi Sangathan filed a writ seeking demolition of the temple. 3) The Print publish an erroneous report by PTI that said the Hanuman temple is 100 years old. Readers should note that this is not the first time such a tiff has happened. Last year in December, The Quint reported that there was a controversy between AAP and North DMC related to renting dues. Major Surendra Poonia (Retd) tweeted the video of Hanuman Temple at Chandni Chowk being removed and wrote, “If you have courage, try demolishing a Muslim place of worship place located on Delhi’s street.” This video was viewed over 80,000 times. Poonia also posted this video on Facebook with the same claim. दुःखद😔 केजरीवाल सरकार ने चाँदनी चौक में हनुमान मंदिर को रात के अंधेरे में तुड़वाया ! चुनाव के वक्त ये आदमी हनुमान मंदिर जाने का ढोंग करता है और रात के अंधेरे में मंदिर तुड़वाता है हिम्मत है तो दिल्ली में सड़कों के बीचों बीच सैंकड़ों मज़ार/मस्जिद हैं…1 भी तुड़वा कर दिखा दो pic.twitter.com/yqkaeGZKJv — Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) January 3, 2021 However, Poonia’s claim is baseless. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, in 2006 Noor Masjid at Jangpura – B was ordered to be removed by Delhi High Court vide order No. 9358/2006. In 2019, BJP MP Parvesh Verma submitted a list of 54 mosques and graveyards which allegedly existed in an unauthorised manner to Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th January 2021 / 10:15 pm / Last updated: 16th January 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aap-bjp-congress-politicise-delhi-hcs-order-to-demolish-hanuman-temple-at-chandni-chowk/", "author": "Archit" }
159	AAP gives 'magic' blankets to different-abled? Video viral with false claim - Alt News Archit 4th February 2020 / 11:13 am / Last updated: 4th February 2020 Ahead of the Delhi assembly elections on February 8, a 26-second video has gone viral which shows a man on wheelchair accepting a blanket. After introducing himself and thanking the organiser for distributing blankets to differently-abled persons, he is seen as getting up from the wheelchair and walking away. This video has been labelled as an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) propaganda video with the insinuation that the event was stage-managed and those receiving blankets were masquerading as differently-abled persons. On January 30, @ugtunga, a Twitter-user, posted the viral video and said, “Magic blanket from AAP. The moment this divyang got the blanket he started walking. See it to believe it” It has been retweeted over 1,200 times. Magic blanket from AAP. The moment this divyang got the blanket he started walking. See it to believe it 😳😌 pic.twitter.com/AWUmY4dsPE — Mauna (@ugtunga) January 30, 2020 On January 29, Bhubaneshwar-based IPS officer Arun Bothra tweeted the viral video and said, “Breaking news: Magical blanket makes ‘specially abled’ person discard his wheel chair & walk briskly.” Unlike several social media users, Bothra didn’t link this video with a political party. His tweet was retweeted over 1,100 times. Similarly, several Twitter and Facebook users have shared the viral video, claiming it’s an AAP propaganda video. Alt News has received several requests to fact-check the viral video on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160) and on our official mobile app. The man in the viral video introduced himself as Ramesh Singh. In the background, a banner can be spotted with a Hindi text which reads ‘Digital Saksharta Sansthan [Translated from डिजिटल साक्षरता संस्थान].’ A second keyword search led us to the Facebook page of ‘Digital Sakshrta Sansthan’. According to the page, it is an NGO based out of Seohara, Uttar Pradesh. On the same profile, Alt News found a fact-check report by Abhitak, a Moradabad-based Hindi news channel. We found a video report on Abhitak‘s YouTube channel as well. In the Abhitak report, Singh displayed his proof of disability and said, “There is some misunderstanding among the masses. I’m really disabled and I have proof. I have UD ID (Unique Disability ID) which states I’ve 40% disability.” The reporter asked him to comment on the controversial moment when he stood up from the wheelchair, Singh replied, “While receiving the gift, I was made to sit (on the wheelchair). When I stood up, people (who saw the video) couldn’t understand the nature of my disability.” Alt News also noticed that Digital Sakshrta Sansthan’s Facebook account has uploaded several other videos from the event. A video uploaded on January 19, shows the full sequence of another man receiving the blanket on a wheelchair and then getting up. On February 1, The Quint published a fact-check report according to which, Najam was the reporter on duty for Abhitak. It reported that Singh has a locomotor disability. The Quint’s report also has photos of Singh’s Unique Disability ID. Alt News has not uploaded the photos in for the sake of privacy. While speaking to The Quint, Najam said, “The man sitting on the wheelchair is Ramesh Singh and the one giving the blanket is Ravi Saini. AAP is not involved in this in any manner.” The report added that Saini is a part of the ‘Digital Saksharta Sansthan’. Siani told The Quint that they had organised a programme to distribute 100 blankets to the differently-abled. Alt News did a keyword search and found the Twitter account of Saini. He tweeted local media reports of the event. In local newspapers our NGO @Digital_Sakshar @drajaykumar_ias @rsprasad @narendramodi @rashtrapatibhvn pic.twitter.com/9ZYo0bIRRt — Ravi Saini (@RsDigitalIndia) January 21, 2020 Moreover, looking at Saini’s Twitter account (screenshot attached below) one can assess that it is unlikely that he is associated with AAP. Therefore, the social media claim that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) distributed blankets to the people who were not differently-abled for their propaganda is false. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th February 2020 / 11:13 am / Last updated: 4th February 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aap-gives-magic-blankets-to-different-abled-video-viral-with-false-claim/", "author": "Archit" }
160	AAP hoarding morphed to show party celebrating installation of dustbins - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 2nd August 2021 / 9:29 pm A photograph of an AAP billboard has been shared by BJP leaders and members on social media. The billboard purportedly reads, “Congratulations Delhi, 10 new dustbins have been installed at Kirtinagar Industrial Area. (बधाई हो दिल्ली कीर्तिनगर इंडस्ट्रियल एरिया में दस नए डस्टबिन की व्यवस्था.)” Below is a tweet by BJP Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma. हाहाहाहाहाहा ! क्या बोलूँ , शब्द ही नहीं है । pic.twitter.com/ipZThtaGtW — Parvesh Sahib Singh (@p_sahibsingh) August 1, 2021 The alleged advertisement was also shared by BJP spokespersons Shalabh Mani Tripathi and Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. Their tweets were quote-tweeted by Kapil Mishra and Ravinder Gupta respectively. BJP spokesperson Naveen Kumar Jindal also shared the same. The image is widespread on Facebook. A close look at the billboard reveals subtle red flags that prove the picture has been digitally morphed. For instance, two different shades of blue can be spotted on the left. The blue used on top is darker. This indicates that colour has been to cover what was printed on the original billboard. The person editing did a close enough job but it is not an exact match. In the following image two observations need to be made – 1) Reflection never abruptly stops but always gradually fades out. There is no reflection of the light right on top of the word ‘हो’ and beyond. 2) Furthermore, the reflection of the light should be on top of the matra on ‘हो’ instead, the matra is over the reflection. Lastly, there are remnants of text on the left. The Aam Aadmi Party is routinely criticised by political opponents and supporters of the BJP for large expenditure on advertisements. OpIndia had penned an article on AAP’s advertisement on its COVID-19 family financial assistance scheme published in numerous newspapers. The design of this ad in English, Hindi and Gujarati is similar to the viral image. The photograph of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is also the same. Photos of the ad placed on billboards are available on social media and the design looks identical apart from the areas where the text has been altered. From what it looks, this billboard was placed in a metro station or a railway station. Advertisements of the COVID financial assistance scheme have also been put up by the AAP in other areas. On July 6, CM Kejriwal discussed the scheme and its benefits to families who have lost members to COVID. कोरोना से प्रभावित परिवारों की मदद के लिए दिल्ली में आर्थिक सहायता योजना शुरु हो चुकी है, सरकार उन लोगों के घर जाकर आवेदन करने में उनकी मदद करेगी जिन्होंने अपने किसी परिजन को कोरोना की वजह से खोया है। अगर आप भी किसी ऐसे परिवार को जानते हैं तो आवेदन कराने में उनकी मदद ज़रुर करें। pic.twitter.com/UePj71a3E6 — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 6, 2021 A billboard featuring an advertisement by AAP was morphed to show the party congratulating the people of Delhi for installing 10 dustbins. Earlier, another hoarding was morphed to falsely portray the AAP celebrating the construction of a speed-breaker. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd August 2021 / 9:29 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aap-hoarding-morphed-to-show-party-celebrating-installation-of-dustbins/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
161	AAP leader Sanjay Singh shares old picture of Kargil martyr kin with false claims - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 7th May 2018 / 2:54 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018 कारगिल शहीद विधवा जिनकी आँख की रोशनी चली गई ,वार मेमोरीयल पहुँची,लोगों ने इनके पति का नाम उँगलियों से स्पर्श कराया तो आँख से आँसू बहने लगे,पाकिस्तान के साथ युद्ध अभ्यास का फ़ैसला करने वाले @narendramodi जी इनको क्या जवाब देंगे? (Widow of Kargil martyr who is blind, went to the war memorial. People there made her touch her husband’s name engraved on the memorial, after which she wept. @narendramodi, who took the decision to conduct war exercises with Pakistan, what answer will he give to this lady? -translated) Senior AAP leader and party spokesperson Sanjay Singh tweeted an image of a woman along with this message on May 6, 2018. The photograph shows a woman standing by the memorial and weeping in anguish. Singh’s tweet has been retweeted over 550 times. कारगिल शहीद विधवा जिनकी आँख की रोशनी चली गई ,वार मेमोरीयल पहुँची,लोगों ने इनके पति का नाम उँगलियों से स्पर्श कराया तो आँख से आँसू बहने लगे,पाकिस्तान के साथ युद्ध अभ्यास का फ़ैसला करने वाले @narendramodi जी इनको क्या जवाब देंगे? pic.twitter.com/2NxEyH4jBb — Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) May 6, 2018 Since yesterday, this message along with the photo has been circulated on Facebook as well. It turns out that the claims accompanying this photograph and posted by the AAP leader are false. Using the Google Reverse Image search option, we found that the woman in the picture is NOT the wife of a Kargil martyr. Neither is she blind and nor is this a recent photograph. The photo was clicked in 2006, and the woman is grieving over the loss of her brother whose name has been inscribed on the Kargil war memorial in Drass, J&K. Nationalism is a convenient tool for political parties across the board. This time around, it was an AAP leader who sought to evoke sympathy for the kin of the martyr and anger against the Government by tweeting a photograph with false claims. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th May 2018 / 2:54 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aap-leader-sanjay-singh-shares-old-picture-of-kargil-martyr-kin-with-false-claims/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
162	Video of man beaten in Amravti after road accident given false communal spin - Alt News Kinjal 26th June 2021 / 12:56 pm / Last updated: 26th June 2021 A video of a mob ruthlessly beating a man has been shared widely on social media. AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan shared the video and wrote, “This is how new records are being reached in the new India. If you have some humanity in you, you will be saddened by such incidents. As always, the individual sporting the skullcap, kurta, and beard becomes the victim of such atrocities. The BJP may have failed in its mission to bring about development, but it has succeeded in spreading hatred. How unfortunate!” नए भारत में नए कीर्तिमान अब कुछ इस तरह बनाए जा रहे हैं, अगर आप में इंसानियत ज़िंदा है तो आपको भी देख कर दुख होगा। हर बार की तरह “टोपी-कुर्ता-दाढ़ी” वाला शख्स हैवानियत का शिकार होता दिखेगा। BJP सरकार भले ही विकास करने में असमर्थ रही हो लेकिन नफ़रत फैलाने में अव्वल साबित हई। दुखद! pic.twitter.com/tWZGbqzVcQ — Amanatullah Khan AAP (@KhanAmanatullah) June 20, 2021 Khan also posted the video on Facebook, where it racked up over 10 lakh views as of this writing. The clip is widespread across Twitter and Facebook. From the account of one Usama Ibrahim Qasmi, the clip drew 17,000 views. “Show this video to those Muslims who are cremating the dead bodies of Hindus with great enthusiasm,” he wrote. [Translated from: ये वीडियो उन मुसलमानो को दिखाओ जो बड़े शोक से हिंदुओं की अर्थियों को ले जाकर जला रहे है…] A user shared a newspaper clipping in a reply to the AAP legislator’s tweet. The clipping states that a crowd of people in Amravati thrashed a van driver. The driver Faizan A. Kalam had reportedly rammed his vehicle into a motorcycle parked on the side of the road. A June 15 report by Marathi media outlet Lokmat said that the van dragged the two-wheeler for 3 km. Mahendra Bapurao Basavanathe, residing in a rented accommodation in Gurudevnagar, had parked his motorcycle outside his house. Bystanders who witnessed the van dragging his bike chased and caught Kalam and beat him. Kalam is a resident of Mahuli Jahangir. Tivsa police has registered a case against him. According to Maharashtra Times, the police booked Kalam under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act. Alt News reached out to police inspector Rita Like from Tivsa police station who confirmed that the incident was not religiously motivated. “A van driver had dragged a motorcycle parked on the road for 2.5-3 km. The vehicles in front of the car narrowly escaped a collision. Locals chasing the van managed to stop the driver and beat him up when he was caught. The driver seemed to be in an inebriated condition. The police have registered a complaint against the driver and those who beat him. But there is no communal angle. The van driver was thrashed by an angry mob over the accident,” she explained. AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan and other social media users falsely gave a communal spin to a video of a mob in Amravati beating up a van driver following an accident. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media….	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	26th June 2021 / 12:56 pm / Last updated: 26th June 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aap-mla-amanatullah-khan-shared-a-video-of-van-driver-beaten-up-with-false-communal-angle/", "author": "Kinjal" }
163	Kapil Mishra falsely claims Delhi resident killed by "Bangladeshi drug mafia" - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 5th October 2018 / 8:15 pm / Last updated: 24th November 2018 In the afternoon of October 4, Rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra alleged in a tweet that a man named Rupesh Baisoya was murdered in Delhi by “Bangladeshi drug mafia”. दिल्ली में बांग्लादेशियों ने दिन दहाड़े रूपेश बैसोया की हत्या कर दी रूपेश ने बांग्लादेशी ड्रग माफिया के खिलाफ पुलिस में शिकायत की थी हरियाणा और यूपी में हर अपराध पर तुरंत रिएक्शन करने वाले CM केजरीवाल चार दिन बाद भी चुप क्यों? मैं अभी रूपेश के परिवार से मिलने जा रहा हूँ — Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) October 4, 2018 A couple of hours later, he tweeted a video of himself reiterating the same, adding that Baisoya was murdered because he protested against drug peddlers allegedly operating from illegal Bangladeshi slums in Taimoor Nagar. Mishra blamed the Delhi Police for aiding these drug mafias and demanded that the slums are immediately abolished. He has posted the video on both Twitter and Facebook, drawing a combined view count of over 24,000. बांग्लादेशी ड्रग माफिया से लड़ते हुए शहीद हुए रूपेश बैसोया 1. हत्या की CBI जांच हो 2. ड्रग का धंधा बंद हो 3. रूपेश को शहीद का दर्जा तथा वैसा ही सम्मान मिले जैसा केजरीवाल जी दूसरे राज्यों में जाकर देते हैं 4. बांग्लादेशी बस्ती को हटाया जाएं 5. शनिवार को 4 बजे महापंचायत pic.twitter.com/hRlWgkh2qF — Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) October 4, 2018 An hour after posting this video, Mishra tweeted that he visited Baisoya’s family. He reiterated for the third time that the Delhi resident was murdered by “Bangladeshi drug mafia.” Following Mishra’s claims, a Twitter user Manu Gurjur posted a CCTV footage of Rupesh Baisoya being shot in the chest. He too claimed that the Delhi resident was murdered by “Bangladeshi drug mafia”. In a thread of tweets, Gurjur further alleged that no action was taken by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Delhi police, and no media outlets covered the incident. #Thread रुपेश बैसोया गुर्जर 34 वर्षीय तैमूर नगर दिल्ली निवासी 4 दिन पहले बांग्लादेशी ड्रग माफियाओं द्वारा मारा गया जब वो अपने 11 साल के बच्चे के साथ घर के बाहर खेल रहा थे. कसूर सिर्फ यहीं था कि वो और उसका बड़ा भाई ड्रग माफियों के विरुद्ध जंग लड़ रहे थे.#JusticeForRupeshBaisoya pic.twitter.com/RdGzE2FHVA — Manu Gurjar (@LandLord_Gurjar) October 4, 2018 Gurjur’s tweet was retweeted by several people on social media with the hashtag #JusticeForRupeshBaisoya. Among them were those followed by senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Modi (1, 2, 3). The incident occurred on September 30 and Delhi police arrested the alleged perpetrators on October 4. None of the three arrested men is “Bangladeshi.” According to a Hindustan Times report, the perpetrators were caught in a separate case of robbery when they stole a bike, gold chain and mobile phone at gunpoint on the night of October 2. During interrogation, the men also confessed about their involvement in the murder of 34-year-old Rupesh Baisoya who shot dead outside his residence, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Vijay Kumar, per an NDTV report. The police identified the arrested men as Akash from Sangam Vihar, Ajay Rathi from Rajpur Khurd and Suraj from Kishangarh. Rathi was found carrying a pistol. When Alt News spoke to DCP Vijay Kumar, he confirmed to us that the aforementioned three men were arrested, however, Suraj was an accomplice who wasn’t directly linked to the murder. DCP Patnaik also added that none of the three is a Bangladeshi or drug mafia but residents of Delhi who have been involved in other crimes as well. “On Sunday, after stealing a vehicle, the accused went to buy drugs from a woman in Taimoor Nagar. They got into a brawl with the seller, following which they tried to flee the spot when Rupesh stopped them, the police said. Fearing arrest, Akash shot at Rupesh and fled the spot,” said a report by The Hindu. An Indian Express report from October 2 mentioned that Baisoya was vocal about a rampant drug problem in his locality. He had lodged several complaints with the police. The family said this often led to death threats. However, no media report has linked the murder to “Bangladeshi” drug mafias and moreover, the police have already arrested the alleged perpetrators who are all residents of Delhi. In recent times, a noticeable increase in animosity against alleged ‘Bangladeshi infiltration’ is visible. Social media is brimming with false claims suggesting that crores of illegal migrants are taking refuge in the country and in such situations, a sitting MLA circulating misinformation can have serious and dangerous repercussions. Kapil Mishra’s unsubstantiated claims are nothing short of fear-mongering. His video is still present on his Twitter profile and Facebook page a day after the police have caught the alleged criminals. The MLA has neither apologised for spreading disinformation nor has he clarified that the case has no links to ‘Bangladeshis’. [This article has been updated with referring Kapil Mishra as ‘rebel’ AAP MLA. The article also referred to DCP South East Delhi incorrectly as Amulya Patnaik, which has been corrected.] Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	5th October 2018 / 8:15 pm / Last updated: 24th November 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aap-mla-kapil-mishra-falsely-claims-delhi-resident-killed-by-bangladeshi-drug-mafia/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
164	AAP offers monetary relief to only Muslim victims of Delhi riots? Dainik Jagran clipping morphed - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 4th March 2020 / 5:17 pm / Last updated: 20th February 2021 An alleged newspaper clipping has been shared on social media. It claims that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is providing relief assistance to only Muslim victims of the Delhi riots. The advert reads, “दँगा पीड़ितों की मदद हेतु (मुस्लिम)” which translated to – “For the help of riot victims (Muslims).” हिन्दु मरे तो उसके घर भी नही जाओ ओर मुस्लिम मरे तो 10 लाख यही है आपका सेक्युलरवाद।। pic.twitter.com/6NikB8r1ya — Ek Hindustani (@geeta5579) February 20, 2021 The claim is widespread on social media. Below is a screenshot of the post from the Facebook page NAMO India. This was posted in March 2020. The claim had promoted by several on social media last year. A keyword search on Facebook led us to a February 29, 2020, post by AAP’s Delhi unit which had shared a digital version of the same clipping. As evident, the word “Muslim” does not feature on this advert. दंगा पीड़ितों के लिए दिल्ली सरकार द्वारा दिये जाने वाले मुआवज़े का विवरण। यदि आप किसी दंगा पीड़ित को जानते हैं तो उससे साझा करें। और हर संभव मदद करें। इंसानियत से बड़ा कोई धर्म नहीं है। Posted by Aam Aadmi Party – Delhi on Friday, 28 February 2020 AAP had also shared the clipping on Twitter. दंगा पीड़ितों के लिए दिल्ली सरकार द्वारा दिये जाने वाले मुआवज़े का विवरण। यदि आप किसी दंगा पीड़ित को जानते हैं तो उससे साझा करें। और हर संभव मदद करें। इंसानियत से बड़ा कोई धर्म नहीं है। pic.twitter.com/WtDtJF5uS1 — AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 29, 2020 The Quint had earlier fact-checked the claim and found that the viral newspaper clipping was lifted from the 12th page of the February 29, 2020 Delhi edition of Dainik Jagran. It is noteworthy that the word ‘Dainik Jagran’ features on the top left corner of the clipping shared on social media. Moreover, the AAP government is also being targeted on social media via the original paper clipping. A Facebook page I Support Modi Ji and BJP accused CM Arvind Kejriwal of releasing a ‘rate list’ for the dead. The word ‘Muslims’ present in the photoshopped version is absent here. केजरीवाल की सियासत चालू। दिल्ली में मरनेवालों की रेट लिस्ट जारी। साथ में केजरीवाल की मुस्कुराते हुए फोटो भी । हे भगवान! Posted by I Support Modi Ji and BJP on Saturday, 29 February 2020 A morphed newspaper clipping has been shared on social media to falsely portray that the AAP government is providing relief to only Muslim victims of the Delhi riots. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th March 2020 / 5:17 pm / Last updated: 20th February 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aap-offers-monetary-relief-to-only-muslim-victims-of-delhi-riots-dainik-jagran-clipping-morphed/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
165	AAP social media head tweets 2013 video to portray Congress on shaky ground in Delhi - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 25th April 2019 / 8:04 pm / Last updated: 29th April 2019 दिल्ली के लोगों ने समझ लिया है कि @INCIndia और @SheilaDikshit सिर्फ़ वोटकटवा हैं। अगर यकीन नहीं आता तो ये 24 सेकंड का वीडियो देखिए। आज के #AAPkaManifesto के बाद जो 2-3% लोग कांग्रेस को वोट दे सकते थे, वो भी नहीं देंगे। Translation: People of Delhi have understood that @INCIndia and @SheilaDikshit are merely vote-cutters. If you dont believe it then watch this 24 second video. After today’s #AAPkaManifesto, the 2-3% people who would have voted for Congress will now not. The above message has been tweeted by Ankit Lal, the social media in-charge of the Aam Aadmi Party, along with a short video clip showing former Delhi CM and senior Congress leader Sheila Dikshit. दिल्ली के लोगों ने समझ लिया है कि @INCIndia और @SheilaDikshit सिर्फ़ वोटकटवा हैं। अगर यकीन नहीं आता तो ये 24 सेकंड का वीडियो देखिए। आज के #AAPkaManifesto के बाद जो 2-3% लोग कांग्रेस को वोट दे सकते थे, वो भी नहीं देंगे। pic.twitter.com/gDOsEgQMSZ — Deshbhakt Ankit Lal (@AnkitLal) April 25, 2019 The video clip is a report of NDTV India, and begins with Sheila Dikshit appealing to the crowd to wait at least till Rahul Gandhi speaks. The report then shows a stream of people leaving the venue where the Congress party had held a rally, and talks about a worried Shiela Dikshit as the turnout at the rally, which was held at Ambedkar nagar, was poor. The tweet refers to the Congress party as a vote katua, incapable of garnering the popular mandate in Delhi for the Lok Sabha election of 2019. Delhi will vote on May 12, in the sixth phase of polling. The video which has been posted by Lal on his Twitter account is not a recent news report. It is from November 2013. NDTV had reported on the turnout at the Congress party’s rally in Ambedkar Nagar, ahead of the 2013 assembly election which took place in December that year. INC was the biggest loser in the election, plunging from 43 seats to 8. The video of the NDTV report is posted below. In conclusion, an old video of a news report from 2013 was posted by AAP’s social media in-charge to make it seem as if the Congress party is in a highly disadvantageous position in the capital ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th April 2019 / 8:04 pm / Last updated: 29th April 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aap-social-media-head-tweets-2013-video-to-portray-congress-on-shaky-ground-in-delhi/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
166	AAP's Jarnail Singh targets Salman Khurshid based on a parody account's tweet - Alt News Jignesh Patel 18th December 2018 / 4:00 pm / Last updated: 18th March 2019 Aam Aadmi Party held a press conference after the Delhi High Court found Congress leader Sajjan Kumar guilty in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Sajjan Kumar has been sentenced to jail “for the remainder of his natural life” by the Delhi High Court. In the press conference, AAP leader Jarnail Singh targeted Congress leader Salman Khurshid while claiming that he’s received information that Khurshid wants to challenge the Delhi High Court verdict and defend Sajjan Kumar. #AAP, Jarnail Singh: We got to know that Congress leader Salman Khurshid spoke of challenging the Delhi High Court’s decision on #SajjanKumar. It’s a matter of extreme shame that instead of expelling him from the party, he is speaking of challenging the decision. pic.twitter.com/6Hvgu4seFt — ANI (@ANI) December 17, 2018 At 10:57 in the video posted by the official Facebook page, he can be heard making the same comment as reported by ANI. AAP Press Conference Live Posted by Aam Aadmi Party on Monday, 17 December 2018 Meanwhile, Catch News had also reported about the AAP press conference suggesting that Salman Khurshid might be planning to challenge the verdict. In a conversation with Alt News, Salman Khurshid has rubbished the claim saying, “I just did not make the statement, where is the statement. There is nothing at all that I have said. I haven’t read the judgement yet.” Alt News found a tweet along the same lines by a parody handle of National Herald, @NH_420. It was tweeted at least 50 mins before the press conference went live on the official Facebook page of Aam Aadmi Party. If Rahul Gandhi permits, our legal team in Congress party ready to defend Sajjan Kumar in Supreme Court by challenging Delhi High Court verdict. We are also looking forward to defend Jagdish Tytler in #1984SikhGenocide. Question of sacking them doesn’t arise : Salman Khurshid pic.twitter.com/SjRJDB2gFd — National Herald (@NH_420) December 17, 2018 The statement attributed to Salman Khurshid was concocted by a parody handle and was later referred to by Aam Aadmi Party in their press conference. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	18th December 2018 / 4:00 pm / Last updated: 18th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aaps-jarnail-singh-targets-salman-khurshid-based-on-parody-accounts-tweet/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
167	About - Alt News Alt News is a fact-checking website that is committed to debunking misinformation, disinformation and mal-information that we encounter on a daily basis on social media as well as mainstream media. Fact-checks by Alt News encompass a wide variety of false information including: Alt News is financially independent. We rely on donations and grants to meet our expenses. Our funding is transparent. All the content on the Alt News website, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Content from Facebook, Twitter or any such external platform is governed by their respective platform licenses. The legal entity behind AltNews.in is a not-for-profit (Section 8) company called Pravda Media Foundation (CIN: U93030GJ2017NPL099435, GSTIN: 24AAJCP4758N1ZS). The social media accounts of Alt News are as follows: https://www.facebook.com/altnews.in https://twitter.com/AltNews https://www.facebook.com/altnewshindi https://twitter.com/AltNewsHindi https://www.instagram.com/altnews.in/ https://www.youtube.com/c/AltNewsVideos https://t.me/altnewsin Alt News mobile apps: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.altnews&hl=en_US&gl=US https://apps.apple.com/in/app/alt-news/id1489307805	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/about/", "author": null }
168	ABP Asmita airs week-old video from Kolkata as visuals of the recent attack on police in Ahmedabad - Alt News Jignesh Patel 9th May 2020 / 7:17 pm A mob, frustrated with stringent lockdown rules, pelted stones at policemen in Ahmedabad’s Shahpur area on May 8. The clashes reportedly erupted when cops and paramilitary forces tried to enforce the curfew and asked locals to stay indoors. Speaking with International news agency Reuters, Ahmedabad police commissioner Ashish Bhatia informed that the police fired teargas shells to disperse the crowd and that the attack left one policeman injured. Local Gujarati news channels also reported the incident. ABP Asmita aired a visual allegedly showing the policemen being chased away by locals in Shahpur. In the visual, a group of men can be seen chasing the policemen along with the RAF personnel. ABP Asmita’s broadcast video was posted by Twitter user Chintan Joshi. The video is also viral on WhatsApp with the claim that it depicts the incident in Ahmedabad’s Shahpur area. Alt News found that the video broadcasted by ABP Asmita actually depicts a similar incident that recently took place in Howrah, West Bengal. Police personnel were attacked by a crowd defying the lockdown in Tikiapara area of the city. #WATCH: A crowd, which had gathered at a market place in Tikiapara of Howrah today – defying the lockdown, attacked Police personnel & pelted stones at them when they asked the crowd to return to their homes. 2 police personnel injured. #WestBengal (Video source: Amateur video) pic.twitter.com/EAZbm5wWlc — ANI (@ANI) April 28, 2020 On April 28, The Telegraph reported, “Around 200 men had attacked policemen in uniform with stones and damaged at least two police vehicles when the cops had tried to enforce the lockdown.” According to the report, two cops were injured in the attack while 13 people were arrested by the police. In conclusion, ABP Asmita relayed a visual of an attack on police personnel in Howrah, West Bengal as a similar incident from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th May 2020 / 7:17 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/abp-asmita-airs-week-old-video-from-kolkata-as-visuals-of-the-recent-attack-on-police-in-ahmedabad/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
169	ABP News broadcasts clips from PUBG trailer as visuals of upcoming game FAU-G - Alt News Aqib Pathan 12th September 2020 / 7:09 pm On September 2, the Indian government banned the popular Chinese action game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, popularly known as PUBG, for “national security concerns”. The ban came against the backdrop of India’s growing tensions with China. Two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government pulled the plug on the mobile game, nCore Games announced a new Indian version of PUBG Mobile called FAU-G or Fearless And United: Guards. That same day, ABP News aired the broadcast, “After PUBG Ban, Akshay Kumar Presents New Action Game ‘FAU-G’.” At 2:08 minutes into the show, ABP News anchor claimed that the visuals playing on television screens are from the upcoming Indian game FAU-G. “See this is the game we were just talking about, which you can spot on your television screens. You must have seen PUBG and FAU-G is similar to this. FAU-G has taken the place of PUBG and you can see images of how the game is going to look. FAU-G. See these two visuals. On one side you can see how gaming used to be on PUBG and on the other side you can see FAU-G taking the place of PUBG. The visuals that the game will have and how it will be played,” said the anchor in Hindi. After the broadcast was aired, a Twitter user wrote that ABP News aired clips from the season 4 trailer of PUBG as visuals of soon to be released Indian counterpart FAU-G. Farzi news mai bhi farziwada 😑 vo dusri video PUBG:PC season 4 trailer ki hai @ABPNews FAUG ki nhi. @AltNews@zoo_bear pic.twitter.com/9TyPuslQq4 — Shalendragaur (@Shalendragaur1) September 9, 2020 This is indeed true. The same visuals were on ‘PUBG – Season 4 Gameplay Trailer’ released on September 4, 2019, on their verified YouTube channel. Below are several screengrabs from the trailer and the visuals aired by ABP News which are evidently the same. These visuals can be spotted 2:08 minutes onward in the ABP News broadcast and 0:40 seconds into the PUBG trailer. Thus, ABP News used visuals of PUBG to report on FAU-G replacing the Chinese game. The poster of FAU-G released by nCore Games and tweeted by actor Akshay Kumar had also created a social media buzz on September 4 when users found that the poster was made using a stock photo. Bangalore-based nCore Games, however, clarified that they “bought the license to use the image from Shutterstock.” Clarification @vishalgondal ⁩ @dayanidhimg @akshaykumar #FAUG pic.twitter.com/qVFMjv5Crt — nCORE Games (@nCore_games) September 7, 2020 Aqib is monitoring and researching mis/disinformation at Alt News Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th September 2020 / 7:09 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/abp-news-broadcasts-clips-from-pubg-trailer-as-visuals-of-upcoming-game-fau-g/", "author": "Aqib Pathan" }
170	ABP News quotes ICMR study to praise lockdown, ICMR says no such study published - Alt News Kinjal 15th April 2020 / 3:53 pm / Last updated: 15th April 2020 In an April 10 broadcast, ABP News claimed that confirmed coronavirus cases in India would have reached 8.2 lakh by April 15 had the government not imposed a complete lockdown. The claim was made based on a purported report by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). ABP News anchor stated that COVID-19 cases in India would have surpassed those in China and Italy if not for the curfew. Without lockdown India would have reported 8.20 lakh cases: ICMR Without lockdown India would have 8.20 lakh cases: ICMR Posted by ABP Live on Friday, 10 April 2020 BJP Karnataka shared the ABP News broadcast and promoted the same claim about an ‘ICMR research’. Newslaundry published an article stating that the ABP News report is false since ICMR has published no such research. In response, channel anchor Rubika Liyaquat shared a video of Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Lav Agarwal. In the video, Agarwal says that the ICMR did not publish any study but the numbers are based on a satistical understanding of ICMR data. He claimed that the analysis found that the number of cases would have reached 8.2 lakh on April 15 had the lockdown not been imposed. Fake News Laundry caught lying with its pants down. Dry clean yourself with fact @newslaundry Here’s the health Ministry confirming @ABPNews story. Apologise now @newslaundry #DirtyNewsLaundry pic.twitter.com/fxld7z6cN4 — Rubika Liyaquat (@RubikaLiyaquat) April 14, 2020 That same day, ABP News published a report on an “internal assessment” by ICMR. It further stated, “…the foreign ministry additional secretary Vikas Swarup has said that if it wasn’t for the lockdown implemented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi then the country would have had the same condition as Italy.” An April 11 report in The Indian Express carried the following statement by MEA Secretary Vikas Swarup – “…without the lockdown, we could have had up to 820,000 cases by 15 April. With the lockdown, we are around 6,000 cases currently.” Swarup quoted an ‘ICMR study’ for the figure. However, according to the report, Health Ministry’s joint secretary Lav Agarwal said, “There is no such report. Please understand that if we work collectively and very hard, we will manage the cases. If we make any mistakes, we will be back to the old place where we cannot be called successful.” This was the same statement that could be heard in the video of Agarwal shared by ABP News anchor Rubika Liyaquat. A search on the ICMR website does not throw up any results of a study as quoted by Swarup. Speaking with Alt News, head of ICMR Regional Medical Research Centre Dr Rajnikant said, “ICMR has not published any such study. It is possible that he has given the data based on the several mathematic models published by ICMR.” Therefore, it is clear that Vikas Swarup quoted an ICMR study which was never published by the organisation. His statement was reported as the truth by ABP News without finding out whether such a study exists or not. Newslaundry was not mistaken that ABP News carried a misreport. Ironically, this is clarified via the video shared as Rubika Liyaquat which does the opposite of helping her case. Since the COVID-19 outbreak in India, several ‘research papers’ and ‘studies’ have been doing the rounds on social media. Earlier, a study by Indian-origin scholars of Cambridge University on lockdown protocol that will help flatten the curve was shared as guidelines by the World Health Organisation. Interestingly, PIB tweeted a chart on April 11 which also states that the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus would have reached 8.2 lakh had the government not imposed a lockdown. PIB claimed that its source is the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. However, the joint secretary of the ministry Lav Agarwal had already stated that no such report has been published and the data is based on ‘satistical analysis or understanding’. PIB is yet to provide a methodology for its chart which can be examined to derive its accuracy. If India had not implemented either containment or nationwide #lockdown – case growth by 41%, 8.2 lakh #COVID2019 cases by Apr 15 Containment measures but no lockdown – 1.2 lakh cases by Apr 15 Since we have acted – 7,447 cases on Apr 11 – statistical analysis by @MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/SSbTM6Dg55 — PIB India 🇮🇳 #StayHome #StaySafe (@PIB_India) April 11, 2020 The misleading broadcast aired by ABP New was shared by BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya, drawing over 3,000 retweets. Corona infections would have crossed 8.20 lakh in India by 15 April if there was no lockdown here: ICMR Research. The number of Corona positive patients is around 6,400 as on 10 April. #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/GGjq4UE7UT — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) April 10, 2020 BJP Karnataka General Secretary Shobha Karandlaje also tweeted the broadcast. #CoronaVirus infections would have crossed 8.20 lakh in India by 15 April if there was no lockdown here: ICMR Research. The number of Corona positive patients is around 6,400 as on 10 April. PM Modi Ji handling #Covid19 effectively.#IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/70ScNVDWLo — Shobha Karandlaje (@ShobhaBJP) April 10, 2020 The clip is viral on Facebook where it was shared by Ahmedabad BJP Mahila Morcha. It has also been widely shared on Twitter. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th April 2020 / 3:53 pm / Last updated: 15th April 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/abp-news-falsely-quoted-icmr-report-health-ministry-confirmed-theres-no-such-research/", "author": "Kinjal" }
