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836	Economic Times pulls down Cobrapost sting operation story on Paytm - Alt News Alt News Desk 28th May 2018 / 2:50 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 The Cobrapost exposé on mainstream media organisations expectedly found little coverage. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to see Economic Times run a story summarizing the sting operation with a subheading that said ”PayTM = PayToPM”. The surprise was short lived as the Economic Times article on Cobrapost sting operation has now been pulled down. The Economic Times website displays a message saying “Page Not Found”. You can access the archived version of the story here. The Cobrapost ‘sting’ video showed Ajay Shekhar Sharma, a senior vice president at the firm and brother of the founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, claiming that the Prime Minister’s Office asked for the personal data of some Paytm users after the incidents of stone pelting in Kashmir. Paytm meanwhile claimed in a tweet that there is “no truth in the sensational headlines of a video doing the rounds“. There is absolutely NO TRUTH in the sensational headlines of a video doing rounds on social media. Our users’ data is 100% secure and has never been shared with anyone except law enforcement agencies on request. Thank you for your continued support. — Paytm (@Paytm) May 25, 2018 The Cobrapost also ran a sting on media groups which was rubbished by the Times Group as “a case of doctoring of content and falsification”. Times of India, a sister publication of Economic Times, also tried to discredit the journalist. In an article titled “Cobrapost journalist was arrested in 2009 for staging fake accidents and extorting money from policemen“, it alleged that “Pushp Sharma, who led the so-called operation sting on media groups, clearly has criminal antecedents and a legal history as a blackmailer and extortionist using doctored and falsified content to ply his trade.” This is not the first time that Economic Times has deleted articles and tweets that put the BJP government in a negative light. In January this year the newspaper deleted its tweet to cover-up Prime Minister Modi’s 600 crore faux pas while addressing the plenary session of the World Economic Forum at Davos. In 2017, both Times of India and Economic Times deleted their stories about Indian media’s low rank in the International Press Freedom Index. The Wire has reported three major instances where the publication has pulled down its stories in the last year, “these include reports on BJP President Amit Shah’s assets, a PIL accusing textiles minister Smriti Irani of fraud and another story that criticised the Modi government’s crop insurance programme in Rajasthan.” Clearly Economic Times has a lot to explain to its readers. These repeated instances of pulling down stories critical of the government should be acutely embarrassing to India’s leading business daily, to say the least. 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	28th May 2018 / 2:50 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/economic-times-pulls-down-cobrapost-sting-operation-story-on-paytm/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
837	Morphed image of Pakistani men with banner demanding Virat Kohli viral on social media - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 28th October 2022 / 2:47 pm India defeated Pakistan in the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup on October 23 by four wickets thanks largely to a brilliant knock by Virat Kohli. Expectedly, he dominated the headlines after the match. Against this backdrop, a picture of a group of young men posing with the Pakistani flag along with a green banner is making the rounds on social media. The banner reads, “We don’t want Kashmir, give us Virat Kohli.” Retired Lieutenant-General Vinod Bhatia tweeted this picture and wrote, “With this habit of asking for everything, you won’t get anything.” (Archived link) BJP supporter and writer Bhaavna Arora also tweeted the image and wrote, “Kashmir is ours. Kohli is ours as well.” (Archived link) Jammu Kashmir Student Welfare Forum president Kamran Ali Mir also tweeted the photo. (Archived link) The image got a lot of traction across social media platforms. Alt News performed a reverse image search of the viral image. This led us to a 2016 India Today article containing two images that showed the banner. According to the report, in 2016, some Kashmiri youths raised slogans in support of Pakistan holding the country’s flag. Along with this, they also raised Azadi slogans in support of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani and separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani. It is worth noting that as opposed to the viral image, the banner seen with the flag of Pakistan did not contain anything about Virat Kohli. Rather, it read, “We want Azaadi (freedom).” This can be seen more clearly in the side-by-side comparison of both the pictures given below. To sum it up, a number of social media users, including the country’s retired lieutenant-general, falsely shared a morphed picture as real. The real banner in the source image states ‘We want Azaadi’, which was edited to read ‘We don’t want Kashmir, give us Virat Kohli’. 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). 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	28th October 2022 / 2:47 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/edited-banner-written-we-dont-want-kashmir-give-us-virat-kohli-is-being-shared-after-icc-t20-world-cup-match-ind-vs-pak/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
838	Morphed image shows AAP installed billboard promising caste/ religion-wise divide in Goa - Alt News Kinjal 25th November 2021 / 9:03 pm A purported billboard has been making the rounds on social media. It has been claimed that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) installed a billboard that promises to divide Goa on the basis of caste and religion if the party comes to power next year. Facebook page ‘Kejri Ke Bawal’ shared the photo. A few other users also amplified the picture of the billboard. (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3) It is also being circulated on Twitter. Alt News performed a reverse image search and came across a report by The Goan dated October 18, 2021 containing the image. However, the billboard seen in this version features a different election guarantee of Rs 5000 monthly allowance for unemployed people in the mining and tourism sectors. A September 21 Indian Express report quoted Kejriwal announcing the unemployment allowance. “Kejriwal said the party will also provide an unemployment allowance of Rs 3000 per month to the families that have an unemployed youth and Rs 5000 per month to the families dependent on mining and tourism until their jobs are restored,” according to the report. Similar posters installed by AAP were shared on Facebook (Link 1, Link 2). One of them also appeared in a local newspaper. Furthermore, AAP had installed the same poster at another location in Goa. A Facebook user had shared an image of the billboard on October 10. The poster was torn and AAP had uploaded an image on Facebook the following day. The two images in the collage below show the same location from different angles. The similarities have been marked. To sum it up, social media users circulated an edited image of an AAP billboard. 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	25th November 2021 / 9:03 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/edited-image-of-a-billboard-shared-caste-religion-by-division-in-goa-aap-arvind-kejriwal/", "author": "Kinjal" }
839	Morphed image of Greta Thunberg shared amid farmers' protest toolkit controversy - Alt News Kinjal 22nd February 2021 / 3:20 pm Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg recently tweeted a toolkit detailing ways to support the ongoing farmer protests against the three new agricultural laws in India. Bengaluru-based climate activist Disha Ravi was accused by the Delhi police of ‘editing’ the toolkit that allegedly carried information to ‘wage war against India’. Ravi has been in judicial custody since February 14. Meanwhile, a picture of Thunberg inside a train compartment is widespread on social networking platforms. The picture shows the 19-year-old consuming food inside a train as African children allegedly watch her through the wondow. Twitter user @bembadep posted this picture and wrote, “India ask these anti forces #AskGretaWhy”. The tweet amassed over 700 retweets as of this writing. (Archive link) India ask these anti forces #AskGretaWhy pic.twitter.com/E4vWMMpKPX — Bembde Pavan (@bembadep) February 16, 2021 Twitter user Umesh Singh Tomar also tweeted this photo thanking Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary for exposing Thunberg. Several other users have tweeted this picture with the hashtag #AskGretaWhy. Alt News performed a simple reverse image search and found the original photo published in an article in the British newspaper Metro from September 27, 2019. Unlike the viral image, this photo shows trees outside the window and not a group of children. Therefore, the image being shared on social media has been edited. The accompanying article states the picture was taken in Denmark. It also states that Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, had shared the morphed picture of the climate activist. Thunberg had herself posted the original photo on January 22, 2019. Lunch in Denmark. pic.twitter.com/LWKMQ9AuqR — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) January 22, 2019 The photograph of the children was found in a Reuters article dated August 23, 2007. It was shot by Reuters photographer Stephanie Hancock in Africa. The article is about people who fled villages and moved to the forests during the Bush War in Central Africa. During our research, we discovered that Thunberg’s photo has been edited in different ways and shared on social media since 2019. Some examples of these edits are below. The Quint also published a fact-check report on this image on February 17. A morphed photo of Greta Thunberg having food during a train journey was circulated online. This picture has been edited and posted online since 2019. 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 February 2021 / 3:20 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/edited-image-of-greta-thunberg-shared-with-false-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
840	Fake TV9 Marathi graphic plate claims Maharashtra under lockdown from March 1-15 - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 25th February 2021 / 2:23 pm A picture that appears to be a screenshot of a graphic plate of TV9 Marathi was sent for verification on Alt News WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160). It features Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alongside Marathi text that reads, “Strict 15-day lockdown to be imposed across the state starting March 1, 2021.” It is noteworthy that there has been a recent surge of COVID-19 cases in five states including Maharashtra. The Center has asked these states to strictly implement social distancing rules and amp up testing facilities. The Indian Express reported that more than 7,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Maharashtra on Sunday alone. The state’s cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal had also tested positive. A partial lockdown has been imposed in Maharashtra. While it will not be as strict as previous lockdowns, night curfews will be in place. Furthermore, schools and colleges will remain closed. The state government has announced a lockdown in Amravati and some other regions including Achalpur. We performed a reverse image search of the image in question and found a similar graphic plate in a Free Press Journal fact-check report dated March 27, 2020. But the Marathi text is different than the one currently viral. The Marathi text in The Free Press Journal graphic reads, “Liquor shops to now be open from 3 to 4 PM.” The font used for this text is also different from the one in the image sent to us. Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube, which led us to a TV9 video report where Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is speaking about the Janata curfew imposed in March last year. The video was uploaded on March 22, 2020. Nowhere in the video did the Chief Minister mention anything about liquor stores remaining open during the lockdown. He also does not talk about the lockdown effective from March 1 to 15 (we would like to remind our readers that a nationwide lockdown was imposed for the first time on March 25 last year, so this information may not be correct even in the context of the previous year). Comparing the screenshot featured here with the one sent to us, it is clear that the text in the latter has been edited. The font in the original graphic is also different from the font seen in both the viral screenshots. Apart from this, the graphics of the channel, the chief minister’s shirt, and his chair are identical in all three screenshots. It is possible that these screenshots were edited using other TV9 broadcasts. At the time of writing, the Maharashtra government has not announced a statewide 15-day lockdown from March 1 onwards. However, some other restrictions, including night curfews, have been re-imposed due to the rapid uptick in COVID-19 cases. Along with this, lockdowns will be put into place only in those districts that are at the risk of becoming coronavirus hotspots once again. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has given residents an 8-day ultimatum and requested them to follow the mandated guidelines. TV9 Marathi also issued a statement clarifying that the viral screenshot was fake. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5S5Ks2nyd4] Furthermore, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had tweeted on February 22 that “stringent action” has been directed against the people spreading lockdown rumours. The @MahaCyber1 Branch is keeping a close eye on those who are spreading false rumors that lockdown has been reimposed in Maharashtra. Stringent action has been directed against the people concerned for attempting to disseminate false information without any official information. — ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) February 22, 2021 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… 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	25th February 2021 / 2:23 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/edited-screenshot-of-tv9-marathi-claimed-that-maha-cm-uddhav-thakrey-is-going-to-impose-a-15-day-lockdown-across-the-state/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
841	Aaditya Thackeray is not HIV positive, TV9 Bharatvarsh graphic plate morphed - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 23rd March 2021 / 1:38 pm / Last updated: 23rd March 2021 On March 20, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray announced in a tweet that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Following this, many users began sharing a screenshot of a news broadcast by TV9 Bharatvarsh that reads, “CM Uddhav’s son Aaditya Thackeray HIV/AIDS positive.” A Facebook page titled ‘Congress Mukt Bharat’ wrote the caption, “The pot of your sins became full the day the innocent saints were killed in Palghar.” In April last year, two sadhus were beaten to death by a group of locals in Palghar, Maharashtra. The screenshot is being circulated by many users on Facebook. Likewise, some Twitter users also shared this ‘news update’ as true. We searched ‘Aaditya Thackeray’ on TV9 Bharatvarsh’s YouTube channel and found a video uploaded on March 20. ‘Breaking news’ flashes at the beginning of this 28-second video accompanied by, “Aaditya Thackeray, son of CM Uddhav corona positive.” The original screenshot has been edited, the word ‘corona’ has been replaced with ‘HIV/AIDS’. We noticed that the viral screenshot reads ‘@OfficeOfSID’ and the word ‘corona’ above the screen has been replaced with ‘Maharashtra’. Below is a comparison of the original screenshot and viral image, where all these differences become apparent. We located the Twitter profile @OfficeOfSid, whose handle appears in the viral screenshot. Alt News found that this handle constantly shares objectionable speech and similar misleading edited photos and videos. Below is a screenshot that shows he shared the morphed TV9 bulletin. A morphed screenshot of a TV9 Bharatvarsh broadcast reporting that Aaditya Thackeray was tested positive for COVID was morphed to falsely claim he is HIV positive. 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	23rd March 2021 / 1:38 pm / Last updated: 23rd March 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/edited-screenshot-of-tv9-saying-aditya-thackray-hiv-aids-positive-viral/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
842	SP candidate's video doctored to portray speech against Brahmins, Thakurs - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 11th February 2022 / 10:55 pm A video of Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly candidate from Katra constituency Rajesh Yadav is circulating widely on social media. It has been claimed that Yadav can be heard saying in the video that Brahmins and Thakurs will be beaten up if his party were to come to power in the state. कटरा विधान सभा(शाहजहांपुर)सपा प्रत्याशी सभा में सरकार बनने पर ब्राह्मण, ठाकुरों को सड़क पर दौड़ा-दौड़ाकर मारने की बात कर रहा है।वही सपा है, कुछ नहीं बदला है।गुण्डे, मवालियों, बवालियों, अपराधियों की भरमार है। वीडियो की जांच होकर सत्यता की जानकारी होनी चाहिए। pic.twitter.com/hypdixEhlO — Ramendra Bhushan Pandey (@rbpandey) February 9, 2022 The video has been shared by several individuals on Twitter. शाहजहांपुर कटरा विधानसभा के सपा प्रत्याशी को देख लो आप के प्रति कितना जहर भरा हैं ठाकुर और पंडितो को दौड़ा_२ कर मारने का काम करेंगे पूर्व विधायक राजेश यादव, इस तरह के नेताओं पर कब कारवाही करेगी यूपी पुलिस। और कुछ लोग कहते हैं सपा ब्राह्मणों का सम्मान करेगी pic.twitter.com/ZdM7yqd4YH — Poonam Tiwari (@AdarshT75968592) February 9, 2022 It is, in fact, widespread on both Twitter and Facebook. Responding to a viral tweet, Shahjahanpur police wrote that “the video has been edited to circulate a misleading claim”. सोशल मीडिया पर वायरल सम्बन्धित वीडियो के सम्बंध में वादी द्वारा वीडियो को एडिट कर भ्रामकता फैलाने के सम्बंध में थाना सदर बाजार पर अभियोग पंजीकृत कराया गया है, विवेचनात्मक कार्यवाही की जा रही है। — SHAHJAHANPUR POLICE (@shahjahanpurpol) February 10, 2022 We performed a keyword search and came across a report by Live Hindustan. According to the report, SP candidate from Katra Rajesh Yadav raised objections after an edited video of his was being circulated online. He also filed a case against six accused and several unidentified people at the Sadar Bazar Station. Alt News reached out to Rajesh Yadav. He explained that the viral clip has been edited. Neither did he say anything about chasing Brahmans and Thakurs through the streets and beating them up, nor did he make any other provocative remark targetting the community. He also shared the full unedited video with us. He can be heard saying in the unedited video, “The people are fed up with these small-time goons. In this area, some lowly miscreants harassed some workers and some people. They have ruined their lives. We want to assure you that the day the Samajwadi Party government comes to power, the members of the party will chase these goons down the street and beat them.” While addressing the gathering, Rajesh added that neither has he practised nor has he ever tolerated thuggery. He never called Thakurs or Pandits derogatory names. This is where the viral clip begins before jumping to the portion about chasing goons down the street and beating them. To sum it up, this video of SP candidate Rajesh Yadav from the Katra constituency of Uttar Pradesh is doctored. It was circulated with the false claim that Yadav had made an offensive remark toward Brahmins and Thakurs. 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). 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 2022 / 10:55 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/edited-video-of-katras-sps-candidate-rajesh-yadav-shared-with-false-claim/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
843	Edited video shows Rahul Gandhi praising PM Modi on employment issue - Alt News Kinjal 16th August 2021 / 9:40 pm A video has gone viral on social media recently, which opens with a news anchor saying, “Rahul Gandhi recently attended a rally held by the Youth Congress. He also addressed a gathering during the occasion.” Next, a clip of Gandhi is played where he can be heard saying, “Remember that as long as Narendra Modi is the prime minister, as long as this government that supports population control is in power, India’s youth will get employment.” Sharing the clip, Facebook user ‘Rebel Saheb’ wrote, “I have been saying this from the very beginning. Rahul is a BJP campaigner, he is BJP’s chief campaigner! As long as Mr. Modi is in power, the youth will get employment.”(Archive link) मैं तो शुरू से ही कह रहा हूं, राहुल बीजेपी के 🌟 कैंपेनर है 😂😂 बीजेपी के मुख्य प्रचारक !! जब तक मोदी जी की सरकार है, तब तक युवाओं को रोजगार मिलेगा 😂😂😂 Posted by विद्रोही साहेब on Thursday, August 12, 2021 Facebook user ‘CP Bhakt’ also shared the video. The accompanying caption read, “Youth leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing the Youth Congress, guaranteed that as long as Mr. Modi and Mr. Amit Shah were in power, India’s youth would be given employment. Seems like Rahul will be getting a BJP ticket soon.” (Archive link) युवा कांग्रेस के मंच को युवा नेता राहूल गांधी ने सम्बोधित करते हुये मोदीजी और मोटाभाई की गारंटी लेते हुये घोषणा की इन दोनो की जब तक सरकार है, नवयुवकों को रोजगार मिलेगा,लगता है, राहूल को भाजपा टिकट दे रही है । Posted by CP Bhakta on Thursday, August 12, 2021 Twitter user Vikram Singh Jain tweeted the clip and wrote that Gandhi was the chief advocate for the BJP. (Archive link) भाजपा के मुख्य प्रचारक !! जब तक मोदीजी की सरकार है तब तक युवाओ को रोजगार मिलेगा बस।🤔😜 pic.twitter.com/iZDURSeHnW — विक्रमसिंह जैन(NF)🇮🇳 (@JAINVIKRAMSINGH) August 12, 2021 The video has been spreading like wildfire across Facebook and Twitter and has now made its way to WhatsApp as well. Alt News performed a keyword search and came across an HW News video report dated August 5. According to the report, Rahul Gandhi took part in the ‘Parliament Ghero’ rally held by the Youth Congress. In this video report, he says at the 5:41 mark, “And brothers and sisters, remember that as long as Narendra Modi is the prime minister, as long as this government that supports population control is in power, India’s youth will not find employment.” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwM0KyJOLuc] Therefore, in reality, Rahul Gandhi was targeting Prime Minister Modi. The viral video was created by doctoring an Aaj Tak news broadcast, and then posting it online. The first 19 seconds of this Aaj Tak video report contains the portion of his speech that has been edited and circulated. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC-qE0JjO-M] The Indian National Congress also posted this video on its Facebook page. To sum it up, a speech made by Rahul Gandhi during a Youth Congress rally was edited and circulated on social media. 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	16th August 2021 / 9:40 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/edited-video-of-rahul-gandhi-viral-as-he-praised-pm-modi-on-emplyment/", "author": "Kinjal" }
844	Edited video of 'three-eyed' baby believed to be true on social media - Alt News Archit & Dr Sharfaroz Satani 15th July 2020 / 9:10 pm A 15-second video of an infant with ‘three eyes’ has gone viral on social media. On Facebook, it has been shared with two different texts in Telugu — 1. According to Potuluri Veera Brahmendraswamy, a strange baby was born abroad. (link) (పోతులూరి వీర బ్రహ్మేంద్రస్వామి చెప్పిన విధంగా విదేశంలో వింతశిశువు జననం..ముచ్చటగా మూడుకన్నులతో మూర్తీభవించిన త్రినేత్రుడు…ఓం నమః శ్శివాయ) 2. As told by the Brahmin, the three-eyed man has also arrived on earth. (link) (బ్రహ్మం గారు చెప్పినట్టు భూలోక త్రినేత్రుడు కూడా వచ్చేసాడు) Alt News has also received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+917600011160) and on our official Android application. Alt News watched the video multiple times and noticed that it is a clear case of video editing. The eye on the right-hand side of the reader has been superimposed on the forehead of the baby. The right eye and the ‘third’ eye have the same movement. We performed a reverse image search and found that the viral video was posted by a Twitter account with Chinese caption “The three-eyed man appeared” (translated from 三只眼的人类出现了)” on July 9. 三只眼的人类出现了 pic.twitter.com/KEYegRRVYF — 水镜先生(备用号) (@gmmj0709) July 9, 2020 The claim was earlier fact-checked by Hoax or Fact on July 11. An edited video showing a baby with three eyes was believed to be true on social media. Babies can very rarely be born with extra eyes. It occurs as part of a rare congenital disorder called diprosopus where the trunk and limbs are normal but there is a partial or complete duplication of different parts of the face. It is also considered as a variety of conjoined twins (Bhuyan, M et al. 2018). Babies with this disorder are usually stillborn (born dead) as this disorder is often associated with deformities of the brain, spinal cord, heart and abdominal organs (Yahaya, R.S et al. 2018). It is important to note that such deformities of duplication of body organs do not appear without disfigurement. Any picture or video of precisely placed extra body parts on a body with no disfigurement is unlikely to be real. Furthermore, in the case of diprosopus, there are multiple parts of the face that are duplicated resulting in a grossly deformed face. Below is a photograph of a newborn with diprosopus. References Bhuyan, M., & Haque, I. (2018). Diprosopus a rare craniofacial malformation. Asian journal of neurosurgery, 13(4), 1257. Yahaya, R. S., Suwaid, M. A., Hassan, S., Lawal, Y., Hassan, I., Gwaram, B. A., & Yahaya, H. B. (2018). A “three-eyed” infant: A case of partial facial duplication (diprosopus monocephalus triophthalmos). West African Journal of Radiology, 25(1), 79. 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	15th July 2020 / 9:10 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/edited-video-of-three-eyed-baby-believed-to-be-true-on-social-media/", "author": "Archit & Dr Sharfaroz Satani" }
845	Edited video shared as Chinese martial artists performing to the song 'Jai Ho' - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 23rd October 2019 / 5:07 pm A video depicting elaborate choreography by hundreds of artists has been shared on social media with the narrative that these are Chinese artists performing to the song ‘Jai Ho’ from the motion picture ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Chinese performing on Jai Ho. Superb, Amazing. Wirth a watch & share pic.twitter.com/myxNnqnxPn — Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia (@Ptr6Vb) October 22, 2019 The video, showcasing intricate pattern formation through near-perfect synchronization, has been shared on Facebook as well. Jai Ho !! The Chinese Commanding Choreography & their Citizen’s Obedience in addition to their elegance, artistry & grace Posted by Narayanmoorthy Sundaresan on Monday, October 21, 2019 However, some social media users expressed doubt over the claim that the artists are performing to ‘Jai Ho’, suspecting the video to have been manipulated. CLEVER! I don’t believe that JAI HO! was really the soundtrack of this spectacular show in China. But it’s fascinating to see mass choreography performed with such incredible precision. Could be computer graphics. Anybody know if it’s real? No matter, well worth a WATCH. #JaiHo pic.twitter.com/TEFCsLFuZ8 — KABIR BEDI (@iKabirBedi) October 19, 2019 In the original video, the artists are not performing to the song ‘Jai Ho’. Taking a frame from the video and reverse-searching in on Yandex yielded several results pertaining to the video. Alt News found that the video represents a martial arts performance by Chinese artists at the Spring Festival Gala, also known as CCTV New Year’s gala, a special programme produced by China Central Television (CCTV), the primary state television network in China. The Spring Festival Gala is held every year, with millions of viewers from across the globe tuning in. The video shared on social media depicts a performance of the 2019 festival, held in February. As can be seen in the video posted below, the artists are performing to a Chinese song. #SpringFestivalGala🎥 2019: Powerful Chinese martial arts #SpringFestival2019 pic.twitter.com/UkvHai89p4 — CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 5, 2019 The tweet posted below contains the portion of the video which has been shared by social media users. Çinlilerin en önemli geleneksel bayramlarından Bahar Bayramı’nın 2019 Galası’nda gerçekleştirilen ‘Shaolin Wushu’ Gösterisi 🎊🎈#BaharBayramı #ÇinYeniYılı #SpringFestival2019 #ChineseNewYear2019 pic.twitter.com/1033ukfJ8a — CRI Türkçe (@CRI_Turkish) February 4, 2019 It may thus be noted that the artists in the video are NOT performing to ‘Jai Ho’. The original video, taken at the Spring Gala Festival in China in February 2019, has been tampered with. 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	23rd October 2019 / 5:07 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/edited-video-shared-as-chinese-martial-artists-performing-to-the-song-jai-ho/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
846	Editorial Policy - Alt News Alt News is committed to fact-checking in a fair, transparent and non-partisan manner. We strive for high editorial standards and adhere by the following guidelines: : Alt News has no political affiliations. We believe in fact-checking news from all ends of the political spectrum and apply the same standards to claims irrespective of who originate them. We call out fake news without fear or favour. : Facts are sacrosanct to a fact-checker. We therefore aim to be accurate in our fact-checking, consulting multiple sources to ensure that fact-checks are backed by sound evidence. Depending on the nature of fact-check required, we use internet tools like reverse image search or source data from official sources. Where necessary, we also reach out to the relevant person to verify a claim. We do not quote anonymous sources. : Alt News explains in detail how the claim was debunked. This is done in the interest of transparency and it also serves an educational purpose, guiding the readers how to evaluate claims which they may come across in future.	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/editorial-policy/", "author": null }
847	Editorial Team - Alt News Our team, who has worked voluntarily for the most part since its inception, consists of engineers, social activists, journalists and scientists. Hence, we have the capacity to cover various news from politics, legal issues, caste-based and religious discrimination, gender rights, labour & farmer struggles, as well as health and medicine-related misinformation. To contribute to AltNews, email [email protected]	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/editorial-team/", "author": null }