171	ABP News, TOI fall for fake Twitter account impersonating Rhea Chakraborty's father - Alt News Priyanka Jha 10th September 2020 / 6:15 pm / Last updated: 10th September 2020 On September 9, The Times of India reported that actor Rhea Chakraborty’s father Indrajit Chakraborty was deeply saddened by the news of her arrest. According to the report, her father also issued a tweet which said, “No father can bear injustice on his daughter. I should die.” Its online entertainment platform ETimes also featured these tweets in a video story on the actor’s arrest. ABP News also quoted the tweet, writing, “Rhea Chakraborty’s Father Indrajit Chakraborty Says, ‘I Should Die, No Father Can Bear Injustice On His Daughter’”. (archived link to the tweet) #RheaChakraborty’s Father #IndrajitChakraborty Says ‘I Should Die, No Father Can Bear Injustice On His Daughter’#SushantSingRajputDeathCase https://t.co/l4VHUooFYg — ABP News (@ABPNews) September 9, 2020 Hindustan Times published the tweet in both its Hindi and English reports. News18 also broadcast the tweet as part of its live updates on the case. Times Now Hindi carried a similar report and so did NYOOOZ TV YouTube channel. The Twitter handle that media organisations were claiming belonged to Rhea Chakraborty’s father Indrajit Chakraborty is actually a fake one, which had the username @WeWantRahul only a few days ago. The user running this account posted a tweet following the arrest of the actress in which they wrote, “Please trend for my daughter. #JusticeFor Rhea. Please INDIA, help.” This tweet received thousands of likes and retweets. After this, the user made a slew of tweets related to this matter. These were then picked up by news channels and falsely circulated as the real Indrajit Chakraborty’s social media activity. When we looked at some of the older tweets that had been posted by this account, we found that it had changed its Twitter username to @IndrajitChakra and display name (which appears above the username), to ‘Indrajit Chakraborty’ on September 6. Also on this day, the user had posted some tweets with #StandwithRheaChakraborty and #IamWithRhea hashtags. The username @WeWantRahul can actually be seen in another user’s reply to a tweet posted by the account from the same day too. A few hours later on September 6, the user changed their username to @IndrajitChakra. We found a tweet from the same day which reads, “Please help a helpless father #JusticeForRhea”. Another tweet dated September 6 says, “My account has been reported 500 times in last one hour (sic). I will not STOP. Its about my family. @Tweet2Rhea is INNOCENT.” We looked through the previous iterations of the @WeWantRahul Twitter handle on Wayback Machine. This is a web archive portal that automatically takes snapshots of web pages at different points of time. Upon looking through the archived links of this handle, we found that it used to be a Rahul Gandhi fan account at one point, with a display name that read, ‘Rahul Gandhi as next PM of INDIA’. The link to the tweet seen in the screenshot above is https://twitter.com/WeWantRahuI/status/1267501722055786499. If you copy-paste the link, you will find it redirects to the handle created in the name of Indrajit Chakraborty. This is possible only when a Twitter user changes their username. This has been explained in the video below. To sum it up, a Twitter user had changed their username to Indrajit Chakraborty, the father of actor Rhea Chakraborty. After changing their username and display name, this account began tweeting in support of Rhea. Various news channels believed that these tweets were actually made by Rhea’s father. Interestingly, The Times of India first published an erroneous report and later turned it into a fact-check report without any explanation. We should also point out that ABP News has also removed all the tweets while tweaking some information in its English article. Its report has now described this Twitter handle as unverified, but they have not issued any explanation for these edits. At the same time, the Hindi website of the channel has instead presented their old article as a fact-check report. This becomes clear once you look at the URL of the piece. (archived link to the old article by ABP News) India TV also reported that the Twitter handle belonged to Chakraborty’s father. It has now amended its article and added ‘CORRECTION’ to the title, while also apologizing for the error. Hindustan Times also issued a clarification on this matter, later withdrawing its report. It must be noted that this is not the first time that the media a cited fake social media handle while reporting on the Sushant Singh Rajput case. Previously, Aaj Tak showed tweets claiming to be by the late actor’s father in a report, when in fact, these tweets were fake. It also used tweets from a fake account impersonating Rajput as part of its story on the actor’s final tweets. Recently, Times Now also ran a tweet posted by a fake account posing as Rajput’s sister as ‘breaking news’. Apart from this, a number of media outlets also misidentified Rajput’s choreographer as his niece in their stories on a video of the two dancing together. She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th September 2020 / 6:15 pm / Last updated: 10th September 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/abp-news-hindustan-times-toi-fall-for-a-fake-twitter-handle-impersonating-rheas-father-indrajit-chakraborty/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
172	ABP News v/s Rubika Liyaquat: 180-degree turn on communalising migrant crisis near Bandra station - Alt News Jignesh Patel 16th April 2020 / 11:17 pm / Last updated: 16th April 2020 On April 14, reports of a mass gathering of migrants near Mumbai’s Bandra station dominated the news cycle throughout the day. Marathi news channel ABP Majha’s reporter Rahul Kulkarni was among the 11 people arrested by Mumbai police for their alleged role in “rumour-mongering” that is believed to have led nearly 2,000 migrant workers to gather near the station. The reporter had cited an internal railways document to claim that special trains would transport stranded migrants back home. The channel has defended their reporter and said that there should be due verification of facts and circumstances before arresting a journalist. He was granted bail by a court in Mumbai. On Twitter, ABP News is trending #AttackOnFreePress. ABP Group’s Hindi channel ABP News also broadcasted the visuals and raised a question on how migrants in such huge numbers could assemble outside the station. The channel dubbed the gathering as a “conspiracy” and also indicated that there could be a possible religious angle to the incident. In the video posted below, anchor Shobhna Yadav says, “The conspiracy that you are talking about, Prem Shukla. ABP News is raising questions about it. Were people provoked from the mosque to assemble? Big question. Did Muslim leaders provoke the people by giving a speech and gather the crowd? Is Jama Masjid responsible for this crowd of people? People in thousands have been gathered by the mosque. Were this crowd brought together with a WhatsApp message or phone call? Why did the Mumbai police keep sleeping? What did the intelligence do?” The five questions raised by ABP News are as follows: The top band of the news screen during the broadcast read, “Was the Jama Masjid responsible for assembling the crowd?” Yadav subsequently switched over to channel correspondent Ajay Dubey who present at the spot, “Ajay Dubey, ABP News is raising big questions. What is your information saying, did the people from mosque provoke them to gather here?” The reporter evades the question and says, “Police will investigate this thing. But primarily the police has dispersed the crowd. ” However, Dubey also said that it is difficult to believe that a crowd had gathered at the location without any planning. During the course of the broadcast, the channel kept highlighting the ‘point’ that the crowd had gathered near the mosque. ABP News v/s ABP anchor Rubika Liyaquat Later in the day, ABP News journalist Rubika Liyaquat did a Facebook live from the official Facebook page of ABP News and rubbished the rumour that the Muslim community had gathered at the station. She says, “The people, who are trying to say that Muslim people had assembled there, are liars. I’ll make it clear to you. These people are liars who are saying that there was an announcement from the mosque asking people to gather and [people thought] now we will have to go and how will we be able to work. How will we get our roti, gather our food, these are all lies, this is a rumour that is circulating, there was no such thing like this. While taking responsibility, I can inform you that this issue is not a Jamaatwala, or the Hindu-Muslim issue. Not at all. This is an issue of distressed migrants who didn’t know what to do.” The relevant portion starts at 4:00 minutes in the video posted below. Bandra की भीड़ किसने जुटायी? साज़िश या लापरवाही? Live session with Rubika Posted by ABP News on Tuesday, 14 April 2020 While speaking to fact-checking outlet BOOM, Mumbai police denied any communal angle to the gathering of migrants defying the lockdown. These two videos from ABP News show a 180-degree turn by the channel – from giving the incident a communal angle and raising “big questions” against the mosque to completely dismissing them as rumours. While the allegations of rumour-mongering against ABP Majha is a matter of investigation, ABP Group’s Hindi channel ABP News certainly needs to be called out for giving a communal narrative and outrightly blaming the minority community for the incident. The Indian mainstream media has played an active role in communalising the outbreak of coronavirus in India after a large number of COVID-19 positive cases were traced back to a religious congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin in mid-March. Since the congregation was identified as a hotspot, not only have the channels outrightly targeted the Muslim community for the rise in the number of cases but have also resorted to misinformation with impunity. It is highly irresponsible and unbecoming of a mainstream TV news channel to concoct a baseless conspiracy theory and question the role of the mosque when there wasn’t any. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media….	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th April 2020 / 11:17 pm / Last updated: 16th April 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/abp-news-v-s-rubika-liyaquat-180-degree-turn-on-communalising-migrant-crisis-near-bandra-station/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
173	ABVP claims JNU student Kamlesh Mandriya was attacked by Left, Mandriya refutes and blames ABVP - Alt News Archit 4th February 2020 / 11:40 am / Last updated: 4th February 2020 The January 5 attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) left 36 people injured, among them was Kamlesh Mandriya, a first-year MPhil student at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU. Photographs of Mandriya with head injuries went viral on social media with the claim that the Left attacked him. On January 16, Delhi resident Pranav Sawhney posted pictures of billboards that displayed images of injured students. The hashtag #LeftAttackstudents adorned the billboard. Swahney’s Instagram post said that the images were clicked by an Instagram user @hameenasto. “Tax-funded propaganda at North Campus, University of Delhi. If you are wondering where your tax money is going. This government is engaged in declaring students of your country as terrorists. Images by and @hameenasto,” read the caption [Translated from Tax-funded propaganda at North Campus, University of Delhi. यदि आप सोच रहे हैं कि आपका टैक्स का पैसा कहां जा रहा है। आपके ही देश के छात्रों को आतंकवादी घोषित करने में लगी है यह सरकार। Images by and @hameenasto] One of the billboards shows two photos of Mandriya (highlighted in yellow). Alt News reached out @hameenasto aka Adamaya Tomar who shot the images. According to Tomar, who is a student at Delhi School of Journalism, the billboard was installed near Delhi School of Economics. “Along with such billboards, several small posters were put in and around North Campus. According to what I have heard and observed, these posters were installed on January 15. By January 18, all of them were taken down,” said Tomar on a telephonic conversation with Alt News. However, before Mandriya’s images turned-up on a billboard near North Campus, several Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) accounts had circulated the same photographs on Twitter. Since January 5, ABVP handles were posting the images with the same #LeftAttacksJNU hashtag. ABVP Karnataka tweeted four images, including Mandriya’s, and blamed student bodies aligned with the Left for the attack. “It has been proven once again that violence only describes the left. JNU cannot be the ground for the left goons to go to destruction. This is not an ideological war now. Enough is enough! ABVP answers in the language they understand #LeffAttacksJNU #SOSJNU [Translated by Google from ಹಿಂಸಾಚಾರ ಮಾತ್ರ ಎಡಪಂಥೀಯರನ್ನು ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು ಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ ಸಾಬೀತಾಗಿದೆ. ಎಡ ಗೂಂಡಾಗಳು ವಿನಾಶಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಲು ಜೆಎನ್‌ಯು ನೆಲವಾಗಿರಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ. ಇದು ಈಗ ಸೈದ್ಧಾಂತಿಕ ಯುದ್ಧವಲ್ಲ. ಸಾಕು ಸಾಕು! ಎಬಿವಿಪಿ ಅವರು ಅರ್ಥಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಉತ್ತರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ.],” said the tweet. ಹಿಂಸಾಚಾರ ಮಾತ್ರ ಎಡಪಂಥೀಯರನ್ನು ವಿವರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ ಎಂದು ಮತ್ತೊಮ್ಮೆ ಸಾಬೀತಾಗಿದೆ. ಎಡ ಗೂಂಡಾಗಳು ವಿನಾಶಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಲು ಜೆಎನ್‌ಯು ನೆಲವಾಗಿರಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ. ಇದು ಈಗ ಸೈದ್ಧಾಂತಿಕ ಯುದ್ಧವಲ್ಲ. ಸಾಕು ಸಾಕು! ಎಬಿವಿಪಿ ಅವರು ಅರ್ಥಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಉತ್ತರಿಸುತ್ತಾರೆ#LeffAttacksJNU #SOSJNU pic.twitter.com/Nyt9DoALIM — ABVP Karnataka (@ABVPKarnataka) January 5, 2020 ABVP Delhi also tweeted Mandriya’s photograph and wrote, “Left’s true face is carrying out negative activities in the society and spreading negative thoughts.” [Translated from समाज मे नकारात्मक कार्य करना और नकारात्मक सोच फैलाना ही वामपंथ का असली चेहरा #LeftAttacksJNU] समाज मे नकारात्मक कार्य करना और नकारात्मक सोच फैलाना ही वामपंथ का असली चेहरा #LeftAttacksJNU pic.twitter.com/y6v8FBA5iK — ABVP Delhi (@ABVPDelhi) January 5, 2020 Similar allegations were raised by ABVP’s Kerala and Uttarakhand wings. Each of the above tweets was made between 9 to 10 pm on January 5. Twitter handle Friends of RSS also tweeted Mandriya’s photo that same day and blamed the attack on the Left. Mandriya posted four images of his injuries on Twitter after his hospital discharge. Speaking with Alt News, he said that the images were clicked by a friend at AIIMS. भाजपा के गुंडों ने JNU में घुसकर छात्रों एवं शिक्षकों पर किया जानलेवा हमला.@CMMadhyaPradesh kindly help me.. Save JNU@ChhattisgarhCMO @RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi @SanjayAzadSln @_YogendraYadav @kanhaiyakumar @Shehla_Rashid @UmarKhalidJNU @TheDeshBhakt #JNUSOS #JNUAttack pic.twitter.com/Y1BxSzkpiI — Kamlesh Mandriya (@mandriyakamlesh) January 5, 2020 “I would like to make it clear I wasn’t attacked by Left goons but ABVP members,” he said, adding, “I am not a part of any political group at JNU. However, I was a part of a solidarity march along with JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) against the violence which took place on January 4.” Registrations for the winter session at JNU began on January 1 amidst protests against the hike in hostel fees. Multiple media platforms reported violence inside the campus on January 4 after JNU students’ union (JNUSU) allegedly disrupted the registration process. Alt News reached out to a current student at JNU (identity concealed at request) who confirmed that there were talks about a solidarity march on January 5 and messages regarding the same were forwarded to students. Mandriya claimed that he was attacked with metal rods by a group of around 10 ABVP members near Periyar Hostel. “I could only identify Jayant Kumar and Vijendra Thakur before losing consciousness,” he said. Mandriya submitted an official statement to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on January 13. Alt News accessed a copy of the complaint where the alleged attackers’ names have been mentioned. Mandriya shared the pictures of his alleged assaulters. However, Alt News is not uploading them for the sake of privacy. On January 18, Newslaundry published an article which also named ‘Vijendra Thakur’ as a student allegedly involved in the JNU violence. Using relevant keywords on Twitter, Alt News found a tweet by Zeba Warsi, special correspondent at CNN News 18, where she uploaded a video interview with Mandriya. The JNU student told Warsi that he is not associated with any political party and showed photographs of his injuries. These were the same images viral on social media. Mandriya also denied that students affiliated with Left parties attacked him. However, the video ended abruptly. WATCH- Kamlesh Mandriya, JNU student- his picture was being shared by ABVP as being an ABVP activist who was attacked by LEFT. He tells us he doesn’t belong to any org and alleges he was attacked by ABVP on Sun He has sustained 10 stitches on his head. #JNUAttack #JNUViolence pic.twitter.com/v6CUasaFHp — Zeba Warsi (@Zebaism) January 8, 2020 Alt News reached out to Warsi who clarified, “Due to poor network at JNU, I could only upload a part of the video. This interview was a part of News 18‘s 3 pm bulletin on January 8.” Warsi shared another video (attached below) which shows the portion not included in her tweet. In the video attached above, Mandriya said that around 300 students along with JNUTA planned a hostel-to-hostel peaceful march. “At Periyar [hostel] there was a Delhi Police PCR and 50-60 staff of Cyclops, private security at JNU. Just behind them, there were ABVP students who were carrying rods and stones. As soon as we reached near them, they started stone-pelting as a result protesters started to flee,” he narrated. Mandriya alleged that he was surrounded by 10 people who attacked him with a rod and with a brick after he fell to the ground. “When I managed to get up, the ABVP students attacked again. Finally, two people give me a ride on a two-wheeler and took me to the administrative block where two PCRs were parked but did nothing,” he said, adding that an ambulance at the location took him to AIIMS. Various ABVP accounts, therefore, shared JNU student Kamlesh Mandriya’s photographs with the assertion that he was attacked by the Left. His pictures had in fact even found a place on a billboard installed near Delhi’s North Campus. However, Mandriya refutes the claim that he was attacked by the Left and blames ABVP members for his injuries. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th February 2020 / 11:40 am / Last updated: 4th February 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/abvp-claims-jnu-student-kamlesh-mandriya-was-attacked-by-left-mandriya-refutes-and-blames-abvp/", "author": "Archit" }
174	ABVP JNU secretary denies masked woman in viral video associated with ABVP, visual evidence disagrees - Alt News Jignesh Patel & Mohammed Zubair 13th January 2020 / 11:20 pm / Last updated: 14th January 2020 On January 11, India Today’s Rahul Kanwal questioned Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) JNU secretary Manish Jangid about Komal Sharma after a masked photograph of her inside Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus during the January 5 attack went viral. Jangid was questioned about Sharma’s affiliation with ABVP, to which he said, “No she is not ABVP.” #JNUTapes \| Komal Sharma is not member of ABVP: Manish Jangid, ABVP’s JNU unit secretary.@rahulkanwal More videos at https://t.co/wMGGKJy9GN pic.twitter.com/gF2M0fbUDK — India Today (@IndiaToday) January 11, 2020 Jangid’s response to Kanwal during India Today broadcast was retweeted by ABVP’s official Twitter handle. ABVP had earlier denied association with another student Akshat Awashti who had declared himself as an ABVP activist and confessed his involvement in the attack during a sting operation. Alt News found a plethora of photographs and videos of Awasthi in ABVP rallies, with ABVP office-bearers, chanting pro-ABVP slogans. In this report, we will lay down a similar pattern in the case of Komal Sharma – a trail of evidence from the past that links her with the RSS-affiliated student body. A school senior of Komal Sharma had uploaded an Instagram conversation where Sharma confessed her presence inside JNU campus on the night of the attack. In an earlier investigation, Alt News found multiple social media profiles of Sharma [Facebook (1,2), Instagram and Twitter (1,2)], where she declared her affiliation with ABVP. Alt News has now discovered visual evidence of her association with ABVP. On September 13, ABVP swept the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections by 3-1 against Indian National Congress’s student wing National Students’ Union of India (NSUI). In the video below, Komal Sharma can be seen celebrating ABVP’s electoral victory in DUSU elections. Speaking to the press she says, “We are so happy with this win. I regret that we didn’t get that one seat but we are happy that we won by 3-1. ABVP has once again won. Win or loss, there can be only one thing. Now that we have won, they have to lose and ABVP is such an organization that works for 365 days and not only during the election period. We want to congratulate all the workers of the organization because every activist works for 365 days with the same dedication as during the elections.” It is noteworthy that she refers to herself as “we”, a voice of the student body and not an individual. Below, we have compared a screengrab from the video with the photograph of Komal Sharma that Rahul Kanwal had shown to ABVP secretary Manish Jangid. Moreover, Alt News found a screenshot of an Instagram post by ABVP Delhi which features Komal Sharma. The same image was also tweeted by ABVP Delhi on June 29, 2019, with the caption, “Today ABVP Delhi after announcement of #First_Cutoff set up Helpdesks in every College of Delhi University and helped students during Admission process.“ Here, Sharma is seen wearing a badge that reads, “May I help you join ABVP” meaning, she was a part of ABVP help desk at Daulat Ram College, where she is a student. An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here. Speaking to NDTV, ABVP state secretary Sidharth Yadav said that Komal Sharma is a member with the student body but she is not the masked woman in the viral video. He said, “Komal Sharma is afraid of people on social media who troll. She is afraid of people, who without giving any thought, will post anything on social media. Today on social media, anything is put against the student and nobody is thinking about it and the Home Minister wouldn’t come to save her, the society will have to come forward and stay back from rumours.” He further added. “I am the state secretary of ABVP, I am telling you, Komal Sharma is our activist and (she) is not the masked(women). And today, we have posted this from our social media handle. Whoever says that we’ll file a defamation case against (them).” This interview was broadcasted on January 7, 2020. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJPaNs63HyU?start=1176] While ABVP JNU secretary Manish Jangid denied the student body’s association with Komal Sharma, Alt News found her giving an interview as a representative of ABVP. She was also a part of ABVP’s designated help desk at her college, Daulat Ram. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th January 2020 / 11:20 pm / Last updated: 14th January 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/abvp-jnu-secretary-denies-masked-woman-in-viral-video-associated-with-abvp-visual-evidence-disagrees/", "author": "Jignesh Patel & Mohammed Zubair" }
175	Accident during Muharram procession portrayed as sword attack by Muslims on Hindu boy - Alt News Jignesh Patel 23rd September 2018 / 3:41 pm / Last updated: 25th September 2018 A claim about a Hindu boy’s throat being slit by a sword during a Muharram procession in Gauri Bazar area of Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh is circulating on social media.“देवरिया के गौरीबाजार थानाक्षेत्र में इस्लामिक आतंकियों ने मुहर्रम के जुलूस की आड़ में अल्पवयस्क हिन्दू लड़के विशाल ओझा का तलवार से गला काटा , यक्ष प्रश्न ये है की आरोपी इस्लामिक आतंकी अब तक गिरफ्तार क्यों नहीं हुए ? @deoriapolice @Uppolice (In Deoria’s Gauri Bazaar, Islamic terrorists in a Muharram procession slit Hindu boy Vishal Ojha’s throat. The question is why havent the Islamic terrorists been arrested yet? (translation)” tweeted a social media user, Ashutosh Snehsagar on September 21, 2018. Along with the message, he has tweeted a video of a boy bleeding profusely. The video was originally posted by Breaking Tube, a twitter handle. Another Twitter user Pooja Singh shared an article by Breaking Tube which said, “Vishal Ojha, a class 6th student’s throat was slit by a pissful during #Muharram celebration in Deoria. His condition is critical now. By slitting the throats of Kafirs these people celebrate their festivals. Still festivals of Hindus are dangerous.” Several other individual user have also tweeted the claim that the boy was hurt by sword (1,2,3,4). The article published by Breaking Tube which we found to be the source of this claim interestingly contains a contradictory police statement saying, “…On this matter, police said that Vishal was injured by a tubelight explosion.” Dainik Bharat, a fake news website also wrote an article with a communal narrative. In a statement given to Alt News, Circle Officer Varun Mishra of Deoria Police clarified, “Amar Ujala has misreported. We had also tweeted the details about the incident. His principal who was also present at the spot said he was injured in a tubelight explosion. It was unintentional and an accident.” When Alt News spoke to District Magistrate Amit Kishore, he also corroborated that the boy was injured in a tubelight explosion. Deoria police has tweeted on September 21 that the boy seen in the video, Vishal Ojha had been injured after tubelight shards had slit his throat during a Muharram procession. थाना गौरी बाजार जनपद देवरिया क्षेत्र अंतर्गत हुए घटनाक्रम के संबंध में विवरण। @Uppolice @dgpup @adgzonegkr @diggorakhpur @News18UP @aajtaknews @ndtv @JagranNews @htTweets pic.twitter.com/08ba7Dp0ji — DEORIA POLICE (@deoriapolice) September 21, 2018 The video posted below is illustrative, and shows young men playing with tubelights and shattering them on each other. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ygd0ZAWSTo An article by Amar Ujala with regard to the same incident was published with a misleading headline on September 21, 2018. It stated, “At around 6:30 in the evening during a swordplay, a sword wielded by a young man slashed vishal’s throat, who was standing across the street. -translated”. Incidentally, Amar Ujala in its article did not report the statement by Deoria police. Patrika also reported that his throat was slit by a sword with a conflicting statement from the DM. The reportage of Eenadu India also stated the same claim based on the accounts of local residents with a differing police statement. News18 was also among those who misreported that the boy’s throat was slit by a sword. #BREAKING देवरिया- धारधार हथियार से छात्र का गला काटा. गम्भीर हालत में अस्पताल में भर्ती. मोहर्रम का जुलूस देखने गया था छात्र. गौरीबाजार थाना क्षेत्र के लँगड़ी चौराहे का मामला. क्षेत्र में तनाव की स्थिति. आक्रोशित लोगों ने सड़क को किया जाम. भारी पुलिस बल तैनात. — News18 Uttar Pradesh (@News18UP) September 21, 2018 Social media users often endorse, wittingly or otherwise, hateful narratives woven around incidents which are sometimes exacerbated through misreporting by media organisations. An accident was sought to be communalised through a dubious portal like Breaking Tube and subsequently by certain users. Such attempts to vitiate inter-communal harmony are observed on social media time and again. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd September 2018 / 3:41 pm / Last updated: 25th September 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/accident-during-muharram-procession-portrayed-as-sword-attack-by-muslims-on-hindu-boy/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
176	Accused in 17-yr-old's murder in Delhi not Muslims, false claim viral on social media - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 31st October 2022 / 7:33 pm / Last updated: 31st October 2022 A CCTV footage of a person being stabbed in a narrow lane is being circulated on social media with the claim that the accused belongs to the Muslim community. National vice-president & in-charge of Rajasthan Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Neha Joshi tweeted the video with the caption, “15-year-old Manoj Negi from Uttarakhand stabbed to death in Delhi for standing up against Muslim goons trying to molest his sister”. (Archive) 15-year-old Manoj Negi from Uttarakhand stabbed to death in Delhi for standing up against Muslim goons trying to molest his sister. 😪 pic.twitter.com/MUZ1qoaynS — Neha Joshi (@The_NehaJoshi) October 29, 2022 Several other users tweeted the CCTV footage with the same claim. A lot of users claimed that the victim was named Manoj Pandey. (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4) According to a tweet by Sudarshan News, 15-year-old Manoj Negi was stabbed to death after he had objected to his sister’s harassment. In the tweet, the news outlet linked this incident with the murder of Bajrang Dal leader Nitesh Chaudhary, where the accused were Muslims, according to some reports. Sudarshan News used the word जिहादि or Jihadi, a word often used by the Right Wing to target Muslims. Drawing a parallel between the two crimes, it indirectly suggested that in the Delhi incident too, the accused could be Muslims. (Archive) बहन से छेड़खानी का विरोध किया तो 15 साल के युवक मनोज नेगी की चाकुओं से गोद गोद कर हत्या कर दी गयी। जिहादियों ने इसी इलाक़े के पास में कुछ दिन पहले नितेश जाट की भी पीट-पीट कर हत्या की थी। pic.twitter.com/uK6fe3TbYk — Sudarshan News (@SudarshanNewsTV) October 29, 2022 Sudarshan News’ chief managing director and editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke also tweeted the video with the same caption. (Archive) बहन से छेड़खानी का विरोध किया तो 15 साल के युवक मनोज नेगी की चाकुओं से गोद गोद कर हत्या कर दी गयी। जिहादियों ने इसी इलाक़े के पास में कुछ दिन पहले नितेश जाट की भी पीट-पीट कर हत्या की थी। pic.twitter.com/J4ezcBbs79 — Suresh Chavhanke “Sudarshan News” (@SureshChavhanke) October 29, 2022 Upon a keyword search on Google, we found an NDTV article with the headline, ‘Delhi Teen Stabbed To Death After He Protested Sister’s Harassment.’ The article contains the viral CCTV footage. According to the article, a teenager was stabbed to death by two minors in Delhi for allegedly protesting his sister’s harassment. The victim was attacked near his house while he was returning from computer class, said police. He was taken to a hospital but declared brought dead. A case had been registered and the two accused, both minors, were detained. The viewer must note that there is no mention of the accused being Muslims in the NDTV article. We found a Zee News article on the incident as well under the headline ‘Delhi: 2 youths, who killed boy for opposing sister’s molestation, nabbed by police’. According to a police statement to Zee News, “During the investigation, both the juveniles disclosed that they used to eve-tease the sister of the deceased. A few days ago, the deceased had warned them to stay away from his sister and slapped them. In order to take revenge, both of them caught Manoj and stabbed him which caused his death.” The victim, who was identified as Manoj Kumar Negi, was taken to Sardar Patel Hospital where he was declared brought dead. Both the juvenile assailants had been apprehended and the weapon of offence recovered. No communal angle has been mentioned in the Zee News report either. Alt News procured a copy of the FIR filed by Manoj Negi’s father. The FIR mentions that Manoj Negi had left for his computer class at around 8 pm. Around 9:15 pm, his father heard a commotion and rushed outside. He found his injured son lying on the street. On his way to the hospital, Manoj Negi told his father that two minors who live in the same locality would harass his sister continuously. A few days ago, Manoj had slapped one of them, and they stabbed him as revenge. The minors, who have been identified in the FIR, are Hindus. This was also confirmed by DCP Shweta Chauhan who denied any communal angle to the story. Alt News is holding back their identity since they are juveniles. On being asked about the reason behind the stabbing, DCP Chauhan reiterated that the accused used to harass Negi’s sister. “They had an altercation previously. The accused had a grudge against Manoj Negi which led to the murder.” Hence, it is clear that the murder of Manoj Negi was given a false communal spin by Twitter handles, noticeably aligned with the Right Wing. Propaganda outlet Sudarshan News and its editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke also seemed to suggest that the accused could be Muslims by using the term ‘Jihadi’ and linking the incident with another one. Alt News has in the past documented how Sudarshan News and its journalists frequently put out misinformation. The report can be read here. Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	31st October 2022 / 7:33 pm / Last updated: 31st October 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/accused-in-17-yr-olds-murder-in-delhi-not-muslims-false-claim-viral-on-social-media/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
177	Accused in Tabrez Ansari's mob-lynching shot dead? No, video from MP viral - Alt News Jignesh Patel 3rd July 2019 / 2:56 pm On June 25, Jharkhand police arrested 11 men in the case of a mob attack on a 24-year-old man named Tabrez Ansari. Just days after, a video of a dead man lying supine on a stretcher is being circulated with the claim that he is one of the perpetrators shot dead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pZjBhqQeW8 “जिसने तबरेज़ को मारा था वो मार गया कुत्ते कि मौत (The guy who killed Tabrez has died a dog’s death -translated)”, reads a message circulating on WhatsApp with the video. Several users asked Alt News to verify the same. A few individuals on Facebook also shared the video with an identical claim. Additionally, a photo of the dead man and an image of one the accused in Tabrez Ansari’s murder, Pappu Mandal, is juxtaposed together and circulated on WhatsApp. The collage is meant to give the impression that the man shot dead is Pappu Mandal. With a keyword search on YouTube, Alt News found a video posted with the same narrative. In the comment section, however, one Noman Ali suggested that the video is of a slain gangster named Pinku Kala from Jabalpur. Pinku Kala was reportedly killed on June 29, 2019, near Baldeobagh in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. According to a report by One India, police had identified four accused and registered an FIR against them. In a conversation with Alt News, Jabalpur SP Amit Singh confirmed that the man in the video is Pinku Kala. He said, “Pinku Kala is a listed gangster with a criminal record in 50 cases. We have identified the four accused of his murder, Rajesh Mishra, Akki Mishra, Rahul Tinde and Lula.” Alt News also contacted Jharkhand police for further corroboration. Seraikela-Kharsawan SP Karthik S rubbished social media claims and said, “The claim used to share the video is false. The accused in Tabrez Ansari’s case have been arrested and are under judicial custody.” In conclusion, a video of a murdered gangster from Madhya Pradesh was shared as the clip depicting the slain body of one of the accused in Tabrez Ansari’s murder. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd July 2019 / 2:56 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/accused-in-tabrez-ansaris-mob-lynching-shot-dead-no-video-from-mp-viral/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
178	Acid attack on bull by unidentified miscreants given a communal colour by VHP activist - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 30th October 2018 / 2:16 pm / Last updated: 10th November 2018 A Twitter user Girish Bharadwaja, who describes himself as a member of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and is followed by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal’s Office, tweeted on October 28, “Acid attack on Bull in Tumakuru, Karnataka by peace lovers. Will Sickulars Condemn this? Peta act on this?” “Peace lovers” is a commonly used term by Hindutva handles on social media to refer to the Muslim community. Among the over 1,700 people who retweeted Bharadwaja’s tweet was Shefali Vaidya, who is followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Several others who retweeted the claim were those followed by Piyush Goyal’s Office (1, 2, 3). Another Twitter handle, Nation First Pinku (@imPK_Lucknowi), followed by Piyush Goyal’s Office, also tweeted that “peace lovers” acid-attacked a bull in “Tumakuru”. The identical claim was widespread on Facebook as well; users Prem Kapoor and Chandrakanth Lingayath circulated the same imagery and their posts attracted a combined share count of nearly 500. The photographs were also circulated on a group called ‘We Support Republic’. A Facebook page The Sikkim Today tweaked the narrative a little and claimed that the bull was attacked by “illegal Bangladeshis in Tumakuru”. All the posts viral on Facebook and Twitter have the exact text (with the exception of The Sikkim Today), which hints at the probability of the message being circulated on WhatsApp as well. The images viral on social media were shared by Facebook user Harish Kumar. His post (now deleted) said that some “miscreants” attacked the bull with acid in Aralepet, Tumkur (now Tumakuru). Alt News contacted Kumar who informed that he was unaware of the perpetrators behind the act. The injured bull was roaming on the streets of Tumkur when Kumar and his team spotted him. After taking him to a veterinary hospital, they found that the bull was attacked with acid. The incident took place last week and the bull is in recovery now. Alt News also contacted the Tumkur town police station to find if anyone was arrested in connection with the crime, however, the cops were unaware of the incident. Twitter user Girish Bharadwaja who gave birth to the rumours on social media is close to the Bharatiya Janata Party (or so suggest his online activities). Not only is Bharadwaja followed by Piyush Goyal’s Office on Twitter, but his Facebook profile is a testament to his popularity among top BJP leaders. Furthermore, rummaging through his Twitter activities, Alt News found that he is associated with Seva Bharti as well. A case of animal cruelty where the perpetrators are yet to be identified was given a communal colour by an individual close to the ruling party. In the past as well, Alt News has reported several instances where Twitter users followed by BJP leaders, including PM Modi circulated misinformation, oftentimes using abusive language. (Update: Tumkur was officially renamed to Tumakuru and the article has been edited to reflect the same.) Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	30th October 2018 / 2:16 pm / Last updated: 10th November 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/acid-attack-on-bull-by-unidentified-miscreants-given-a-communal-colour-by-vhp-activist/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