848	The inefficacy of Cupping Therapy (Hijaama), an ancient procedure of Unani medicine - Alt News Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh & Nikhil Bardeskar 7th March 2019 / 10:14 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2019 The ministry of AYUSH observed the ‘Unani day’ on the 11th of February 2019 to raise awareness for the Unani branch of alternative medicine (alt-med) in India. In the AYUSH acronym, Unani represents the ‘U’ and ostensibly, an equal branch of the AYUSH systems. However, AYUSH heavily promotes other branches such as Ayurveda, Yoga, Homeopathy or Siddha, more than Unani. The countdown begins! 50 days to go for Unani Day celebrations. Adopt Unani System of Medicine, The Science of Health and Healing.#AYUSH#ZindagiRaheKhush#UnaniDay2019 #11Feb pic.twitter.com/5JnsSfmNdx — Ministry of AYUSH (@moayush) December 22, 2018 Unani System of Medicine is a comprehensive medical system, which provides preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative healthcare.#AYUSH#ZindagiRaheKhush#UnaniDay2019 #11Feb pic.twitter.com/jGNlSdAeer — Ministry of AYUSH (@moayush) December 28, 2018 Unani is an ancient treatment method brought to south-east Asia by the Mughals in the 13th century. Later, it was developed in India using the traditional knowledge of Indian and Chinese medicine. In Unani, the treatment methods claim to focus on improvement of the bodily functions by removal of unwanted waste and thus, increasing its defence mechanisms. In addition to diet (Ilaj-Bil-Ghiza), pharmacotherapy (Ilaj-Bil-Dawa), and surgery (Ilaj-Bil-Yad), the therapies are regimented and are known as Ila’aj-Bil-Tadbeer which primarily consists of: Amongst the four mentioned above, the cupping therapy or Hijaama is widely used as a form of treatment for both acute and chronic ailments, especially in regions where Unani is the preferred form of treatment over Ayurveda, Siddha or homeopathy. Due to its higher practice by the Unani practitioners over other regimented therapies, people subscribing to Unani medicine are more likely to be adversely affected by cupping than its other physical external therapies. In this article, we will discuss perceptions and falsely attributed claims of Unani and Cupping therapy: Fact-Check: Unani has ancient Greek, Arabic, Persian, Chinese as well as Indian influences According to Unani, the human body is made up of Arkan (Elements), Mizaj (Temperament), Akhlat (Humours), Aaza (Organs), Arwah (Spirits), Quwa (Faculties or Powers) and Afaal (Functions). Here, Thus, the developed form of Unani after the 13th century in the Indian-subcontinent consisted of ancient Indian, Greek and Arabic knowledge of medicine. Hippocrates (or Buqrat, 460BC- 370BC), the father of medicine from ancient Greece (Yunan), planted the idea for a rational and physical cause for diseases. Later, Greek physicians during the Roman period such as Galen (or Jalinoos, 129AD-200AD) developed it further. In the 4th century AD, the Greek medicine spread throughout Syria and was carried by the Nestorians into Persia, where it became available to the Islamic World. Later, it also derived knowledge from ancient China, where the exchange of Chinese herbs between 8th-13th century influenced Unani practice. Hence, originating in ancient Greece or Yunan, Unani was developed from the teachings of philosophers such as Greek Hippocrates and Galen, Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi of ancient Persia, Chinese herbalists, and much later in India, by Hakim Abdul Hameed and Syed Zillur Rahman of India. Fact-Check: Unani, that is practised currently in India, had not been completely developed during the life of the Prophet. Also, it is likely that the Prophet may have recommended cupping through Islamic texts, not as a preferred treatment, but because it may be the only major treatment available at that period of time. The ancient Egyptian texts suggest the existence of Unani practices such as Hijaama or cupping predating (1550 BC) the life of the Prophet. Thus, it was prevalent and possibly the only form of treatment before, during and much after the life the Prophet. Also, the mention of cupping is nowhere in the Qur’an but in ‘Hadiths’ that ‘strengthen’ each other. Hence, it is plausible, that the Prophet may have referred to it as a treatment method. The form of Unani practised currently in India and the Indian subcontinent is merely a reflection of the journey it has undergone and the knowledge it has accumulated from the ancient Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Chinese and the traditional Indian systems of healing. Therefore, it is likely to be a variant from the primitive form of Unani practised during the life of the Prophet. Hence, alluding Unani and its therapies such as ‘Cupping’ as the prescribed form of medicine in Islam may be only partially true. Cupping is a method used for local evacuation/diversion of humours using cups attached to the surface of the skin which creates negative pressure. Cupping can be dry, with fire, or ‘wet’ – with small incisions to draw out blood. On the website of the Ministry of AYUSH, it is suggested that cupping can be used for Using the modern knowledge of physiology, cupping is justified as a means to help supposedly helps with pain, inflammation, blood flow and provides deep-tissue massage by relaxing them. There is no scientific evidence that cupping therapy can prevent bleeding, correct liver and spleen diseases, treat malaria or any other infections or treat inflammation. By using sheer negative force or pulling of the skin, cupping may remove external, dry skin scabs but it may not be the safest or effective method to remove scabs. Several research studies have reported elaborate benefits of cupping therapy. A recent review article by researchers in Saudi Arabia collated studies that highlighted these benefits as “Reported effects of cupping therapy include promotion of the skin’s blood flow, changing of the skin’s biomechanical properties, increasing pain thresholds, improving local anaerobic metabolism, reducing inflammation, and modulation of the cellular immune system.” However, systematically reviewing the studies suggest that these studies contain highly biased conclusions. Fact-Check: While it is true that the pressure due to cupping increases blood flow to the surface and changes skin’s biomechanical properties. There is no evidence that these effects can be beneficial in the short term over the local injury, inflammation or burns the therapy is known to cause. Fact-Check: Increasing anaerobic metabolism may lead to an increase in metabolic acidosis (body accumulating excessive amounts of acid) which can cause an increase in pain. The study suggesting reduced inflammation after cupping measured a change in plasma cortisol level (a hormonal marker for stress and low blood glucose), which is a variable throughout the day and is manipulated by several other factors such as food intake. There is no evidence in that study that cortisol is manipulated by cupping only. Also, the study that linked modulation of the immune system measured a change in WBC (white blood cells), which is also indicates infection or inflammation. Hence, none of the above changes suggests that they could be used as an indicator of health improvement, but increases in WBC can be a function of immune system problems such as infections. Fact-Check: Several studies (Chi et al. 2016, Kim et al. 2012 & many more) have suggested that cupping therapy can reduce long-lasting chronic pain. Pain is a subjective experience and is highly modulated by the patient’s expectations of treatments. Hence alternative therapies show significant efficacy in pain conditions, many of which are effective by placebo analgesia. Since, the studies indicating a positive effect on pain lack any form of blinding from the patient’s part, it is highly likely that those effects may have been due to raised expectations. Additionally, these studies have a low sample size, high bias for a positive result and lack of international standards of research. These studies lack the scientific credibility to suggest cupping may have had a mechanistic effect on chronic pain. More systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses (Cao et al. 2012, Cao et al 2010, & Lee et al. 2011) also indicate that cupping therapy has no evidence whatsoever in treating chronic illnesses. Fact-Check: While experts claim that cupping therapy has no adverse reactions, several side-effects such as viral infections, local injury, inflammation and pain due to bruising have been reported. Kim et al. 2014 reported from 16 studies conducted in Korea that linked anaemia (due to blood loss in wet cupping), local tissue injury (due to suction pressure), and herpes viral infection (due to skin lacerations in wet cupping). Another study reported the possibility of a haemorrhagic stroke due to elevated blood pressure in the cervical area. In cases of cupping with heat or fire, several burn injuries are prevalent with some requiring hospitalisation and skin grafting due to burns. The understanding of the human body is perpetually updating with novel information. It is counterproductive to use ancient medical practice that is maladaptive in the modern context. It is more dangerous to do so when those practices are entrenched in religious belief systems. The treatment system of Unani and its treatment of cupping is one such example. It is possible that the Prophet may have recommended it (as suggested by Hadiths) being the only form of modern medical practice during the life of the Prophet, but it is dangerous to suggest that it is the only prescribed form in Islam. This attribution can make more people relying inclusively on it without understanding the mechanism of its efficacy. Moreover, the specific practice of cupping has no clinical evidence as a treatment method for any of the claims made by AYUSH or the research literature. The studies that concluded with positive results had a ‘high bias’ risk, included limited sample size, conducted with no degree of blindness, were without international research standards, and hence lacked credibility. As opposed to treating patients, cupping therapy exposes patients to infections, burns, inflammation and severe tissue injuries. 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 March 2019 / 10:14 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/efficacy-of-cupping-therapy-hijaama-an-ancient-procedure-of-unani-medicine/", "author": "Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh & Nikhil Bardeskar" }
849	Elderly man chained to hospital bed is not late Stan Swamy - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 5th July 2021 / 8:21 pm / Last updated: 5th July 2021 A photograph has been shared on social media as activist Stan Swamy’s last days in the hospital. The 84-year-old Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist breathed his last on July 5. He was on ventilator support in Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital while the Bombay High Court was hearing his medical bail plea. NIA had arrested Swamy on October 7 last year under the country’s stringent UAPA. He was accused of involvement in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence and having connections to Maoists. Swamy’s bail pleas had been rejected multiple times in court. The photograph of an elderly man chained to a hospital bed has been shared as Swamy on both Twitter and Facebook. Alt News has also received verification requests on its WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160). A reverse-image search takes one to several articles where the elderly man has been identified as convicted murderer Baburam Balram Singh. According to NDTV, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over the chaining of Singh, 92, to his hospital bed during treatment at the Etah district hospital. The outlet wrote that the photograph had emerged in May. The Times of India reported on May 14 that Singh was found chained to the non-COVID ward of the hospital. It further said that director general (prisons) Anand Kumar suspended the jail warder and ordered an inquiry into the matter. Singh was brought to Etah jail on February 6 and is a resident of Kulla Habibpur. Punjab Kesari reported that Singh, who is serving life imprisonment, was admitted to the hospital on May 9 after he started having severe breathing problems. Etah District Jail jailor Kuldeep Singh Bhadauria said that the officer on duty handcuffed one of the Singh’s legs and tied the end of the chain to the bed. The on-duty doctor said that Singh was suffering from some mental issues and used to repeatedly get up from the bed and run away. He was tied to purportedly stop him from running away. A photograph of convict Baburam Balram Singh tied to a hospital bed in UP has been falsely shared as a photograph of father Stan Swamy who passed away on July 5 in Mumbai. 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	5th July 2021 / 8:21 pm / Last updated: 5th July 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/elderly-man-chained-to-hospital-bed-is-not-late-stan-swamy/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
850	Emotional video of journo Navin Kumar shared as last words of Rohit Sardana - Alt News Kinjal 3rd May 2021 / 1:04 pm A video of a man in tears, venting out his frustration at the state of affairs in the country due to COVID-19, is circulating on WhatsApp. It has been claimed that the man is Aaj Tak anchor Rohit Sardana who recently passed away due to COVID. “I have never seen the country transform into a pile of dead bodies until today. We have never been this helpless. As a country, as people, as a democracy, we’ve proved to be useless, corrupt and barbaric. Each person has fallen in their own eyes. We are hoping for help from an unseen power. It seems there is no government, no prime minister, no facilities, no bureaucracy, and everyone has been left on their own…This country has turned into hell and we have been left helpless as if we don’t matter…I may or may not survive this, but the ones who do should think that the world becomes a better place. They will think that we should rise above mandir-masjid for our future generations. They should think that this country does not need temples and towers, they should think that this country needs good hospitals, schools, medical colleges, doctors, paramedic staff, medicines, beds and ventilators. Why can’t we give all the money in temples to hospitals? Why can’t we convert all mosques into hospitals? Why can’t we ensure that no temples will be built in this country until a 100-bed hospital is also built simultaneously?” says the man. The celebrated aaj tak anchor Rohit Sardana LAST COMMENTS PRICELESS RIP braveheart At you least you exposed the truth #ResignModi Posted by DrInees Chiriyankandath on Saturday, 1 May 2021 Several individual users on Facebook have shared the video claiming this was Rohit Sardana’s last words. Rohit Sardana Anchor Of Aaj Tak, Last interview before he left this world. what India should do. What is IMPORTANT MANDIR MASJID OR HOSPITALS SCHOOLS????? He is giving his latest opinion.plz watch Posted by Dhanwant Hargudwala on Friday, 30 April 2021 The video carries the logo of the YouTube channel Do Bol. A rummage through the channel took us to the video uploaded on April 26. The man in the video is journalist Navin Kumar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk-v-sVN_j8 He has also been tagged on the video. Journalists Ranvijay Singh and Abhisar Sharma had also shared his video. पत्रकार नवीन कुमार ने बीमार दशा में की दर्दनाक अपील- सरकार से सवाल करो, वही जिम्मेदार है। सुनें: मंदिर-मस्जिद और हिंदू-मुस्लिम की राजनीति पर क्या बोले @navinjournalist (Part 2) pic.twitter.com/j11HqKlUtt — Bolta Hindustan (@BoltaHindustan) May 1, 2021 Kumar had contracted the coronavirus and was admitted to Delhi’s LNJP. A facial comparison of Navin Kumar and Rohit Sardana also shows that it’s not Sardana in the video. An emotional monologue by Navin Kumar at the state of the country due to the raging pandemic and the government’s failure to safeguard citizens has been falsely shared as the last words of Aaj Tak anchor Rohit Sardana. 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	3rd May 2021 / 1:04 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/emotional-video-of-journo-navin-kumar-shared-as-last-words-of-rohit-sardana/", "author": "Kinjal" }