179	Acronym gaffe - Yes, PM Modi did get the spelling of STRENGTH wrong in China - Alt News Alt News Desk 17th May 2018 / 6:57 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018 Prime Minister Modi has a special fascination for acronyms. From TOP = Tomato Onions Potatoes to HIRA = Highway, I-way, Roadway, Airway, PM Modi belts out an acronym for every occasion. So far so good. But as PM Modi got more adventurous with acronyms and experimented with longer words, he ran into an unexpected problem. The problem of remembering the spelling of the word. A video is currently viral on social media of PM Modi’s recent visit to China. At a delegation level talk, PM Modi attempted the acronym of an eight-lettered word, ‘Strength’. It is now being claimed that he spelt “Strength” as….STREANH. Narendra Modi, who holds a unique degree in entire political science, spells ‘Strength’ as ‘S T R E A N H’ in front of a Chinese delegation. Narendra Modi, who holds a unique degree in entire political science, spells ‘Strength’ as ‘S T R E A N H’ in front of a Chinese delegation. Posted by Beef Janata Party on Wednesday, 16 May 2018 To verify whether PM did make the faux pas, we looked up the original video on both ANI and Rajya Sabha TV. The footage of the faux pas that is being passed around on social media is genuine. The same clip can be seen in the ANI video below starting 16:16. WATCH: PM Modi and President Xi Jinping hold delegation level talks in Wuhan https://t.co/i28g1LLExD — ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2018 Later in the footage, PM tried to correct himself but he fumbled a second time and ended up making STRENGTH sound like STRENGATH. We can give him the benefit of doubt but what is the need for a Prime Minister to coin acronyms and spell words in a global forum? The official handle of the Ministry of External Affairs tweeted the correct version i.e. the version that PM Modi meant to say but got confused with his spelling. “STRENGTH : S-Spirituality; T-Tradition,Trade & Technology; R-Relationship; E-Entertainment (Movies, Art, etc.); N-Nature conservation; G-Games; T-Tourism & H-Health&Healing.” At the delegation-level talks, PM @narendramodi underscored importance of people-to-people contact through STRENGTH : S-Spirituality; T-Tradition,Trade & Technology; R-Relationship; E-Entertainment (Movies, Art, etc.); N-Nature conservation; G-Games; T-Tourism & H-Health&Healing. pic.twitter.com/2adA8UnDxu — Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) April 27, 2018 After this blooper, we hope PM Modi will think twice before coming up with a new acronym particularly when he is addressing an international audience. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	17th May 2018 / 6:57 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/acronym-gaffe-yes-pm-modi-did-get-the-spelling-of-strength-wrong-in-china/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
180	Actor Koena Mitra, Postcard News share old image as RSS workers aiding Kerala flood victims - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 19th August 2018 / 12:28 pm “Bravo Sanghis,” tweeted Bollywood actor Koena Mitra while applauding purported relief work of RSS workers during the recent Kerala floods. Her tweet has been liked by over 800 people and retweeted 225 times. Bravo Sanghis 👏👏👏👏👏 https://t.co/cfmxfT1PW1 — Koena Mitra (@koenamitra) August 13, 2018 The images shared by Mitra was posted by the Twitter handle @DrGPradhan, who is followed by Prime Minister Modi, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal’s office and newly appointed RBI Director S Gurumurthy. His on the nose tweet been retweeted 1,899 times. Finally, Jesus has arrived in Kerala to save people from the flood in KAHKI Chaddi pic.twitter.com/cTpHDjVYeW — #GauravPradhan 🇮🇳 (@DrGPradhan) August 13, 2018 The identical set of images was also shared by Facebook page The Youth, with the caption that “media will never show this”. The post has been shared by over 1,500 people, including a Twitter handle followed by Goyal’s office. The user describes himself as a “swayamsevak”. Let’s heartily thank RSS workers for their selfless dedication.. Posted by The Youth – Politics on Sunday, 12 August 2018 The new Facebook page of rumour mongering website Postcard News, Post Card Fans, also circulated the image with the similar “media will never show this” narrative. Posted by Post Card Fans on Sunday, 12 August 2018 Ironically, Postcard News had shared the same photographs in September 2016 as RSS workers helping Bihar flood victims, along with their repetitious narrative against media. Alt News also found multiple users on social media who shared these identical images between August 27 and August 28, 2016, as West Bengal floods that same year (1,2,3, 4). Both West Bengal and Bihar faced severe flooding in August 2016. However, we could not independently confirm whether these viral images of RSS worker providing aid was taken during floods in either of the two states. However, it is clear that the photographs do not pertain to the recent flooding in Kerala. Old images of RSS aid work are oftentimes circulated as a part of recent events. In an earlier article, Alt News reported how images of 2017 Gujarat floods were viral on social media as RSS aid work during recent Kerala floods. The official Facebook page of RSS also circulated an old image as recent Kerala floods and rectified the same after Alt New’s article. The death toll in devastating Kerala floods has crossed the 300-mark. In situations of such distress and panic, circulating old/unrelated images for propaganda is an insensitive tactic to gain commendation. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	19th August 2018 / 12:28 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/actor-koena-mitra-postcard-news-share-old-image-as-rss-workers-aiding-kerala-flood-victims/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
181	Fake 'love jihad' rate list putting price tag on non-Muslim women revived on social media - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 6th August 2018 / 10:44 pm / Last updated: 29th June 2021 An alleged rate list with a price tag put on non-Muslim women with an exhortation to lure them and convert them to Islam is circulating on social media. The price ranges from Rs. 6 lakh for a Hindu Brahmin girl to Rs. 3 lakh for a Jain girl and Rs. 7 lakh for a Sikh girl. Below is a tweet by @TheZaiduLeaks. Twitter handle ‘Santani Kids’ tweeted an image of what appears to be an extract from the newspaper, Sanjha Lokswami, which advertised the same ‘rate card’ writing, “लड़की भगाओ मुस्लिम बनाओ और इनाम पाओ” (Elope with a girl, convert her to Islam and gain a reward). The ‘rate card’ has been making the rounds on social media for quite sometime now. Last year, it was shared by Facebook group PROUD HINDU with the caption, “Shocking document. Love jihad is real. Save our Hindu daughters. Sponsored by PFI.” On August 4, 2018, actor Koena Mitra Mitra had tweeted the alleged Sanjha Lokswami newspaper clipping. Mitra’s account remains permanently suspended by Twitter as of now. The image tweeted by Mitra is photoshopped, and this particular message has been circulating on social media and on WhatsApp for several years now. Alt News found that the earliest version of this dangerous provocation is on a blog titled ‘Sikh and Islam’ published on February 5, 2010. There are a number of clues in the image posted below which prove that it is fake. Firstly, this poster has the phrase, “in the name of allah……most merciful, most benificiary“, while the usual phrase used is “In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful“. Such a mistake would be unusual if this had actually been a pamphlet issued by an Islamic organisation. Moreover, it is the heart-shaped image at the top of the pamphlet that gives the most concrete evidence of this poster being a photoshopped one. The gun-shaped image within the heart is actually the flag of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’a Islamist militant group. The heart-shaped image has been independently in circulation since 2006. In June 2017, Times Now had broadcast a prime time story based on this old photoshopped picture with the claim that it was from Kerala, and with the hashtag #CaliphateConvertsHindus. This message had also been circulated by various fake news sites like Hindutva.Info, Jagruk Bharat and Hindu Existence in February 2016 and had also featured in Saamana, the mouthpiece of the Shiv Sena in 2010. Such inciteful content is pervasive on social media and keeps circulating at regular intervals, with the objective of keeping communalism active and relevant. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	6th August 2018 / 10:44 pm / Last updated: 29th June 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/actor-koena-mitra-tweets-fake-love-jihad-rate-list/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
182	Actor Rupa Dutta mixes another man's FB profile with Anurag Kashyap's, accuses him of misconduct - Alt News Priyanka Jha & Pratik Sinha 22nd September 2020 / 1:54 am / Last updated: 27th September 2020 Actor Rupa Dutta wrote a Facebook post accusing filmmaker Anurag Kashyap of sleazy behaviour in 2014. She shared screenshots of a purported chat where a man named ‘Anurag Safar’ is expressing how he is attracted to married women. Ghosh claimed that Kashyap used to run a Facebook ID by that name. The allegation comes in the wake of actor Payal Ghosh accusing the director of sexual assault which were denied by him. नमस्कार दोस्तो 🙏🙏 यह वो समय है 2014 में जब मैं अनुराग कश्यप से बाते करती थी। फेसबुक में अनुराग सफ़र से इसका आईडी है।… Posted by Actor Rupaa Dutta on Saturday, 19 September 2020 Dutta has made a similar post on Twitter where she identifies as the state president of Karni Sena, West Bengal. अनुराग कश्यप के नज़रों में किसी भी औरत का कोई इज्ज़त नहीं है।जो मुझे उसे जानने के बाद पता चला।इसीलिए पायेल घोष का इल्ज़ाम बिलकुल सही है।अनुराग कश्यप को कठोर से कठोर सज़ा मिलनी चाहिए।और यह ड्रग भी लेता है।अपने आर्टिस्ट को भी सप्लाई करता है NCB जांच करे कृपा।#arrestanuragkashyab pic.twitter.com/ckK5ZfUDOW — Rupa Dutta (@iamrupadutta) September 19, 2020 Soon after, she was invited for an interview on News Nation where the actor claimed that Kashyap consumes drugs and supplies them to his artists. Dutta demanded that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) takes cognisance of the same. The drug allegations were levelled as the Indian film industry undergoes a drug probe sparked by Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide. News Nation invited Dutta on another show anchored by Deepak Chaurasia where the actor said she has never met Kashyap in person and the Facebook chat is the basis for her accusations. Dutta’s conversation with a man named Anurag ‘Safar’ raised doubts about her allegations. A Facebook search of ‘Anurag Safar’ led us to the man’s profile where the same display picture has been used. A rummage through his profile revealed that he lives in Ireland. We also found Anurag Safar’s Twitter handle where several posts from his Facebook account have been cross-posted. In 2010, he tweeted that he isn’t filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. “I am another Anurag. Please do not bug me considering him.” Pl Excuse me friends!!! I am not film director or producer Anurag Kashyap. I am another Anurag. Please do not bug me considering him. — Anurag Safar (@anurag_safar07) September 15, 2010 He had also denied the same on Facebook in 2016. Over the years, several people have confused Safar with Kashyap. In February 2010, a Facebook page tagged Safar instead of the director. Another user, while praising a movie, tagged Safar. Readers should note that hovering the cursor over the tag ‘Anurag Kashyap’ throws up Safar’s profile. This is because Safar used to run his account with the last name ‘Kashyap’. In 2011, a Twitter handle had tagged Safar in a post about Kashyap’s movie ‘Chittagong’. We found that on Twitter as well, Safar used to operate with the surname ‘Kashyap’. His username was @anuragkashyap07 at least till October 2009. He later changed it and clarified in a tweet that he isn’t the director. Alt News contacted Anurag Kashyap who denied the accusation and said that his verified personal Facebook account has the username ‘anuragkashyap1972’. Rupa Dutta, therefore, shared screenshots of her 2014 conversation with a man named Anurag Safar. While she claimed that director Anurag Kashyap used to run his account by that surname, the fact of the matter remains that Safar was the one operating both his Facebook and Twitter accounts with the surname ‘Kashyap’, and he had clarified back in 2010 that he’s not director Anurag Kashyap. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd September 2020 / 1:54 am / Last updated: 27th September 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/actor-rupa-dutta-mixes-another-mans-fb-profile-with-anurag-kashyaps-accuses-him-of-misconduct/", "author": "Priyanka Jha & Pratik Sinha" }
183	Ad agency with BJP connection handles social media for Maharashtra Election Commission - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri & Pratik Sinha 24th July 2020 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 24th July 2020 Activist Saket Gokhale posted a tweet thread on July 23 alleging that the Election Commission of India “hired” the IT cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to manage their social media in Maharashtra ahead of the 2019 assembly elections. Shocking details: Election Commission of India literally hired the BJP IT Cell for handling their social media in Maharashtra in the run-up to the 2019 State Assembly Elections. Thread 👇 — Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) July 23, 2020 Gokhale pointed out that advertiser details on the Facebook page of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maharashtra carry the address “202 Pressman House” in Vile Parle, Mumbai. This is also the address mentioned by pro-BJP Facebook page ‘The Fearless Indian’. Mumbai-based advertising agencies Signpost India and Social Central use that address as well. But the address is not the sole link between Signpost India, Social Central, and ‘The Fearless Indian’. In this report, we will investigate advertising agencies with close ties to the BJP handling social media for Maharashtra Election Commission. The story begins with Devang Dave. Devang Dave is the managing director at Social Central and the founder of Facebook pages ‘The Fearless Indian’ and ‘I Support Narendra Modi.’ He is the social media head of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP. Dave’s profile picture on Twitter is with Prime Minister Modi. The address used on CEO Maharashtra’s advertiser details appears on Devang Dave’s website. It is noteworthy that Dave changed the address on his website after Gokhale’s tweets. The Election Commission of Maharashtra is a client of Social Central and so is the Ministry of Steel and Maharashtra BJP. The company Signpost India also handled social media for Maharashtra Election Commission and Ministry of Steel. This was found through the LinkedIn profile of a former intern at Signpost. There are several pictures of BJYM IT cell head Devang Dave that place him inside the office of Signpost India. After it was brought to light that a company that handles social media for the BJP is also managing Maharashtra Election Commission’s online presence, Devang Dave put a statement on Twitter. “The work assigned by Election Commission to Signpost was after following due process. There is no illegality whatsoever,” he claimed. We do not earn our bread and butter by doing any kind of “Dalali” but by Hardwork The work assigned by Election Commission to Signpost was after following due process.There is no illegality whatsoever. Is it also forbidden for political activists to make an honest living? (1/4) — Devang Dave (@DevangVDave) July 24, 2020 While Dave has denied any conflict of interest, the URL ‘isupportnamo.org‘ redirects to the website of Signpost India. Domain ‘isupportnamo.org’ used to be the corresponding website of Facebook page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’ (facebook.com/isupportnamo) which has a massive follower count of 16 million. This page was founded by Devang Dave and as the name suggests, regularly posts content favouring PM Modi and the BJP. On a web archive link from 2018, we found that Devang Dave’s personal website was hosted on the same server as isupportnamo.org, Signpost India, Social Central, ‘Fearless Indian’ and several websites of BJP leaders including Nirmala Sitharaman and Poonam Mahajan. Signpost’s past projects reveal a close association with the BJP. Union Minister Rajnath Singh was photographed at Signpost India’s launch of a Digital India project in 2018. The company had also uploaded pictures of BJP Assam MLA Himanta Biswa inaugurating a project in 2018. Last year in December, the Ministry of Steel had extended its contract with Signpost India of managing social media presence of the ministry and its ministers. Therefore, ad agencies with deep ties to a member of BJP IT cell have the Election Commission of Maharashtra, an autonomous constitutional body, as one of their clients. Devang Dave has claimed that Singpost India’s work with CEO Maharashtra is unrelated to his association with the BJP. But the redirection of ‘isuppprtnamo.org’ to Singpost India’s website and the nature of Signpost India’s clientele shows a conflict of interest. Responding on the matter, ECI spokesperson said that the commission has sought a detailed factual report from CEO Maharashtra. Former CM Prithviraj Chavhan said that he will address a press conference on July 24 on the matter. Regarding tweet of Mr Gokhale @SaketGokhale, Commission has sought detailed factual report in this matter from CEO Maharashtra with respect to alleged locale of the incidence immediately. — Sheyphali Sharan (@SpokespersonECI) July 23, 2020 Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th July 2020 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 24th July 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ad-agency-with-bjp-connection-handles-social-media-for-maharashtra-election-commission/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri & Pratik Sinha" }
184	Has Adani Group hired social media influencers to defend the company on Twitter? - Alt News Pratik Sinha 3rd July 2017 / 10:32 pm After the announcement of the new taxation system called Goods and Services Tax (GST), Gautam Adani, the Chairman of Adani Group, applauded GST as a game-changer via his Twitter account. He tweeted, “GST to be a game-changer in India’s ease of doing business – simplified tax, transparent systems, better compliances #OneNationOneTax“. Promptly came many responses to his tweets reminding him to pay up his debts which stood at 72,000 crores at the end of September 2014 quarter. Usually, in case of politicians, when they are attacked, party supporters come out to support them on various issues. However, in case of Adani, a set of Twitter accounts started defending him, all of which had nothing to do with the Adani group. Each one of the six accounts in the screenshot above use similar language/phrases and consistently used the three hashtags #Adani, #AdaniGroup, #GautamAdani. That indicates that these accounts were given a recipe for the tweets which they were faithfully following. We searched for others Twitter accounts tweeting along the same lines during the period 30th June 2017 to 2nd July 2017 and we found a few more Twitter accounts that were defending Adani and the pattern matched the tweets in the above screenshot. Twitter acccounts @ShriBhivaskar, @dare2zak, @ShahidsSuperFan, @Tweet_Tweet_Raj, @nishajg, @rthakkar11, @kp_85, @sanjayp33862979 and @Pooja__G were the ones involved in defending Adani during the aforesaid period. This same set of Twitter accounts were found supporting Bajaj Finance with the hashtag #ThankYouDoc. The same set of Twitter accounts were also promoting the Star Plus soap opera ‘Iss Pyar ko Kya Naam Doon‘. These Twitter accounts will tweet anything you want, trend any hashtag they are asked for. They are tagged/emailed/DMed (DM = Direct Message) when organised campaigns are to be run and detailed instructions are sent over. For eg, Pooja__G in the above tweets is tagged in the following campaign. Increasingly, views on social media are not genuine but those that have been bought and tutored. Corporates and political parties depend on companies who control an army of social media profiles and these profiles tweet based on a prescribed script in order to shape public opinion. While there is nothing illegal about the said activity, it shows the degeneration of social media which was originally meant for genuine people-to-people interactions and not for boilerplate interactions with pre-programmed bots. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd July 2017 / 10:32 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/adani-group-hired-social-media-influencers-defend-company-twitter/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
185	Admin of FB page who called for violence against inter-faith couples now targets Barkha Dutt - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 7th June 2018 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 On February 4, 2018, Alt News had exposed how a list of more than 100 couples who had entered into inter-religious union was published on a Facebook page, and these couples were specifically targeted for violent assault. A page called Hindutva Varta had openly called for violence against these couples by putting out links to their Facebook profiles as a list in the public domain. Alt News had identified the admin of the page to be one Satish Mylavarapu. Facebook took down his page which called for violence, and three months after the story, his account was suspended by Twitter. Shockingly, he is now back on the social media platform. Journalist Barkha Dutt on June 7, 2018 tweeted claiming that she has “received chilling veiled threats and ‘messages’ from powerful people in the Establishment today that my family and I are under surveillance…”. Received chilling veiled threats and “messages” from powerful people in the Establishment today that my family and I are under surveillance – and that I will be smeared & maligned to stop me from starting any new projects. Was advised to get my house debugged. Is this my country? — barkha dutt (@BDUTT) June 7, 2018 In response to Barkha Dutt’s tweet, a user @SatishAnna2 tweeted, Just plain threats??? What kind of morons are there in establishment?? They should have gone into action mode of disappearing you… No one needs you in this country… we are fed up of your lies and narratives — Satish Anna (@SatishAnna2) June 7, 2018 @SatishAnna2 is the twitter handle of none other than Satish Mylavarapu. He did not stop there. When Dutt responded calling it a death threat and saying she will tag Delhi police for this comment, he replied, “It’s weakness of Modi government you and your fraternity is still alive…” It’s weakness of Modi government that you and your fraternity is alive… — Satish Anna (@SatishAnna2) June 7, 2018 Mylavarapu kept up his tirade against Barkha Dutt, tweeting her photo and saying that leftist journalists make a lot of noise over false reports that defame Hindus. भारतीय #वामपंथी पत्रकार हर उस झूठ-सच पर कर्कश शोर मचाते है जिससे #हिन्दू बदनाम हो सकें, न उन्हें तथ्यों से मतलब है,न ही देश-हित से। #विदेशी ताकतें उनकी इस प्रवृत्ति को पहचानकर अपने हित में जमकर इस्तेमाल करती है।@SudhirParweMLA @UmakantSingh94 @Dr_Uditraj @Swamy39 @rajeev_mp pic.twitter.com/QW5M7WYoRZ — Satish Anna (@SatishAnna2) June 7, 2018 Mylavarapu’s account has been suspended not once but twice earlier by Twitter, after his brazenly abusive and openly threatening posts came to light. Three months after Alt News had reported how he was openly calling for violence against inter-faith couples, his account @satsmylavarapu was suspended. Twitter account of @satsmylavarapu, who pushed out a list of 100+ interfaith couples on his FB page ‘Hindu Varta’ and called for violence, has finally been suspended. He shared this image in a BJP Karnataka WhatsApp group. Read the @AltNews story here:https://t.co/XSpHOsafzd pic.twitter.com/5htBrSHjrx — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) May 10, 2018 However, Mylavarapu was back within a few hours with a fresh account @satismk. Interestingly, this account was almost instantly followed by BJP MP Udit Raj, among others. This account too was suspended by Twitter after users reported it. This person who had advocated violence against 100+ inter-faith couples and was suspended by Twitter has created a new account @satismk and gets instantly followed by BJP MP @Dr_Uditraj. How does that work? CC @TwitterIndia @TwitterSupport pic.twitter.com/Lb27b2w02p — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) May 10, 2018 Mylavarapu who is based in Bengaluru made international news when he published the list targeting inter-faith couples on his Facebook page. The hate-mongering on display was reported by the Washington Post and the UK based publication The Independent. Posted below is an excerpt of the article by The Independent which was published in April, 2018. Satish Mylavarapu has repeatedly posted sinister messages on social media, openly advocating violence against minorities and often directly or indirectly threatening social media users with dire consequences. The fact that his account was suspended twice earlier has not crippled him. He is now back with a new account, thus rendering toothless the measures taken by Twitter to prevent him from spewing venom on social media with impunity. It is appalling that despite the open nature of this intimidation and abuse, no action has been taken against him so far by the Karnataka police. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th June 2018 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/admin-of-fb-page-who-called-for-violence-against-inter-faith-couples-now-targets-barkha-dutt/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
186	After falsely claiming FDA approval, IIT-Delhi startup Sanfe falsely claim AYUSH ministry approval - Alt News Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh & Sabeeh Kamil 7th May 2019 / 4:03 pm / Last updated: 7th May 2019 On 8th of March 2019, four IIT-Delhi entrepreneurs launched a product called ‘Sanfe Period Pain Relief Roll-On’ that claimed to help with menstrual pain. The start-up group (Redroom Technology Private Limited) who launched the Sanfe claimed to have an FDA approval, after which an Alt News Science investigation reported it as a false claim. This previous press release with the FDA approval was published without any fact-checking by several news outlets such as The Indian Express, NDTV, The Times of India, The Economic Times, and India Today. After releasing our 1st investigative report on Sanfe, the co-founder of Redroom, Archit Agarwal sent a copy of the corrigendum published in The Hindu on the 28th of March 2019, accepting that it was a mistake to suggest that Sanfe was FDA approved. However, in the corrigendum, Redroom maintained that the approval was actually from the AYUSH ministry instead. On the phone, Archit Agarwal also maintained that the formula was clinically tested before release, and was safe for use. We contacted the AYUSH ministry, Haryana’s Dr Satish Khatkar, who approved the formulation to determine the authenticity of the certificate of approval by AYUSH. Additionally, we conducted a literature review on the research of different components of the Sanfe roll-on to determine whether it was safe and effective to use as per the claim. Claims: Both, Redroom Technology and co-founder Archit Agarwal, maintained that the certificate of approval was from the AYUSH ministry, Haryana, and not by the FDA, which was a ’mistake’. When we contacted the authority who had signed this certificate at AYUSH, Dr Satish Khatkar suggested that the document was NOT an approval for safety for the products but only a certificate of approval for manufacturing (see the image of its manufacturing licence). Dr Khatkar from AYUSH, also suggested that the certificate meant those individual components of the product may be effective and safe according to the ancient textbook of Ayurveda, Bhavaprakasha Nighantu (B.P.N), which had not been approved as a combined specific formula that Sanfe roll-on is. Moreover, the certificate or manufacturing licence is given after a confirmatory test by AYUSH that the product has only the individual components as per the claim of the manufacturer and that no other safety tests are conducted by AYUSH. Khatkar also suggested that the responsibility of conducting these safety and toxicity tests was upon the manufacturer, in this case, Space Organics, Haryana. In our previous conversation, the owner of Space Organics, Mr Nagpal, had confirmed that it was not financially viable for them to conduct tests for a product that had a higher research cost than its production cost. Hence, no testing was conducted on this product before its release. After the first Alt News investigative report, Space Organics and Redroom released a document that listed the research on 79 women as per the original claim. This document was not a peer-reviewed published document, did not contain any data, nor it was tested for safety in various conditions. Khatkar suggested that such ‘research’ is likely to be a market survey where a group of women are given the product and later verbally asked to report efficacy. This unsystematic measure of efficacy cannot be considered as clinical research as suggested by the founders of Sanfe. As suggested above, the safety certificate from AYUSH is only for individual components in the roll-on and not for the formula as a whole. As per AYUSH, this safety certificate was backed by the ancient Ayurvedic text Bhavaprakasha Nighantu (B.P.N). Any remedy that affects will, evidently, have unwanted side effects. Hence, the dosage is studied to extract the most desired effect with the maximum tolerable adverse effect. It is false to claim that herbal drugs will be completely free of side effects just because they are ‘natural’. Some of the most potent drugs in medicine have been derived from natural substances which also carry the same adverse effects as any other laboratory synthesized compounds. The use of medicinal plants and oils as a form of topical pain treatment has been widely studied, where detailed adverse effects have been described (Bakkali et al. 2008). Prolonged use of any of the Sanfe’s ‘natural’ ingredients, standalone or in combination, can lead to strong unwanted adverse reactions. Sanfe roll-on consists of 6 components, and there is no prescribed method to limited the frequency of its use. Apart from the described oils (see the manufacturing licence), reportedly, lavender, gandhipura (wintergreen), nilgiri (eucalyptus), rosemary and base oil, the strongest active ingredient is an extract of the mint in the crystal form. While the packaging shown in the image below doesn’t mention crystalline Menthol (mint) as one of the ingredients, the Space Organics certificate above does. Since mint in the herbal form does not contain high quantities of this active ingredient, a crystalline form of the compound menthol is used which can act on the cold receptors in the skin to give pain relief. This is a low-cost compound synthetically manufactured in the lab and is not safe or natural, if not used correctly. Mint essential oil can contain up to 40-90% menthol which is a potent pain killer acting on the cold receptors in the skin. Several topical anesthetics and nasal decongestants such as Vapour-Rubs also contain menthol. Additionally, menthol also enhances the penetration of other transdermal drugs, which means that the absorption of other compounds is increased when mixed with menthol. Drug development companies should issue expert advice on consumption of menthol based compounds as it may be toxic and sub-lethal in higher doses starting from 50-500mg per kg of body weight. The Sanfe formulation contains several ‘pain killer’ compounds in the form of essential oils that is equivalent (in specific dosage) to over the counter pain killers. For example, an American patent describes a mixture of wintergreen oil, olive oil and/or eucalyptus oil as a topical pain killer. Although Sanfe doesn’t directly claim that its composition has no pain killers, it is contended that pain is reduced without having to take pain killers. Using this roll-on is equivalent to a topical application of consuming a ‘pain killer drug’, provided it gets absorbed into the system in the required dosage. For example, wintergreen oil (8% in Sanfe roll on) contains about 98% of methyl salicylate, a compound closely related to acetylsalicylic acid, or aspirin- which is a class of ‘pain killers’. Also, if used excessively, wintergreen oil can lead to toxicity from ingestion of methyl salicylate compound. This toxicity varies for different age groups and is the most harmful in small children. For example, 5 ml of methyl salicylate is equivalent to 5 aspirin tablets (325 mg each). Various toxicity studies have confirmed that while low dose skin application was safe or can cause mild-acute irritation to the skin, dosage over 7 gm for a 70 kg adult can result in severe neurological disturbances (Chin et al. 2007). Other ingredients of Sanfe, such as eucalyptus, lavender, and rosemary have shown limited pain-relieving effects, but have known to cause several skin related, systemic problems and other adverse effects similar to an anaphylactic reaction in higher doses (Darben et al. 1998, Pozadski et al. 2012, Ulbricht et al., 2010). Use of rosemary is also dangerous for anaemics and pregnant women. Lastly, the claim that it penetrates deep into the source of pain is made without understanding the research in pain mechanisms. Pain during menstruation arises deep within the muscles, while this roll-on is applied only on the skin. The muscle and the skin is separated by several other layers of tissue that do not allow deep penetration of topical drugs unless the drug is in systemic circulation through the bloodstream. Hence, the effect of pain relief with Sanfe may be not be attributed through deep absorption through the skin. This claim shows the developers of Sanfe’s meagre understanding of pain emergence during menstruation. Hence, once again, the founders of Sanfe, used government institutes such as AYUSH to promote drugs without any background research or understanding of menstrual pain. Sanfe’s founders also claimed a to have an approval certificate which, through our investigation, turned out to be a manufacturing licence from AYUSH. The Sanfe formulation is packed with several compounds used as pain-killer medications, as well as other compounds that increase the absorption of such pain-killers, which should be evaluated in toxicity and dosage studies before marketing and administration similar to any other drugs. Thus, under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945, it can be considered as attempts to misbranding the product as defined. The Ministry of AYUSH in a document lists ethical principles to be followed during a clinical trial for Ayurvedic drugs, the launch of the Sanfe product did not seem to follow those guidelines. Chin, R. L., Olson, K. R., & Dempsey, D. (2007). Salicylate toxicity from ingestion and continued dermal absorption. The California Journal of emergency medicine, 8(1), 23–25. Bakkali, F., Averbeck, S., Averbeck, D., & Idaomar, M. (2008). Biological effects of essential oils–a review. Food and chemical toxicology, 46(2), 446-475. De Groot, A. C. and Schmidt, E. (2015), Eucalyptus oil and tea tree oil. Contact Dermatitis, 73: 381-386. Darben, T., Cominos, B., & Lee, C. T. (1998). Topical eucalyptus oil poisoning. Australasian journal of dermatology, 39(4), 265-267. Posadzki, P., Alotaibi, A., & Ernst, E. (2012). Adverse effects of aromatherapy: a systematic review of case reports and case series. International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 24(3), 147-161. Ulbricht, C., Abrams, T. R., Brigham, A., Ceurvels, J., Clubb, J., Curtiss, W., … & Isaac, R. (2010). An evidence-based systematic review of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration. Journal of dietary supplements, 7(4), 351-413. Drug and Cosmetics Act 1940 and Drugs and Cosmetic Rules 1945 http://www.cdsco.nic.in/writereaddata/Drugs&CosmeticAct.pdf http://ayush.gov.in/acts-rules-and-notifications/good-clinical-practice-guidelines-clinical-trials-asu-medicine In a 2-minute video, a man recommends a “technique” to prevent infection from Omicron, the… A video of a set of iron nails that appear to melt after being placed… Several social media users have shared an image that shows two columns — ‘Cepa/variante’ (Spanish… A 90-second video of a man dissecting a banana has been shared on the internet…. The Taliban has formed an all-male government after taking over control in Afghanistan. On September…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th May 2019 / 4:03 pm / Last updated: 7th May 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/after-falsely-claiming-fda-approval-iit-delhi-startup-sanfe-falsely-claim-ayush-ministry-approval/", "author": "Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh & Sabeeh Kamil" }
187	After NaMo App exposé, privacy policy on Narendra Modi's website makes a quiet U-turn - Alt News Pratik Sinha 25th March 2018 / 2:39 pm / Last updated: 25th March 2018 After a French security researcher claimed in a series of tweets that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s application “NarendraModi.in” is sending personal information of its users to a third party website in.wzrkt.com, Alt News fact-checked his claim and found it to be true. When you create a profile in the official @narendramodi #Android app, all your device info (OS, network type, Carrier …) and personal data (email, photo, gender, name, …) are send without your consent to a third-party domain called https://t.co/N3zA3QeNZO. pic.twitter.com/Vey3OP6hcf — Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) March 23, 2018 The Alt News fact-check can be read here and the video below is a live demonstration of the fact-check. NOTE: Kindly watch the video in Full HD/1080p for better viewing. It has now been discovered that to cover-up this issue, the privacy policy on PM Narendra Modi’s website has quietly been changed to accommodate for this lapse. A screenshot of the present policy can be seen below. To compare the changes that have been made, Alt News accessed the cached version of the privacy policy as it appeared on PM Modi’s website on March 23rd, a day before the exposé. A backup of the cached version can be accessed here and here. Till a day before the exposé, the privacy policy on the website read as, “Your personal information and contact details shall remain confidential and shall not be used for any purpose other than our communication with you. The information shall not be provided to third parties in any manner whatsoever without your consent.” A screenshot of the same can be seen below. The changes to the privacy policy have been made surreptitiously since neither the verified Twitter account of the Prime Minister nor the verified account narendramodi_in which claims to be the “Twitter account of http://www.narendramodi.in – Shri Narendra Modi’s personal website & the Narendra Modi Mobile App.” acknowledged the issue. The NaMo APP also hasn’t followed the standard practice to inform the users when changes to the privacy policy are made, a practice that most major apps and websites follow. While the PM’s website claimed that personal information would not be provided to third parties in any manner whatsoever without the consent of the user, it was doing exactly the opposite. These hurried changes to the privacy policy further go onto prove that there was a clear privacy breach by PM Narendra Modi’s mobile app. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th March 2018 / 2:39 pm / Last updated: 25th March 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/after-namo-app-expose-privacy-policy-on-narendra-modis-website-makes-a-quiet-u-turn/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
188	After Pulwama attack, video of Pakistani SSG commando training shared as that of arrested terrorist - Alt News Jignesh Patel 16th February 2019 / 5:58 pm / Last updated: 16th February 2019 “देर शाम कश्मीर में 15 आतंकी हिरासत में लिए गए। उनमेसे एक आतंकी की मेहमान नवाज़ी देखें। जंग शुरू होगयी हैं, जय हिन्द”(Late in the evening, 15 terrorists were arrested in Kashmir. Look how one of the terrorists is being treated. The war has begun. Jai Hind -translated), reads a message posted with a horrid video of a man being tortured. As seen in the video, some people are brutally thrashing a person while holding him down. The message circulated along with the video suggests that the person who is being flogged is a terrorist, arrested after the deadly terror attack in Pulwama that led to the death of 40 CRPF personnel. Another user Rohit Pratap Singh Yadav also posted the video with a message saying, “देखो जल्दी भारतवासियों हमारे देश में आतंकवाद के खिलाफ शुरूआत हो गयी है भाई तुरंत अभी का है (People of India see this recent video, fight against terrorism has started now -translated). One Pandit Aakash Mishra was among the several other individuals, who have shared this video with a similar narrative on Facebook. In September 2018, Alt News had debunked this video and found that it pertains to a SERE(Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape) training module undertaken by the Pakistani army. Thus, the personnel torturing a person in the video are in fact Pakistan army personnel and NOT jawans of the Indian army. Earlier, the video was falsely shared as that of Indian army personnel thrashing civilians in Kashmir. At 0:17 mins in the video posted above, Pakistan’s national flag can be seen for a split second, but only when the exposure and brightness of the screenshot is increased. Furthermore, Alt News found a video footage of a report published by the Pakistani Urdu news channel Express News. According to the reporter, he claims to be at the SSG Headquarters in Cherat of Nowshera district. He can be heard explaining how the personnel are trained to resist torture and to not reveal sensitive information. You can read the detailed fact-check here. In conclusion, a video of a training undertaken by the Pakistani army was shared as that of Indian army soldiers dealing with a terrorist after the Pulwama attack Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th February 2019 / 5:58 pm / Last updated: 16th February 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/after-pulwama-attack-video-of-pakistani-ssg-commando-training-shared-as-that-of-arrested-terrorist/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
189	After social media outrage, 'Rashid Khan' justifying Shraddha murder turns out to be Vikas Kumar - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 25th November 2022 / 6:57 pm / Last updated: 26th November 2022 In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin Poonawala, the video interview of a man claiming to be Rashid Khan from Bulandshahr went viral on social media where he says that when a man is angry, “he can make 36 pieces (of another person) instead of 35”, apparently suggesting that in a fit of rage, a man might lose control over himself. His comments were seen as justifying Poonawala’s alleged actions. On being asked if he has any experience in this field, he can be heard saying that he would also do the same if he gets angry. The full interview was uploaded on the Janta Darbar YouTube channel. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIC0UWUpK3Q?start=17] Right Wing propaganda outlet OpIndia wrote an article titled, “’35 क्या 36 टुकड़े भी कर देता… बस चाकू बजाते जाओ’: श्रद्धा मर्डर पर बुलंदशहर के राशिद खान को सुनिए, आफताब के किए को ठहरा रहा ‘जायज’”. In the article, they elaborated on the statements made by Khan in the interview. (Archive) OpIndia also tweeted the clip wherein Khan is heard making the controversial statements. (Archive) 35 कम है… 36 टुकड़े कर देगा बुलंदशहर का राशिद खान कैमरे के सामने कॉन्फिडेंस में बोला: ‘चाकू लो और बजाए चले जाओ…’#AftabAminPoonawala #ShraddhaWalker #ViralVideo pic.twitter.com/1ZcHnunyaI — ऑपइंडिया (@OpIndia_in) November 21, 2022 Editor-in-chief of YouTube channel Jan Ki Baat, Pradeep Bhandari, tweeted the video and in the caption, mentioned the name of the man as Rashid Khan. (Archive) श्रद्धा मर्डर केस पर कुछ शान्तिप्रिय लोग मीम बना रहे हैं कुछ शान्तिप्रिय आफ़ताब को हीरो बता रहे हैं और अब बुलन्दशहर के राशिद ख़ान उस खून को उचित बता रहे हैं एक सवाल.. इस सोच को कैसे डिफेंड करेंगे?#AaftabAminPoonawala pic.twitter.com/yJiK35py6M — Pradeep Bhandari(प्रदीप भंडारी)🇮🇳 (@pradip103) November 21, 2022 Ritesh Kashyap, a journalist with RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya, tweeted the video asking viewers to ‘understand what their mindset is and where they are getting their training from’. बुलंदशहर के रहने वाले राशिद खान के अनुसार जब किसी आदमी का दिमाग खराब होता है तो 35 की जगह 36 टुकड़े भी कर देता है! अब आप समझ सकते हैं कि इनकी मानसिकता क्या है और इन्हें यह प्रशिक्षण कहां से मिल रहा होगा! pic.twitter.com/hA4OnFskP0 — Ritesh Kashyap (@meriteshkashyap) November 21, 2022 Activist Jyot Jeet, who has a verified Twitter account, tweeted the same clip with the hashtag #LoveJihad_ActOfTerrorism. Aftab ने Shraddha के 35 टुकड़े किए उसपर ये Rashid Khan कह रहा है “Mood ख़राब होता है तो आदमी लड़की के 35 क्या 36 टुकड़े भी कर देता है…” Tukde Tukde करने की Technique बता रहा है कि “छुरी लो और बजाये चले जाओ…”😡 कह रहा है “लड़ाई मे मै भी काट दूँगा…”#LoveJihad_ActOfTerrorism pic.twitter.com/wRm6OebHYY — Jyot Jeet (@activistjyot) November 22, 2022 Several other users also tweeted the clip. Alt News found another video interview of the same man on a YouTube channel named ‘TNN World’ where he identifies himself as Vikas. In that interview, he can be heard saying that Aftab murdered Shraddha because she must have done something wrong. He further states that since Aftab cut Shraddha’s corpse into 35 pieces, Aftab should be cut into 75 pieces. At 1:52 of the video, when the reporter asks if his name is Vikas, he says, “Aur Kya! daari se Mommedan lag raha hu, par Hindu hnu aur kya. Aadhaar card dekhle bhai”. (Translation: My beard makes me look like a Muslim, but I’m a Hindu. Check my Aadhaar card”.) [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFHRsh7y-A0] We also found that the official Twitter handle of Bulandshahr Police put out a video statement wherein they said that the man’s name was Vikas and not Rashid Khan. Police said that the person seen in the video had been arrested and the viral clip was shot in Delhi. they also said that five cases against Vikas had been filed prior to this incident. सोशल मीडिया के माध्यम से दिल्ली में बना एक वीडियो संज्ञान में आया था जिसमें एक व्यक्ति द्वारा स्वयं को बुलन्दशहर का निवासी बताते हुए आप्पत्तिजनक टिप्पणी की थी प्रकाश में आये अभियुक्त को थाना सिकन्द्राबाद पुलिस द्वारा गिरफ्तार किया गया है इस सम्बन्ध मे वरिष्ठ पुलिस अधीक्षक की बाइट pic.twitter.com/AyTLBvdTgu — Bulandshahr Police (@bulandshahrpol) November 25, 2022 Journalist Sachin Gupta also tweeted that ‘Rashid Khan’ who had justified the crime allegedly committed by Aftab turned out to be Vikas Kumar. He has been arrested. आफताब द्वारा किए गए 35 टुकड़ों को जस्टिफाई करने वाले कथित “राशिद खान” को आखिर UP की बुलंदशहर पुलिस ने ढूंढ निकाला। वो राशिद नहीं, विकास कुमार निकला। आरोपी विकास अरेस्ट है।#Delhi #Bulandshahr #Up pic.twitter.com/zfIuzKn3QL — Sachin Gupta (@sachingupta787) November 25, 2022 Journalist Aditya Tiwari also tweeted the police findings. Tiwari also tweeted an image of Vikas Kumar’s Aadhaar card where his date of birth has been mentioned as January 1, 2004. दिल्ली में आफताब द्वारा किए गए 35 टुकड़ों को जस्टिफाई करने वाले कथित “राशिद खान” को आखिर UP की बुलंदशहर पुलिस ने ढूंढ निकाला वो राशिद नहीं, विकास कुमार निकला, आरोपी विकास अरेस्ट, एसएसपी का बयान “ऐसे जाहिलो की वजह से समाज में विश्वास टूट रहा और समाज प्रदूषित हो रहा” pic.twitter.com/KAZN86Qzpz — आदित्य तिवारी / Aditya Tiwari (@aditytiwarilive) November 25, 2022 A video of Vikas Kumar speaking to a journalist after being arrested for his inappropriate comments was also found. On being asked why he identified himself as Rashid Khan, he says “Everyone called me Rashid there. I didn’t know that this incident would reach so many people”. Vikas Kumar who identified himself as Rashid Khan in a viral video where he is heard sharing his inappropriate comment on the Shraddha Walker murder case has been arrested by UP’s Bulandshahr police. pic.twitter.com/OB70AfS9Hd — Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) November 25, 2022 After the identity of the man came out in public domain, OpIndia clarified in a tweet that the man in the video had been identified as Vikas Kumar (Archive). They also published a new article with the police updates titled, “खुद को राशिद बता 36 टुकड़े करने की कर रहा था बात, UP पुलिस ने पकड़ा तो आफताब का ‘हमदर्द’ निकला विकास जाटव: कहा था- चाकू बजाते जाओ”. After the police statement was released, Swati Goel Sharma, a journalist with the Right Wing news outlet Swarajya, made the claim that Vikas Kumar had recently converted to Islam and very likely had a Tablighi connection. Given my experience with covering Dawah activities, I feel he is a recent convert. I am saying this irrespective of what he said, of which I have little idea. A very likely Tablighi connection https://t.co/Sf2W6Lxgpy — Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) November 25, 2022 Alt News spoke to Bulandshahr Police who confirmed that the accused was named Vikas Kumar and not Rashid Khan. On being asked whether Vikas Kumar had recently converted to Islam, the Police said that they had no such information yet. Hence, the man making inappropriate statements about the Shraddha Walkar murder case in the viral video shared by several prominent figures is actually Vikas Kumar, and not Rashid Khan, as he himself claimed in a video. Corrigendum: In an inadvertent error, it was mentioned in the article that a journalist had claimed that Vikas Kumar had recently converted to Hinduism. The article has been updated. The error is sincerely regretted. Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th November 2022 / 6:57 pm / Last updated: 26th November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/after-social-media-outrage-rashid-khan-justifying-shraddha-murder-turns-out-to-be-vikas-kumar/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
190	Multiple fake Twitter accounts made in the name of Gujarat constable Sunita Yadav - Alt News Kinjal 17th July 2020 / 3:50 pm / Last updated: 17th July 2020 On July 8, Sunita Yadav, LR (Lok Rakshak Dal) constable reprimanded the son of Gujarat Health Minister Kumar Kanani for breaking curfew in Surat, Gujarat. The video of this incident was viral on social media with a lot of praises coming the policewoman’s way. A Twitter handle @yadavsunita143 began posting several tweets in support of Sunita Yadav since July 12. That same day at 4 pm, it wrote, “I thought it appropriate to resign from the job rather than apologise to the son of a minister. Thank you for all your support. (ने एक मंत्री के बेटे से माँफी माँगने के बजाय नौकरी से इस्तीफा देना उचित समझा। आप सभी के समर्थन के लिए शुक्रिया।)” At the time of writing this article, the tweet was liked more than 62,000 times and retweeted more than 16,000 times. The number of followers of this account doubled in a few days. It currently has more than 20,000 followers. In the replies of the above tweet, several users have congratulated Sunita Yadav for her work. Reading the comments section, it seems clear that people are believing this handle is the official handle of constable Sunita Yadav. The account carried the word ‘parody’ in both its username and bio. This was later changed to only read “sunita Yadav constable Gujarat police”. We also found that the username of the account used to be ‘@RealKomalMeena’ which was changed to ‘@RealKomalMahar’ on June 25. Later in July, the account again changed its username to ‘@Yadavteju111’. It is worth noting that @yadavsunita143 frequently posts follow-back requests by commenting on tweets of politicians, actors and prominent individuals. The handle @yadavsunita143 is, therefore, an imposter account of Gujarat police constable Sunita Yadav. The handle had tweeted a screenshot of its homepage in October 2019 which reveals its earlier username, @alokyadav521. The bio makes a follow request for @alokyadav58. That @alokyadav521 and @alokyadav58 are the same people is proved by the tweets below. The handle @yadavsunita143 is therefore run by the same person who runs @alokyadav58. @yadavsunita143 gained followers on Twitter by posting the same tweet on replies to politicians with ‘Yadav’ surname, especially those of Samajwadi Party (SP). A quick scroll of the timelines of @alokyadav58 and @yadavsunita143 shows that they regularly share tweets favouring SP. There are several other fake handles running in Sunita Yadav’s name — @sunita_yadav123, @Sunitayadav1143 और @GPsunitayadav. The constable took to Facebook to clarify the same and said that she will inform in case she makes an account on Twitter. Sunit yadav नाम से जो एकाउंट ट्विटर पे चल रहा है। वो मेरा नही है। जो ट्वीट मेरे नामसे हो रहे है उसकी जिम्मेदारी मेरी नही है। अगर मेरे कोई एकाउंट होगा तो में जानकारी दूँगी। – सुनिता यादव Posted by Sunita Yadav on Monday, 13 July 2020 Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	17th July 2020 / 3:50 pm / Last updated: 17th July 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/after-stopping-gujarat-health-ministers-son-violating-curfew-in-surat-by-sunita-yadav-many-fake-twitter-accounts-created-using-her-name/", "author": "Kinjal" }
191	Agneepath scheme protest: Did 'Shami Aslam' pose as Hindu in chat inciting violence? - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 21st June 2022 / 6:37 pm Amidst the ongoing nationwide protests against the implementation of the government’s Agneepath Scheme, a new military recruitment policy, a screenshot of an alleged chat on a WhatsApp group is widely circulating on social media. In the group called ‘Boycott TOD (Tour of Duty)’, some people can be seen conspiring to burn down the Ramadevi police post. Sharing a screenshot of this alleged WhatsApp chat, Twitter user @puspendrakusav2 claimed that the youth, Ayush Thakur, who can be seen in the chat inciting people to burn the police post is actually ‘Shami Aslam’, a Muslim going by the alias Ayush. The name appears when one looks for it on Truecaller, a mobile app that helps with caller identification. Many Twitter users have shared the same screenshot claiming the same. This claim is also widely circulating on Facebook. Police Commissionerate of Kanpur Nagar issued a statement that the social media monitoring team formed by the Police Commissionerate took prompt action and traced the people seen in the chat. The police arrested five youths – Bhupendra Yadav (25), Ayush (20), Harsh Yadav (21), Amit Yadav (21) and Raju Yadav (20) under various sections of the IPC. व्हाटसअप ग्रुप पर थाना/चौकी जलाने व उपद्रव की दे रहे थे धमकी, कमिश्नरेट पुलिस द्वारा बनाई सोशल मीडिया मानीटरिंग टीम ने उपद्रव के पहले ही सभी को ट्रेस कर त्वरित कारवाई करते हुए कमिश्नरेट पुलिस ने पांच युवकों को किया गिरफ्तार… संगठित अपराध व उपद्रवियों पर पुलिस रखे है पैनी नजर pic.twitter.com/Qy3zp0af4f — POLICE COMMISSIONERATE KANPUR NAGAR (@kanpurnagarpol) June 18, 2022 The name Shami Aslam indeed appears on the TrueCaller app when the number of the person named ‘Ayush’ on the alleged chat is searched, however, when one looks for the number on Twitter, one can see a user with the name Ayush appears in the search result. In the tweets, he’s appealing to Sonu Sood to arrange medical help and oxygen for his uncle whose condition was deteriorating. He mentioned the same phone number, as is currently viral, at the end of his tweets. Comparing the Twitter and WhatsApp profile pictures we noticed the following: We contacted the Media Cell set up by the Kanpur Nagar Police and was informed that after the arrest of Ayush Thakur in the investigation of case number 650/2022, police station Chakeri, it was found that this number is in the name of Shakuntala Devi and is being used by Ayush. The same details were also confirmed to us by a senior police official over a telephonic call. Why does the name Shami Aslam appear on TrueCaller? When we looked for the number on Google, it appears under the name Sana (name changed) on multiple blogs. Most likely the number previously belonged to a Muslim individual. A comment on a blog post made in 2010 also suggested the same. We are not linking these blogs to preserve the individual’s privacy. Alt News reached out to TrueCaller to understand how contacts are saved on the app but we were sent a boilerplate response. A blog on TrueCaller’s website, however, provides some insight into how the app determines a person’s identity via a phone number. A blog post titled ‘How Truecaller’s Caller ID Works‘ says that TrueCaller uses crowdsourcing to determine a contact name, so if the number was saved under the name of “Shami Aslam” by most of its users then the app showed the same.Alt News spoke with a person who had previously owned this number. On the condition of anonymity, the person said that they had stopped using the number a couple of years ago and didn’t know any Shami Aslam. The number was transferred to someone else as this person had not paid the bills for the connection. To sum it up, the number was indeed being used by Ayush Thakur currently and a mismatch in the name on TrueCaller led to the misinformation. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st June 2022 / 6:37 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/agneepath-scheme-protest-did-shami-aslam-pose-as-hindu-in-chat-inciting-violence/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
192	Ahmedabad Mayor Bijal Patel tweets an image from Seoul as Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad - Alt News Jignesh Patel 7th November 2018 / 9:18 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019 In a major embarrassment for Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the Mayor of the city has tweeted a picture from Seoul as Sabarmati riverfront. On November 6, Ahmedabad Mayor Bijal Patel tweeted an image purportedly of Ahmedabad Riverfront with a message, “It’s not Singapore , Malaysia, Dubai….. , It’s our Amdavad city. #MaruAmdavad #RiverFront night areal view. #WorldHeritageCity @AmdavadAMC @vnehra”. One of the first handles to tweet this image was Manish Tilwani, who describes himself on twitter, “ITSM Sabarmati” and is followed by Piyush Goyal Office and several prominent BJP leaders. The mayor has tweeted an identical text including the spelling error, areal. Patel was also tagged by Tilwani in his tweet. Vrushant Merchant, who’s Twitter bio reads, “Social Media Convener BJYM Karnavati” also made the identical claim. Alt News did a Google reverse image search and found a similar picture on the travel website Trip Advisor. The vantage point from which the photograph was shot is the restaurant ‘Walking on the Cloud’ located near the banks of Han river, South Korea. To confirm the location of the image, we independently verified the views of the same place using Google Maps and found a daytime image from the same vantage point in live view. A daytime image of Han River of Seoul, South Korea from a distance can also be found on Wikipedia. As shown above, the images are from Seoul, South Korea and NOT Ahmedabad. Earlier in October this year, BJP Chhattisgarh had used images from Gujarat and Canada to showcase improved highways in the state. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th November 2018 / 9:18 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ahmedabad-mayor-bijal-patel-tweets-an-image-from-seoul-as-sabarmati-riverfront-in-ahmedabad/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
193	Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation officer manhandled, fed chillies, allegedly for demanding bribe - Alt News Pratik Sinha 23rd February 2017 / 1:17 am / Last updated: 23rd February 2017 In a shocking video that has been shared on Facebook, a group of angry people manhandled an officer of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and force fed him chillies allegedly because he asked for a bribe. Officer of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation manhandled, force-fed chillies, allegedly for asking for a bribe. Posted by Alt News on Wednesday, February 22, 2017 After a verbal altercation, slogans of “Hai Hai Panchal” can be heard, Panchal being a common surname in Gujarat. Following this, the angry mob manhandled him and force-fed him chillies despite his protestations regarding his eyes burning. At the end of it, they offered him water and threatened him that unless he works honestly in the future, the same treatment will be meted out to him again. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd February 2017 / 1:17 am / Last updated: 23rd February 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ahmedabad-municipal-commissioner-officer-manhandled-fed-chillies-allegedly-demanding-bribe/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
194	Ahmednagar police deny Muslims raised pro-Pak slogans during Ram Navami celebration - Alt News Mohammed 18th April 2022 / 7:25 pm A video from Newasa in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra is currently being shared on social media with the claim that Muslim youths pelted stones at a Ram Navami rally and chanted “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans. The voiceover in the video alleges that Hindus assaulted “jihadis” for shouting pro-Pakistan slogans. A parody Twitter handle that goes by the name “Maha Vinash Aghadi”, which literally means “Maharashtra destruction alliance”, was among those who shared the video. "Pakistan Zindabad" being chanted and stone pelted, during a Ram Navami procession in Nevasa, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. Listen to the names of those arrested. 👇 pic.twitter.com/zu8zVNp14p — Maha Vinash Aghadi ᴾᵃʳᵒᵈʸ (@MVAGovt) April 15, 2022 An identical video with the same communally-charged allegations was also tweeted by Twitter users Treeni, Sharansh Guha and Gopi. The video is also being shared on different social media platforms including Facebook. A right-wing propaganda page “पंच तत्व” too posted the video with similar claims. It is noteworthy that the claim – “pro-Pakistan slogans were raised by Muslims” – is made by the narrator and the audio of the Ram Navami rally hasn’t been played. This is the first 29 seconds where we can also spot the logo “हिंदुत्व वार्ता” on the top right corner. To give authenticity to the claim, “breaking news” slugs run throughout the video. The remaining 51 seconds of the video were lifted from a video report by Youtube channel “The Column – Crime”. Alt News reached out to Ahmednagar Superintendent of Police (SP) Manoj Patil. He said, “A large crowd had gathered during the rally. Some of our policemen were also present at the spot. It is true that friction was sparked after some youths from the Muslim community waved a green coloured flag when the Ram Navami rally was passing from the state transport stand to Kholeshwar Ganpati Temple. But our probe has found that no such slogan of Pakistan Zindabad was raised.” The officer said that despite hundreds of youths recording videos of the rally, the police could not find any video of pro-Pakistan slogans being chanted during the incident that took place on the evening of April 9 in front of Kismat Tea Center. Based on the complaint lodged by head constable Tulsiram Gite on April 10, Newasa police arrested eight suspects from the Muslim community. They have been charged with rioting, unlawful assembly, and using criminal force to deter a public servant from performing his duty. Police have also booked Hindu youths for holding a rally sans permission. Gite, who was also an eyewitness to the incident, told Alt News that neither “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans were shouted, nor was there any stone-pelting. He said, “After learning about the Ram Navami rally being taken out sans permission, we reached the spot and were accompanying the crowd of people. A group of Muslim youth was standing near Kismat Tea Center and one of them was waving a green coloured flag. I asked him not to do so and he got into argument with me. But soon he, along with his accomplices, left. This argument caught the attention of Hindu youths attending the rally. They suspected that a 15-year-old boy, Altaf Bagwan, was an accomplice of the suspects and began assaulting him. But Altaf had nothing to do with the Muslim youth who raised a green flag.” Kishor Pathade, a resident from Ahmednagar who was an eyewitness to the incident, further informed, “I, along with HC Gite, Akshay Tekade, Altaf Pathan and Jaideep Jamdar saved the minor from the assault. We also sustained minor scratches.” Hence, a video of a Ram Navami rally taken out on the evening of April 9 in Newasa, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, is viral on social media. It has been shared with the false claim that Muslim youth chanted “Pakistan Zindabad” when the rally was passing. There is no video evidence of the same and moreover, the police has denied that pro-Pakistan chants were raised during an altercation between two communities. Fact-checking journalist Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	18th April 2022 / 7:25 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ahmednagar-police-deny-muslims-raised-pro-pak-slogans-during-ram-navami-celebration/", "author": "Mohammed" }
195	AIMIM contested 96 seats in UP polls, not 165 seats as claimed in viral posts - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 15th March 2022 / 10:00 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2022 After the UP assembly elections results, a post went viral on social media claiming that candidates from Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) have “ensured” BJP’s win by dividing the votes. It claims that AIMIM contested “165 seats” where the BJP won with a low margin and these votes would have ensured BJP’s defeat if they had instead gone to the SP-RLD camp. The post further suggests that Asaduddin Owaisi is hands-in-glove with the BJP, hence doesn’t face any government scrutiny. In UP BJP won; 7 seats by 200 votes 23 seats by 500 votes 49 seats by 1000 votes 86 seats by 2000 votes. Total 165 seats In all these seats Owaisi has scored generously helped BJP! Now you know why he is excluded from #Pegasus Tapping & He deserves Bharat Ratna ! — Shreya (@s_shreyatweets) March 12, 2022 The figures in the viral posts were also carried by The Times of India, Deccan Herald, Lokmat Times, Sambad English and various others. The post was also shared by Congress leader Digvijay Singh on his Facebook page. Interesting facts. MIM and BJP are doing exactly what Britishers scripted by promoting Hindu Mahasabha RSS Savarkar on… Posted by Digvijaya Singh on Saturday, 12 March 2022 We checked the Election Commission of India (ECI) website to see the number of AIMIM candidates who contested the UP elections. We found that the party contested 96 seats out of the 403 seats in the state. This itself debunks the claim that in 165 seats AIMIM candidates “assisted” BJP to win. We also checked the winning margin data. The viral figures claim that BJP won 86 seats by 2000 votes but according to election data, there are only 29 seats where the winning margin is less than 2000 votes. Of these 29 seats, the winning margin is less than 500 in 11 seats, between 500-1000 in 4 seats, and between 1000-2000 votes in 14 seats. To sum it up, the viral figure shared by many opposition leaders and supporters is wrong. AIMIM has contested in less than 100 seats. Moreover, the winning margin shown in the viral post is also incorrect. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th March 2022 / 10:00 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aimim-has-contested-less-than-100-seats-in-up-polls-not-165-seats/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
196	Image of AIMIM members burning Nepalese flag falsely shared as saffron and Indian flag - Alt News Archit 19th June 2020 / 8:04 pm / Last updated: 19th June 2020 Three images of two Muslim men burning flags in front of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) banner have gone viral on Twitter and Facebook. As per the accompanying claim, AIMIM Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh members burnt saffron flags. “This is Md Saleem Ansari from AIMIM, Pratapgarh who is publicly burning a saffron flag. Such people become the cause of riots,” reads the claim. Multiple users on Twitter have tagged UP police alerting them about the alleged incident. (Translated from: ये प्रतापगढ़ के AIMIM जिलाध्यक्ष मो० सलीम अंसारी हैं, जो कि खुलेआम भगवा झंडे को जला रहे हैं, ऐसे ही लोग दंगे की वजह बनते हैं।) Twitter users @NEERAJD811 (archive link) and @TheThakurSaheb (archive link) posted the set of images. Their tweets were retweeted over 1000 and 600 times respectively. Some Facebook users (link 1, link 2) have shared another image of the incident and claimed that the men burned the Indian national flag. A poster with ‘India मुर्दाबाद’ written is seen behind the men. Alt News performed a keyword search on Facebook using ‘प्रतापगढ़ के AIMIM’ and found that Facebook user Parwana Malik Ziya had posted the viral images on June 14. In the post, Ziya wrote that AIMIM members burnt a Nepalese flag after the country’s government declared a part of Indian territory as their own. As per this post, the men in the viral image are AIMIM members Saleem Ahmed Ansari and Israr Ahmed. Using this as a clue, Alt News performed another keyword search, this time on Twitter, and found that this claim has been debunked by Pratapgarh police. Responding to Twitter user @Vivek21shukla, Pratapgarh police tweeted in Hindi, “The flag displayed in the above-mentioned case is of Nepal. To protest the parliament of Nepal allegedly declaring Indian territories as their land, members of AIMIM party Pratapgarh burnt Nepalese flags. (translated from उक्त प्रकरण में प्रदर्शित झण्डा नेपाल देश का है, नेपाल देश की संसद द्वारा कथित रूप से भारतीय क्षेत्र को नेपाली क्षेत्र बताये जाने के विरोध में एआईएमआईएम पार्टी प्रतापगढ़ के सदस्यों द्वारा नेपाल का झण्डा जलाया गया है।). The tweet by Pratapgarh police also included two images — a news clipping and letter by Ansari dated June 16 which also talks about the protest against Nepal. उक्त प्रकरण में प्रदर्शित झण्डा नेपाल देश का है, नेपाल देश की संसद द्वारा कथित रूप से भारतीय क्षेत्र को नेपाली क्षेत्र बताये जाने के विरोध में एआईएमआईएम पार्टी प्रतापगढ़ के सदस्यों द्वारा नेपाल का झण्डा जलाया गया है। pic.twitter.com/naSVmIPlmp — PRATAPGARH POLICE (@pratapgarhpol) June 17, 2020 Nepal’s parliament recently passed the amendment to include a new political map featuring areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura in the Constitution of Nepal. As per a June 18 Hindustan Times report, “Almost 98% of the 1,750-km land and riverine border between India and Nepal has been delineated and differences remain only in the Kalapani sector in Uttarakhand and Susta sector in Bihar.” The clipping shared by the police clearly shows that the men are burning a Nepalese flag. In response to @Asli_Shivani’s tweet, Pratapgarh police upload a video clarification by one of the men in the viral video. He says, “I had notified the respected president and district magistrate about this protest. I’m protesting against Nepal. In case someone thinks that this act was done to hurt religious sentiments, I’d like to apologise. (Translated from मैंने इस आशय का ज्ञापन माननीय राष्ट्रपति संभोदित करते हुए झिला अधिकारी को दिया है मैं नेपाल का विरोध कर रहा हूँ और अगर मेरे इस योग से किसी को यह लग रहा है कि मैंने किसी की धार्मिक भावनाओं को आहत करने के लिए माफ़ी चाहता हूं।) उक्त प्रकरण में झण्डा नेपाल देश का है, नेपाल देश की संसद द्वारा कथित रूप से भारतीय क्षेत्र को नेपाली क्षेत्र बताये जाने के विरोध में एआईएमआईएम पार्टी प्रतापगढ़ के सदस्यों द्वारा नेपाल का झण्डा जलाया गया है। pic.twitter.com/kc0EGVfYpK — PRATAPGARH POLICE (@pratapgarhpol) June 16, 2020 Moreover, we can clearly see AIMIM’s banner in the viral images with a poster that reads ‘Nepal मुर्दाबाद’. The same men can be seen burning a Nepalese flag in a video uploaded by YouTube channel Osoking O’Tv on June 18. The collage below clearly shows that the Indian flag and the poster against the country were morphed into the image. Thus the social media claim associated with the viral image is false. The AIMIM members were burning Nepalese flags to protest the country’s decision to include Indian territory in their map. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	19th June 2020 / 8:04 pm / Last updated: 19th June 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aimim-members-burn-nepali-flag-image-edited-to-claim-they-burn-bhagwa-and-indian-flag/", "author": "Archit" }
197	Fake poster: Alt News logo misused to claim rape-accused not associated with AIMIM - Alt News Jignesh Patel 8th May 2020 / 10:35 pm / Last updated: 8th May 2020 On May 7, it was reported in the media that 24-year-old accused Mohammed Shakeel was arrested by Chaderghat police for allegedly raping a minor Dalit girl. Several outlets claimed that the accused was a local AIMIM worker. According to reports, the accused allegedly lured the 16-year-old minor and had raped her in Hyderabad’s Chaderghat. The police has registered a case under sections 448, 376, 508 of the Indian Penal Code along with sections 3 and 4 of the POSCO Act and section 3 (2) (v) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities (PoA) Act. “The issue has become political in Telangana as the perpetrator has been accused of being an aide of AIMIM Malakpet MLA Ahmed Bin Abdullah Balala and several pictures of them together have surfaced online. However, the legislator has denied any links and has assured that strict action will be taken by the police against the accused.” reported The News Minute. On May 8, AIMIM MLA Ahmed Balala retweeted a tweet posted by one Sumaiya Khan. It carried two graphics refuting the claims that Mohammed Shakeel is associated with the party. Shockingly, one of the graphics has misused Alt News logo. The graphic falsely claims that an Alt News fact-check found that Shakeel has no links with AIMIM. Alt News hasn’t published any fact-check claiming that Shakeel is not a member of AIMIM. The poster has misused Alt News logo. As reported by media outlets, several images of Shakeel have surfaced online where he is seen along with AIMIM leaders including Malakpet MLA Ahmed Balala. However, it may be reiterated that the legislator has denied any links with the accused. #Our work is our identity# Minor (15years) girl raped by #MIM leader Shakeel at Chaderghat police station limits Hydreabad #JusticesForMahalaxmi# Posted by Khaja Bilal Ahmed on Wednesday, 6 May 2020 We spoke with a party functionary who on the condition of anonymity confirmed that Shakeel was a very active party worker. While Alt News is independently unable to verify Shakeel’s association with the AIMIM, it is true that he was seen with party leaders in several photos. A fake graphic created by misusing Alt News logo was falsely passed off as an authentic fact-check to inject credibility in the claim that Shakeel has no association with AIMIM. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th May 2020 / 10:35 pm / Last updated: 8th May 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aimim-mla-retweets-fake-poster-misusing-alt-news-logo-claiming-rape-accused-not-associated-with-party/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
198	Air India crash: Malappuram Collector terms news of 40 passengers testing COVID positive "fake news" - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 8th August 2020 / 4:12 pm Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi published a story on August 8 claiming that 40 victims of the Air India Express plane crash at Kozhikode International Airport tested positive for coronavirus. The article is now deleted but the tweet remains (archive). Purav Patel, who identifies as a senior special correspondent at News Nation, also claimed that 40 passengers tested positive. Alt News contacted the Malappuram Collectorate’s office and was told that the claim is “fake news”. This was also tweeted by the District Collector in the afternoon of August 8. #FakeNews #CCJaccident #CalicutAirCrash #AirIndia #KozhikodeAirCrash @CMOKerala pic.twitter.com/Bmuuk9TWdq — District collector, Malappuram (@CollectorMlpm) August 8, 2020 As per the latest update, one out of the at least 18 deceased tested COVID positive. All the accident victims will be tested for COVID including those who died in the crash. So far, only one victim has tested positive for Coronavirus: Kerala Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) — ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2020 According to a PTI report, at least two passengers also tested positive for coronavirus. There are no credible news reports which claim that 40 passengers were found to be COVID positive. The same has also been denied by the local government. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th August 2020 / 4:12 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/air-india-crash-malappuram-collector-terms-news-of-40-passengers-testing-covid-positive-fake-news/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