851	An epidemic of fake videos hits the Indian social media ecosystem - Alt News Pratik Sinha 28th June 2017 / 9:49 pm “आंध्रप्रदेश की एक हिंदू मारवाड़ी लड़की जिसकी शादी एक मुस्लिम लड़के के साथ शादी हुई थी। आज कुछ मुस्लिम लोगों नें मिलकर बुरीतरह मारा फिर जिंदा जला दिया। बुर्का ना पहनने के लिये – -देखिये दिल दहला देने वाली video (Translation: A Hindu Marwardi girl from Andhra Pradesh who was married to a Muslim man was beaten up and burnt alive by a few people belonging to the Muslim community for not wearing burkha)“. A video with the aforementioned text has been viral on various forms of social media including WhatsApp and Facebook for about a year and a half now. According to Alt News research, this video was first posted by a Facebook page called “Hindu Rashtra Sena” in February 2016. It is June 2017 but this video refuses to stop being viral. Why is this a concern? Because this video is not from Andhra Pradesh and doesn’t remotely represent the text that it is being circulated with. In this post, we’ll see how social media is being increasingly bombarded by many such videos, and possible solutions to counter this trend. Alt News debunked this video in March 2017. The video is from Guatemala in which a mob kills a girl who along with two other men was allegedly involved in shooting and killing a Taxi driver. She got caught while her two alleged accomplices managed to flee the scene of crime. This is a 4 minute video and it is as grotesque as it gets wherein the girl is videographed being beaten up and burnt alive till the time she finally dies. The mob in the video consists of other women too, none of whom were wearing a Burkha. None in the mob were wearing the traditional Muslim skullcap. None in the mob were speaking a language which had any resemblance to any Indian language. Yet, none of those obvious observations mattered to many because of the provocative nature of the introductory text. This video continues to be shared even today. Rahul Kumar posted the video on his Facebook profile on June 26th, Nakul Pal on June 23rd, Ravi Sharma on June 22nd, Mandeep Boparai on June 21st, the list is endless. Everytime this video is shared, one can observe that the text remains identical. Compare the above screenshot taken on 26th June 2017 and the following screenshot which was taken on 5th March 2017. Not even a comma has changed. What explains this phenomenon? The reason why this video has been shared a few lakh times with identical text is because it is viral on WhatsApp. A certain percentage of people who received this video on WhatsApp copied the accompanying text and posted it on their Facebook profile. Considering the extremely grotesque nature of the video, it would be fair to assume that only a small percentage of people who received this video on WhatsApp would end up posting it on their personal Facebook timelines. Over the past one and a half years, lakhs and lakhs of people must have seen this video. Many of these people, and especially those with a confirmation bias, would believe that such an event actually occurred thus adding to the ever growing feeling of communal acrimony in India. The main aim of circulating such fake videos is to project an individual or a community or a political entity or people of a particular ethnicity in bad light. Very often, these fake videos coincide with trending political issues in the country. When the never ending conflict between the RSS and the Left in Kerala was being highlighted by main stream media, a video became viral in which it was claimed that a RSS member is being killed by a member of the Left. This video was crazily viral for a good 3-4 days. Among the many people who shared this video, Puneet Sharma who is one of the chosen few whom PM Modi follows on Twitter was also involved. Alt News debunked this issue in March 2017. The video was from Mexico where in a member of a Mexican gang was stabbed to death. Had nothing to do with Kerala. In March 2017, controversy broke out over Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur’s video for peace between India and Pakistan. From Virender Sehwag to Randeep Hooda, multiple people launched a misinformed attack on Gurmehar. Soon a video went viral which showed a young woman drinking along with some of her friends in a moving car and it was claimed that the woman is Gurmehar. While, there’s absolutely nothing wrong even if it were Gurmehar herself in the video, this misleading video became viral since large sections of Indian society still look down upon women who drink. Alt News wrote about this issue in March 2017. The woman in the video was not Guremhar and the video was available on youtube much before the Gurmehar controversy broke out. According to Alt News research, a man called Vikram Bhanushali first circulated this video on his Facebook profile, a post which he has still not deleted. The most favorite theme of fake videos is “Muslims are killing a Hindu man or woman, media won’t show this reality, share this widely”. Right after Pehlu Khan, a dairy farmer, was murdered by Gau Rakshaks in Alwar, Rajasthan in the first week of April, a video went viral claiming that a Hindu man was killed by Muslims in West Bengal. The introductory text further claimed that while media and leaders of opposition parties are focused on the issue of Pehlu Khan, they will never talk about the murder of a Hindu. The video was initially shared by a person called Ghanshyam Jangid on his Facebook profile, his post was shared over 41,000 times. Anindya Banerjee of India Today even passed off a snapshot of this video as a file picture of communal strife from West Bengal in a news report of his of his. Alt News wrote about this issue in April 2017. The video is actually from Bangladesh where a man called Abu Syed was murdered on April 1st, 2017. Abu Syed was accused in the murder of Awami League leader Monir Hossain Sarkar. This incident happened in Titas subdivision of Coomilla district in Bangladesh. The issue was also covered by the local news website called Coomilla-r-Kagoj which translates to “Coomilla’s Newspaper”. While this video from Bangladesh was being circulated as Hindu killed by Muslims in West Bengal, it was also simultaneously being circulated as Hindu killed by Muslims in Nawada, Bihar. Alt News post on this can be read here. A month later, this video from Bangladesh was circulated a third time with the claim that Kashmiri students were killing a CRPF Jawan. This time the original post was shared over 35,000 which led to this video becoming viral all over again on social media. The screenshot shows how this fake video was circulated via WhatsApp. Alt News post on this issue can be read here. Continuing the trend of fake videos claiming “Muslims killed/injured Hindus”, BJP Asansol IT Incharge Tarun Sengupta shared a video on his Facebook Timeline on April 17th, 2017, claiming that Hanuman Bhakts were beaten up by two senior IPS officers in West Bengal Police Cadre namely Nishat Pervez and Farhat Abbas. He claimed that the said event happened on Hanuman Jayanti which was celebrated on April 11, 2017. The idea was to show how a Muslim police officer is raining atrocities on Hindus. As it happens, the video that Tarun Gupta shared has been available on Internet for over 3 years. Alt News debunked this issue here. The video shared by Tarun Sengupta was also shared by the fake news website Postcard.news. Fake news websites often help in propagation of such videos. For eg, yet another fake news website called Hindutva.info had shared the Mexican stabbing video claiming that it was a member of a Left party killing a RSS Karyakarta. Hindutva.info had also shared the video from Bangladesh falsely claiming it was a Hindu being killed in West Bengal. Fake Videos are also often circulated immediately after certain trending issues/events. Soon after two Indian jawans were beheaded by Pakistani army, a beheading video of a Brazilian Bank robber was circulated claiming it was an Indian army jawan being beheaded. When India lost the finals of Champions trophy to Pakistan, at least 3 misleading videos were circulated claiming Indian Muslims were celebrating Pakistans win. One of the videos was a December 2016 video from Vadodara, another video was from Pakistan and yet another video was an older video from Bhagalpur, Bihar. After PM Modi’s recent visit to US, a video of Obama’s 2010 cavalcade from San Francisco was claimed to be PM Modi’s cavalcade to White House.’ Cow slaughter videos from other countries circulated with the claim that it is happening in India is the other kind of fake video that is often to be found on social media. Why the sudden spurt in fake videos? With mobile data reaching the remotest villages of India, videos have become an important tool for visual communication. Every single day, different kinds of videos go viral, from an outstanding catch in a game of cricket to a beautifully sung song by a young child. This same expansive network is also being used to propagate fake videos every single day with a single point agenda of political one-upmanship. One never knows when such a video will spark a riot like the one that happened in Muzaffarnagar. This worrying trend needs to be countered urgently. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are in a very good place to control the spread of fake videos, especially since these videos are often shared with identical text, a pattern that can be easily tracked. A video like the one from Guatemala being circulated as Marwadi woman burnt by Muslims in Andhra Pradesh for over one and a half years now could have easily been curbed a long time ago had Facebook/WhatsApp put in certain mechanisms in place. Unfortunately, none of the social media platforms seem serious enough about fake videos at this point of time. Law establishments also need to get involved and issue advisories about such fake videos. Recently, Vadodara police had put up a post on their Facebook page soon after an old/misleading video from Vadodara went viral claiming Muslims were celebrating Pakistan’s win. However, since the post was in Gujarati, it did not have the desired effect in curbing the spread since the video was in circulation in every part of the country. Such advisories need to be issued by every law enforcement agency across the country for every fake video since fake videos are never limited to a geographical region. Lastly, news media outlets also should put out advisories regarding fake videos and have at least weekly programs to highlight the fake news/videos that have been circulated through the week. Not only will that help in curbing such fake videos because of the reach that media has, but it will also educate people and remind them how not to believe everything that ends up in their WhatsApp account. Without a multi-pronged approach, the spectre of fake videos is only widening its web every single day. And that is very bad news for our democracy. 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	28th June 2017 / 9:49 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/epidemic-fake-videos-hits-indian-social-media-ecosystem/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
852	European art installation video shared as cash recovered from Kamal Nath's secretary - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 9th April 2019 / 9:26 pm In the backdrop of recent IT raids against people allegedly linked to Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, a video viral on social media claims that it represents the raids. “मध्यप्रदेश में कमलनाथ के सचिव के यहाँ से बरामद नोटों का ढेर। जिसे छापा पड़ने के बाद जलाने की भी कोशिश की गयीं। India is a rich country but people are poor (The piles of cash recovered from the house of Kamal Nath’s secretary, which were tried to be burnt after the raid. India is a rich country but people are poor),” is a caption affixed to the video that shows piles of half-burnt cash staked together. The video tweeted by Chowkidar Rohini (@RohiniShah73), who is followed by PM Modi, received over 2,000 and nearly 30,000 views (archive). मध्यप्रदेश में कमलनाथ के सचिव के यहाँ से बरामद नोटों का ढेर। जिसे छापा पड़ने के बाद जलाने की भी कोशिश की गयीं। 😡😡😡😡😡 India is a rich country but people are poor pic.twitter.com/jhzzYwgo3b — Chowkidaar Rohini 🇮🇳 abki baar 400 paar (@RohiniShah73) April 8, 2019 The video is circulated on Facebook alike, with claims suggesting it shows the cash recovered from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s secretary. From the account of a user Kanak Mishra, it received over 63,000 views (archive). Posted by कनक मिश्र on Monday, 8 April 2019 If one carefully watches the video, it is quite clear that the currency notes are not the Indian Rupee, but the Euro. Alt News had earlier debunked this video when it was circulated in the names of Tamil Nadu MLA SP Velumani, Karnataka Congress minister DK Shivakumar and BJP MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar. The clip actually represents a 2018 art installation in Spain. The notes were hand-painted by Spanish artist, Alejandro Monge, who uploaded the same video on his Instagram account, calling out the false claims ascribed to his artwork. Es lo que tiene internet que algo sin saber porque se hace viral… y luego nadie sabe ni que es ni de quien es… gracias por enviarme donde los vais viendo desde NY hasta grupos de WhatsApp por todo el mundo.. pues si la gente supiera que es una escultura y que los billetes están pintados a mano … @monge_art compartir !! A post shared by Alejandro Monge 🔥💶🔥 (@monge_art) on The caption of his post, written in Spanish, says, “It’s one of the things about the internet that something can go viral without knowing why it does… and then nobody knows what it is or who it is from. If people knew what sculpture is and knew the tickets are painted by hand… @monge-art share!!” The income tax department did carry out raids against alleged close aides of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath. However, this video has nothing to do with the recent raids and has, in the past, been pinned to several leaders across political parties. 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	9th April 2019 / 9:26 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/european-art-installation-video-shared-as-cash-recovered-from-kamal-naths-secretary/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
853	BJP disowning ISI spy was expected, but why is hyper nationalist media still silent - Alt News Alt News Desk 13th February 2017 / 6:55 pm / Last updated: 13th July 2018 While BJP party leaders have started acknowleding privately regarding the infiltration of ISI into their party ranks, we at Alt News dug in further to show how all the three accused from Bhopal in the ISI spying case are actually friends with each other and at least two of them have been to Dubai on a common trip. This information is especially important now that it is being contended that the spy ring was ‘cultivated’ in Dubai. The three men who have been arrested from Bhopal are namely Dhruv Saxena, Mohit Agrawal and Manish Gandhi and have been accused of facilitating ISI by providing crucial information about Indian army deployments. While we have shown in our previous articles as to how Dhruv Saxena was the District Coordinator of BJYM Bhopal IT Cell, in this article we will further establish the close relationship between the above three people. We’ll also establish as to how at least Dhruv Saxena and Mohit Agrawal have been associates of BJYM Bhopal President Anshul Tiwari for long. First, let’s start with the relationship between Dhruv Saxena and Mohit Agarwal. According to their Facebook profile, Dhruv and Mohit have been friends since at least 2013. It can be clearly seen that the two of them have been friends on Facebook since June 2013. They have multiple pictures together to further establish their closeness. In the picture below, Dhruv Saxena is on the left while Mohit Agrawal is in the centre. Further, the following picture of Dhruv Saxena and Mohit Agrawal establishes their closeness with Anshul Tiwari who is the BJYM Bhopal President with Anshul Tiwari being close to all the top BJP leaders of Madhya Pradesh including the CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. BJYM Bhopal President Anshul Tiwari’s Facebook profile shows that he’s friends with both Dhruv Saxena and Mohit Agrawal. In fact, Anshul Tiwari has known both Dhruv Saxena and Mohit Agrawal for over 3 years based on their Facebook friendships. The third accused Manish Gandhi is also close friends with BJYM Bhopal IT District Coordinator Dhruv Saxena based on their pictures to Dubai together. The following picture is Dhruv and Manish together in Dubai in “One and only Royal Mirage Arabian Court”. Here’s another picture of them in the same hotel with Dhruv on the left and Manish on the right. A quick search on Agoda shows that the above hotel is a really high-end hotel with rooms starting at Rs 30,000+. Yet another picture of Manish Gandhi during the the above Dubai trip. The above information should conclusively prove that the three accused Manish Gandhi, Mohit Agrawal and Dhruv Saxena are friends with each other and that Mohit Agrawal and Dhruv Saxena are linked to BJYM Bhopal President Anshul Tiwari with Dhruv Saxena himself being the District Coordinator of their IT Cell. 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 February 2017 / 6:55 pm / Last updated: 13th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/evidence-3-accused-isi-spying-case-including-one-bjp-cell-friends-went-dubai-together/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