199	Air India crash: Manorama News airs simulation clip as cockpit visuals - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 11th August 2020 / 9:42 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2020 Air India Express flight IX-1344 crashed at Kozhikode International Airport on August 7. Eighteen people died in the mishap and over 150 others were injured. Malayalam channel Manorama News, during its August 10 bulletin, played a video claiming that it shows the cockpit of flight IX-1344. The relevant portion can be watched onward 15:13 minutes. അഞ്ചു ജില്ലകളില്‍ ഇന്നുകൂടി ഓറഞ്ച് അലര്‍ട്ട്; പെട്ടിമുടിയില്‍ തിരച്ചിൽ തുടരുന്നു #NewsBulletin Posted by Manorama News TV on Monday, 10 August 2020 A Twitter user claimed that the video is widely circulating on WhatsApp. Dear @airindiain A news channel from Kerala @manoramanews says this is the cockpit video of the flight #KozhikodePlaneCrash . Kindly clarify , is this original video , This video is heavily circulated in whatsapp. pic.twitter.com/0fgMGo0dYU — RebelRevolution (@rebelrevoultion) August 11, 2020 Alt News has also received verification requests for the video on its official mobile application and WhatsApp number (+917600011160). Facebook page ALIF News – India shared the video with the caption, “Reality of Kerala Plane Crash,” drawing over 19,000 views. The video is not genuine but a simulation clip. A keyword search ‘Air India Express flight crash’ takes one to the original video uploaded by YouTube channel ‘MPC Flight Recreations’ on August 7. The description of the video reads, “This is a video simulation with real data of Air India Express flight 1344, a Boeing 737 registration VT-AXH from Dubai to Calicut Airport, on august 7, 2020.” The part aired by Manorama News can be seen at 1:43 minutes. The top right corner of the video carries the words ‘academic license’ which indicates that the video was created using a software. Academic licenses are for educational products and are generally given to students or educational institutes. Therefore, Malayalam daily Manorama News played a simulation video claiming that the channel “received visuals” of the cockpit of the Air India Express flight that crashed on August 7. Earlier, Mathrubhumi had reported that 40 passengers of the flight tested COVID positive. This was denied by Malappuram Collector. Update: Manorama News sent a clarification on their broadcast after Alt News Fact Check was published. The same has been added below. “We had collected various visuals/simulations as models and filed them for reference. On the 10th of August, we got a still from the cockpit of the ill-fated plane. The news was based on this still. The news also clearly has details about the still like the position of the thrust lever, flap, the engine still functioning etc. We only intended to give details in the news based on this still. But inadvertently a visual which was stored for reference was used in the story. The oversight was immediately noted by our own team after the story went on air and it was withdrawn. Also, a fresh story was aired from the next bulletin. A link to the news story aired is attached for reference.” Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th August 2020 / 9:42 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/air-india-crash-manorama-news-airs-simulation-clip-as-cockpit-visuals/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
200	Air India crash: Old video of retired naval officer falsely viral as late Captain Deepak Sathe singing - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 10th August 2020 / 6:15 pm Air India Express’ flight IX-1344 overshot the runway at Karipur airport with 190 passengers on board on August 7. Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe, the pilot in command of the aircraft, and co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar lost their lives along with 16 others. A video now circulating on social media has been shared with the claim that it shows Captain Deepak Sathe singing. This Singer is Captain Shri Deepak Vasant Sathe, who died in Plane Crash yesterday in Kozikod- Kerala, This Song is dedicated to him, Om shanti 🌹🙏 pic.twitter.com/dkuLsVXm5C — MISSING YOU SSR🌹🙏 (@MukeshM93739493) August 8, 2020 Alt News has received several verification requests for the video on its official mobile application. The officer in the video is wearing a naval uniform which was the first clue suggesting that he is not late Captain Deepak Sathe. The officer is singing the song ‘Ghar Se Nikalte Hi’. A keyword search on YouTube took us to the same video uploaded in March 2019. According to an article in The Quint, “In a heartwarming rendition of Udit Narayan’s Ghar Se Nikalte Hi, Vice Admiral Girish Luthra (Retd) left the families of the Indian Navy officers smiling…on the special occasion of the Indian Navy celebrating its ‘Golden Jubilee’ – 50 years – after being formally established on 1 March 1968.” “Vice Admiral Luthra, who held the position of Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, retired on 31 January upon superannuation, after dedicating four decades of his life to the Indian Navy. He was in-charge of the Western Naval Command since May 2016,” the report further stated. Therefore, a video from last year where Vice Admiral Girish Luthra (Retd) is singing to an audience of Naval officers and their families has been falsely shared as Captain Deepak Sathe singing, who passed away in the recent Air India Express crash in Kerala. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th August 2020 / 6:15 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/air-india-crash-old-video-of-retired-naval-officer-falsely-viral-as-late-captain-deepak-sathe-singing/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
201	Air India flight in war-torn Ukraine? No. Misinfo believed to be true - Alt News Archit 28th February 2022 / 8:27 pm / Last updated: 1st March 2022 Amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, several distressing videos of Indian students trying to escape Ukraine have surfaced on social media. On February 28, The Indian Express reported that four Union Ministers will visit as Special Envoy of the Indian government in neighbouring countries to expedite the rescue of Indian citizens from Ukraine. In the backdrop of this, a screenshot from PlaneFinder, a United Kingdom-based real-time flight tracking service, has gone viral since February 24. The image shows the trajectory of Air India flight number 121 (AI121) with the claim that it shows the aircraft flying through the warzone to rescue stranded Indians. Republic TV published an article with the headline, “Air India lone airliner to brave through war-ridden Russia-Ukraine airspace: Report” along with the viral image. This report was later deleted without any clarification. News18 anchor and managing editor Amish Devgan and Akhilesh Mishra, former director of the BJP government’s online citizen engagement initiative ‘MyGov India’, posted this image on February 27. Both have deleted their tweets. Using social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle, we found that over 100 accounts [view PDF] shared this image online including pro-government pages like Modi Once More and Saffron Tigers. The latter shared the image and wrote, “[sic] This single plane which is flying on sky of Russia Ukraine war zone is showing the power of new India. When no country has dare to fly there it is #AirIndia which is going to airlift Indian Nationals who are stuck there. This is new India under the able leadership of PM Narendra Modi ji. This single picture tells the whole story.” This post has been shared over 11,000 times and liked over 40,000 times. On the same day, FB page ‘Modi Once More’ shared this image and wrote, ” [sic] That’s Air India rescue flight on its way…Modi Ji – I got Swag Mitron!” Prior to all the posts, on February 24, Twitter user @QuebecTango posted the viral image and alleged AI121 was flying in a no-fly zone and dubbed it as ‘Leeroy Jenkins’ moment – a western slang for doing something extraordinary. This tweet was retweeted over 12,000 times. Air Traffic Control: Avoid the area – there’s a war on! Air India: LEEEEEROOOOYYYYY JEEEENKINNNNS!!! pic.twitter.com/VaBbgvxEDs — QuebecTango (@QuebecTango) February 24, 2022 It must be noted that a day after @QuebecTango shared the image, he claimed, “[sic] End result: it was a glitch in the app. It corrected itself but not before a screengrab was taken. I saw said screengrab and immediately tweeted the Leeroy Jenkins take without realising it was a glitch. End result: cries of “fake” but still happy with the joke.” Twitter user @YourAnonNews also shared this image and called it a “meme”. Looking at the viral image, we can see that the screenshot itself reveals that flight AI121 is heading to Frankfurt (Germany) not Ukraine. As per PlaneFinder, AI121 is operational on all days of the week except Wednesdays. It was Thursday on February 24, thus the flight was operational. The image below is a screenshot from PlaneFinder that shows the trajectory of flight AI121 on February 24. It is must be noted Press Trust of India reported that an Air India plane that took off to bring back Indians from Ukraine on February 24 was called back to Delhi after Ukrainian authorities issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) stating that civil flights within the country “are restricted due to potential hazard”. An Air India official told Alt News, “All flights have pre-defined air navigation routes guided by the air traffic control. In case of any exigences, non-availability of airspace or aerodrome, a NOTAM is issued and subsequently, a route is re-defined. I must stress that no commercial aircraft will enter any area(s) declared as no-fly zone.” Thus, it is safe to state that no ‘Leeroy Jenkins’ moment took place in relation to AI121 flight. On February 25, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted, “The first batch of evacuees from Ukraine reach Romania via Suceava border crossing.” The first batch of evacuees from Ukraine reach Romania via Suceava border crossing. Our team at Suceava will now facilitate travel to Bucharest for their onward journey to India. pic.twitter.com/G8nz2jVHxD — Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) February 25, 2022 To sum it up, Republic TV and News18 anchor Amish Devgan shared an unverified screenshot with the false claim that it shows India’s rescue mission on February 24. The Government of India began the rescue operation in question on February 25. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	28th February 2022 / 8:27 pm / Last updated: 1st March 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/air-india-flight-in-war-tone-ukraine-no-misinfo-believed-to-be-true/", "author": "Archit" }
202	AIUDF's Badruddin Ajmal didn't say India will become Islamic nation, 2019 speech clipped - Alt News Archit 10th March 2021 / 2:59 pm / Last updated: 10th March 2021 A 36-second clip of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) founder Badruddin Ajmal is widely shared on social media. In the video, Ajmal can be heard saying in Assamese, “For 800 years, Mughal Emperors had ruled India. Will make this country an Islamic republic. Who would form Ministry? Our Mahagathbandhan. Congress-UPA Mahagathbandhan would form the government, Insha’Allah. And in this government, your party AIUDF, with the symbol of lock and key, would be a partner. In the entire country, there wouldn’t have been even one Hindu. All would have been made Musalmaan.” The video was shared by India TV anchor Archana Singh. ये कांग्रेस के धर्म निरपेक्ष बदरुद्दीन अजमल हैं कभी आतंकी के एनकाउंटर पर आंसू निकालते हैं कभी ऐसे लोगों से गठबंधन,कांग्रेस वोट के लिए कुछ भी कर सकती है। #AssamAssemblyElections2021 #Congress #AIUDF pic.twitter.com/7OLIMz5HKO — Archana Singh (@AnaArchana) March 10, 2021 Other journalists who shared it were DD News consulting editor Ashok Shrivastav. His tweet gained close to 3,000 retweets. Similarly, it was also posted by ABP News anchor Astha Kaushik. News Nation consulting editor Deepak Chaurasia did not share the video but quoted Ajmal from the video clip – “The Mughals ruled India for several years and in the future also, an Islamic nation will be set up in India”. (भारत पर बरसों मुगलों ने शासन किया, और भविष्य में भी भारत इस्लामिक राष्ट्र बनेगा” :- बदरुद्दीन अजमल) Guwahati-based News Live whose chairman and managing director is Riniki Bhuyan Sharma, wife of BJP MLA Himanta Biswa Sarma, posted the clip on Facebook. অসমক ইছলামিক ৰাষ্ট্ৰ হিচাপে গঠন কৰাৰ ষড়যন্ত্ৰ বদৰুদ্দিন আজমলৰ ! অসমক ইছলামিক ৰাষ্ট্ৰ হিচাপে গঠন কৰাৰ নিকৃষ্ট ষড়যন্ত্ৰ AIUDF প্ৰধান বদৰুদ্দিন আজমলৰ ! চাঞ্চল্যকৰ VIDEO প্ৰচাৰ LEGAL RIGHTS OBSERVATORY নামৰ সংস্থাৰ। Posted by News Live on Tuesday, 9 March 2021 The viral video is a clipped version of Ajmal’s complete speech at Assam’s Barpeta district in 2019. The full speech is over 15 minutes long. The viral video has been made by merging four segments from the 5:50 mark to the 8:15 mark in the original video. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxxiNC3OqfU?start=350] The following section is an English transcription of Ajmal’s speech from 5:50 mark to 8:15 mark. The bold section highlights the bits used to make the viral video. The timestamp denotes the bit from which the original video was clipped to form the 36-second clip. “For 800 years, Mughal Emperors had ruled India [5:50 to 5:58] and they did not have the guts to even dream that this nation will become an Islamic nation [6:02 – 6:05]. If they wanted, there wouldn’t have been even one Hindu in India. All would have been made Musalmaan [6:10 – 6:15]. But did they do that? (crowd screams “NO”). They didn’t even try. They didn’t have the guts. Then the English ruled for 200 years. They also didn’t try to make India a Christian state. Did they have the guts? (crowd screams “NO”). After the country gained independence, Congress ruled 55 years out of the 70. From Jawaharlal Nehru, Shastri, Rajeev Gandhi, Manmohan Singh to Narasimha Rao – none of the congress leaders dreamt that we will make India a Hindu nation. But Modi ji, don’t have this dream. Your dream will only turn out to be a lie. You (addressing the crowd) give such answers to Modi ji, BJP, RSS, Himanta Biswa and party and vote for lock and key that Modi ji does not become Prime Minister. Who will form the ministry? Our Mahagathbandhan. Congress-UPA Mahagathbandhan would form the government, Insha’Allah. And in this government, your party AIUDF, with the symbol of lock and key, would be a partner [7:56 to 8:12].” Thus, a maliciously clipped video of All India United Democratic Front founder Badruddin Ajmal was shared to create a false impression that Ajmal suggested India will become an Islamic nation under Magathbandhan. Assam-based news channel DY365, Voice of Assam (followed by Prime Minister Modi) and VSK Assam were the regional channels that amplified the video. BJP Assam leader Pijush Janti Hazarika shared the video on Facebook. ই‌ যদি সঁচাকৈ হয়। কি ভয়ানক, কি দু:সাহস! বদৰুদ্দিন আজমলৰ আচল চৰিত্ৰ ওলাই পৰিল । এজনো হিন্দু ক ভাৰত বৰ্ষত থাকিব নোৱাৰিব ! ৮০০ বছৰ মোগলে শাসন কৰিছিল আৰু এতিয়া কংগ্ৰেছৰ লগত মিলি ইছলামিক ৰাষ্ট্ৰ গঠন কৰিম আৰু এজনো হিন্দুক ভাৰত বৰ্ষত থাকিব দিয়া নহব । বদৰুদ্দিন আজমল আপোনাক বুঢ়া আঙুলী দেখুৱাইছো । আমাৰ দেহত শেষ বিন্দু তেজ থকা লৈ আপোনাৰ এই সপোন পুৰণ ন’হব ! দেশ আৰু জাতিৰ স্বাৰ্থত প্ৰয়োজনত আত্ম বলিদান দিম । যিহেতু‌ বদৰুদ্দিন আজমলে এই ‌ক্ষেত্ৰত এতিয়ালৈ কোনো ধৰণৰ স্পষ্টি কৰণ‌ দিয়া নাই। Posted by Pijush Janti Hazarika on Tuesday, 9 March 2021 Apart from several right-wing Twitter accounts— Hindu Ecosystem, Legal Rights Observatory, Kreately, @abdullah_0ma, @SouleFacts (followed by Prime Minister Modi), and Twitter user @vikrantkumar — the video was also tweeted by BJP member Major Surendra Poonia (Retd) and RSS member Ratan Sharda. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media….	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th March 2021 / 2:59 pm / Last updated: 10th March 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aiudfs-badruddin-ajmal-didnt-say-india-will-become-islamic-nation-2019-speech-clipped/", "author": "Archit" }
203	Akali Dal's Manjinder Sirsa shares video from Surat as lockdown violation in Delhi's Daryaganj - Alt News Jignesh Patel 30th April 2020 / 5:25 pm A video of a large group of people mostly wearing a skull cap has gone viral on social media with the claim that these are scenes from Delhi’s Daryaganj locality where lockdown rules are being violated. दिल्ली के दरियागंज में सोशल डिस्टेंसिग, #लाॅकडाउन का पालन करते हुए जिम्मेदार नागरिक। pic.twitter.com/zlZNePJM3G — Jai Shri Ram (@bjplao) April 29, 2020 Akali Dal leader Manjinder Sirsa too tweeted the video with the same claim and took a jibe at Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of “pushing the lives of Delhi resident towards death” by not enforcing the social distancing norms. The tweet had garnered close to 4,000 retweets before it was taken down. An archived version of the tweet can be accessed here. Several other individuals on Facebook and Twitter posted the video with the identical claim. Alt News found that the video tweeted Sirsa is from actually Surat, Gujarat. It shows a market in the Limbayat area where lockdown rules were allegedly flouted by the locals on April 26, 2020. The same video was posted by journalist Parul Mahadik on the same day with the caption, “The video is from Surat’s coronavirus hotspot Limbayat area.” Posted by Parul Mahadik on Sunday, 26 April 2020 According to a report by media outlet One India, a video from the area went viral on social media following which policemen reached the spot in huge numbers. Seeing the police, the crowd went helter-skelter. The report stated that the police has registered three different cases and nabbed 25 people in the matter. In conclusion, a video of a crowd in Surat flouting the lockdown rules was shared with the false claim that the video depicted scenes from Delhi’s Daryaganj. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	30th April 2020 / 5:25 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/akali-dals-manjinder-sirsa-shares-video-from-surat-as-lockdown-violation-in-delhis-daryaganj/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
204	Akhilesh Yadav tweets video from 2019 as booth capturing in ongoing UP polls - Alt News Aqib Pathan 1st March 2022 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 2nd March 2022 Amid the ongoing assembly elections in UP, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted a video of booth capturing and wrote, “Election observers should request the Election Commission to take cognizance of a video of booth capturing at Kunda by a party representative publicly pressing the vote button on behalf of women and cancel the Kunda elections immediately. The individual in the video should be identified and arrested immediately.” While he has since deleted this tweet, its archived version can be accessed here. The clip is widespread on Facebook. The video has also been shared with the claim that the man entering the polling booth to vote on behalf of the women is associated with the BJP. चुनाव अधिकारी की मिलीभगत से “भाजपा” का पोलिंग एजेंट खुद ही डाल रहा है सबके वोट 😡😡 pic.twitter.com/nH0jPPZhRZ — Atul Solanki (@AtulSol73411551) February 26, 2022 Alt News had already debunked this video back in November 2020, when it was being falsely circulated as scenes from polling during the Bihar elections in Dhandli. This video was actually taken during the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. We used the video verification tool InVid to break the video into multiple keyframes and reverse search them on Google. This led us to a tweet thread from May 12, 2019 carrying the video. What the is this? Is this what we call democracy? pic.twitter.com/XFuvq5dD1m — Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) May 12, 2019 The user added a tweet by the Faridabad District Election Office in the thread that said the man who was entering the polling booth has been arrested. It also stated that polling was never vitiated. Prompt action taken. FIR lodged. Person behind bars. Observer enquired the matter personally and is satisfied that polling was never vitiated. — DISTRICT ELECTION OFFICE FARIDABAD (@OfficeFaridabad) May 12, 2019 On May 13, 2019, NDTV reported that the incident occurred in Haryana during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Faridabad election office confirmed that senior election officers visited the booth and saw the polling agent trying to influence ‘at least three lady voters’. He was arrested shortly afterwards. In sum, a video of booth capturing from the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was falsely shared by Akhilesh Yadav in connection with the ongoing UP assembly polls. Officials had arrested the individual seen in the video. Aqib is monitoring and researching mis/disinformation at Alt News Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	1st March 2022 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 2nd March 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/akhilesh-yadav-shared-2019-video-as-as-voter-fraud-in-recent-up-election-in-kunda/", "author": "Aqib Pathan" }
205	Akshay Kumar deletes old tweet on 'cleaning up bicycles' to counter rising fuel prices - Alt News Alt News Desk 21st May 2018 / 9:48 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 “Guys, I think it’s time to clean up your bicycles and hit the road! As per sources, expecting another petrol price hike”. Akshay Kumar’s tweet on rising petrol prices is timeless. It is as applicable today as it was in 2012 when Akshay Kumar tweeted it. This old tweet was dug out by Twitter users but before everyone could have a good laugh, Akshay Kumar decided to delete it. We wonder what made Akshay Kumar delete his tweet. Is it because he doesn’t want to be seen as critical of the BJP government? Is it because he doesn’t want people to learn about his double standards? The reasons for deleting the tweet are best known to him. Since Akshay Kumar doesn’t want people to see this tweet, he may not be very pleased to know that his tweet is archived for posterity. Many of those who shared jokes and witty one-liners on social media before 2014 have fallen silent now. So much so that Twitter users compete with each other to dig out old tweets and question the hypocrisy behind their silence. Prominent Bollywood stars who are silent now include Amitabh Bachchan who has not cracked any petrol joke after 2014. Here is a parting gift for Akshay Kumar. A tweet he forgot to delete. Couldn't even get to my house at nite for all of Mumbai was queuing up for #petrol before the prices rocketed again. — Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) May 16, 2011 Now that there is a BJP government in the Centre, we hope that Akshay Kumar is coping well with rocketing petrol prices. We wish him luck. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st May 2018 / 9:48 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/akshay-kumar-deletes-old-tweet-on-cleaning-up-bicycles-to-counter-rising-fuel-prices/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
206	Algeria-Senegal Africa Cup finals celebration viral as Pak PM Imran Khan's reception in US - Alt News Nitika Amin 22nd July 2019 / 9:21 pm A video showing a stadium full of people cheering and celebrating is being shared on social media. A fan account of Naeem Bokhari, a Pakistani television personality and lawyer, posted the video with the message “USA right now @ImranKhanPTI #PMIKInUSA”. The video had over 2,000 retweets and 8,000 likes at the time of writing this article. It has attracted nearly 3 lakh views. USA right now 😍😍😍😍@ImranKhanPTI #PMIKInUSA pic.twitter.com/xGswlK67i2 — Naeem Bokhari🇵🇰 (@IM_Bukhari1) July 21, 2019 This video has been tweeted by many other users as well. It is noteworthy that Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is currently on a 3-day trip to the US. A close look at the video shows key elements that indicate that it has nothing to do with Imran Khan. 1. Face paint – several people in the video have painted their faces which is typical of a sporting event. The prominent colours visible in the video are white, red and green. 2. Flags – same as the colours of the face paint, several people in the video can be spotted waving red, green and white coloured flags. If one notices carefully, the red is in the middle in the shape of a crescent. The flag of Algeria has the above-mentioned colours and a red coloured crescent and a star in the middle. This hinted that the sporting event might be related to a tournament of which Algeria was a part. Using these clues, Alt News performed a keyword search on Google. We found out that Algeria had a football game against Senegal on July 20, 2019. It was the final game in the Africa Cup of Nations, a biennial international men’s football championship. We found a Twitter account that posted the same video with the message – “This is how Algerian fans celebrated their African Cup of Nations win last night. The final was played in Cairo, Egypt. This stadium is in Algiers, Algeria. Incredible”. The tweet credited Maher Mezahi, an Algerian journalist who covers football in North Africa, for the video. By looking at the journalist’s Twitter account, we found the video that he uploaded with the caption – “This is how Algerian supporters watched the match at Stade 5 Juillet today.” This is how Algerian supporters watched the match at Stade 5 Juillet today. pic.twitter.com/rGWJPq5fIg — Maher Mezahi (@MezahiMaher) July 20, 2019 The video being shared on social media is unrelated to Pakistani PM Imran Khan’s recent visit to the US. It shows celebrations by Algerian supporters after their country won the African Cup of Nations against Senegal on July 20, 2019. Algerian supporters watched the match held in Cairo, Egypt from Stade du 5 Juillet Stadium in Algeria. During his US trip, Imran Khan reportedly addressed a crowd of overseas Pakistanis in Washington DC. Up to 30,000 people had gathered for the event, a video of which was shared by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s official Twitter handle. This further proves that the viral video is unrelated to Khan’s visit. The moment when PM Imran Khan arrived. A magical reception for a people’s leader. The countdown, the arrival, the echoes of the crowd. This is the stuff of dreams. The dreams of Naya Pakistan. #PMIKJalsaInUSA pic.twitter.com/qsaX8U3wxB — PTI (@PTIofficial) July 21, 2019 Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd July 2019 / 9:21 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/algeria-senegal-africa-cup-finals-celebration-viral-as-pak-pm-imran-khans-reception-in-us/", "author": "Nitika Amin" }
207	Aligarh 'encounter': Media outlets wrongly report Umar Khalid involved in abducting kin of deceased - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 1st October 2018 / 11:04 pm / Last updated: 3rd October 2018 In an alleged case of fake encounters, the Uttar Pradesh police on September 21 shot dead two purported criminals – Mustaqeem and Naushad – in Aligarh’s Harduaganj, and ‘invited’ media personnel to film the act. Aligarh SP Atul Srivastava later refuted that the encounters were stage-managed. #WATCH: Encounter between police and criminals in Harduaganj’s Mahua village in Aligarh district. Two criminals were killed in the encounter. (20.09.2018) pic.twitter.com/oahPijuZMG — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 21, 2018 The police had claimed that the slain youths were booked for six murders on September 18 and had since been absconding. During interception two days later, they allegedly began shooting at the cops, triggering a crossfire and their eventual death in an encounter. Family members, however, gave a vastly different version of events, claiming that the two youths were picked up from home on September 16 and later killed by the police. They also said that Naushad was a 17-year-old minor. Activists, journalists and student leaders of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), including Umar Khalid, visited the kin of the deceased on September 27 to investigate the encounters. The following day, several media outlets reported that Khalid was involved in abducting family members of the alleged criminals. Dainik Jagran was among the firsts to make the claim. The title of its report reads – “Umar Khalid involved in kidnapping the mother of a famous criminal, several JNU student leaders also accused (translated)” – however, the article fails to mention anything about the complaint filed against Khalid. While describing Khalid’s meeting with the kin of the deceased, Dainik Jagran reported, “दिल्ली से यूनाइटेड अगेंस्ट हेट की टीम के नदीम, अब्दुल माजिद, उमर खालिद के साथ एएमयू से पूर्व छात्रसंघ अध्यक्ष मशकूर अहमद उस्मानी, फैजुल हसन व वामपंथी नेता रंजन राना मुस्तकीम व नौशाद के परिजनों से मिलने पहुंचे थे। (‘United Against Hate’ activist Nadeem, along with Abdul Majid, Umar Khalid, AMUSU President Maskoor Usmani, Faizul Hasan and leftist leader Ranjan Rana met the families of Mustaqeem and Naushad.” “मुस्तकीम की पत्नी हिना ने मशकूर, फैजुल समेत सभी पर जबरन सास शबाना व नौशाद की मां शाहीन को ले जाने की रिपोर्ट दर्ज कराई है। (Mustaqeem’s wife Heena lodged a report against Maskoor, Faizul and everyone else on charges of forcefully taking her mother-in-law Shabana and Naushad’s mother Shaheen),” it further added, without explicitly reiterating that Khalid was involved in the abduction. In a report titled, “JNU student Umar Khalid accused of kidnapping criminal’s mother; Bajrang Dal reaches police station (translated)”, The Indian Express-owned Jansatta claimed that “Umar Khalid, two former student leaders of AMU and several other students are accused of abducting the mothers of the criminals who were killed in Harduaganj encounter.” However, in a later paragraph, the article says – “उधर, मुस्तकीम की पत्नी हिना ने एएमयू के निवर्तमान व पूर्व अध्यक्ष को नामजद करते हुए सास शबाना व शाहीन उर्फ रानी का अपरहण करने का आरोप लगाया (Mustaqeem’s wife Heena has accused the present and former AMU Presidents of abducting mothers-in-law Shabana and Shaheen.)” Jansatta failed to mention Khalid’s name in this excerpt. Zee News published a similar report, titled – “The AMU and JNU connection in Aligarh encounter, serious allegation against Umar Khalid (translated).“ The first paragraph of this article says – “पुलिस ने मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ताओं के एक समूह के खिलाफ अपहरण का मामला दर्ज किया है. इनमें अलीगढ़ मुस्लिम यूनिवर्सिटी (एएमयू) और जवाहरलाल नेहरू यूनिवर्सिटी (जेएनयू) के छात्र नेता भी शामिल हैं. इनपर आरोप है कि उन्होंने मुस्तकीम की मां और दादी का अपहरण किया था (Police has registered a case of kidnapping against a group of human rights activists. This includes student leaders of Aligarh Muslim Unversity (AMU) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The allegation against them is the abduction of Mustaqeem’s mother and grandmother.” However, Zee News in a subsequent paragraph says – “कार्यकर्ताओं के समूह में जेएनयू के छात्र नेता उमर खालिद भी शामिल हैं लेकिन शिकायत में उनको नामजद नहीं किया गया है. (Umar Khalid was also present among the activists, however, his name is not mentioned in the complaint.)” The first paragraph of the article had implied that JNU student leaders were involved in the abduction and the title suggested a serious allegation against Khalid. However, the subsequent paragraph of the report failed to state the exact role of Khalid or any other JNU student leaders in the abduction. Furthermore, in contrast to Dainik Jagran’s report which claimed that a complaint was filed by Mustakeem’s wife Heena, Zee News added that Bajrang Dal Secretary Ram Kumar co-authored the written complaint – “तहरीर बजरंग दल के सचिव राम कुमार आर्य और मुस्तकीम की पत्नी हिना की ओर से दी गई थी.” Apart from the aforementioned claims suggesting that Umar Khalid was booked for abducting the kin of the deceased, several mainstream media outlets contrastingly reported that “10 activists” were booked in the case. Among them was The Times of India, The Week, Scroll, Outlook, News18, The Hindu and NDTV. All the reports were attributed to PTI. According to the reports, “The controversy over the alleged fake encounter of two suspected criminals here took a new twist on Friday with the police booking 10 activists, including Aligarh Muslim University and Jawaharlal Nehru University student leaders, saying they had abducted family members of one of the deceased.” The case was registered in Atrauli police station. The reports further added, “The activists have been charged with abducting Mustakeem’s mother Shabana and grandmother Rafiquan.” Interestingly, The Times of India published another report on September 29, claiming that the mothers were kidnapped – “AMU students booked for abducting mothers of two criminals killed in police encounter.” Alt News contacted SHO Atrauli Police Parvesh Rana who said, “A case has been filed by Mustaqeem’s wife Heena who has named AMU students Maskoor Usmani and Faizul Hasan in the FIR for abducting the criminals’ mothers Shaheen and Shabana.” In the FIR copy accessed by Alt News, the names of the accused persons match. The complaint, filed under Heena’s name on September 27, claims that seven to eight people entered her home and forcefully abducted her mother-in-law Shabana (Mustaqeem’s mother) and Shaheen (Naushad’s mother). The landlord Imran, mother-in-law Rafiquan and an individual named Nafees were eyewitnesses to the kidnapping, according to the FIR. It further adds that Shabana dialled 100 at around 2 pm and informed the police of her abduction. Alt News spoke with both Usmani and Hasan, the accused in this case, who claimed that the FIR was false as Heena was coerced into lodging the complaint. They alleged that her thumb impression was taken under false pretences. We also contacted Umar Khalid who reiterated the same and said that the mothers of deceased had come with them on free will. When Alt News spoke with Shabana (Mustaqeem’s mother) and Shaheen (Naushad’s mother), they echoed Khalid’s statements. “We just want justice for our sons,” they repeated multiple times. Both women said that they were not abducted but made the decision to accompany Khalid and the others on their own accord. When the SHO of Atrauli police station was asked if the mothers were contacted for their versions of the story, Parvesh Rana said they were unable to get in touch with the women as the police were unaware of their whereabouts. “We don’t know where Shabhana and Shaheen have been kept, and in what conditions,” SHO Rana told Alt News. In sharp contrast to the claims made in the FIR and the police’s statements, both the women who were allegedly ‘abducted’ can be seen addressing a press conference held in Delhi on September 29. This was two days after the FIR was filed. The women addressed the media, with their alleged abductees also a part of the event. “The police picked up our boys from home and beat them up. Later, when we were asked to visit them at the hospital, our sons were dead. The police raided our homes, took our money and all documents,” said Shabana in presence of Khalid, Usmani and Hasan. Encounter or Murder: Press Conference on the reality of Aligarh encounter. #UnitedAgainstHate Posted by Umar Khalid on Saturday, 29 September 2018 While the case pertains to an ongoing criminal investigation, the issue of concern is the manner in which it was reported. The titles of several media reports portrayed Umar Khalid as involved in the abduction, while the articles failed to establish the same. The former JNU student enjoys a significant political presence and the misleading reportage points to the apparent use of a familiar name to garner an audience. Furthermore, while AMU student leaders Maskoor Ahmad Usmani and Faizul Hasan are co-accused in the FIR, they can both be seen with their alleged abductees in a public forum. An investigation into their indictment is pending and in such situations, presenting information of an underdeveloped story in an incomplete and misleading fashion amounts to irresponsible journalism. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	1st October 2018 / 11:04 pm / Last updated: 3rd October 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aligarh-encounter-media-outlets-wrongly-report-umar-khalid-involved-in-abducting-kin-of-deceased/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
208	Aligarh murder: OpIndia makes false accusation about Alt News manufacturing police statement - Alt News Alt News Desk 13th June 2019 / 10:13 pm / Last updated: 8th October 2019 Right-wing website OpIndia published an article on June 13, accusing Alt News of fabricating SSP Akash Kulhary’s statements in a June 6 report on the Aligarh murder case. Alt News’s article was based on statements posted by the Aligarh police on its official Twitter account and those given to Alt News by the SSP himself. The preliminary autopsy report ruled out rape of the 2.5-year-old child and the case is being further probed by forensic teams to ascertain the full nature of the crime. उक्त प्रकरण मे @sspaligarh @ips06akash महोदय द्वारा दी गयी बाईट । pic.twitter.com/DgnmIHtIwe — ALIGARH POLICE (@aligarhpolice) June 6, 2019 Alt News’s article was published before the child’s post mortem report was made public. The fact-check was based on the details that came out in the report, revealed to us by SSP Kulhary. The officer had declined our requests for a copy of the same which he stated was only meant for the victim’s family. In his initial statements, the SSP informed that according to the PM report, the child’s death was by caused by strangulation. When asked if social media claims suggesting that the child was raped are true, his immediate response was, “No, it’s wrong.” He further stated that online rumours propagating that her eyes were gouged out, her right arm was amputated and that acid was poured on her body were untrue. These details were voluntarily provided by the SSP without our probing for the same. OpIndia accused Alt News of fabricating the SSP’s statements. An audio recording of our conversation with IPS officer Kulhary can be heard below. An audio clip of OpIndia’s conversation with the SSP was used by the website to suggest that Alt News manufactured his statements. Here, the SSP can be heard claiming that he did not give the before-mentioned statements to Alt News. However, as evident from our conversation with him, the officer voluntarily provided most of the information. In a subsequent conversation with Alt News, the SSP made a slight alteration to his earlier statement, now informing that the minor’s arm was indeed amputated. However, he did not share the cause of the amputation. Our article was updated accordingly. The child’s murder has witnessed an outpour of national rage, and rightly so. However, amidst citizens’ demands for a speedy trial, the case has been picked by malevolent elements on social media attempting to paint a communal picture despite the investigation still underway. Tensions gripped Aligarh after the brutal crime and any misinformation surrounding the issue only adds fuel to the fire. Alt News’s fact-check was an attempt to curb the dissemination of misleading information that has the potential to exacerbate the animosity. The police had charged at least 13 persons over inflammatory social media posts about the murder. In a situation as delicate as this, any untrue rumour can prove to be fatal. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th June 2019 / 10:13 pm / Last updated: 8th October 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aligarh-murder-opindia-makes-false-accusation-about-alt-news-manufacturing-police-statement/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