854	EVMs found inside hotel room? Video shot before 2018 MP assembly election shared as recent - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 30th May 2019 / 7:46 pm मीडिया नहीं दिखायेगा, आप आगे बढ़ाइये ! अनुरोध है, देशहित के लिए ! #ElectionCommission (Media wont show you this, you take this forward in the interest of the nation! (translation). Along with the above message, a video has been posted on Facebook. The video shows a man being questioned inside a hotel room, in which Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are placed. The person is told that EVMs cannot be placed here and that he ought to be at the polling booth. Further, he is reprimanded by the interrogator for staying at a hotel, when he should have been at the facility provided by the Election Commission. Later, the video shows EVMs being shifted from the hotel room into a vehicle. मीडिया नहीं दिखायेगा, आप आगे बढ़ाइये ! अनुरोध है, देशहित के लिए ! #ElectionCommission Posted by News FYI Hindi on Monday, 27 May 2019 The above video is 4:14 minutes long and has been posted by a page News FYI Hindi. The video has been viewed over 176,000 times already, and shared in excess of 12,000. The following text is superimposed on the video: ‘ऐसा खेला गया चुनाव में का गन्दा खेल ? मीडिया नहीं दिखायेगा, आप आगे बढ़ाइये’ (Is this how the dirty EVM game was played? Media wont show, you take this forward- translation). The video in question has been shared now on social media, after the Lok Sabha election has concluded. This misleads social media users into believing that the video depicts a recent event related to the general election. However, this is not the case. The video represents a sting operation which was conducted by a journalist during the Madhya Pradesh assembly election of December 2018. The incident had taken place at a hotel in Shujalpur constituency in Shajapur district of MP. According to an article by The LallanTop, it was shot by a India Today stringer named Manoj Purohit. The incident had been reported by several news organisations including Newslaundry and Pune Mirror. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Madhya Pradesh had taken cognizance of the incident and had issued a press note on December 1, acknowledging that the instructions of the EC were violated by the said officials, and that appropriate action had been taken against them. A video pertaining to the assembly election of 2018 in Madhya Pradesh, was shared with the implication that this is a recent incident. After the Lok Sabha election, several claims have floated on social media raising doubts over Electronic Voting Machines. In most cases, old pictures and/or videos are recirculated. 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	30th May 2019 / 7:46 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/evms-found-inside-hotel-room-video-shot-before-2018-mp-assembly-election-shared-as-recent/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
855	Ex-army man criticizing PM Modi is an imposter? Navbharat Times amplifies false claim - Alt News Archit 7th January 2021 / 10:01 pm / Last updated: 8th January 2021 A video of Sikh man criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi on how Sikh men have been branded ‘Khalistanis’ for participating in the farmers’ protest has created quite a stir online. Navbharat Times (archived link) reported that the man in the viral video is a Punjabi singer and actor Goldy Manepuria who is posing as an Indian army man. In the opening 30-seconds of the video, Manepuria can be heard saying, “Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, I want to tell you one thing, a few days ago when I wore the uniform [points at the jacket] at China border, I was a patriot. But when I removed this uniform and stood at the Delhi border, I became a traitor, a terrorist and a Khalistani. Your Godi media [mainstream media] has used these names while addressing me. I would like to give a suggestion to you, call any CO [commanding officer] of Sikh regiment and check how the morale of the troops has been affected since the farmers’ protest began. They will let you know. If there is unrest back home, no trooper can focus on his duty wholeheartedly…” The video, shared by @India_Resists, was also quote-tweeted by Bollywood actor Swara Bhaskar. (Archived links 1,2) A jawan asks questions, will bhakts and their god respond?#FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/nmYFOj3auq — India Resists (@India_Resists) December 28, 2020 Several Facebook and Twitter users have posted a screenshot of Navbharat Times article along with the same claim. Twitter user @BefittingFacts tweeted Manepuria’s video on January 3. It gained over 2,000 retweets. This account has posted misinformation on multiple occasions in the past. (Archived link) He is Goldy Manepuria, punjabi singer and actor. Whatever he said in video is completly false. His album BPL Card was launched in 2016. Also he is an Aapiya. Hope @adgpi @NorthernComd_IA will take action against this man. @DelhiPolice @rajnathsingh @DefenceMinIndia https://t.co/7I12hpSP4P pic.twitter.com/ji5CoraQpT — Via Getty (@BefittingFacts) January 3, 2021 OpIndia tweeted, “The ‘Jawan’ asking ‘questions’ to PM Modi on farm laws in viral video may not be a ‘Jawan’. Here is what we know.” The ‘Jawan’ asking ‘questions’ to PM Modi on farm laws in viral video may not be a ‘Jawan’. Here is what we knowhttps://t.co/ZSOl1IG6dw — OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) January 3, 2021 Facebook user Gaurav Pradhan made a similar post that gained close to 1,000 likes and reactions. (Archived link) फर्जी आन्दोलन के फर्जी किरदार …….. किसान आन्दोलन में वायरल हुआ वीडियो सोशल मीडिया में एक वीडियो वायरल हुआ है जिसमे… Posted by Pradhan Gaurav on Monday, 4 January 2021 The viral video was indeed uploaded by Instagram user Goldy Manepuria on December 28. Alt News spoke with Manepuria who informed, “My official name is Manjinder Singh. Goldy Manepuria is my nickname. Both the images in Navbhart Times article are of me.” The second image is from the YouTube thumbnail of his song Neat Peg. It was uploaded on August 2020 and has less than 200 views. “I’m not a full-time singer. It’s just a passion project,” he further added. Singh clarified that the social media claims are false. “I served in the Indian Army from 2002 to 2018 in 175 Regiment (Medium), an artillery unit of the Indian army. During which I have been posted on multiple border posts,” he said. Manepuria also presented identity proof that established his association with the Indian army. Since the controversy, Singh shared multiples images from his term in the Indian army. Here’s one of them. On January 4, The Tribune published a story on Singh after he made arrangements to pay for diesel bills to sustain the farmers’ protest. The Tribune also addressed him as “Goldy Manepuria, ex-army man.” This was earlier fact-checked by The Logical Indian. Readers should note that in the viral video Singh said, “I want to tell you one thing, a few days ago when I wore the uniform [points at the jacket] at China border, I was a patriot.” However, he is currently not a serving officer. As mentioned before, he was in the army from 2002 to 2018. After Singh posted an Instagram video criticising Prime Minister Modi, the video was shared with the false claim he isn’t associated with the Indian Army. The false claim that he is an imposter posing as an army man was amplified by Navbharat Times. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. 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	7th January 2021 / 10:01 pm / Last updated: 8th January 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ex-army-man-criticizing-pm-modi-is-an-imposter-navbharat-times-amplifies-false-claim/", "author": "Archit" }
856	Ex-Pak major shares 10-yo photo as Indian army men who died in LoC ceasefire violation - Alt News Archit 17th November 2020 / 5:56 pm On November 13, The Hindu reported that Pakistan breached ceasefire along the Line of Control in four Jammu and Kashmir districts. In the backdrop of this, on November 15, Muhammad Arif, a former Pakistani army major tweeted an image of coffins covered with Indian flags and wrote, “Reportedly yesterday’s score was 28. Well done boys. Keep it up.” This tweet gained over 6,000 likes and more than 1,000 retweets (archived link). The image has been shared by several Twitter and Facebook users. The same image was shared by Tamil Nadu-based actor Neelima Esai in 2019. She had tweeted, “It’s so disturbing and disheartening to see my brothers like this! Shedding tears along with the families, #Pulawama attack!! May your souls rest in peace we have to stop this @crpfindia pls” (archived link) The Hindu reported that 11 people, including six civilians, four Army soldiers and one Border Security Force soldier were killed and over 20 others injured in ceasefire violations by Pakistan on November 13. On the same day, the spokesperson of Pakistan armed forces tweeted, “…1 citizen embraced shahadat, 3 civilians incl 2 women got injured. PIB Kerala tweeted a video of the martyrs’ tribute ceremony by the Indian Army on November 13. The visuals of the tribute do not match the viral photograph. #Army pays tribute to Havildar Hardhan Chandra Roy Naik Satai Bhushan Rameshrao Gunner Subodh Ghosh Sepoy Jondhale Rushikesh Ramchandra They laid down their lives on Friday in North Kashmir in a #CeasefireViolation by Pakistan#PIBKochi @BSF_India @crpfindia @CISFHQrs pic.twitter.com/rfhjoj69mD — PIB in KERALA (@PIBTvpm) November 15, 2020 Alt News performed a reverse image search on Google and found that the viral image was published on various websites over the years as a representative image including Rediff News in 2010, International Business Times (IBT) in 2014, and Euro News and The Quint in 2017. IBT and Rediff News credited the image to Reuters. The image caption on Rediff News mentioned at the end of the article reads, “CRPF personnel pay tribute to policemen who died in a Maoist attack in Dantewada.” The Rediff News article is an interview with former Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi in July 2010, three months after a Maoist attack in the jungles of Dantewada in which 76 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers were martyred. Therefore, a former Pakistani army major posted at least a decade old image of Indian martyrs with the false claim that 28 Indian troopers lost lives in ceasefire violations by Pakistan on November 13. Four army men and one BSF soldier had died in the clashes. 🙏 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	17th November 2020 / 5:56 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ex-pak-major-shares-10-yo-photo-as-indian-army-men-who-died-in-loc-ceasefire-violation/", "author": "Archit" }
857	Explicit video of gym workout from Trinidad & Tobago viral with 'love jihad' spin in India - Alt News Archit 19th November 2020 / 7:30 pm / Last updated: 24th March 2021 An explicit video that shows a fitness instructor touching a woman inappropriately in a public gym is being shared with a ‘love Jihad’ spin. “This gym is owned by ‘jihadi’ Bilal Ahmed Khan. He is running a full-fledged agenda in the name of a gym to trap young women from Hindu families. There is no Hindu who shouldn’t know what this ‘jihadi’ is up to,” reads the claim shared by Twitter user ‘ब्रांड रुद्रा @brand_rudra’. It was shared with a similar message by @UttamIND_. [Translated from: ये है जिहादी बिलाल अहमद खान का जिम है. ये असल मे यहां हिन्दुओ की जवान लड़कियों को फसाने के लिए बहुत बड़ा एजेंडा चलाया जा रहा है जिम के नाम पर. अब ऐसा कोई हिन्दू नही होगा जो इन जिहादियों के द्वारा की जा रही हरकतों को जानता नही होगा] Right-wing propaganda website Kreately wrote an elaborate story on the video – how Muslim men take classes on fitness training and become instructors at cheap prices to lure Hindu women. The article’s author Sampat Saraswat also claimed that he spoke to the man who runs the gym and was told that Muslim men learn from him then get part-time employment as fitness instructers to get close to Hindu women and girls. ‘Gym jihad’ is written in bold at the end of the article. सत्य घटना: अपने आसपास नज़र दौड़ाइए.. आपको ये सच दिखने लगेगा..जागिए और जगाइए!https://t.co/EHfA9EzEtT — Kreately.in (@KreatelyMedia) March 18, 2021 Alt News performed a reverse image search using video verification browser plugin InVID and found that the viral video was posted by several websites in 2017. One of them was a Ukrainian-website that embedded the same video from the Russian social networking website VK. It was also uploaded on YouTube on March 22, 2017 with Arabic text. The video is available on pornographic websites as well. A Twitter user had commented last year that the video was shot in Trinidad and Tobago. “Two professional trainers Imran and Reshma” made the clip, he wrote. Actually this is a video from Trinidad and Tobago ! A comedy video ! Two professional trainers Imran and Reshma. I live in Trinidad so it’s funny too see India news promoting as something else . — mrrf (@mrrf1) November 19, 2020 Imran has a Facebook page where they keep uploading workout videos. The viral video was uploaded on June 22, 2017. Speaking with Alt News Imran confirmed, “The woman in the video is my wife and we are from the same faith.” At least a three-year-old explicit video was shared with a ‘love jihad’ spin by several supporters of the BJP. Alt News has debunked many instances of such videos made viral with ‘love jihad’. Twitter user @VishwajiS had quote-tweeted the same video posted by Akash RSS (archived link) in November 2020. Alt News has documented multiples instances of misinformation promoted by Akash RSS in the past. “Hindus are happy that his wife, daughter and daughter-in-law visit the gym. But peacefuls (a derogatory term used for Muslims) gradually trap them in love jihad by behaving inappropriately and touching their bodies. They cause a rift in married lives and destroy Hindu families. Beware, wake up Hindus!” read the tweet by @VishwajiS. (Translated from: हिन्दू खुश है कि उसकी पत्नी, बेटी, बहू जिम जाती है । वहां पर शांति दूत कितनी बेहूदा हरकतें करके और उनके शरीर को स्पर्श करके उनको धीरे-धीरे #लव_जिहाद में डालते हैं l वैवाहिक जीवन में आग लगाकर के हिंदू परिवारों का सर्वनाश कर रहे हैं l सावधान हिंदू जागो.) ‘Love Jihad’ is a far-right conspiracy theory claiming Muslim men entice Hindu women in marriage to convert them to Islam. The video was shared last year against the backdrop of the Madhya Pradesh government announcing that a ‘love jihad’ bill will soon be introduced in the state assembly to award five years of rigorous imprisonment to ‘perpetrators’. The state home minister added that the charge will be cognizable and non-bailable. As per reports, BJP governments in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are also contemplating legal provisions against ‘love jihad’. Twitter user @Real_Kanak_ shared the viral video with a similar claim. It gained over 1,000 views. (archived link) Another Twitter user @vickywadhwani posted this video and suggested that legislation against ‘love jihad’ should be implemented by the central government. “This is how gyms and unisex salons have become the centre for ‘love jihad’. Like Uttar Pradesh, the central government should also implement some law regarding this.” (Hindi message: जिम और यूनसेक्स सलून किस तरह लव जिहाद का केंद्र बन चुके है उत्तर प्रदेश की तरह केंद्र सरकार को कुछ ना कुछ क़ानून लाना चाइए इस बारे मैं) The video was also uploaded on Daily Motion in March 2020 with the false claim that the woman is Bollywood actor Disha Patani. In August, the same clip was shared by ‘Sanjay Dwivedy Hindu Mahavir‘ drawing over 12 lakh views. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. 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	19th November 2020 / 7:30 pm / Last updated: 24th March 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/explicit-video-of-a-gym-workout-viral-with-false-love-jihad-spin/", "author": "Archit" }
858	Explosion in UAE after first official flight lands from Israel? No, false claim viral - Alt News Archit 2nd September 2020 / 6:29 pm / Last updated: 3rd September 2020 On September 1, BBC reported that “the first official flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates has landed, a major step in normalizing relations after the announcement of a peace deal.” The report added, “the UAE repealed a law boycotting Israel which had been in place since 1972, and earlier this month the two countries opened direct telephone services for the first time.” In the backdrop of this, multiple Facebook and Twitter users shared videos of the aftermath of an explosion where a KFC restaurant can be seen surrounded by debris and police cars. A Twitter user posted one of the viral videos and wrote, “Explosions in 2 American restaurants, KFC and Hardee’s in Abu Dhabi and Dubai ahead of first Israeli commercial flight operations in the Muslim kingdom. 2 messages in 1 operation?” Explosions in 2 American restaurants, KFC and Hardee’s in Abu Dhabi and Dubai ahead of first Israeli commercial flight operations in the Muslim kingdom. 2 messages in 1 operation? pic.twitter.com/KhsuGNAnaI — Hemir Desai (@hemirdesai) September 1, 2020 Alt News has not uploaded the other viral videos due to their graphic nature. We have received several requests to fact-check the videos on our WhatsApp helpline (+917600011160) and on our official Android application. A set of four videos from the incident is viral with a “Breaking News” disclaimer followed by the viral text. Even before we could complete typing the full sentence for a keyword search, Google auto-suggested “kfc explosion abu dhabi”. We found multiple reports on an explosion in KFC in Abu Dhabi. As per Arabian Business, the incident happened on August 31. The report added Abu Dhabi government’s response on Twitter. The Abu Dhabi Media Office posted a tweet thread writing, “According to on-site investigations, the incident was caused by a misalignment in the gas container fittings following refuelling.” This was followed by another tweet that said, “Unfortunately, two victims lost their lives – one near the site of the incident, and a second passer-by who was hit by debris. We extend our heartfelt condolences to their families, God rest their souls.” Unfortunately, two victims lost their lives – one near the site of the incident, and a second passer-by who was hit by debris. We extend our heartfelt condolences to their families, God rest their souls. — مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@admediaoffice) August 31, 2020 A report in The National, which includes one of the viral videos, confirmed the same. ABS CBN News reported, as per the Department of Foreign Affairs UAE, two Philippine nationals were killed in an explosion at a restaurant in Sheikh Rashid Bin Seed Road, (also known as Airport Road) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Thus, the social media claim that the explosions occurred after Israeli commercial flight operations began in the UAE 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	2nd September 2020 / 6:29 pm / Last updated: 3rd September 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/explosion-in-uae-after-first-official-flight-lands-from-israel-no-false-claim-viral/", "author": "Archit" }
859	Exposé: Who runs the serial misinformation factory 'Yogi Adityanath Ki Sena'? - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 30th January 2019 / 8:01 pm / Last updated: 27th May 2019 A Facebook page योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना (@YogiSenaGKP) has an impressive following of over 6.5 lakh users. Named after the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, deciphering its political bend is a no-brainer. In the aftermath of Congress’s victory in the assembly elections last year, the page shared a clipped video of Rahul Gandhi to suggest that he took a U-turn on farm loan waivers. The false clip drew nearly 1 lakh views. जीत के 24 घंटे बाद ही पलटे राहुल बाबा 😆 Posted by योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना on Wednesday, 12 December 2018 योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना is well-stocked with such misinformation targeting opposition parties. But more on that later. This report will first investigate the person administrating the propaganda platform. योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना routinely shares articles by its corresponding website of the same name – yogi-sena.co.in. Alt News accessed the Whois data of the website (now hidden) and found that it is registered under the name of one Amit Saxena. The data also revealed the registered phone number and address of the website, which have been blurred in the screenshot below for privacy concerns. We looked-up the phone number provided in the Whois data on Truecaller and found that it was indeed Amit Saxena’s. Trucaller also displayed his email address, which matched his Twitter id. Saxena’s Twitter account is mostly a repository of retweets of tweets byयोगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना and another handle named HinduRepublicOfIndia which also has a Facebook page by the same name. From what it seems, he could be associated with both the platforms. We found that Amit Saxena has been identified as the admin of योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना on several posts by the page, hinting at a direct connection. Alt news also discovered that Saxena, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, was also tagged on posts by the official handle of BJP UP ahead of the state assembly elections in 2017. योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना isn’t only a propaganda platform but routinely circulates misinformation attempting to deceive its lakhs of followers. A video of founding member of SP, Azam Khan, asking voters to vote for BJP was posted by योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना at the backdrop of SP and BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. आजमखान ने बसपा को बताया गू और गंदगी, बोले सब बीजेपी को वोट दो Posted by योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना on Tuesday, 15 January 2019 Alt News found that the video was two years old and was taken ahead of the 2017 UP assembly elections. Moreover, Khan wasn’t asking Muslims to vote for BJP but taking an angry gibe after he saw blue flags hoisted on Muslim homes. The page posted a 10-second video of Rahul Gandhi where he can be heard saying, “Mahatma Gandhi picked up the idea of non-violence from ancient Indian philosophy from Islam.” महात्मा गांधी ने अहिंसा इस्लाम से सीखी थी : राहुल गांधी विदेश में जारी है राहुल की पप्पूगिरी 😆 Posted by योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना on Saturday, 12 January 2019 Alt News discovered that the video of Gandhi’s speech was clipped. He originally said, “…Mahatma Gandhi picked up the idea of non-violence from ancient Indian philosophy, from Islam, from Christianity, from Judaism, from every great religion where it is clearly written that violence will not help anyone achieve anything.” In July last year, a post by योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना claiming that Himachal Pradesh police caught a Muslim man running a fake Facebook account using a Hindu name received more than 8,000 shares. As it turned out, the page picked up the photograph of a freelance data science, blockchain and AI consultant Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani. The man has an account on Twitter as well and had posted on Facebook the same photograph used by योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना. In September 2018, the page योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना posted an image which looked like a cropped article from a Hindi e-paper clip. The article’s title was a quote ascribed to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal –“India should concede its right on Kashmir as Kashmiris want independence.” The post was shared nearly 5,000 times. Alt News found that the image of the e-newspaper clip shared by the page was morphed. First, it does not include a date and second, has some serious grammatical flaws. In the first paragraph, the article addresses CM Kejriwal as “केजरी (Kejri)” which is uncharacteristic of a mainstream newspaper. In the subsequent paragraph, a statement by Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif is not written in the form of a direct quote. As one reads further, similar slights can be identified. However, the most significant indicator of the falseness of the clip is the fact that it says nothing about Kejriwal’s quote; it is only mentioned in the title. A poster designed byयोगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना was circulated on WhatsApp. It ascribed a quote to BJP MP and actor Paresh Rawal saying – “Mere 20 crore Muslims are disallowing 100 crore Hindus from constructing Ram Mandir. If they (Muslims) were 100 crore, would they have permitted us to even stay in our own homes? (translated)” Alt News spoke to the personal assistant to Paresh Rawal who informed that the MP never made the ascribed statement. Last year, the page circulated an image of an old man with yellow coloured bags attached to his body, claiming that he was a suicide bomber who was caught by the Indian army. The post received nearly 3,000 shares. The identical claim was also viral this year. Alt News found that an image of a Muslim man carrying hashish, caught by the Pakistani army at the Pak-Afghan border in Turkhum, was viral as a suicide bomber caught by the Indian army. योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना ascribed a false quote to Congress Madhya Pradesh MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, claiming that he called for a CBI enquiry in the rape of the 8-year-old girl from Mandsaur, citing the possibility of the rapist Irfan being innocent. The post received nearly 3,000 shares. Scindia had never made the statement and the Congress leader had, in fact, tweeted a photograph of him attending a rally demanding capital punishment for the Mandsaur rape accused. Alt News had debunked the misinformation here. “हर गाँव में बिजली पहुँच गई, लेकिन बिजली का बिल गरीब कैसे भरेगा। वो उसके लिए कर्ज लेगा और फांसी लगा लेगा”(Electricity has reached every village, but how will the poor pay the bill? He will have to take a loan for it and then hang himself- translated). This statement was ascribed to journalist Ravish Kumar and was posted along with his picture on the Facebook page योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना on March 3, 2018. The post received nearly 9,000 shares. Alt News had contacted Ravish Kumar to find out the truth about these quotations, who clarified that none of the statements ascribed to him have been made by him. This page had earlier spread fake news about missing JNU student Najeeb having joined ISIS, and targeted Ravish Kumar, asking why the latter had not reported on this news. In May 2018, Priyanka Chopra’s visit to a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox Bazaar as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador invited much slander and abuse. Subsequently, a photograph showing Chopra wearing a burqa was shared across social media platforms with the claim that the actress had donned the attire when she met ‘extremist’ Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh. The above post by योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना was posted on July 5 and was shared more than 12,000 times. The accompanying message says, “दोगले फ़िल्मबाजों का दोगलापन, भारत मे घूमो तो फूहड़ परिधान लेकिन बांग्लादेश के कट्टरवादी रोहिंग्या मुसलमानों से मिलते समय बुरखा” (Hypocrisy of hypocrite film stars, will wear anything in India but will wear burqa when meeting extremist Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh- translation). The photograph of Chopra wearing a burqa was of 2011 when she was shooting for a movie ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’. Last year, the page shared a collage of multiple photographs of former PM Nehru in the company of women, attempting to portray him as an immoral man. However, most of the images were either photoshopped or showed Nehru posing with family and friends. Alt News has debunked these images separately in the past – 1, 2, 3, 4. “Minor child rapists are also human, do they have no human rights. This Hindutva Government is bringing ordinance for death to child rapists just to hang muslims in larger numbers. Muslims aren’t safe in India anymore”. This quote was credited to journalist Rana Ayyub. A tweet with this quote was posted by an account @repubIicTv which is a parody account of the TV news channel. योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना had shared this fake quote. The post was later deleted from the page. “Chhipkali raat ko kide makode khakar subah hote hi gandhi ke tasveer ke pichhe chhup jati hai, theek yahi kaam Congress karti aayi hai” (Lizards after eating ants all night hide behind Gandhi’s photograph. Congress has been doing precisely this). This statement was attributed to actor Nana Patekar, and was posted by the page योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना among others. It had a massive share count of over 11,000. This quote is patently fake. Alt News spoke to Nana Patekar who said, “Neither have I said any such thing nor is this my view”. Alt News found that this particular quote is hardly new and has been doing the rounds of social media for the last few years. Earlier this month योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना shared a clipping that ascribed a quote to Anna Hazare – “मोदी मुक्त भारत के लिए मैं शहीद होने के लिए भी तईयार हु (I am ready to get martyred to rid India of Modi)” Alt News, however, found no media reports on the aforestated quote. Moreover, the identical quote was also viral on social media in the name of Hardik Patel. 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	30th January 2019 / 8:01 pm / Last updated: 27th May 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/expose-who-runs-the-serial-misinformation-factory-yogi-adityanath-ki-sena/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
860	While expressing support for hostel curfews, Maneka Gandhi stereotypes security guards as "Bihari gentlemen with dandas" - Alt News Pratik Sinha 7th March 2017 / 2:51 pm / Last updated: 7th March 2017 In a rather shocking response to a question in an interview with NDTV, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi claimed that early curfews in hostels are necessary to protect young boys and girls from their own ‘hormonal outbursts’. Here’s the text of what she said: Not only does the Minister recommend regressive measures to ‘protect’ women, she also thinks that ‘hormonal outbursts’ can happen only past 6 p.m. Earlier this year, in March 2016, Maneka Gandhi had also opposed marital rape being made an offence. In a written reply, she’d said: Further in the interview with NDTV, when a student asked if the issue could be solved by improving security in universities, Maneka Gandhi said: Apparently, Maneka Gandhi thinks that all security guards are ‘Bihari gentlemen with Dandas’. Such racist outlook of a Union Minister is disturbing. 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	7th March 2017 / 2:51 pm / Last updated: 7th March 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/expressing-support-hostel-curfews-maneka-gandhi-stereotypes-security-guards-bihari-gentlemen-dandas/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