209	Alleged 'human shield' incident from 2018 being shared in Pak social media as recent - Alt News Pratik Sinha 18th August 2019 / 12:30 am Hamid Mir, a prominent Pakistani journalist and anchor, has shared a video of a group of men sitting in front of vehicles of security forces. The commentary in the video claims that Indian security forces are using locals to shield themselves from stone pelters. Mir has shared the video with the text, “This is a latest video(16th August) of Jammu & Kashmir,suburbs of Srinagar where Indian Army used 4 detained Kashmiri boys as human shield to “defeat” some stone pelters some boys in jeans raising anti India slogans and brave soldiers abusing them saying “throw stones now”“, thus claiming that the video represents a present incident from Kashmir after the dilution of Article 370. This is a latest video(16th August) of Jammu & Kashmir,suburbs of Srinagar where Indian Army used 4 detained Kashmiri boys as human shield to “defeat” some stone pelters some boys in jeans raising anti India slogans and brave soldiers abusing them saying “throw stones now” pic.twitter.com/MeetCzzXmO — Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) August 17, 2019 This video is also being share extensively on different forms of social media. Many people responded to Mir’s tweet claimed that it is an old incident. Alt News searched for news reports of all reported ‘human shield’ incidents in the past, and came across articles in Scroll and Times of India which refer to the same video shared by Mir. Both the articles were published in June 2018 and claim that the said incident happened on June 18, 2018 and the video was reportedly shot at Samboora village in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. According to the report by Scroll, Sanjay Sharma, a commandant of the Central Reserve Police Force, stated that none of their personnel were seen in the video. The Army also did not respond to Scroll’s queries, stating that they’re ascertaining facts. However, Scroll spoke with some of the men who were used as human shields and they stated that the security forces took four men from their homes and used them as human shields. Thus, an alleged incident from 2018 of security forces using human shields was projected as a recent incident. Mir has shared misleading videos several times in the past and refrained from deleting them even after being pointed out (1, 2). Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	18th August 2019 / 12:30 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alleged-human-shield-incident-from-2018-being-shared-in-pak-social-media-as-recent/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
210	"Aloo sona machine": Previously debunked misinformation revived by ANI - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 6th April 2019 / 5:11 pm / Last updated: 6th April 2019 Mathura: BJP MP Hema Malini reacts on Rahul Gandhi’s ‘aaloo ki factory’ reported remark. says, “Hamari sarkar bahut saari jagah mein factory laga chuki hai. Bahut saara aaloo ka ban raha hai, chips wagairah. Everything is being made, also export bhi kitna hota hai. The above was tweeted by news agency ANI on April 5, along with a sound bite of BJP MP and actor Hema Malini, who is responding to a question posed by a reporter. #WATCH Mathura: BJP MP Hema Malini reacts on Rahul Gandhi’s ‘aaloo ki factory’ reported remark. says, “Hamari sarkar bahut saari jagah mein factory laga chuki hai. Bahut saara aaloo ka ban raha hai, chips wagairah. Everything is being made, also export bhi kitna hota hai.” pic.twitter.com/uenbasm1fZ — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) April 5, 2019 The video clip begins with the reporter asking “…Aloo ki factory lagayenge, ek taraf aloo dalenge doosri taraf sona niklega? (Potato factory will be set up, insert potato from one end and gold comes out from the other? – translation). To this, Hema Malini responds by saying, “Sabse pehle toh hamari sarkar bahut saari jagah mein factory laga chuki hai. Bahut saara aaloo ka ban raha hai, chips wagairah. Everything is being made, also export bhi kitna hota hai. (Firstly, our govt has set up factories at many places, lot of potato (products) like chips etc. are being made. Everything is being made. A lot is being exported- translation). What is to be noted over here is that the video clip is 18 seconds long, and begins abruptly with the reporter’s question already underway. The question is with reference to what Rahul Gandhi had supposedly once said- about setting up a ‘potato factory’, where potato turns into gold when inserted into a machine. Gandhi has been the butt of jokes on social media and beyond over his purported ‘aloo sona’ remark. The version posted by ANI via its tweet is truncated. Like pointed out earlier, the video clip begins abruptly. Another version of the same video, which was posted on Twitter, clearly shows that the reporter asks Hema Malini, “Rahul Gandhi kehte hain na aloo ki factory lagayenge ek taraf aloo dalenge doosri taraf sona niklega?” (Rahul Gandhi says potato factories will be set up, we will put potato from one end and get gold from the other?- translation). हेमा की आलू फैक्ट्री!@RahulGandhi के आलू से सोना बनाने वाले बयान पर कटाक्ष मारने वालों की बोलती शायद @dreamgirlhema के इस बयान के बाद बंद हो जाएगी. उनका कहना है कि @narendramodi सरकार पहले ही आलू की फैक्ट्री लगा चुकी है और आलू बन रहे है@scribe_prashant @Benarasiyaa @rohini_sgh pic.twitter.com/FqsfdeFAfK — Abhay Singh Rathore (@Abhay_journo) April 5, 2019 It is the reporter herself who says, “Rahul Gandhi kehte hain (Rahul Gandhi has said)”. She is referring to the Congress president having made this ridiculous statement. The fact of the matter is that Rahul Gandhi had never said that he would set up a ‘potato factory’ where machines would miraculously turn potatoes into gold. The basis for this claim is a curtailed video clip of a rally in which Gandhi had criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Gandhi was actually referring to PM Modi, saying that the latter had told farmers that he would set up a machine to convert potatoes into gold. ABP News had fact-checked this popular misinformation in January 2018. As can be seen in the video posted below, Rahul Gandhi had said, “Aloo ke kisano ko kaha, aisi machine lagaunga, iss side se aloo ghusega uss side se sona niklega. iss side se aloo dalo uss side se sona dalo. itna paisa banega apko pata nai hoga kya karna hai paise ka. Mere shabd nahi hai Narendra Modi ji ke shabd hain” (He told potato farmers, i will set up such a machine, that i will insert potato from one end and extract gold from the other. put potato at one end and extract gold from the other. You will make so much money that you will not know what to do with it. These are not my words. These are the words of Modi ji- translation). The complete video was uploaded on the Congress president’s YouTube channel. The relevant portion begins at 17:50 minutes. Rahul Gandhi was speaking at Patan, Gujarat at a public rally in November 2017. It may be noted that Rahul Gandhi’s claim amounts to political rhetoric, since there is no record of PM Narendra Modi having ever made any such statement. The reporter’s query to Hema Malini was based on misinformation which was made popular over time through repetition. It may be reiterated that Rahul Gandhi had never made such a statement, and was in fact accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having made that pledge to farmers. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	6th April 2019 / 5:11 pm / Last updated: 6th April 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/aloo-sona-machine-previously-debunked-misinformation-revived-by-ani/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
211	Alpesh Thakor’s rally video morphed with pro-Modi chants - Alt News Jignesh Patel 22nd March 2019 / 5:59 pm A video of Gujarat Congress leader Alpesh Thakor’s rally, where he can be heard asking the crowd to cheer for Congress President Rahul Gandhi, and the crowd responding with “Modi Modi” chants, is being shared extensively on social media. गुजरात के अहमदनगर में #राहुल_गांधी की रैली में कांग्रेस विधायक #अल्पेश_ठाकोर ने कांग्रेस राहुल गांधी का नारा लगाया #जनता ने #मोदी का नारा लगाया अल्पेश ठाकुर बोले बस बस 😁😂😁😂 Posted by Manish Mantri on Saturday, 16 March 2019 The caption reads: “गुजरात के अहमदनगर में राहुल_गांधी की रैली में कांग्रेस विधायक अल्पेश ठाकोर ने कांग्रेस राहुल गांधी का नारा लगाया जनता ने मोदी का नारा लगाया अल्पेश ठाकुर बोले बस बस” (Congress leader Alpesh Thakor wanted people to chant slogans in favour of Gandhi at a rally held by Rahul Gandhi in Ahmednagar (Gujarat) and people shouted, “Modi Modi”, then Thakor said that’s enough -translated) The same video with the identical narrative is viral on Twitter and Facebook alike. गुजरात के अहमदनगर में #राहुल_गांधी की रैली में कांग्रेस विधायक #अल्पेश_ठाकोर ने कांग्रेस राहुल गांधी का नारा लगाया #जनता ने #मोदी का नारा लगाया अल्पेश ठाकुर बोले बस बस 😁😂😁😂 pic.twitter.com/3iOblHREav — Chowkidar Sandeep Kapoor (@Sandeepkapoor01) March 16, 2019 Alt News found that the video had been morphed, with the audio being superimposed with “Modi Modi” chants to demonstrate the response from the crowd when Alpesh Thakor requested to chant slogans in favour of Rahul Gandhi. At 33:29 mins, in the extended video of the rally uploaded by Gujarat Congress on their YouTube Channel, when Alpesh Thakor had asked people to raise slogans in support of Gandhi, they actually said, “Rahul Gandhi Zindabad”. In 2017, ABP News had fact-checked the same edited video, when it had gone viral on social media during the Gujarat Assembly election. Despite several media outlets debunking the video, it continues to circulate on social media. With the general election around the corner, social media users should be circumspect about viral images and videos, which may be propagated by supporters of political parties to mislead voters. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd March 2019 / 5:59 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alpesh-thakors-rally-video-morphed-with-pro-modi-chants/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
212	False quote attributed to Ravish Kumar after General Bipin Rawat's demise - Alt News Mohammed Zubair 11th December 2021 / 8:01 pm After the death of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, and his wife in a helicopter crash near Coonoor, a viral claim began circulating on social media. It alleged that journalist Ravish Kumar questioned his wife’s presence in the chopper. The claim was widespread on Twitter, shared by @janardanspeaks, @AshishK_BJP, @humlogindia, @Ashishsinghtth, @VishnuMTiwari1, @JoshiAruj, @janardanmis. The claim has also been shared on Facebook. इस क्रूर हादसे के बाद भी रवीश कुमार सवाल कर रहा है कि जनरल बिपिन रावत की पत्नी हेलीकॉप्टर में किस हैसियत से बैठी थी … Posted by हरि गुप्ता on Wednesday, 8 December 2021 Ravish Kumar did not make the statement attributed to him. Had he made such a controversial remark, it would have been reported in the media. Kumar had made a Facebook post on December 8 where he wrote that the death of General Bipin Rawat and his wife was tragic. प्रमुख रक्षा अध्यक्ष जनरल बिपिन रावत के निधन की ख़बर झकझोरने वाली है। तीन तीन सेनाओं के प्रमुख का हेलिकाप्टर क्रैश कर… Posted by Ravish Kumar on Wednesday, 8 December 2021 Furthermore, he confirmed to Alt News that he made no such statement. “I have not written this on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. This organised attempt is also being carried out on Facebook. This is how they spread false news,” he said. Kumar’s prime time on General Bipin Rawat’s demise can be watched below. He did not make the statement during the show as well. In his December 10 primetime show, he spoke about the false statement widespread in his name. False quotes have often been attributed to Ravish Kumar. Some of these, debunked by Alt News, can be read here. Co-founder, Alt News Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via Twitter at https://twitter.com/zoo_bear Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th December 2021 / 8:01 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alse-quote-attributed-to-ravish-kumar-after-general-bipin-rawats-demise/", "author": "Mohammed Zubair" }
213	Alt News Analysis: Pro-BJP pages account for 70% of ad spending made public by Facebook - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 9th March 2019 / 7:24 pm / Last updated: 12th December 2021 Facebook recently introduced its Ad Library report, which is a searchable database consisting of “ads related to politics and issues of national importance that have been run on Facebook or Instagram.” Alt News’s analysis of the report revealed that between February 7 to March 2, the maximum spending was by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), pro-BJP pages and central government, amounting to around 70% of the total ad revenue made public by Facebook. The complete database published by Facebook includes 2,500 pages that ran ads during February-March 2019 to the tune of over Rs 4.1 crore. Alt News analysed the pages that have spent more than or equal to Rs 10,000 during the said time period. There were 221 such pages that spent a little over Rs 3.8 crore on ads. The analysis of these 221 pages revealed that the BJP, its supporting pages and pages by the central government were responsible for 69.57% or Rs 2.7 crore of the total spending on Facebook ads. Facebook pages of BJP members and ministers, and propaganda pages run directly by the party had an expenditure of over Rs 1.5 crore on political ads. A pro-BJP page, ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’, alone spent more than Rs 1.2 crore. ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ was launched in February and is a BJP campaign that aims to help the party prepare its election manifesto before the Lok Sabha elections by seeking suggestions from over 10 crore people from across the country. A distant second was the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) which spent a little over Rs 8.6 lakh. Congress was in the third position with an expenditure of over Rs 5.6 lakh on Facebook ads, followed by YSR Congress (Rs 2.8 lakh), TDP (Rs 1.9 lakh), AIADMK (Rs 32,812), AAP (Rs 26,537), BSP (Rs 11,478) and Shiv Sena (Rs 10,000). If we add to the above figures the expenditures made by central and state governments, the BJP still comes out on top. The central government had accounted for the maximum expenditure on government pages, with the Facebook page of ‘MyGov India’ alone generating over Rs 34 lakh revenue for Facebook. Out of the top 10 political advertisers, including government pages, we found that eight were related to the BJP and spent nearly Rs 2.3 crore on Facebook ads. Contrastingly, the highest spending opposition page was an initiative by the Karnataka government that spent a little over Rs 7 lakh in total and the official page of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of BJD that spent a little over Rs 8.5 lakh in total. The table below shows the top 10 opposition pages that made a combined investment of over Rs 21 lakh on political ads. However, an even more glaring aspect is the enormous amounts of money spent by Facebook pages that did not declare direct links with any party. We found 126 pages that did not declare direct links with a political party but ran ads favouring a certain party, Out of these, 115 pages were pro-BJP (spending over Rs 74 lakh), six pages were pro-Congress (spending a little over Rs 2 lakh), three were AAP-supporting pages (spending Rs 80,505) and two were pro-TMC (spending Rs 24,339). Out of the 115 pro-BJP Facebook pages, ‘Nation with NaMo’ alone spent a little over Rs 64 lakh in total. Out of the Rs 64 lakh, ads worth Rs 52,24,286 ran without a disclaimer. According to Facebook’s policy, if an ad is related to politics or an issue of national importance, the advertiser has to disclose who paid for it. If they fail to comply, Facebook takes down the ad. The social networking site took down ads sponsored by ‘Nation with NaMo’ (as seen in the screenshot above) after it determined that the page was running ads without disclosing who paid for them. However, we found that since February 28, 2019, the page has been disclosing advertiser details. Non-discloser of advertiser details wasn’t limited to BJP. Several opposition-supporting pages also sponsored political ads without disclosing who paid for them. The table below shows the top 10 pro-party Facebook pages, out of which eight support the BJP. All the pages marked in purple are the ones that sponsored political content without disclosing the advertisers, which leaves only ‘Nation with NaMo’ that recently began disclosing advertisers, and an AAP-supporting page – ‘Fans Of Harmohan Dhawan’ – disclosing advertiser details. The data published by Facebook reveals the significance of social media for political parties, with BJP and its supporting pages investing over Rs 2.7 crore in one month to sponsor political content. It is clear that parties are willing to spend huge amounts of money to shape public opinion online, with a bulk of these ads impacting young voters. However, the point that requires our greatest attention is the substantial investment by pages not having declared links with parties but pushing propaganda in their favour. For instance, our analysis earlier revealed that pro-BJP pages spent over Rs 74 lakh in a month’s time on sponsored content. The source of funds for these pages is unclear but needs to be explored. If these pages are run directly or indirectly by political parties, the investment should rightly be disclosed to the Election Commission of India. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th March 2019 / 7:24 pm / Last updated: 12th December 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-analysis-pro-bjp-pages-account-for-70-of-ad-spending-made-public-by-facebook/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
214	Alt News chronicles the most viral fake news in the run up to Karnataka elections - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 12th May 2018 / 7:34 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 The assembly election in Karnataka may well represent a watershed moment in Indian politics. Karnataka stands between the Congress party and oblivion as the last big state still within the grasp of the grand old party. For BJP, victory in Karnataka may pave the way for rich dividends in southern India. For the JD(S), a strong performance is essential to stay relevant as an active regional outfit. The competition to take over the reins of the state is thus immense and fierce, as the verdict in Karnataka could well be a precursor to the outcome of the 2019 general election. During this period, the quantum of fake news related to the state jumped manifold. Alt News has chronicled 13 instances of misinformation/disinformation that flooded social media in the run up to these polls. The fake news cycle for Karnataka essentially commenced with rumours that 21-year old Paresh Mesta was tortured and brutally killed when communal violence erupted in the Uttara Kanada district in January, 2018. India Today had reported that boiling oil had been poured on Mesta’s face, his head was split open and he was castrated. Postcard News had reported in a rather provocative manner that Paresh Mesta had been brutalised and questioned the ‘secular gang’ for not speaking up. It turned out that these were mere rumours which had been perpetrated by BJP MP from Karnataka Shobha Karandlaje, who had indulged in communal rumour mongering along with BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga over this and other incidents. Jihadis tried to rape and murder a girl studying in 9th std near honnavar.Why is the govt silent about this incident?Arrest those who molested and injured this girl. Where are you CM @siddaramaiah? — Shobha Karandlaje (@ShobhaBJP) December 14, 2017 The True Picture, which claims to be a fact checking website, published an article that showed Karnataka’s record with regard to crimes against Scheduled Castes in poor light compared to other states. The article paints a misleading picture of crime against SCs in Karnataka vis-a-vis other states, projecting it as being among the worst states on this count. Data for the analysis was chosen selectively, choosing some states and leaving out others. A holistic reading of the NCRB data which has been used for the article shows that with regard to rate of crime against Scheduled Castes, Karnataka ranks 11th among all the states in India. ‘Bangalore Congress candidate (chamarajpet) Zameer Ahmed promises unending bloodshed of Hindus if Congress is voted to power and when he becomes minister’. This provocative message accompanieed a video that was circulating widely on social media. In the video, Congress candidate for the Karnataka assembly election Zameer Ahmed Khan is seen addressing citizens in Urdu on his campaign trail. As can be seen and heard in the video posted above from 00:51 to 1:00, Zameer Ahmed Khan is saying, “लिखवा लेना, मेरे को मिनिस्टर बनाया तो 5 साल के अन्दर ऐसे ऐसे कारनामे करके दिखाऊंगा गिनीज रिकॉर्ड में नाम आएगा” (Get it in writing, if I am made a minister, in five years I will do such work that my name will appear in the Guinness record. (approximate translation). Instead, what was claimed is that the Congress candidate is promising bloodshed of Hindus if Congress comes to power and he becomes a minister. This was shared widely on social media by BJP supporters. When the cash crunch resulted in dry ATMs in April 2018, it was claimed on social media that this was because a BJP worker had been arrested with Rs.120 crore in cash near the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border. The money was meant to be used in the upcoming assembly election. This message and picture was posted by a fan page of the Congress party and has been shared more than 47,000 times. तिप्पनाहल्ली (कर्नाटक) में 120 करोड़ रुपयों का काला धन ले जाते हुए एक भाजपा कार्यकर्ता पकड़ा गया…!! उसने बताया कि ये… Posted by I.T & Social media cell Congress on Sunday, April 22, 2018 Alt News had busted this claim in a report which revealed how two sets of unrelated images were put together for this post. Two of those photographs were old images from 2017, and there was nothing to suggest involvement of a political party as investigation is still on. A video was circulated on social media in which a huge stash of currency notes kept inside bags, boxes and wardrobe is shown. It was claimed that this money was recovered from a raid that took place at the house of Karnataka Congress minister D.K Shivakumar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7TXR5f89ow It turns out that this video is NOT of a raid on the house of Congress minister from Karnataka D.K Shivakumar. It is in fact of an Income Tax raid on T&T law firm in Delhi founded by Rohit Tandon. In total, 13 crores worth of cash was found in raids on Rohit Tandon’s law firm and residences in Delhi in December 2016. On May 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally at Udupi in Karnataka, ahead of voting for the assembly election on May 12. As part of the campaign blitzkrieg, PM Modi’s supporters erupted on social media, posting a video of the Prime Minister’s road show in Udupi, asserting there is a wave of support in his favour among the people of Udupi and Karnataka in general. Udupi, Karnataka just now. See the Modi Magic pic.twitter.com/bJBmoqR1Az — Bharat Raut (@BharatRaut_BJP) May 3, 2018 Alt News analysed the video and found that it is actually a year old. Using the visual cues available from the clip, we zeroed in on Varanasi where the Prime Minister had held a rally in March, 2017. This video was being shared as sea of support for PM Modi at Udupi. Later the same video was used to claim massive reception for PM Modi in Mangalore. Numerous pre-poll surveys came to the fore ahead of the assembly election in Karnataka. One such poll purportedly conducted by an organisation called Janta Ki Baat was circulating on social media. The image also carried a logo of BBC News on it. According to this poll, the BJP would win Karnataka by a simple majority, bagging 135 out of 224 seats. Alt News fact checked this claim and found it to be untrue. There is no such survey that has been released, nor could we trace an organisation called Janta Ki Baat which has conducted such a survey. There is no reference whatsoever to this opinion poll on the BBC website, and the logo has probably been added to lend credibility to the numbers. Social media was abuzz with the claim that the Pakistani flag was waved at a rally by the Congress party in North Belgaum. This message along with a video of the rally in which a green coloured flag can be seen, was spread on multiple platforms- Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7j20M-S5DE The flag that was waved at this rally was NOT the Pakistani flag. This is in fact the flag of IUML (Indian Union Muslim league), which is different from the flag of Pakistan. The Pakistani flag has a white band on the left side. Also, there is a difference in the colour and the angle of the crescent in both flags. Very often, the Pakistani flag is also confused with the banner of Islam. “Lo Behold! #Church allegedly behind the divisive scheme of separating #Lingayats from #Hindus. A leaked of email supposedly sent by SecGen CBCI to Archbishop Bangalore….this says much”. Along with this message, an email was circulated on social media allegedly written to Archbishop, Bengaluru by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India celebrating the granting of separate religious status to Lingayats and urging him to work hard for the “rich harvest of souls in Karnataka.” BJP MP Subramaniam Swamy was among those who had retweeted this message. Alt News reported how this is a fake email. Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, Secretary General, Catholic Bishops Conference of India dismissed the claims as fake and diabolic. In a clarification, Mascarenhas stated, “a very malicious fake letter is being circulated in social media and in Karnataka on the eve of the elections”. He added that “the false letters makes wild allegations about the Church involvement in the Lingayat issue”. pic.twitter.com/xrBiNA2tCV — Catholic ChurchIndia (@indianbishops) May 9, 2018 “Generally when corruption occurs, one or two ministers are involved. But in Karnataka the entire Government is steeped in corruption (translated)”. These words by Rahul Gandhi were used on social media with the claim that he termed the ruling Congress Government in Karnataka as corrupt. A video clip was on social media in which Rahul Gandhi says these words at a political rally. This dumb guy wants to become the Prime Minister. He said ” Karnataka govt brashtachar se chalta hai “.😂 Arre pappu ji aap kab sudroge.? Posted by Post Card on Sunday, May 6, 2018 The above video is not of the recent campaigning in Karnataka by the Congress President, but dates back to 2013. Rahul Gandhi had spoken these words at a rally in Tumkur, Karnataka in April 2013. It may be noted that in April 2013, BJP was in power in Karnataka and Congress was in opposition. “MASSIVE EXPOSE! Karnataka minister M B Patil’s letter to Sonia Gandhi reveals that Global Christian Council and World Islamic organisation masterminded the division of Lingayats in Karnataka!” Barely a month after its founder Mahesh Hegde was released on bail after his arrest for circulating fake news, Postcard News circulated a photoshopped letter which it claims was written by M B Patil, President of Bijapur Lingayat Association, to Sonia Gandhi. A Google search reveals that ‘Global Christian Council’ and ‘World Islamic Organisation’ do not exist. The fake news brigade not only faked the letter but also concocted the names of the organisations. Alt News also spoke to Karnataka minister M.B Patil who confirmed that the letter is fake. A post that was widely shared on Facebook claimed that according to research by BBC News Hub, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ranks 7th among the most corrupt Prime Ministers in the world. I Support Rahul Gandhi is a Facebook fan page of the Congress President which posted this false information on May 6, 2018. It cited research by BBC News Hub. BBC News Hub which is mentioned in the post is not in any way related to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It has probably been used to lend credibility to this ‘news’ which is absolutely bogus. The website www.bbcnewshub.com is a dubious looking news website that has no connection to BBC and basically functions as an impostor website. The list is totally fake. “This incident happened in Bengaluru. The hapless female looks absolutely pathetic !!! Where is our country going?! When will the police act to make the women on the road to feel safe and protect them !!!!Spread this msg in the whole country. This is the least we can do.” This message was circulating on social media with a video which shows a teary eyed woman recounting her ordeal of being harassed by a motorist on the road. This incident happened in Bengaluru. The hapless female looks absolutely pathetic !!!😰Where is our country going ?!When will the police act to make the women on the road to feel safe and protect them !!!!Spread this msg in the whole country. This is the least we can do. 👇👇 pic.twitter.com/R99RKzPkzK — RR Prakash Babu (@rr_prakash) May 7, 2018 Alt News analysed the video and it turned out that it was not from Bengaluru but from Malaysia. The woman in the video mentions an emergency number-999 which is of Malaysia. A vehicle license plate that she referred to also belonged to Malaysia. This fake information was spread on social media mainly by BJP supporters and detractors of the Congress party. Alt News has noticed that there is a sudden spike in the volume of fake news before elections. This was observed in the case of the Gujarat assembly election as well, which was held in December 2017. The machinery that is put in place by political parties and their supporters on social media kicks into action, posting fake news on various platforms. The tools used to spread misinformation are mostly predictable – fake surveys, fake letters, and misleading videos and images. Corruption and misgovernance are the prominent themes when it comes to misinformation arising from both the BJP and Congress camps. In addition, misinformation that is spread by BJP supporters on social media is often communal in nature. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… The word ‘unprecedented’ only mildly captures the year 2020. The coronavirus pandemic did more than… In the past few weeks, multiple Twitter accounts impersonating prominent individuals have successfully amassed thousands… Sambit Patra is the most visible spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th May 2018 / 7:34 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-chronicles-the-most-viral-fake-news-in-the-run-up-to-karnataka-elections/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
215	When Alt News had to debunk fake news about Alt News - A concerted vilification campaign - Alt News Pratik Sinha 2nd October 2017 / 3:26 pm / Last updated: 2nd October 2017 One of the most common utility of fake news is as a weapon for character assassination and vilification. Alt News has covered many such instances where fake news has been used for the said purpose. A video was made viral with the claim that Gurmehar Kaur was ‘drinking and having fun’ in a car, when she was not. In a conservative country like India which looks down upon women drinking, that was an attempt to show Gurmehar Kaur in poor light. The victim of Chandigarh stalking incident Varnika Kunda was declared to be a friend of the accused Vikas Barala by pulling out an old unrelated picture from her Facebook album and claiming that one of the male friends in the picture was Vikas Barala. Those who are rattled by the work that Alt News has been doing have now started using the same strategy against us. Not just once, but thrice in quick succession. It started with Rajat Sethi of Indian Foundation claiming on Republic TV on September 25th that Alt News has run articles which denied the mass graves of Hindus found in Myanmar. He stated, “I will quote here Quint and other this new favourite darling of this cabal Alt News have been deliberately trying to mute this issue, not to highlight that Hindus are also being called. They deliberately carried articles, and I’m saying with full responsibility, they deliberately carried articles saying oh.. no no no Hindus are being killed.” The video clip can be seen below. .@RajatSethi86 claims @AltNews carried article which denied deaths of Hindus while we haven't written a single article on Rohingya issue yet pic.twitter.com/pjFlOc0em6 — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) September 26, 2017 This is an utter lie. The only article that Alt News carried on the Rohingya issue was actually on September 26th, a day after Rajat Sethi made his claim on live TV. This article documented how images of children were being misused to spread misinformation in the context of Rohingya conflict. This was followed by one Anurag Dixit who is followed by PM Modi on Twitter who not only posted abusive tweets but engaged in defamation using a photoshopped tweet. The initial abusive tweet from Dixit addressed to liberals evoked strong reaction from many twitter users. Dixit later deleted his tweet but not before several people had taken a screenshot of it. Among others, I also tweeted about Dixit’s offensive tweet, pointing out that he was followed by PM Modi on Twitter. Another one followed by PM @narendramodi. Has deleted the tweet now. Such lack of conviction. pic.twitter.com/yjwGEk68dn — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) September 28, 2017 He tried to argue that it was his freedom of expression. “I will write what I feel like, I will delete what I feel. I will apologize when I want and troll when I feel”. Enraged by people calling him out for his tweet, he posted a fake photoshopped abusive tweet addressed to PM Modi which appeared to originate from my Twitter account and which said, “Dear PM माँ चुड़…“. Dixit has deleted his photoshopped tweet after I filed a police complaint against him. I have filed a police complaint against Anurag Dixit @bhootnath for sending out photoshopped abusive tweets targeting PM Modi in my name. pic.twitter.com/zYQIieOwwz — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) September 28, 2017 Despite his abusive tweets and attempt to defame with a photoshopped tweet, Dixit had support not only from right wing twitter users but also BJP MP, Mahesh Giri. The cabal is frustrated bcoz common ppl like u hav destroyed the web of lies that they've created for yrs. Nothing will happen. Be assured. https://t.co/ykvGFQ5ujV — Maheish Girri (@MaheishGirri) September 29, 2017 There was also BJP National IT Cell head Amit Malviya seemingly suggesting that that there’s an FIR against me. Despite repeated attempts to get a response from him, he refused to clarify. For the record, I do not have any FIR against me. .@malviyamit Are you suggesting there's an FIR against me? Coz if you are, that would cross all limits of fakery. Kindly clarify. pic.twitter.com/8wu5S9iJU6 — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) September 24, 2017 While Alt News is open to all kinds of scrutiny, in the light of this concerted vilification campaign, we request our readers to reach out to us for clarification in case they see any statement that is attributed to us attempting to show Alt News in poor light. Finally, we wish to thank our readers for all the messages of love, support and appreciation that are sent on social media and via emails. It is something that keeps inspiring us. We also want to congratulate Boom FactCheck and SMHoaxSlayer and numerous other individuals for the tremendous work they are doing in countering fake news. No amount of vilification can stop this crusade against fake news. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd October 2017 / 3:26 pm / Last updated: 2nd October 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-debunk-fake-news-alt-news-concerted-vilification-campaign/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
216	Alt News exposé: An attempt to build online public opinion against farmers' long march - Alt News Alt News Desk 12th March 2018 / 10:25 pm “Friends as you must be aware of the Kisan Long march which is clearly a political stunt by the Left. After historic dissions and plans….implemented by Maharashtra Govt. It’s the time to stand strong with our government. So lets trend #KisanThanksDevendra and show our support to our beloved Devendra Sarkar.” In an attempt to build public opinion against Farmers’ long march to Mumbai, the BJP’s social media supporters were up to their usual tricks. The 22 page Google document provided tweet templates to BJP supporters and was circulated on the party’s WhatsApp group. A screencast video of the document can be seen below: A screen-cast video of the above document can be seen here: pic.twitter.com/sa6oyBdX7z — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) March 12, 2018 Even as thousands of farmers were on the streets to press their demands in an unprecedented rally, #KisanThanksDevendra was the hashtag planned to initiate a fake twitter trend showing an overwhelming support for the Fadnavis government. Clearly rattled by this show of strength, the ‘IT cell’’s social media strategy involved singing praises of the Fadnavis government, maligning the opposition and discrediting the Farmers’ march. Some of the sample tweets were as follows: “Why has the Left suddenly become active to take the farmers’ cause? Why is that only farmers from northern Maharashtra participating in the farmers’ morcha? #KisanThanksDevendra” “Protestors are not farmers #KisanThanksDevendra http://ras.org.in/the_kisan_sabha_and_adivasi_struggles_in_thane_district_after_1947” “In the Year of 2016-17 Maharashtra Govt invested 56000 Cr in Agriculture #KisanThanksDevendra” “Urban Maoist cadres are participating in it, they are poor tribals and not farmers. Their demand is about farming rights in forest. Communist want another incident like like bhima koregaon, Congress, NCP providing tacit support for this. #KisanThanksDevendra” Alt News spotted a copy of the Google Doc circulating in a WhatsApp group of BJP supporters and decided to counter it on Twitter in a series of tweets. A 22 page document with instructions to trend #KisanThanksDevendra is being shared in BJP WhatsApp groups.https://t.co/jgoG6yH4WN Screenshots of the same can be seen below. Do observe the people accessing the document on the top right. pic.twitter.com/w3FGQU9Bkw — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) March 12, 2018 More than 35000 Adivasis and Farmers have reached Azaad Maidan. #KisanLongMarch I request all our BJP Online warriors to copy paste below Tweets with hashtag #KisanThanksDevendra We've sent 25 pages of Google docs. Earn Rs. 5 per Tweet. Hurry! pic.twitter.com/r3oM78YDbB — Unofficial Sususwamy (@swamv39) March 12, 2018 Soon other Twitter users caught on to mock this attempt of the IT cell. In a hilarious turn of events, #KisanThanksDevendra became a joke on Twitter. The trend was hijacked by those sharing jokes and memes about it. The top retweets were for the tweets of Alt News founders exposing the fake trend. + And sure enough, here are the usual suspects copy-pasting tweets from the document to trend #KisanThanksDevendra pic.twitter.com/MlImsyuWKk — Fake Trend Hunter (@trollabhakt) March 12, 2018 Over 2500 farmers took their lives in Maharashtra in 2017 and Sanghis are trying to trend#KisanThanksDevendra hashtag in twitter right now. The shameless hypocrisy of BJP is endless. pic.twitter.com/ImcXaEwKqg — Advaid (@Advaidism) March 12, 2018 At-least two of the people accessing the document and tweeting using the #KisanThanksDevendra hashtag were familiar names – Karan Sharma with Twitter handle @IKaransharma27 and Mehul Jain with Twitter handle @TigerNamo. While Mehul Jain had the opportunity to meet the Prime Minister in his office, Karan Sharma describes himself as a RSS Swayamsevak and is followed by the PM on Twitter. After the Alt News expose, the #KisanThanksDevendra hashtag was abandoned by the IT cell and instead they started tweeting by prefixing all their tweets with ‘FARMERS WITH DEVENDRA’. With social media users becoming more aware of the tactics of the IT cell, it won’t be surprising if future attempts to force trend hashtags meet a similar fate. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th March 2018 / 10:25 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-expose-an-attempt-to-build-online-public-opinion-against-farmers-long-march/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