861	Extracts from pornographic video shared as pictures of MP BJP leader Pradip Joshi - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 16th July 2019 / 3:03 pm Pradip Joshi, BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh, was recently suspended from the party after his objectionable chat messages to a party worker were shared on social media. Now, sleazy photographs of an elderly male with a young man have been shared aggressively on social media platforms with the claim that the elderly male is Joshi. ये RSS के संग़ठन मंत्री प्रदीप जोशी हैं इसने नई परिवार नियोजन योजना निकाली है इस योजना को दिखाओ देश की जनसंख्या कम करवाओ, मीडिया मुगलों प्रचार तो खूब करते हो अब भाजपा नेताओं की घटिया करतूतों को देश को दिखाओ, पहले भाजपा नेताओं से बेटियां सुरक्षित नहीं थीं अब बेटे भी सुरक्षित नहीं। pic.twitter.com/FyBs0deR2D — Sachin Chaudhary (@SChaudharyINC) July 13, 2019 The above tweet is by Sachin Chaudhary, Congress leader from UP. It says, “This is RSS leader Pradip Joshi who has come up with a new family planning scheme, show this scheme and reduce the population. Media preaches a lot but it should show the deeds of BJP leaders. Earlier, daughters were not safe from BJP and now even sons are not (translated from Hindi).” It has been retweeted over 850 times and ‘liked’ over 2200 times since it was posted on July 13. Another tweet by a user has been retweeted over 600 times. The narrative and photos have also been shared on Facebook, where it has been shared over 1000 times alone from a page BMTV News. Alt News found that these pictures have been taken from a video, as a video of the same has been posted by a page, News 4 Social. The video has been viewed over 58,000 times already. The page has a follower count exceeding 675,000. प्रदीप जोशी हैं जोश मै शाखा में जाओ होश मै बीजेपी नेता प्रदीप जोशी अपने जोश का पुरज़ोर प्रदर्शन करते हुए Posted by News 4 Social on Saturday, July 13, 2019 The pictures which have been circulated on social media have been taken from a pornographic video. Alt News found that this video has been online for more than a year. The oldest comment on this video is of April 19, 2018, thus indicating that the video is more than a year old. Moreover, a facial comparison of the elderly man in the video with Pradip Joshi confirms that the two are not the same. The person in the video does not have hair on his head, unlike Joshi. The photographs being shared on social media platforms, are not of MP BJP leader Pradip Joshi. It may be noted that they have been shared in the backdrop of the controversy surrounding objectionable chat messages sent by Joshi to a party worker. 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	16th July 2019 / 3:03 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/extracts-from-pornographic-video-shared-as-pictures-of-mp-bjp-leader-pradip-joshi/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
862	An eye injury in Haryana that almost led to blindness from using cow urine treatment - Alt News Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh 1st July 2017 / 10:10 pm / Last updated: 1st July 2017 ¨A 24-year-old male presented with complaints of pain, difficulty in opening and blurred vision in both eyes for the last 48 hours. The symptoms had started right after instillation of some eye drops by a village quack. These eye drops were proposed by the village quack to be a cure for refractive error (blurred vision) ¨- Kandhuja et al. 2017 Eye injuries are extremely common from chemicals that are either too acidic or too alkaline. This is a true ocular emergency and requires immediate medical attention to avoid potential blinding and if not treated right, can irreversibly damage the eye surface and its anterior segment leading to visual deficits and disfigurement. In a village in Haryana, a fake doctor (quack) administered eye drops made from sedimented cow urine which was then boiled and mixed with soot (Surma) and applied using metal rod leading to pain and visual deficits. His ordeal lasted for 2 days before he decided to visit the Rohtak city ophthalmologist to avoid permanent loss of vision. Recently, due to the increased politicised bovine discussions occurring in reference to religion and food choices in India, bovine products such as milk and excretory urine and dung has attained a newly found value. This year, scientists in AIIMS, Delhi have received funding from the Indian Government to conduct research on the medicinal value of a bovine concoction called the Panchgaavya: a mixture of five substances the cow directly or indirectly produces, two of those being urine and faeces. In most serious public health departments, this category of research could be a part of parallel health study which is considered ‘complementary’ a’kin to homeopathy and acupuncture. Ideally, bearing in mind that the patient’s health isn’t at risk or presented symptoms are not worsened due to any given therapeutic approach, such as Allopathic, Ayurvedic, or Homeopathic: Since the government has openly shown support and funded some of these programs as a part of its mainstream scientific research, increasing number of people and practitioners of non-evidence based medicine are drawn towards these practices. Instead of investing in scholarships for undergraduate medical courses, a charity in Kolkatta has introduced training programs for quacks that teaches them basic diagnosis. Their most common errors, says Dr Saibal Majumdar, who is in charge of the training centre, are using injections to induce labour; using IVF fluids unnecessarily; over-prescribing antibiotics; giving antibiotics for viruses; and lack of awareness about which drugs should not be given to pregnant women. In a case titled Poonam Verma vs Aswin Patel (AIR 1996, SC 2111), the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has given a definition of quack as “ a person who does not have knowledge of a particular system of medicine but practices in that system is a quack and a mere pretender to medical knowledge” . In another decision by the Supreme Court of India in 2002, it was held that “a professional may be held liable for negligence on the ground that he did not possessed of the requisite skill which he professes to have”. Indian Medical Council act of 1956 provides that no person other than a medical practitioner enrolled on State Medical Register shall practice scientific medicine in any state of India. The form of rigorous research, as it exists in the major medical research labs, was not followed by people who documented ancient medical practices; Thus the perceived notion about cow products like urine and dung about them being completely harmless, since they are considered organic and natural, may be completely wrong. However, bearing in mind that many potent psychedelic drugs that contain dimethyltryptamine are made from natural products such as tree barks. Urinalysis shows that bovine urine, similar to its human counterpart, contains a large water component (91-96% varies on the hydration state of the body) and: Even if it is assumed that the bovine urine collected from the ‘gaushala’ is free of infectious diseases, ammonia on its own is considerably harmful. Pure ammonia is not advisable to be inhaled, let alone consumed or topically applied on skin or worse come in contact with skin mucosa like eyes, nose or the lining of the mouth. For chemists, it is no secret that ammonia is a strong alkaline and can erode skin surface. Hence, parts of it is converted to some of the lesser harmful substances like the urea and uric acids for a comparatively longer storage in the mammalian bladder. Although, science is in support of mammalian wastes for agricultural industries but the extensive effort to validate traditional medicine as shown in the studies below not only justifies the mainstream argument of cow related politics and the recent tragedies but places everyone else seeking medical treatment at great risk. Mohanty, Ipsita, Manas Ranjan Senapati, Deepika Jena, and Santwana Palai. “Diversified uses of cow urine.” Int J Pharm Pharm Sci 6, no. 3 (2014): 20-2. Sandeep, Garud, Chaudhary Anubha, and Kotecha Mita. “GO-MUTRA: BOON TO HUMAN BEINGS.” International Journal of Ayurveda and Pharma Research 4, no. 9 (2016). From the work of Pathak and Kumar published in 2003, there are two chief methods of cow urine formulation described in Ayurveda (Pathak ML, Kumar A. Gomutra-descriptive study. Sachit Ayurveda. 2003;7:81–84): However in the above distillation process: Clearly, these scientific facts, only known in the 19 century would be hard to take into consideration during the distillation process of urine in the ancient India a thousand years ago or more. Distillation on the other hand, was first discussed by Aristotle and later by the Greek chemists in the 1 century AD (Bryan H. Bunch; Alexander Hellemans (2004). The History of Science and Technology. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 88). However, it was not until the 3 century when evidence in the form of sketches was found in the Greek manuscript of Byzantine Egypt called Parisinus graces (https://archive.org/details/collectiondesanc01bert). According to the analysis of Dr. Kandhuja and his colleagues, ‘it is possible that the retained ammonia in the urine could have caused ocular surface injury. Ammonia gas when dissolved in water forms an alkali ammonium hydroxide, which when in contact with the ocular surface leads to saponification and damage the corneal epithelium.’ Fortunately for the patient, upon worsening of his symptoms, he visited Dr. Sumeet Khanduja on time who is a faculty at the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology, Rohtak, Haryana and was prescribed with oral analgesics (pain killers) and, topical moxifloxacin 0.5% (antibiotic), homatropine 2% (mydriatic: to dilate the pupil) and preservative free lubricating eye drops (to recover from dry, itchy eyes). A review of the case report by Khanduja et al. (2017) can be found here Khanduja, Sumeet, Prachi Jain, Sumit Sachdeva, and Jitender Phogat. “Cow Urine Keratopathy: A Case Report.” Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR 11, no. 4 (2017): ND03. Alt News Science is no longer edited by Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh From 2017-2021, Dr. Shaikh was the Founding-Editor for Alt News Science. Her main role is as a neuroscientist researching violent extremism and psychiatry. Follow @Neurophsyik 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	1st July 2017 / 10:10 pm / Last updated: 1st July 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/eye-injury-haryana-almost-lead-blindness-using-cow-urine-treatment/", "author": "Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh" }
863	Facebook fails to terminate hate speech propagator Suresh Rajput, YouTube suspends his channel - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 25th November 2021 / 8:27 pm / Last updated: 11th February 2022 On November 9, Yati Narsinghanad disciple Suresh Rajput uploaded a video on Facebook about AIMIM chief Asaddudin Owaisi, where he referred to Muslims as “pigs” and termed the violence against the minority Muslim population in Tripura as “Diwali”. In less than 24 hours, the video garnered close to 2 lakh views. Five days before uploading this video, Rajput had uploaded another video on his Facebook account with his associate Rahul Sharma where the duo threatened to shoot Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The video was taken down by Facebook after social media outrage. But this wasn’t the first time Rajput had publicly threatened the CM. In February, Rajput, who goes by “Hindu Sher Boy” on YouTube, had uploaded a video with his associate Malik Sehrawat in which they threatened to shoot Kejriwal and kill and evict Muslims in Mangolpuri. There are Facebook Lives where Rajput is branding Muslims as “terrorists” and farmers as “Khalistanis”. He is requesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deploy the army on the Singhu border. In another Live from October, he gave the Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli a “Muslims getup” for his stance against bursting firecrackers on Diwali. While abusing Kohli in the video and asking his viewers to thrash “people of his kind”, the Live has also been used to spread hate against the Muslim community. Ironically in a Live about “Hindu-Muslim brotherhood”, Rajput says that Hindus should be allowed to celebrate Navratri and offer bhajans inside mosques since “seculars” allow Muslims to offer namaz in temples. He then instigates his viewers to thrash “seculars” who follow “one-sided brotherhood”. The aforementioned videos are accessible on Facebook on Rajput’s profile. Facebook has neither taken down these videos nor suspended Rajput. Alt News had emailed several videos of Rajput to Facebook where he could be seen spreading hatred against the Muslim community. Facebook took down most of these links and responded, “We have removed pieces of content that were in violation of our Community Standards. We don’t allow hate speech on our platform, and we remove it when we find it or are made aware of it. We’re investing heavily in people and technology to help us find and remove this content quickly, but if people see something on Facebook which they think violates these rules we encourage them to report it to us, so we can take action. We know our enforcement is not perfect and there is more work to do, but our regular transparency reports show we are making progress combating these issues.” But Facebook did not suspend Rajput. “We do progressive reviews and put restrictions on accounts when they violate. When the account meets the threshold to disable, we take final action,” was the social media giant’s response when questioned about its failure to deplatform Rajput. According to Facebook, he did not “meet the threshold” to be suspended. Yet there are videos of him openly inciting violence against Muslims and promoting a boycott of the community. Rajput’s videos are amplified via other accounts and pages as well — SureshHinduboy, Suresh Hindu and Hindu sher boy fans — and these also continue to exist on Facebook. In fact, his associate Prabhu Nishad’s account has also not been suspended. Nishad regularly shares Rajput’s videos and his own. The video below drew close to 80,000 views. It shows Rajput in an angry rant against a theatre artist Danish Khan who played the role of Ram in Ramlila. Rajput uses offensive language for Khan and accuses Muslims of mass conversions. He also abuses Aaj Tak for a broadcast where the channel reported that Khan was threatened in his locality for playing Ram’s role. “The gatekeepers of Sanatana Dharma will decide who gets to play the role of Ram, not news channels…You live in this country and eat meat and beef. How can you play the role of Ram?” Rajput says. Nishad also shares his own videos with anti-Muslim narratives and draws thousands of views. His page has close to 1 lakh followers. He also goes by the name Prabhu Sahani. He is a follower of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse. Facebook’s response to these users is not in tandem with its policy on hate speech. “We believe that people use their voice and connect more freely when they don’t feel attacked on the basis of who they are. That is why we don’t allow hate speech on Facebook,” reads the first sentence of the policy that forbids violent speech, dehumanising posts (referring to Muslims as “pigs”) and content targeting protected categories among a plethora of other restrictions. Facebook’s complete policy on hate speech can be read here. Suresh Rajput has violated the regulation on multiple counts — violent speech or support in written or visual form; dehumanising speech or imagery (referring to Muslims as “pigs”); derogatory terms related to sexual activity (Muslims women have been portrayed as sexually deviant people who bear multiple children of different men); self-admission to intolerance on the basis of protected characteristics, including, but not limited to: homophobic, islamophobic, racist; expressions of hate, including, but not limited to: despise, hate. Suresh Rajput also used to circulate objectionable content among lakhs of people on YouTube. Unlike Facebook, the video streaming platform took down his channels when alerted by Alt News. Suresh Rajput operated under the name “Hindu Sher boy” on YouTube. While the subscriber count of the channel was hidden (according to a June article in The Wire, his YouTube channel had 4.6 lakh followers), the extent of his popularity could be gauged by the millions of views his videos received. In February 2020, Rajput uploaded a video 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. In another video from 2019, where he targeted AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, he termed members of the Muslim community “jihadis” and used racist slurs against Owaisi. This video also had over 1 million views. In a recent video, Rajput targeted prominent Muslim actors of Bollywood — Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Aamir Khan. He began the video by instigating his viewers to boycott Shahrukh Khan’s movie “Pathan” and went on an Islamophobic rant against the Pathan community in Afghanistan. He later called for a complete economic boycott of the Muslim actors. He also blameed the actors for the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Rajput had also uploaded the video targeting actor Danish Khan on YouTube. His channel was filled with such content. According to YouTube’s policy, hate speech is not allowed on the platform, and this includes comparing people with animals and promoting violence and hatred against protected groups. Suresh Rajput had violated YouTube guidelines on several counts. “We