217	After Alt News exposé, the army of fake profiles defending Vasundhara Raje and Rajasthan Govt, vanishes - Alt News Alt News Desk 20th June 2017 / 2:36 pm They came, they tweeted, they got caught and they vanished! The brave army of fake profiles has deserted the cause they were supporting so vocally yesterday. There has been some hurried action after the Alt News story on fake profiles defending Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje and her government over the lynching of Zafar Khan. All the twitter profiles with stolen pictures and fake names reported in the Alt News article have deleted their accounts and disappeared. Aashif Khan (@kaashif752), who had stolen a profile picture of Sandeep Amar, a vice president at an IT company has deleted his account. The fake account in the name of Juned Khan(@juned45658) who was using the picture of a professor has also met with the same fate. The fake account Aarti Gupta (@aarti563256) who was using a picture of Amina Ahmad from Pakistan has also been deleted. Ganga Singh (@singhganga8365) seems to be suspended by Twitter. This fake account was using the picture of a Telugu actress Diksha Mishra (@dikshamishhra71) who was caught impersonating @niti_taylor has also disappeared Praveen Gujjar @praveengujja122 Additionally we found that some of the accounts who were also part of this coordinated campaign but were not covered in our article have also been deleted. Anant Srivastav who had lifted a profile picture of Salman Siddiqui has also been deleted. The account going by the name of Nikita Meena is temporarily restricted due to unusual activity. There is no doubt that it must be very embarrassing for the commander of this army that his troops with fake profiles and stolen pictures were caught tweeting identical messages to defend Rajasthan government. As we said before, this sort of an unethical effort does more harm than good to the cause it intends to support. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	20th June 2017 / 2:36 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-expose-army-fake-profiles-defending-vasundhara-raje-rajasthan-govt-vanishes/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
218	Alt News exposé: Fake News peddling FB page 'The India Eye' and its Gujarat connection - Alt News Alt News Desk & Pooja Chaudhuri 22nd September 2018 / 6:37 pm / Last updated: 27th September 2018 Senior journalist Ravish Kumar had made a speech last year at Press Club, Delhi on the murder of veteran journalist Gauri Lankesh. Soon after, his 10-minute speech was truncated to 11 seconds by many on social media and presented in a manner that Kumar came across as speaking on behalf of a political party. BJP IT Cell Head Amit Malviya had circulated the mischievously cropped video. However, he wasn’t the only one. A Facebook page that goes by the name ‘The India Eye’ had also shared the video (which is now deleted), with the caption – “Which Party is Ravish Kumar talking about? A Freudian slip?” Which Party is Ravish Kumar talking about? A Freudian slip? pic.twitter.com/4GBWxgrghh — The India Eye (@TheIndiaEye) September 10, 2017 In the original video, Kumar is urging PM Modi to speak to his own party workers and tell them that people like Dadhichi are not true nationalists. This clip can be accessed here. A quick scroll through ‘The India Eye’ would divulge many more such misleading claims. The page has a following of over 17 lakhs and its posts are liked and shared by thousands on a daily basis. During the course of this article, we would investigate the origin of this page and present several other instances of its blatant propaganda. ‘The India Eye’ Facebook page had a phone number (8586993060) and its domain name (theindiaeye.com) provided in the ‘About’ section. Alt News searched for the phone number on Twitter and found that it was first posted from a handle ‘HeMan NAMO’ (@HemanNamo). In fact, HeMan Namo has promoted this number as ‘The India Eye’ Whatsapp number multiple times from his Twitter profile. WhatsApp पर झूठी ख़बरों और दूश प्रचार से बचें । सच्ची ख़बरों के लिए THE INDIA EYE WhatsApp से जुड़ें । 8586993060 pic.twitter.com/ULZdM6QJcV — HeMan NAMO ( नमो: ) 🙏🙏 (@HemanNamo) December 5, 2016 While going through old tweets of HeMan Namo, we found an August 2012 tweet that included a Facebook link- ‘fb.me/2hQEDGhIO‘. http://t.co/JhOBfFiS — HeMan NAMO ( नमो: ) 🙏🙏 (@HemanNamo) August 15, 2012 Clicking on the link redirected us to – ‘facebook.com/on.himanshujain/posts/274979465944900′. This link was dysfunctional as the post was taken down but the URL implied that the name of the person running the Twitter handle @HemanNamo could be Himanshu Jain. Subsequently, we tried accessing the ‘on.himanshujain’ page by visiting the URL – ‘facebook.com/on.himanshujain’. But surprisingly, we were redirected to the Facebook page of ‘The India Eye’ instead. This suggested that ‘facebook.com/on.himanshujain’ was merged with ‘The India Eye’ page. To get a clearer picture of how we conclusively established the link step by step, watch the video below: At this point in the investigation, we knew the name of the person (Himanshu Jain) and his Twitter handle (@HemanNamo). But we were yet to establish Jain’s identity as his Twitter profile picture was that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not his own. The default Twitter hashtag when a user changes their profile picture is #NewProfilePic, which made us look if Himanshu Jain had ever updated his profile picture with his own image. We found that in 2017 he had indeed used his photograph. #NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/Kd5fCGwbT0 — HeMan NAMO ( नमो: ) 🙏🙏 (@HemanNamo) June 18, 2017 When we reverse-searched this image, we landed up on the website of a company called ‘Silver Touch Technologies Ltd.’. Jain was described as the Whole-Time Director in the ‘About’ section of the website. Himanshu Jain’s LinkedIn profile indicates that he is currently residing in Delhi and received his education from Ahmedabad. The evidence till now showed that Himanshu Jain of Silver Touch was associated with ‘The India Eye’ Facebook page. However, it was not clear whether this association was in his personal capacity or there was any involvement of his company. Alt News wrote to Vipul Thakkar, the Managing Director of Silver Touch, and asked him if Silver touch is involved in the running of ‘The India Eye’. Thakkar emailed back to us stating, “We at Silver Touch are neither aware nor associated with any such Facebook page.” We also contacted Himanshu Jain and asked whim whether he was associated with ‘The India Eye’ Facebook page. Jain denied any links to the page. However, when we ran the domain name ‘theindiaeye.com’ through an online tool called myip.ms, we discovered that the website’s IP Address – 50.23.93.64 – is owned by Silver Touch. When we questioned Himanshu Jain about the same, he said that Silver Touch has several clients and it not possible for him to be aware of specific details of every customer. The IP Address of the website was changed soon after this conversation. The phone number originally listed on the ‘About’ section of ‘The India Eye’ Facebook page was also removed. Further, the WHOIS results for the ‘theindiaeye.com’ domain name showed that it was using the name servers of Silver Touch. The above screenshot also shows that ‘theindiaeye.com’ was created on June 24, 2016 at 12:16 UTC. On another online tool domainbigdata.com, which keeps a historical data of whois information, we found that another domain name ‘theindiaeye.in’ was also created on June 24, 2016 at 12:16 UTC. This was registered under Himanshu Jain’s name and his phone number (which is excluded from the screenshot below). The Facebook page ‘The India Eye’ was previously called ‘Changing India’ and renamed on June 24, 2016. This coincides with the date of creation of both ‘theindiaeye.com’ and ‘theindiaeye.in’. In conclusion, our investigation revealed that: Silver Touch Technology Ltd. is an IT firm that was established in Ahmedabad in 1992. In its ‘About Us’ section, the company defines itself as “a leading and globally accepted IT Solution Provider and currently at the forefront of Digital Transformation & Emerging Technologies to serve the customers across the world.” The company’s website also has an ‘E-Governance’ section where it says – “we are serving citizens needs while working on government projects for more than two and a half decades. Our E-Governance service practices include a vast array of services.” In 2014, Himanshu Jain tweeted about one such government project – the website of the Ministry of Culture, designed by Silver Touch and launched by BJP minister Shripad Nayak. The company has, in fact, done a lot of work for the BJP government. That same year, a mobile application for the President was developed by Silver Touch and inaugurated by Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Himanshu Jain was present at the occasion. A proud & prestigious moment for Silver Touch Technologies Ltd. Today, the new web site and #mobile #application… Posted by Silver Touch Technologies Ltd. on Friday, 25 July 2014 The Managing Director of Silver Touch Vipul Thakkar has also tweeted several times about projects undertaken by the company for various government departments. In 2015, Silver Touch had developed the official mobile app of PM Modi. In 2013, it had launched a passport app for the Ministry of External Affairs under the then UPA government. Last year, NDTV had published a report titled “Exclusive: The ”Silver” Touch Behind BJP’s Online Dominance?”. According to this article, the Gujarat government was among the biggest clients of Silver Touch. NDTV counted at least 17 departments that availed its services. In its draft red herring prospectus (document submitted as part of public offering of securities) filed before the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India in September 2017, Silver Touch said that 53% of work came from government contracts worth approximately Rs 62.5 crores in the previous financial year. NDTV had also found that Himanshu Jain, from his Twitter account @HemanNamo, was a part of trending pro-BJP hashtags. He is also followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter. Last year, he made several tweets with #ModiTransformsIndia after the PM made a speech defending the economy. Another hashtag #LiesAgainstShah was tweeted several times by Jain after questions were raised on the finances of Amit Shah’s son, Jay Shah. When questioned in 2017, Jain claimed that his “private” social media activities had nothing to do with Silver Touch. However, Alt News’ investigation suggested that Jain was the creator of the Facebook page ‘The India Eye’ and the website ‘theindiaeye.com’ was hosted on servers belonging to Silver Touch. It is disconcerting that a Director of a multinational IT firm that manages several government projects is also linked to a propaganda website and Facebook page. ‘The India Eye’ has often been found circulating misinformation to its massive following of 17 lakh. Below are some of the instances that we found. The Congress Party announced Bharat bandh on September 10 as a response to rising fuel prices. Soon after, claims suggesting that a school bus was vandalised during the strike by members of the Opposition were widespread on social media. This narrative was propagated using a set of images that showed a damaged school bus of Sanskriti school with a shattered windshield. ‘The India Eye’ was among the many who circulated the claim, drawing a share count of 1,600. As it turned out, the photographs of the damaged bus of Sanskriti school were misleading as they had been vandalised the previous day i.e. on September 9 and had nothing to do with the bandh. Alt News had busted the false claims here. On September 15, ‘The India Eye’ shared a post claiming that “according to BBC, Congress stands at the 4th position among the top 10 most corrupt political parties in the world.” This was shared 24,000 times and was liked over 17,000 times. कांग्रेस के लिए अाई खुशखबरी Posted by The India Eye on Saturday, 15 September 2018 A fake news website BBCNewsHub.com had published an article in July 2018, which was shared by ‘The India Eye’ as a recent and authenticate “list of world’s most corrupt political parties.” Alt News debunked the false claims in this article. On August 25, PAAS leader Hardik Patel had initiated an indefinite fast over demands of farm loan waiver and reservation for the Patidar community. The leader agreed to be hospitalized after his health deteriorated steadily on the 14th day of fasting. On September 4, 2018, reports emerged that the Patidar leader had lost 20 kg after 11 days of fasting and weighed 58.3 kg. However, a medical report published the next day showed a stark difference of 8 kg and put Patel’s weight at 66.4 kg. This was taken as an opportunity for many to imply that Patel was not on a fast. ‘The India Eye’ post was shared 8,600 times and has now been deleted. However, a report by Desh Gujarat on September 5th clarified that the anomaly in weight was due to a false reading. Congress President Rahul Gandhi had tweeted images of Lake Rakshastal during his Kailash Mansarovar yatra. The stunning beauty of lake Rakshas Tal.#KailashYatra pic.twitter.com/GXYsR4hjAT — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 5, 2018 Several right-wing users and pages quickly declared that Gandhi’s pictures were lifted from Google stock images. ‘The India Eye’ also made the identical allegation, posing the question – “Was it that Pappu ji went somewhere else in the name of yatra? (translated).“ कुछ तो लोचा है \| Posted by The India Eye on Wednesday, 5 September 2018 Alt News had found that the image appeared on Google after it was cross-posted from Rahul Gandhi’s Instagram to JD Social account. Essentially, it was posted by the Congress President himself on his social media account. A photograph was shared widely on social media in August this year, which showed a Congress party advertisement on a van. Those who shared this image claimed that the van is a mortuary van, and ridiculed the Congress party for using it for its political campaign. ‘The India Eye’ post circulating the same narrative received over 3,200 shares. It has now been deleted and its archived version can be accessed here. Alt News had debunked this false claim using a simple Google reverse image search that revealed that the photograph was photoshopped. An image of Rajyavardhan Rathore holding a plate with food bowls and talking to athletes at the 2018 Asain Games was circulated as the Sports Minister serving food. क्या आपने पहले कभी ऐसा देखा था? Posted by The India Eye on Sunday, 26 August 2018 Alt News had spoken to a person who was present at the scene. He informed that the picture was misleading as the minister was not serving food, snacks or tea but only greeting the players he met on his way to the table. In yet another instance, ‘The India Eye’ claimed – “In these 70 years of independence, there were only three years India did not take any loans from the World Bank – 2015, 2016, 2017 – is this Modiji’s failure or success? Namo namah (translated).“ Alt News had debunked this fake news in the past when we found that loans worth more than US$ 96,560 million for 50 projects had been approved for India during the time period in question. From the examples above, it is evident that the Facebook page ‘The India Eye’ is a repeat offender when it comes to misinformation. Their propaganda is apparent from the kind of posts they share – building the image of Prime Minister Modi and maligning Opposition parties. The use of well-designed posters with ‘The India Eye’ logo adds to their branding and easily catches the readers’ attention. Its creation and marketing led by a Director of a multinational firm, while the firm itself providing web-hosting space to the site, is an unsettling truth. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd September 2018 / 6:37 pm / Last updated: 27th September 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-expose-fake-news-peddling-fb-page-the-india-eye-and-its-gujarat-connnection/", "author": "Alt News Desk & Pooja Chaudhuri" }
219	After Alt News exposé, Google doc with trending instructions for #DemonetisationSuccess hashtag is deleted - Alt News Alt News Desk 3rd September 2017 / 2:02 am “Trend Alert: #DemonetisationSuccess. Date: 31st August; Time: 4.30 PM“. The Google doc file proceeded to provide the list of tweets that the BJP social media army, MPs and ministers faithfully shared on Twitter starting 4.30 pm on August 31st. After the RBI report revealed that 99% of the demonetised currency notes had come back, BJP social media army was joined by ministers to create an artificial buzz around the hashtag, #DemonetisationSuccess. Alt News video exposé deconstructed this copy-paste tweeting and traced the Google doc file that provided instructions and template to tweet. The Google doc which contained the trending instructions has now been deleted. However, a screenshot of the document can be seen on Google. This is not the first time that BJP has mobilised an online army for perception management. Alt News found several such Google doc files with a similar pattern. The files provided the date and time and a list of tweets in English and Hindi that had to be tweeted. Many of these files have now been deleted. Here are a few examples and screenshots of these templates: Just like in the case of #DemonetisationSuccess, multiple ministers tweeted as part of the pre-planned #MyNewIndia trend. The corresponding Google Docs file is available here. The tweets posted by various handles match the document. Here are the tweets by official Twitter account of BJP Maharashtra. Here is the screenshot of the same tweets available in the Google Doc. Did you think that the appreciation on social media for Modi’s US trip was spontaneous? The #TrumpcardModi tweets were carefully crafted and instructions were followed by the ministers who copy-pasted them. The Google doc file for this trend has now been deleted but we managed to find an instance of it being shared on Facebook. Many ministers put out messages on social media with the #TrumpCardModi hashtag. #DBTImpact hashtag was even used by PMOIndia Twitter account. However, his wasn’t among one of the template tweets. However, multiple Ministers, BJP leaders and official BJP Twitter accounts used template tweets for this trend. Even though the Google Doc for this trend has been deleted, we managed to get a backup of the document. Multiple people in the BJP Machinery copy-pasted the template tweets to make the hashtag trend. Yet another Twitter trend #GSTForCommon man also had template tweets from a Google Doc. However, the Google doc for this trend has been deleted. We managed to find a Facebook handle sharing the aforesaid Google Doc. Again, the entire BJP machinery including ministers tweeted tailor-made tweets. Using social media influencers and agencies for propaganda is not something new. It is not surprising to find that #DemonetisationSuccess was one such carefully planned campaign in reaction to the questions being raised about the gains of demonetisation after the RBI report. However, it was a little shocking to find even MPs and ministers tweeting as per the template and the brazenness with which this was done. People on social media follow political leaders for their original thoughts and vision, and not for their bot-like behaviour. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd September 2017 / 2:02 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-expose-google-doc-trending-instructions-demonetisationsuccess-hashtag-deleted/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
220	After Alt News exposé, Republic TV deletes fake news about Jama Masjid; No apology, no explanation - Alt News Alt News Desk 31st August 2017 / 3:30 pm “BSES has given the strongest jolt ever possible to Shahi Imam, Bukhari.” Even the language of the Republic TV reporter was straight out of a Postcard.news article. Taking a cue from malicious fake news websites and Twitter handles, Republic also reported that BSES has cut off the electricity of Jama Masjid due to non-payment of electricity bill. With a straight face, the reporter went on to quote a five-year-old news of accumulated dues of over four crores due to a dispute between the Waqf board and Imam Bukhari, a matter that has long been resolved according to BSES. After Alt News exposé, Republic TV has deleted their tweet. Even though BSES had tweeted multiple times that this was a rumor, Republic TV chose to believe the fake news websites and sent its team to Jama Masjid. Before breaking the news about non-payment of dues, it did not occur to the team to verify non-payment with BSES. It's an old issue and resolved long back. Thanks for writing to us, assuring you of our best services. — BSES Delhi (@bsesdelhi) August 28, 2017 It's an old issue and resolved long back. Thanks for writing to us.Assuring you of our best services. — BSES Delhi (@bsesdelhi) August 28, 2017 While investigating why the mosque was dark, the team snooped outside Bukhari’s residence counting the number of cars and recording their make but didn’t ring the bell to verify if the story was indeed true. It also did not occur to the team to ask those around whether the mosque is usually lit at night and what time the lights are normally switched off at night. Funnily the reporter pointed out to a lit board at the gate but it didn’t occur to him how the board could be lit when the electricity was indeed cut off. On the basis of this so-called investigation, Republic TV broke the news about BSES giving a jolt to Jama Masjid due to non-payment of over four crores. The tweet and video have now been deleted by Republic TV. So far there is no apology or explanation by the channel for misleading its viewers. The following video is a copy of the video they posted on their timeline. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	31st August 2017 / 3:30 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-expose-republic-tv-deletes-fake-news-jama-masjid-no-apology-no-explanation/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
221	Alt News Impact: BJP Asansol IT Incharge Tarun Sengupta arrested for spreading fake video - Alt News Alt News Desk 12th July 2017 / 2:36 pm The logo inside the circled region in the screenshot above is that of Alt News. West Bengal police this morning announced the arrest of BJP Asansol IT Cell Secretary Tarun Sengupta who had posted a video on his Facebook timeline and had claimed that Muslim IPS officers were beating up a Hanuman Bhakt on Hanuman Jayanti this year. The video was in fact many years old and has been available on YouTube for the longest time. The arrest has been made on the basis of a Alt News story dated April 23, 2017. In our story, we had exposed Tarun Sengupta and Postcard News, both of whom had published the old video with similar fake stories. We had also captured Tarun Sengupta’s mischief on a Youtube video and can be seen below. The aforesaid video however had nothing to do with Hanuman Jayanti which was celebrated on April 11 2017. This video has been available on Youtube for a very long time and following are some of the instances of this video on YouTube along with the dates on which it was uploaded to YouTube. Posted on September 30, 2014 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoRodq_DN68 Posted on April 7, 2015 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yGAdKz3A2I Posted on June 27, 2016 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0mEQymlpsU For spreading communal discord via fake videos, West Bengal Police has now arrested Tarun Sengupta. Interestingly, when Alt News had first published this story, BJP MP from Asansol, Babul Supriyo, had called this story a fake story and had claimed that no such person called Tarun was the IT incharge in Asansol. He had also said that he will immediately enquire. We didn’t hear of any such enquiry, subsequent apology or retraction from Babul Supriyo. In fact, Tarun Sengupta, while sounding offended, had tweeted stating “Surprisingly U r so near, but unaware 2 me”, thus indicating that he was indeed associated with BJP IT Cell in Asansol. While Tarun Sengupta has been arrested, the owners of Postcard News are still out there continuing to spread fake news on a regular basis. The article in which they had made the same false claim that Tarun Sengupta had made is still up on their website. The owner of Postcard News resides in Karnataka but Congress ruled Karnataka has failed to take cognizance of this issue. Alt News will continue to call out people who spread fake news and fake videos. It is very unfortunate when people have to be arrested, but a civilised democratic society cannot entertain elements who deliberately try to instigate communal hatred between different religions via such nefarious means. Alt News has exposed many such instances of fake videos and hopes that various State Governments will take cognizance of the same and arrest the ones who are responsible for making such misleading videos viral. The only place these elements deserve is the back of a prison cell. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th July 2017 / 2:36 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-impact-bjp-asansol-incharge-tarun-sengupta-arrested-spreading-fake-video/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
222	Alt News Impact: Facebook and YouTube ban accounts posting hate speech - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 20th January 2022 / 5:11 pm / Last updated: 20th January 2022 On December 23, 2021, Harish Ramkali, a member of the Bajrang Dal in Haryana, posted on Facebook that any school that dresses its students as Santa Claus without prior permission from parents would have a case filed against them and be closed. This was one of the several threats that Ramkali had made on his Facebook page in the lead up to Christmas last year that saw a spate of violence against the minority Christian community. On December 12, Ramkali uploaded a video where he could be seen mobilising people against a Christian pastor whom he accused of religious conversion in Haryana. “The Valmiki community of Jind is standing up against them (the Christian community),” Ramkali could be heard saying amid chants hailing the Valmiki god, and slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. Harish Ramkali, aka Harish Saini, is a resident of Jind, Haryana and a leader of the Bajrang Dal. Starting out as a district president of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Ramkali has slowly risen up the ranks in the Sangh. He was the student head of the Haryana wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) before his appointment in the Bajrang Dal. Last year, a group of protestors comprising of scheduled castes, backward classes and lawyers assembled at Rani Talab in Jind for a protest march against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). When the Muslim protestors decided to offer namaz as per their daily routine, they were stopped by members of the Bajrang Dal and the Gau Seva Dal. Ramkali threatened the Muslim protestors of ‘dire consequences’ if they offered namaz at the site. In a video that he uploaded on Facebook in July, he accused the Muslim community of ‘land jihad’ and took responsibility for demolishing ‘illegal’ Mazars (shrines). “Whether you go to Delhi, Haryana or Rajasthan, [‘land jihad’] is rapidly increasing. It is the greatest threat to Hindus after ‘love jihad’. Bajrang Dal has removed several ‘illegal’ Mazars with the administration’s permission,” he says. The video had over 4 lakh views. A few days later, he uploaded another video that showed a man atop a Mazar, demolishing it with an axe. The video had 5.3 million views. This structure too was deemed ‘illegal’ by Ramkali. While it may be possible that prior permission was not sought to build these shrines, no action seemed to have been taken against a civilian taking the law into his own hands. Alt News contacted Saffidon, Jind police station and the police claimed to be unaware of Ramkali. The declaration of oblivion was made even as Ramkali uploaded pictures and videos of working alongside policemen. “Not just Gurugram, but we will not allow you (Muslims) to offer namaz or carry out ‘land jihad’ anywhere in Haryana. Bajrang Dal has informed the government in Haryana to bring the administration to its senses,” he wrote in a Facebook post last month, amid growing attacks on Muslims offering namaz in Gurgaon. Alt News reached out to Facebook via emails and Harish Ramkali’s account was subsequently taken down. We wrote multiple emails to the social media company and highlighted its failure to suspend Ramkali despite repeated violations. Our first email was sent on December 6, 2021. Ramkali’s account was taken down in the first week of January 2022. Alt News has written to Facebook and YouTube about several other individuals who post hate speech and violent content on the platforms. The following individuals were banned after we flagged their content: Jeet Vashisth Jeet Vashisth, a member of the Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM), had uploaded a video in November 2021 where he entered a dargah along with his accomplices, alleging that it is an ‘illegal’ property built on government land carrying out religious conversions using black magic. He also accused the dargah committee of having ties with Pakistan. By the evening, a large group of far-right Hindu ‘activists’ assembled near the dargah and called for its demolition. The group directed the police to file an FIR in the case and arrest individuals associated with the dargah. Update on the Faridabad Shrine issue: Men led by Hindu Jagran Manch are demanding Police to register FIR and ask the Shrine owners to demolish it themselves. They are calling it a “solution”. They are also claiming that ‘Panj Surah’ based on Quranic ayats is a Pakistani book. pic.twitter.com/CEdjwXPPfl — Kaushik Raj (@kaushikrj6) November 24, 2021 On December 12, 2021, he entered Muslim majority areas in Mewat with Bajrang Dal members to ‘saffronise’ the areas. He claimed that over 500 cars filled with ‘Hindu brothers’ entered Muslim majority villages. They could be seen carrying weapons in the car. The Facebook Live telecast from the rally had close to 2 lakh views. The screenshot below shows a man named ‘Rahul’ introduced by Vashisth as a ‘youth worker’. He said that he met Rahul through his Facebook page. Vashisth used to routinely share videos instigating Hindus against the minority Muslim population. He seems to be close to BJP leader Kapil Mishra. Vashisth had also uploaded pictures of himself with policemen. जीत वशिष्ठ के खिलाफ झूठ से भरा से कैंपेन चलाया जा रहा हैं, ऐसे झूठे ट्वीट्स के कारण जीत को जान से मारने की धमकियां मिल रही हैं ऐसे झूठ और प्रोपगंडा से जीत डरने वाला नहीं हैं डटे रहो @jeet_vashisth सत्य व बजरंग बली तुम्हारे साथ है https://t.co/q4g6UwEiv8 — Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) December 25, 2021 He had recently uploaded a Facebook Live which showed pieces of green coloured cloth placed on a tree. He accused the Muslim community of ‘capturing’ the tree and built a story claiming that this entire road in Faridabad will be gradually captured. It must be pointed out that worshipping trees is a common sight in India. It is also practised by Hindus yet Vashisth propagated a story around a ‘Muslim takeover’ of Faridabad based on the mere sight of green cloth pieces tied on the branches of a tree. In another recent Facebook Live, Vashisth harassed a Muslim biryani seller while accusing him of mixing urine in the food. Vashisth accused the biryani seller of ‘Jihadi mentality’. This incident also took place in Haryana. The video had over 4 lakh views. Vashisth also used to post videos of himself taking credit for harassing interfaith couples and handing them over to the police. Sandeep Acharya Alt News also informed Facebook about Hindu Yuva Vahini member Sandeep Aacharya who makes ‘Hindutva’ songs that carry hate speech against Muslims in the lyrics. He used his Facebook account to amplify these songs before he was suspended. We also wrote to Facebook about BJP supporter Sandeep Acharya who makes Hindutva songs that carry anti-Muslim hate speech in the lyrics. 6/n pic.twitter.com/a0VihaFgzc — Pooja 🌈 (@Pooja_Chaudhuri) January 8, 2022 In a video that he shared in November last year, Acharya threatened ‘secular Hindus’ who befriend Muslims. In one of his songs, he questioned the Muslim community if Allah provokes them to ‘demolish temples’. Acharya also used to run a more popular YouTube channel called ‘Rudra Music’ which was terminated by the video-sharing platform for violating its hate speech policy. Suresh Rajput In a report published last November, Alt News had profiled Suresh Rajput, a BJP supporter who frequently dehumanised the Muslim community and posted hate speech. While Facebook failed to ban Rajput stating, “We do progressive reviews and put restrictions on accounts when they violate. When the account meets the threshold to disable, we take final action,” YouTube terminated him. In February 2020, Rajput had uploaded a video on his YouTube channel ‘Hindu sher boy’ where he referred to AIMIM spokesperson Waris Pathan as “K*** Mulla” (a derogatory slang used for Muslims), members of the Muslim community as “pigs” and alluded that Muslim women who protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) were “prostitutes”. He also threatened Pathan with violence. The video had over 1 million views. After his channel was terminated by YouTube, he made a new one. This too was removed by the platform after being informed by Alt News. “YouTube has always had clear community guidelines that outline what is allowed on the platform. “Hindu Sher boy” was terminated for violation of our Hate Speech policy. During this time, they used another channel and therefore we terminated it for circumvention of our policies as per our Terms of Service,” responded YouTube. Facebook is yet to take down his account and that of his accomplice Suresh Prabhu who posts similar content. Alt News has flagged their profiles and this article will be updated if Facebook takes them down. YouTube channel ‘Swami Amritanand’ This channel had over 14,000 subscribers. It Live streamed the ‘Dharam Sansad’ event held in Haridwar where calls for the genocide of Muslims in India were made. The channel used to share several such Live streams of hate speech by far-right Hindu groups. The channel used YouTube to amplify the on-ground hate. After Alt News reached out to YouTube, the platform first added strikes on two videos uploaded by the channel and suspended its posting privileges for one week. But the user made a new channel during this time which led to the suspension of both. Alt News has been working to deplatform popular accounts that share hate speech or instigate violence against minority communities. We will be documenting other such accounts and users in the coming few weeks. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	20th January 2022 / 5:11 pm / Last updated: 20th January 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-impact-facebook-and-youtube-ban-accounts-posting-hate-speech/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
223	Alt News Impact: Home Ministry orders inquiry into use of Spain-Morocco border picture in MHA report - Alt News Alt News Desk 14th June 2017 / 11:53 pm / Last updated: 14th June 2017 Within hours of an Alt News exposé showing how the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) annual report is using a picture of Spain-Morocco border to show Indian border floodlighting, officials in MHA have reportedly admitted to the gaffe and the Home Ministry has ordered an internal investigation into this issue. The 2016-17 annual report by Ministry of Home Affairs has used a 2006 photograph of the Spanish-Moroccan border in the city of Ceuta shot by Javier Moyano. Alt News story can be read here. Home Ministry orders internal investigation into using picture of Spain-Morocco border to show Indian border floodlighting, in annual report pic.twitter.com/zNvwBnaljn — ANI (@ANI_news) June 14, 2017 According to a report on NDTV website, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi has demanded an explanation from officials. “If it’s a mistake by the ministry, we will apologise,” Mr Mehrishi has said. The Home Secretary has reportedly also asked the Border Security Force (BSF) to explain where it got the picture. Source told Times of India that the MHA annual report has been out in the public domain for almost three months now and that it will be difficult to correct the gaffe as printing of new copies of the report is a huge task. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	14th June 2017 / 11:53 pm / Last updated: 14th June 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-impact-home-ministry-orders-inquiry-use-spain-morocco-border-picture-mha-report/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
224	Alt News impact: Twitter suspends multiple imposter accounts in Pushpendra Kulshrestha's name - Alt News Priyanka Jha 11th October 2021 / 6:43 pm / Last updated: 11th October 2021 A large portion of the disinformation on Indian Twitter came from fake and imposter accounts created in the name of journalist Pushpendra Kulshrestha. Some of these accounts had millions of followers. In this article, Alt News has jotted down eight of the most prominent accounts created in Kulshrestha’s name. Two of these accounts were suspended during the course of this article and the remaining six were suspended after this author brought them to Twitter’s notice and reported each of them. It is noteworthy that none of these accounts clarified that they were parody accounts. A handle using an individual’s name without specifying in the account name or bio that it is a parody account is in violation of Twitter’s rules and policies. According to Kulshrestha’s verified Facebook profile, his official Twitter handle is @Pushpendraamu and he has over 1 lakh followers. But some of the accounts impersonating him used to enjoy higher follower counts than the journalist himself. Below is a list of all the handles Alt News reported to Twitter. 1. Followers of the @ThePushpendra_/ handle included verified handles belonging to journalists and politicians alike, even though Kulshrestha himself tweeted on May 31 that the handle is fake. One more Fake account pic.twitter.com/pGORMgXnln — Pushpendra Kulshrestha (@Pushpendraamu) May 31, 2021 Every so often, the account would make communal and misleading posts. Below are nine instances when the account was found sharing misinformation. Screenshots of all these false claims made by the handle @ThePushpendra_/ are below. 2. @PuspendraTweet was also followed by many senior politicians including Sarojini Agarwal, Manish Singh, Gajendra Chauhan, Surendra Poonia, Arun Yadav, etc. Pushpendra Kulshrestha had clarified in a March tweet that this handle was fake. Another fake account pic.twitter.com/OfBQ7IRYqw — Pushpendra Kulshrestha (@Pushpendraamu) March 6, 2021 The username of this handle used to be ‘@RanjanGogoii’ and was later changed to ‘@PuspendraTweet’. A screenshot of a tweet posted by the handle @RanjanGogoii went viral recently. Several people were circulating it as a tweet posted by former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. You can read our fact-check investigation of this post here. Apart from this, @PuspendraTweet claimed that “Mamata Banerjee imposed a ban on 125 RSS schools in Bengal” following the May legislative elections held in the state. West Bengal government had closed these schools in 2018 claiming they were flouting norms. You can find our detailed report on the incident here. 3. REAL___HINDUVT with 1,00,000 followers (archived link) – This handle still exists since it has not used Pushpendra Kulshrestha’s name, though the display picture does feature him. Alt News has caught REAL___HINDUVT circulating misinformation twice. Apart from these, the remaining handles earlier highlighted in the article used to regularly share communal posts. Kulshrestha had posted several tweets warning his followers about fake accounts impersonating him. In February 2020, he tweeted that people were sharing misleading posts in his name. ThePrint had cited a parody handle of the journalist as a genuine tweet in a fact-check article recently. Twitter has suspended six of the most popular accounts after Alt News sent an email to the social media giant and reported each of the handles. She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th October 2021 / 6:43 pm / Last updated: 11th October 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-impact-twitter-suspended-fake-handles-of-journalist-pushpendra-kulshrestha/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
225	Alt News investigates the attack on a temple in Phulwari Sharif, Bihar during anti-CAA protests - Alt News Archit 26th December 2019 / 5:45 pm / Last updated: 27th December 2019 On December 14, Business Standard reported that Rashtriya Janata Dal (JRD) had called for a Bihar bandh on December 21 in protest against the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The bandh took a violent turn when two groups clashed in Phulwari Sharif, Patna in the view of protests against the CAA. According to a December 22 report in Hindustan Times, violence started after miscreants allegedly began stone-pelting. At least 25 persons were injured due to stone-pelting and gunshots. Subsequently, social media was brimming with claims related to the violence. On December 22, BJP supporter Shubhrastha shared a 14-second video of the protests and tweeted, “Peaceful’ protests in Patna. Temple vandalised. Seen placard seculars stop chanting Faiz and take a look? Has anyone seen Swara Bhaskar, Barkha Dutt writing a Washington Post article? (Will get you more original footage if you do!) Farhan Akhtar any comments? Shame on you all!” ‘Peaceful’ protests in Patna. Temple vandalised. Seen placard seculars stop chanting Faiz and take a look? Has anyone seen @ReallySwara ? @BDUTT writing a Washington Post article? (Will get you more original footage if you do!) @FarOutAkhtar any comments? Shame on you all! pic.twitter.com/fEPmOTRqQi — Shubhrastha (@Shubhrastha) December 22, 2019 Anshul Saxena wrote that a “Hindu temple was vandalized by anti-CAB protestors in Patna”. His tweet was retweeted over 7,000 times. Several social media users claimed – Twitter and Facebook – that Muslims are destroying temples in the name of peaceful protests. Several videos related to this incident are available on Facebook. A similar claim suggested that the temple which was vandalised was dedicated to Shiva. @Pushp_Kul tweeted, “Yesterday rioters destroyed the Shiva temple at Phulwarisharif in Bihar. Opposing Modi, Muslims have also started targeting the temples of the Hindu God Shiva, Ram and Krishna. What the hell do you want? [Translated from कल दंगाइयों ने बिहार के फुलवारीशरीफ में शिव मंदिर को क्षत-विक्षत कर दिया। मोदी का विरोध करते करते मुसलमानों ने हिंदुओं के आराध्य भगवान शिव, राम और कृष्ण के मंदिर को भी निशाना बनाना शुरू कर दिया है। आखिर ये चाहते क्या है । ]” Many Twitter users further claimed that a member of the Hindu community was shot dead in the violence. A user with the handle @SATSIDD tweeted, “In Patna, Phulwari Sharif one Hindu shot dead and temples vandalised by them. He was shot bcoz he protested for breaking the temple.” This tweet share shared over 1,600 times. In Patna,Phulwari Sharif one Hindu shot dead and temples vandalised by them.He was shot bcoz he protested for breaking the temple. pic.twitter.com/SY2CY8QoJU — SATYAM SIDDHARTHA (@SATSIDD) December 22, 2019 Many other users have posted tweets with the same claim Alt News spoke with R Rehman, SHO Phulwari Sharif Police station. He said, “On one side there was a temple and on the other, a cemetery. In the conflict, both the temple and the cemetery have been damaged. The temple came between the stone-pelting from both the groups.” Alt News also reached out to Akshay Anand who did a ground report for HS Bihar, a Bihar-based digital news platform. He shared a video which clearly shows a mob attacking a temple in the Phulwari Sharif area. Below is the relevant bit from the video which has been slowed down for viewers to clearly see the attack. “The Hanuman idol inside the temple was vandalised wherein the idol’s right arm was broken and the face was disfigured. After things settled, the Hanuman idol was covered with a piece of cloth to protect Hindu sentiments,” said Anand. “There was no damage to the structure of the temple but the right side of the door was damaged”, he added. According to the journalist, a majority of the people involved in the conflict were residents of Phulwari Sharif. Therefore, the claim that a temple was vandalised is true, however, it wasn’t a Shiva temple but dedicated to Hindu deity Hanuman. SHO Rehman told Alt News that the police did not use firearms during the conflict and claimed that the gunshots were made against anti-CAA protesters by members of the Hindu community. According to the Rehman, no deaths have occurred. “On December 21, around 1 pm, stone-pelting began. While the police were present in the conflict zone, they were drastically outnumbered,” said Anand. “The shooting occurred around 1.15 pm and by 1.30 pm Rapid Action Force (RAF) and armed district police reached the scene. The forces lobbed at least 40 tear-gas shells and used water cannons to disperse the violent mob. By 4 pm, the situation was under control,” he further informed. Anand also said, “As per my inquiry, no Hindu was shot dead. In fact, the shooting was done by the Hindu community which injured at least nine Muslim men. One of them was shot in the neck and is in a critical condition.” Alt News reached out to another Patna-based journalist, Sujeet Gupta, who was covering the aftermath of the riots. He said, “I don’t think the objective of the CAA protesters was to destroy the temple. But in the heat of the moment, things escalated.” According to Gupta, violence broke out after Hindus in the locality stopped the protesters from agitating. “Shots were fired at CAA protesters after they started vandalising the temple. The mob opposing the protesters did the shooting,” he informed. Gupta added that the police too made gunshots but only in the air to disperse the mob. He confirmed that no one died as a result of the conflict but some anti-CAA protesters were injured. Expressing concern at the misinformation that a Hindu was shot dead, Gupta said, “Such rumours may cause communal tension. I have seen several posts on social media by young boys who are talking about taking revenge from the other community.” Thus the claim that a Hindu was shot dead is false. Both police and local journalists stated that the conflict saw no casualties. Anand shared a 44-second video with Alt News where one can spot gunshot victims. While he could not ascertain who shot the clip, he informed that it was taken at Imarat Shariya, a social welfare organisation which operates the Maulana Sajjad Memorial Hospital, commonly known as MSM Hospital. In the video, we can spot at least three wounded men and someone in the background can be heard repeatedly saying that police fired the shots. Alt News spoke with Mohammad Aadil Faridi, the office secretary at Imarat Shariya, who confirmed the location in the video. “Nine people were injured by gunshots. We sent them to AIIMS and PMCH in an ambulance. Two of them were critically injured – one was shot in the neck and the other was shot in his liver. But no one was reported dead in the incident,” he said. According to Faridi, bullets were fired by miscreants from a building’s rooftop on CAA protesters. Similar to Anand’s inputs, Faridi said, “The police did not fire the bullets on the mob. They only shot in the air to disperse the mob.” Alt News cannot confirm the parties involved in gunshots. However, as per the police, journalists and Imarat Shariya, it is clear that anti-CAA protesters were the ones injured. A temple was vandalised in Bihar’s Pulwari Sharif when clashes between two groups took a violent turn in the view of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. There were no casualties in the conflict but several people were injured, among whom were nine Muslims who suffered gunshot wounds. The claim that a Hindu was shot dead is untrue. According to a December 23 report in Times of India, at least 40 people have been arrested for the violence. The report also stated that three empty cartridges of 7.65mm were recovered. [Update: This report, in certain places, identified anti-CAA protesters and the people who retaliated against them as members of the Muslim and Hindu communities respectively. They are now referred to as ‘groups’.] 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	26th December 2019 / 5:45 pm / Last updated: 27th December 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-investigates-the-attack-on-a-temple-in-phulwari-sharif-bihar-during-anti-caa-protests/", "author": "Archit" }
226	Alt News Investigation - People behind the targeted harassment of Ravish Kumar via WhatsApp - Alt News Alt News Desk 27th September 2017 / 3:11 pm / Last updated: 28th September 2017 “I’m sad you are alive“, is one among the many messages that is addressed to NDTV India anchor Ravish Kumar on a WhatsApp Group. On September 22nd, Ravish Kumar had put up a post along with multiple screenshots on his Facebook page alleging that a group of people repeatedly add him to a specific WhatsApp group for the sole purpose of abusing him. These screenshots were from the WhatsApp group called “ऊँ धर्म रक्षति रक्षित:”. Ravish Kumar stated in his post that even if he exits the group, he’s added back to the group after certain political events and abusive language is used to target him. Based on the screenshots posted by Ravish, we tried to track down the people targeting him and this is what we found. The above screenshot has been taken from Ravish’s post which shows a person with the number “7575826300” stating, “मुझे भी दुःख है तू जीवित है (I’m also sad that you’re still alive)”. We looked up this phone number and found that it has been advertised multiple times by an export agency called Anjaney Exports. Considering that it is an export agency, we looked for the company Anjaney Exports on Indiamart.com and found the following information. As can be seen in the image above, the number “7575826300” from the WhatsApp account matches the Tweets shown earlier from the Anjaney Exports account and also matches the details in this IndiaMart entry. Phone numbers on IndiaMart are verified via OTP (One Time Password). The names and address have to be put in manually by the entity who wants to be featured in IndiaMart. That would indicate that the Anjaney Exports entry along with the phone numbers and address were manually entered by the person managing the account which in this case would be Niraj Dave whose name is listed as Managing partner. The IndiaMart entry has another phone number and we looked it up on Truecaller. While the first phone number isn’t masked in this post because it is already available in public domain, we have masked the second phone number for the sake of the person’s privacy. This Truecaller entry also shows that this person’s Twitter handle is “Nir_27”. Again, this is a verified Truecaller profile as indicated by the blue tick mark. Further, a tweet by Nir_27 account confirms that the Niraj Dave handling Anjaney Exports is the same as Niraj Dave handling the Nir_27 Twitter account. We looked up the Nir_27 Twitter profile and it is followed by none other than the Prime Minister of India. The following 2012 tweet indicates that Niraj Dave is also close to other BJP leaders like Subramanian Swamy. Some of the other messages sent by Niraj Dave on this group can be seen below. Other than Niraj Dave, we also investigated one of the Admins of the WhatsApp group who goes by the name Akash Soni. The WhatsApp profile image is a picture of him with Nirmala Sitharaman. Infact, Akash Soni’s Facebook profile and personal page has many more pictures of him with various BJP leaders. Akash Soni has also posted private numbers of multiple journalists like Barkha Dutt, Ravish Kumar, Rajdeep Sardesai and Abhisar Sharma publicly on his Facebook timeline. This WhatsApp group also has Nikhil Dadhich who is followed by PM Modi and had celebrated Gauri Lankesh’s murder by tweeting – “A bitch died a dog’s death”. Alt News had recently exposed how BJP National IT Cell head Amit Malviya had put out an edited video clip of Ravish Kumar’s speech to defame him. Earlier, a person unrelated to Ravish Kumar was portrayed as his sister who’s charged with a corruption case. Independent journalism continues to scar those who are in power and their supporters. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th September 2017 / 3:11 pm / Last updated: 28th September 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-investigation-people-behind-targeted-harassment-ravish-kumar-via-whatsapp/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
227	Alt News investigation: The making of a fatwa story - Alt News Alt News Desk 9th November 2018 / 6:03 pm / Last updated: 9th November 2018 “Darul-Uloom Deoband has issued a fatwa against Muslim women using nail polish as it is un-Islamic and illegal”. This tweet by ANI on morning of November 5 kept news rooms and social media busy throughout the day ridiculing this latest fatwa. What are these fatwas all about? How do they come up every now and then providing a sensational story to the media? Alt News decided to dig deeper and uncovered a shocking tale of how news is manufactured. Lets take you with us on a fatwa trail. Saharanpur: “Darul-Uloom Deoband has issued fatwa against Muslim women using nail polish because it is un-Islamic and illegal . Rather women should use mehendi on their nails,”Mufti Ishrar Gaura, Darul-Uloom Deoband (4.11) pic.twitter.com/u6TnE8ADy7 — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 5, 2018 Soon after the tweet by ANI, social media users called out the bluff saying that the man in the picture is neither a Mufti (a religious scholar authorized to issue fatwa/opinion on topics related to Islam) nor connected in any way to Darul-Uloom Deoband. Dear brother he is not even a mufti neither he’s connected to darul uloom deoband he’s the younger brother of present imam and son of previous imam of jama masjid Saharanpur. I just spoke to him and he’s saying that he just quoted the fatwa of darul uloom dated back in early 90s — AYAAN (Mohd. Salman) (@4u_ayaan) November 5, 2018 Alt News decided to investigate this further and called Darul-Uloom Deoband. They refused to comment on the news about the fatwa but confirmed to us that the person in ANI’s tweet is not associated with them. Alt News then contacted Ishrar Gaura, the person ANI had quoted as a Mufti. It turned out that his name was Ishaq Gaura and he was neither a Mufti nor linked to Darul-Uloom. He told us that ANI had contacted him to get his comments on a story by Eenadu / ETV Urdu on this fatwa. He also claimed that he has been misquoted by ANI. Alt News then contacted an ANI editor with this additional information and ANI quickly issued an update stating that Qari Syed Ishaq Gaura who was speaking on the fatwa issued by Darul-Uloom Deoband does not represent Darul-Uloom Deoband. #UPDATE: Qari Syed Ishaq Gaura who was speaking on the fatwa issued by Darul-Uloom Deoband, does not represent Darul-Uloom Deoband but is the National President of Jamiat Dawatul Muslimeen and an Imam in Saharanpur. — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 6, 2018 So the identity of the person in the ANI tweet was corrected but this still left us with the open question as to where is the fatwa issued by Darul-Uloom? Has anyone seen it? Does it actually say that using nail polish is un-Islamic and illegal as claimed in the ANI tweet? Darul-Uloom has an online service where anyone can ask a question and get fatwa or opinion from the Mufti about it. This particular fatwa could not be found online and this pointed us to the possibility that either it didn’t exist or it could have been asked in writing by an individual. Alt News contacted ANI again, this time to ask for a copy of the fatwa after which ANI uploaded it online to their website. The new tweet was worded differently from the original one. The fatwa against “Muslim women wearing nail polish” had now become a fatwa against “women and men of the community proffering Namaz or prayer, wearing nail polish”. Darul Uloom Deoband, one of the most respected Muslim seminaries in India, has issued a fatwa or a decree, against women and men of the community proferring Namaz or prayer, wearing nail polish Read @ANI Story \| https://t.co/iTxtDFrE4s pic.twitter.com/zYYQwWJGWl — ANI Digital (@ani_digital) November 6, 2018 The official definition of fatwa is a non-binding, yet authoritative legal opinion given by a mufti (legal scholar) in response to a question posed by an individual or a court of law. In this specific case, the question posed was, “Is it permissible to apply nail polish? Many women apply nail polish when they go to parties and weddings. A lot of women apply nail polish and grow their nails. Is it permissible for men and women to grow nails and apply nail polish?” -translated. The name of the person requesting this opinion is Mohammed Tufail from Muzaffarnagar. The response given was “Yes, they can apply nail polish provided it doesn’t contain any impure material. Moreover, since the act of applying nail polish creates a layer, till the time it is not cleaned, water doesn’t reach the nail. Unless it is removed, neither Wuzu (ablution before Namaz) nor Ghusl (ritual washing of the body) can be completed. That is why it is necessary to remove this layer prior to Wuzu or Ghusl. Men and women can grow nails up to 40 days and after that you have to cut the nails..” -translated. The fatwa doesn’t term nail polish as un-Islamic or illegal as claimed in ANI’s tweet. The title of ANI’s online story was amended accordingly from “New Fatwa: Don’t wear nail polish” to “Fatwa against wearing nail polish during Namaz”. The revised ANI article carried comments of Qari Syed Ishaq Gaura with corrections of his name and relationship to Darul-Uloom. After we confirmed that the fatwa exists, we sought an answer to the critical question – how did ETV get hold of a fatwa that was not in public domain? The fatwa is handwritten and not uploaded on the website. If it was a clarification sought by an individual, how did it get to the media? This is where the story gets murkier. Alt News decided to contact the person who had asked for Darul-Uloom’s opinion on the issue. The fatwa mentioned his name as Mohammed Tufail and provided his phone number too. However, upon looking up the number on Truecaller, the number look-up service suggested that the name was Tasleem Qureshi. When Alt News called the number, it was answered by a person called Tasleem Qureshi. During the course of the conversation, we discovered that Qureshi is associated with Eenadu / ETV Urdu and he had asked for the fatwa in the name of his relative so that he could do a story on it. Since he can’t approach Darul-Uloom as a journalist, he poses questions to them in a relative’s name, acting as a common Muslim seeking their advice on a matter. You can find links to his other fatwa stories on his YouTube channel and Instagram account – from fatwas about whether woman could go to the market for putting mehendi to whether women could wax. The person being asked an opinion in his videos on these fatwas also appears in the photos of his Instagram account. When we questioned Qureshi about his actions, “I’m a journalist.” Qureshi told Alt News. “Is there any rule forbidding me from asking for a fatwa? Am I not a Muslim?”, he asked. The point about journalistic ethics was totally lost on him. He insisted that ANI had misreported his story. A fatwa always makes a great story and offers the opportunity to keep the focus of the nation on religion. A journalist in Saharanpur has figured this out and requests for fatwas in the name of others, so he can write a story. The story is eagerly picked up by news agencies and splashed all over the media with a sensational headline – “Breaking: New fatwa against Muslim women wearing nail polish. None of the editors across all the media houses that reported this story wondered how the personal communication in form of a hand-written letter between an individual and a seminary had become public information and who was behind it. This is how the story about this fatwa got manufactured. This is not the first such story, nor will it be the last. As long as such stories make headlines and have an eager audience, they will continue to thrive. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th November 2018 / 6:03 pm / Last updated: 9th November 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-investigation-the-making-of-a-fatwa-story/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
228	An Alt News investigation into an upcoming fake news site - CoverageTimes - Alt News Pratik Sinha 4th November 2017 / 10:59 am Coveragetimes.com is a ‘news website’ that started just a few months ago and is already ranked in the top 15000 websites in India. In terms of their reach, they are not as popular as the other fake news sites like Hindutva.info, DainikBharat.org, PostCard.News, InsistPost.com etc that Alt News has investigated in the past. However, the fake news that this website pushes is toxic enough that we decided to investigate this website. Firstly, let us look at some of the fake stories that this website has pushed. 1. Just before Diwali, Supreme Court had banned the sale of Crackers in Delhi and the judgement in this case was passed by Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri. A story titled “जिसने पटाखो पर बैन लगाया है वो जज देख लो और समझ जाओ (Translation: Here’s the Judge who banned crackers, make your own judgements now)” claims that the person putting Gulal on Sonia Gandhi’s face is Justice Sikri. In reality, this person in the above picture is a Congress leader called KP Singh Deo. Multiple pictures of Justice Sikri are available on the Internet and it is very easy to ascertain that the person in the picture above is not him. Such an article can only be a product of malice, one that is trying to malign a Supreme Court Justice. 2. A story titled “हैरान कर देगा ये वीडियो, इंदिरा गाँधी के दो नहीं बल्कि तीन बेटे थे जिनमे से एक के बारे में पूरी दुनिया से छुपायी ये सच्चाई (Translation: You’ll be shocked to know that Indira Gandhi has not two but three sons, with the third son’s reality having been hidden from the world)” claims that Amitabh Bachchan is Indira Gandhi’s third son with much conviction. Does this even need a fact-check? 3. A story titled “14 साल की रोहिंग्या लड़की जिसके पति के 18 बच्चे, क्या आप ऐसे शरणार्थी को भारत में बसाना चाहते हो? (Translation: A 14 year Rohingya girl who has 18 kids, would you want her as a refugee in India?” shows the picture of a young girl holding a baby and claims that she has 18 kids. Goes on to ask whether you’d want such a refugee in India. This is actually a passing frame from a BBC Video. The BBC Video doesn’t give any information about this girl whatsoever and it is just a passing shot in the video. The story about this girl was first fabricated by a Twitter account called Ravinder Sangwan. CoverageTimes made that into an article. THe BBC Video can be seen below. 4. A story titled “जिहादियों ने स्वामी विवेकानंद जी की मूर्ति का सर काटा, आखिर क्यों छुपा रही है मीडिया अपराधी का नाम? (Translation: Jihadis beheaded Swami Vivekananda’s statue, why is Media hiding the accused’s name?)” claims that a statue of Swami Vivekananda in Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh, was beheaded by members of the Muslim community. Alt News had exposed how this news is utterly fake and Bhadohi Police has released the name of the accused in this case, Premchandra Gautam, son of Neeraj Gautam. We can keep quoting examples from this website but its suffice to say that this is one sick, fake website. Who runs this website? To find that out, we first looked at the people who consistently promote this website. We came across a Facebook profile called Dimpal Patel who’d repeatedly share links from this website into tens of Facebook groups. When we scrolled through Dimpal Patel’s Facebook profile, we found that this person had shared a picture with a WhatsApp number asking people to message on that number if they wish to befriend Dimpal Patel. We looked up the WhatsApp number 9109866256 specified in th image above and found that a person called Raju Sikarwar was sharing it as his own number (circled in red), while complaining to Airtel about poor service. We also looked up the other number (7807173690) that Raju Sikarwar shared and it turned out to be a number advertised by the CoverageTimes Facebook page as their own while putting up an advertisement for those who’d like to do social media marketing for them. We found Raju Sikarwar’s Facebook profile and he also shares posts from CoverageTimes multiple times in various Facebook groups. By now, it must be obvious that Raju Singh Sikarwar = Dimpal Patel. We looked up the second number (992671109) specified in the social media marketing post on Truecaller and we found a verified profile of one Ramendra Chauhan associated with the number. Back in 2013, this same number was listed as the first contact person of Ramendra Singh in an event planned to protest Jodha Akbar serial. The event was created by Ramendra Singh himself and his Facebook profile was enlisted on the event page. Ramendra Singh’s LinkedIn profile states that he’s the ‘Senior Editor’ at CoverageTimes. So, we have atleast 2 people who are associated with CoverageTimes. However, the biggest promoter of CoverageTimes is a gentleman called Akash Soni. He has two personal Facebook profiles (1 & 2) and one Facebook page AkashSoniBJP. He also has CoverageTimes.com listed as his website on his Facebook page. Akash Soni has been featured once before in an Alt News story when he was exposed as one of the Admins of a WhatsApp group who were harassing NDTV Anchor Ravish Kumar. He has pictures with multiple senior BJP leaders. We have shown how Akash Soni, Raju Sikarwar, Ramendra Singh are all part of the team that is running and promoting the fake news site CoverageTimes. Is the Government at all concerned that people close to BJP are indulging in large scale fake news? The kind that is mainly aimed at creating animosity between communities, character-assassinating individuals? Are political dividends gained from such fake news sites stopping the Government from taking action against such websites? Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th November 2017 / 10:59 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-investigation-upcoming-fake-news-site-coveragetimes/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
229	Alt News Policy on Hate Speech - Alt News After five years of extensive reportage of misinformation, Alt News launched UnHate in 2022. We believe that there is a pressing need for fixing accountability among all stakeholders (individuals, media outlets, advertisers, social media platforms, and others) who are directly or indirectly responsible for either publishing or amplifying hate speech. On November 3, Alt News officially published a preliminary policy document on hate speech. For the time being, the policy is based on the Facebook Community Standards on hate speech. In its reportage on hate speech, Alt News will refer to this document. This policy will be updated as we continue to report on hate speech. As per the United Nations, ‘In common language, “hate speech” refers to offensive discourse targeting a group or an individual based on inherent characteristics (such as race, religion or gender) and that may threaten social peace.’ However, the UN adds that ‘there is no universal definition of hate speech under international human rights law. The concept is still widely disputed, especially in relation to freedom of opinion and expression, non-discrimination and equality.’ To provide a unified framework for the United Nations to address the issue globally, the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech defines hate speech as…’any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor.’ While the above is not a legal definition and is broader than ‘incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence’ – which is prohibited under international human rights law — it has three important attributes: Hate Speech can be defined as a direct attack against people – rather than concepts or institutions – on the basis of what we call protected characteristics: race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious affiliation, caste, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity and serious disease. We define attacks as violent or dehumanising speech, harmful stereotypes, statements of inferiority, expressions of contempt, disgust or dismissal, cursing and calls for exclusion or segregation. We also prohibit the use of harmful stereotypes, which we define as dehumanising comparisons that have historically been used to attack, intimidate or exclude specific groups, and that are often linked with offline violence. We consider age a protected characteristic when referenced along with another protected characteristic. We also protect refugees, migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers from the most severe attacks, though we do allow commentary and criticism of immigration policies. Similarly, we provide some protections for characteristics such as occupation, when they’re referenced along with a protected characteristic. Sometimes, based on local nuance, we consider certain words or phrases as frequently used proxies for PC groups.” Content targeting a person or group of people (including all groups except those who are considered non-protected groups described as having carried out violent crimes or sexual offences or representing less than half of a group) on the basis of their aforementioned protected characteristic(s) or immigration status with: Content targeting a person or group of people on the basis of their protected characteristic(s) with: Content targeting a person or group of people on the basis of their protected characteristic(s) with any of the following: Content that describes or negatively targets people with slurs, where slurs are defined as words that are inherently offensive and used as insulting labels for the above characteristics.	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-policy-on-hate-speech/", "author": null }
230	Alt News probes ABVP's link with JNU student exposed in India Today sting - Alt News Mohammed Zubair & Jignesh Patel 11th January 2020 / 11:01 pm / Last updated: 11th January 2020 On January 10, India Today broadcast a sting operation where first-year French degree program student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Akshat Awasthi, confessed his involvement in the January 5 attack. Awasthi identified himself as an ABVP activist. India Today investigation revealed three names – Akshat Awasthi (ABVP activist), Rohit Shah, and Geeta Kumari (former JNUSU president and AISA activist) – who confessed the roles they played that fateful night. The second part of the investigation, broadcast on January 11, provided details of ABVP activist Komal Sharma’s alleged involvement. #JNUTapes \| JNU’s 1st year student confesses to leading attacks on Jan 5 Watch LIVE with @rahulkanwal: https://t.co/4fqxBVUizL pic.twitter.com/zABFDyknuj — India Today (@IndiaToday) January 10, 2020 Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) National General Secretary Nidhi Tripathi issued a statement distancing the student body from Akshat Awasthi and claimed that he is not a member of the organisation, “Akshat Awasthi is neither an office bearer, nor a karyakarta of ABVP, as claimed by IndiaToday”, reads the statement. Akshat Awasthi is neither an office bearer, nor a karyakarta of ABVP, as claimed by @IndiaToday. This is a smear campaign run by India Today to deviate everyone from the facts put forth by @DelhiPolice proving #LeftBehindJNUVoilence. – National General Secretary @nidhitripathi92 — ABVP (@ABVPVoice) January 10, 2020 Responding to ABVP’s denial, anchor Rahul Kanwal took to Twitter and posted images of Awasthi at “an ABVP rally” on November 12, 2019. Akshat Awasthi now says he’s ‘not in any way associated with the ABVP.’ Here he is on the front page of national newspapers at an ABVP rally. Go on. Zoom in. He’s the one holding the tricolour. #JNUTapes Weak defences won’t fly. pic.twitter.com/dQESc9fkzP — Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) January 10, 2020 Right-wing website OpIndia published a report raising questions against India Today’s investigation and Awasthi’s affiliation with ABVP. The article claimed that the photograph shared by Rahul Kanwal pertained to a rally against hostel fee hike organised by JNUSU. It is noteworthy that ABVP is not a part of the JNU students’ union. OpIndia traced the image to November 11, 2019, published by Manorama. “The picture used by Manorama says that the picture is from the 11th of November 2019 when the police stopped JNU students who were staging a protest over the hostel fee-hike issue. The picture was taken by Kamal Singh of PTI,” said article which was also published by right-leaning website Swarajya. India Today sting on JNU violence: Here is how Rahul Kanwal passed off a JNUSU activist as an ABVP member A detailed fact-check by @UnSubtleDesihttps://t.co/jmHBgGn2Hq — OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) January 11, 2020 In this report, Alt News will fact-check two separate claims namely, OpIndia’s assertion that Akshat Awasthi’s presence in a JNUSU rally would suggest that he’s associated with the Left and not ABVP, and ABVP’s assertion that Awasthi is not associated with the student body. With a keyword search on Twitter, we found that Awasthi’s image, where he is raising the tricolour, was shared by JNU ABVP account. According to ABVP, the photograph is part of a protest organised against the proposed fee hike in the varsity. “ABVP-JNU outrightly rejects the massive fee hike since very first day,” reads its description. #RollBackFeeHike ABVP-JNU outrightly rejects the massive fee hike since very first day. We struggled together with each student of JNU against JNU Admin over undemocratically massively increased hostel fees. @ABVPVoice @abvptoday @ANI @Jansatta @HRDMinistry @republic @loksabhatv pic.twitter.com/2CE8MP8xPn — ABVP JNU (@abvpjnu) November 12, 2019 ABVP was a part of JNUSU protests but withdrew support on November 19, 2019. According to Economic Times, ABVP backed-out after Left parties accepted HRD ministry’s decision to set up a committee to look into the issue. Since then, the RSS-affiliated body has been protesting independent of the JNUSU protests under Left-backed parties. OpIndia declared Awasthi a JNUSU activist because of his presence in a protest against the fee hike organised by JNUSU. But OpIndia also proved that the photograph was shot on November 11. This was when ABVP was still supporting the JNUSU protests. The website’s assertion that Awasthi’s presence in the rally organised by JNUSU automatically excludes him from being a part of ABVP doesn’t hold water. Alt News was also able to independently locate multiple pictures and videos of Awasthi with ABVP members. In the image posted below, he is accompanied with individuals carrying saffron-coloured ABVP scarves. The above image was posted by one Shivam Chaurasia on November 21, 2019. “We are detained in Parliament Street Police Station.#ABVPMarchOn #RollBackFeeHike”, reads the accompanying message. It may be noted that on November 21, 2019, ABVP members were stopped by the police near Parliament Street police station for protesting against fee hike. This image was taken inside the police station. In a graphic shared on his Facebook profile, Chaurasia declared himself ABVP’s candidate for councillor. ABVP’s Office Secretary Nawnit Kumar shared a video of their detention where Awasthi can be spotted at 52 seconds. Moreover, Awasthi can be seen in another video posted by ABVP Secretary Manish Jangid that same day. Below is the part where Awasthi is spotted amidst chants of “ABVP zindabad” and “Kanhaiya Kumar murdabad”. In several images posted by ABVP members (Ayush Kasana, Nishul Khrub), Awasthi is seen walking with a group wearing saffron scarves. ABVP’s Secretary Manish Jangid [2] and ABVP member Bharat Sharma [3] were photographed alongside Awasthi [1] in the image below. The video below was taken at the same location as the image. Here, Awashti can be spotted standing behind a group of people holding an ABVP banner and chanting, “Kaun lada hai ABVP, kaun ladega ABVP.” While ABVP has denied association with JNU student Akshat Awasthi and vice-versa, Alt News has found multiple pictures and videos of Awasthi in protests led by ABVP as well as in photographs with prominent ABVP members and office-bearers, sloganeering in support of the student body. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th January 2020 / 11:01 pm / Last updated: 11th January 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/alt-news-probes-abvps-link-with-jnu-student-exposed-in-india-today-sting/", "author": "Mohammed Zubair & Jignesh Patel" }

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.