take the safety of our users very seriously, and we have strict policies that prohibit hate and harassment on YouTube, including content promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups. We apply these policies consistently across all languages and regions regardless of the uploader. Any flagged content found to violate our policies is removed from YouTube immediately…We can confirm that the channel “Hindu Sher boy” has been terminated for violation of our Hate Speech policy,” responded YouTube in an email to Alt News. On November 17, Rajput made a new channel under the same name “Hindu Sher boy” which was also terminated by YouTube once informed by Alt News via email. “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. hindu sher boy channel deleted 😭 \|\| Hindu Sher boy new channel link in description 👇https://youtube.com/channel/UCDTorM2GhfYDRiMbkyHjdpA Posted by Prabhu Nishad on Saturday, 20 November 2021 He runs another YouTube channel called “Hindu Parivar” which also overflows with hate-filled videos targeting the Muslim community. This channel has been in existence since August 2021 and wasn’t terminated by YouTube, however, certain restrictions have been applied to the channel. “We have applied a strike against the channel, removed one video for violation of our policy on harassment and bullying from the channel and further age-restricted two videos (link, link) for violence and graphic content. In cases where content doesn’t violate our policies but may not be appropriate for all audiences, we may place an age restriction on the video when we’re notified of the content,” responded YouTube. While Google-owned YouTube terminated one of Rajput’s channels, Facebook failed to suspend the multiple pages and accounts he uses to circulate hateful content targeting Muslims. Facebook only took down a few of his videos and did not provide a reasonable explanation to allow him to continue on the platform. The social media giant has been making headlines the past few weeks after the revelations made by the former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen. According to leaked documents obtained by the Associated Press, Facebook in India has not only failed to check hate speech but has also been selective in curbing the same, especially inflammatory posts targeting the minority Muslim community. Internal staff memos which are part of the disclosures made to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and provided to the US Congress in redacted form by the legal counsel of Haugen revealed that Facebook did not have “even basic key work detection set up to catch” potential hate speech. Several red flags concerning polarising content and hate speech in India were deemed “not a problem” by Facebook and its Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools failed to detect vernacular languages. This is evident from Facebook’s biased treatment of Hindi content. YouTube, on the other hand, has not been under the scanner as much as Facebook. Hate speech also flourishes on the video streaming platform. YouTube typically has a three-strikes policy before taking down a channel and nearly every video uploaded by Suresh Rajput violates its policy. YouTube has claimed to have applied one strike against his new channel “Hindu Parivar”. Furthermore, the platform also took down the new channel he started under the same name “Hindu Sher boy”. Myopic policies and a lackadaisical approach of tech giants to curb hate speech in India negatively affect the country’s minority Muslim population. Suresh Rajput occupies a prominent space on Facebook and the company’s refusal to suspend him is evidence of its unwillingness to tackle the problem. [Update: Facebook removed two accounts of Suresh Rajput and unpublished Prabhu Nishad’s account on February 10, 2022.] Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… A video of a young boy cleaning the windshield of a car is making the… A video clip of a fighter jet landing on a dam is being widely circulated… In the backdrop of NASA’s Perseverance Rover landing on Mars on February 19 (IST), a… The Centre announced new IT rules on February 25 and the deadline to comply with…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th November 2021 / 8:27 pm / Last updated: 11th February 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/facebook-fails-to-terminate-hate-speech-propagator-suresh-rajput-youtube-suspends-his-channel/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
864	Facebook page ‘BJP All India’: Serial purveyor of fake news - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 28th June 2018 / 3:34 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 Hours after former president Pranab Mukherjee addressed RSS cadres at an event in Nagpur, a photoshopped image of him wearing the black RSS cap, with his arm lifted, began circulating on social media. Among the pages that shared the morphed photograph was BJP All India. It drew more than 7,000 likes and 3,000 shares. मैं मनमोहन की तरह गुलाम नही हूँ,,, मुझे जो ठीक लग रहा है मैं वही कर रहा हूँ,, आज भारत को RSS जैसे संगठन की आवश्यकता है:~प्रणब मुखर्जी,,,👇👌👇 Posted by Bjp All India on Friday, June 8, 2018 BJP All India is a right-wing Facebook page with more than 11 lakh followers – pointing at the extent to which it can delude impressionable minds. This wasn’t the first time it posted fake news but has several times in the past distorted facts, thereby presenting plain lies to people. 1. Flag of Indian Union Muslim League posted as Pakistani flag at a Congress rally BJP All India posted a video of a green coloured flag waved at a Congress rally, captioning it – “कांग्रेस की रैली, पाकिस्तान का झंडा” (Congress rally, Pakistan’s flag- translated). The post received more than 3,600 shares. 😤कांग्रेस की रैली, पाकिस्तान का झंडा😤😤 मेरे देशवासियों, देश के हिन्दुओ अब आप खुद ही सोच लो कि अब अगर ये सत्ता में वापस आये तो क्या होगा देश का, जातियों में बंटने का समय नही है एकजुट होने का समय है जागो हिन्दू जागो 🚩जय श्री राम🚩🚩जय हिन्दुराष्ट्र🚩 Posted by Bjp All India on Friday, May 11, 2018 The flag was the banner of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) which is a political party formed in 1948 and based in Kerala. It is recognised by the Election Commission as a state party. One close look at the video suggests that unlike in the Pakistani flag, IUML’s banner does not have a white patch on the left. Moreover, Pakistan’s flag has moon and star in the middle, while the IUML flag has it on the top left corner. 2. Morphed image to show Jawaharlal Nehru with girls A photograph claiming to show the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru in the company of women was widely shared on social media with hateful text written in Hindi. The image was also circulated by BJP All India and received more than 3,000 shares. #_ऊंची_दुकान_फीके_पकवान !!!!! #_वाह_रे_नेहरू_खानदान !!!! 【नेहरू खानदान यानी गयासुद्दीन गाजी का… Posted by Bjp All India on Sunday, March 25, 2018 The image was manufactured by placing a photograph of Nehru with the women. The original is a 1910-20s picture of ‘Chorus Girls’ – a theatrical musical in the United States that drew inspiration from dance forms such as burlesque and ballet, as reported by Boom Live. 3. Photoshopped image showing madrasa teacher portraying Islam as superior On June 22, the page posted a photograph which showed a Muslim teacher teaching that Islam is superior to Hinduism. The caption accompanying the post said, “देखिए मदरसों में मौलाना टीचर क्या पढ़ा रहे हैं” (See what teachers in madrasas are teaching). देखिए मदरसों में मौलाना टीचर क्या पढ़ा रहे हैं Posted by Bjp All India on Thursday, June 21, 2018 As it turned out, the image was photoshopped- the part where the blackboard is seen was tampered with. Alt News had debunked this post in an article which can be read here. 4. Fake claim on no World Bank loans taken by Modi Govt On May 29, 2018, the page posted a claim according to which the Modi government has not taken a single loan from the World Bank after assuming power. The same post also ridiculed former PM Manmohan Singh, saying that he is called a great economist despite the fact that India took massive loans from the World Bank during his reign Posted by Bjp All India on Monday, May 28, 2018 Alt News had busted this claim floating on social media that no World Bank loans have been secured by the present government. Data from the World Bank website showed that India had availed loans to the tune of 96 billion dollars from 2015 to 2017. 5. Fake news on Kanhaiya Kumar failing JNU exam for 11th time On April 23 2018, the page posted a tweet by self-proclaimed marketing maven Suhel Seth. Seth in his tweet had alluded to Kanhaiya Kumar failing his JNU exam for the 11th time in a row. Posted by Bjp All India on Monday, April 23, 2018 As it turns out, this information was false. There is no examination for PhD, but a thesis which needs to be submitted. 6. Fake image of Pakistani PM being strip-searched at US Airport An image widely circulated on social media in March this year claimed that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was made to strip before going through the security check in a U.S. airport. BJP All India was one of the many pages that shared the fake claim. #सूअर पाकिस्तान ने कुलभुषण की पत्नि के चप्पल मंगलसूत्र उतारे थे, अमेरिका ने पाकिस्तान के PM की चड्ढी ही उतरवादी… 😂😂😂 Posted by Bjp All India on Thursday, March 29, 2018 Alt News had debunked the image, which was actually a 2015 photograph from St. Petersburg, Russia when a man frustrated with security check stripped and walked through the metal detector. It may be noted that the incident involving the Pakistani PM being strip searched did take place. However, a false image had been used to convey the same. 7. Fake quote attributed to Akhilesh Yadav On May 22, the page posted a screenshot of an article falsely quoting SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav, claiming that the former UP Chief Minister said – “If Yogi does not stop troubling me, I will embrace Islam and convert to a Muslim.” It was shared nearly 4,000 times. दो शब्द कमेंट जरूर करें Posted by Bjp All India on Monday, May 21, 2018 The screenshot was taken from a website MobileNews24 which has published several dubious articles. It recently misquoted Hardik Patel as saying Kashmir should be given to Pakistan and falsely claimed that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said that she would not take any foreign trips until she becomes the PM. However, the event in Chicago was called off after the organisers cancelled. 8. Fake quote attributed to Rahul Gandhi On March 18, BJP All India posted an image of Rahul Gandhi, attributing a fake quote to him – “Keeping the sentiments of Muslims in mind, we too should stay away from Vande Mataram and the national anthem” (translated). The post was shared more than 2,500 times. Posted by Bjp All India on Sunday, March 18, 2018 Alt News spoke to Congress Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala who confirmed that the Congress President had not made any such statement. Last year, an upcoming ‘news’ website Coverage Times was gaining substantial popularity. It was already among the top 15,000 websites in India within the first few months of its creation. But the constant posting of fake news by Coverage Times pushed us to investigate it. We established that three people – Akash Soni, Raju Sikarwar, and Ramendra Singh – were running converagetimes.in. There are also two others mentioned as team members in Coverage Times Facebook page – कुँवर राजचंद्र सिंह सिकरवार (Kuwar Rajendra Singh Sikarwar) and Vijay Pandit. Kuwar manages two other right-wing pages, I Support Hindutva and Indian Army. 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 was harassing NDTV anchor Ravish Kumar. He has pictures with multiple senior BJP leaders. Coverage Times was created in 2017, the same time BJP All India began sharing its posts. The ones managing Coverage Times are a part of the team running this propaganda page BJP All India. This is evident from the screenshot below, which is from the BJP All India page. Akash Soni can be seen in the picture, and the post exhorts users to like the back up page of BJP All India. We earlier showed instances of fake news promoted by the page, but they are only a partial list of the plethora of fake news made by BJP All India on a regular basis. The Facebook page is infamous for spreading lies by distorting facts and/or creating false information. Social media users should be vigilant to identify pages circulating misinformation to polarise viewers/readers. Update: The article has been updated to reflect more instances of misinformation by BJP All India Facebook page. 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… 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	28th June 2018 / 3:34 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/facebook-page-bjp-all-india-serial-purveyor-of-fake-news/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
865	Facebook pages spent Rs 2.5 crore on political ads in 2 weeks; BJP leads by huge margin - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 23rd March 2019 / 9:42 pm / Last updated: 24th March 2019 “Ads related to politics and issues of national importance that have run on Facebook or Instagram” amounted to Rs 2.5 crore between March 2 and 16, revealed Alt News’s weekly analysis of Facebook ad library data. Out of this total expenditure, the top 20 pages alone contributed more than Rs 1.9 crore, with pro-BJP pages investing over Rs 1.5 crore. A distant second was pro-BJD ads at Rs 15.2 lakh, followed by pro-YSR Congress ads (Rs 12.7 lakh), ads by the Karnataka government (Rs 5 lakh) and pro-Congress pages (Rs 1.68 lakh). The table below shows the expenditure by the top 20 pages between March 2 to 16. This is reflected in Column C, which is the difference between total expenditure till March 16 (Column D) and total expenditure up to March 2 (Column E). Among the highest spenders, the Facebook page dedicated to BJP’s election campaign ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ invested the maximum – Rs 87.3 lakh. The second in line was a pro-BJP page ‘Nation with NaMo’ with an expenditure of over Rs 43 lakh. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was placed third with a total ad spending of Rs 15.2 lakh between March 2 to 16. At the fourth place was pro-YSR Congress advertisements by ‘Indian Political Action Committee’, amounting to nearly Rs 13 lakh, up from Rs 53,992 two weeks earlier. I-PAC is a political advocacy group that provides strategies for election campaigns. Placing fifth was the central government page ‘MyGov India’ that spent over Rs 8.3 lakh. At the 6th place among the top 20 advertisers was a Facebook page named ‘My First Vote For Modi’ which spent a little over Rs 11,000 till March 2, however, pumped-up the expenditure to nearly Rs 7.5 lakh in just two weeks (Column D). ‘My First Vote For Modi’ is a recently-developed Facebook page. It was introduced in January this year and has only 45,000 followers, yet the page invested more on political ads than the BJP’s official page. As seen in Column E of the table, the BJP’s official Facebook page spent Rs 6.6 lakh on political ads till March 2 – a figure that remained constant till March 16 (Column D). Upon accessing the ad library data of ‘My First Vote For Modi’, Alt News found that the address of BJP headquarters in Delhi – ‘6-A, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, Near ITO, Minto Bridge Colony, Barakhamba, New Delhi 110002′ – is provided in the disclaimer information of the page. Another aspect that came to our notice was the page’s corresponding website – https://nationwithnamo.com/MyFirstVoteForModi. ‘Nation with NaMo’ is also a pro-BJP Facebook page that made higher investments on political ads than the BJP’s official Facebook page – Rs 43 lakh – and stood second only to ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’. Incidentally, ‘Nation with NaMo’ also provides the address of BJP headquarters in the disclaimer information. In the past, Alt News had found ‘Nation with NaMo’ circulating misinformation to depict positive changes brought about by the Modi government since it came to power in 2014. The page had also put out job applications last year, calling IIT and IIM graduates to drive Prime Minister Modi’s campaign. Facebook’s ad policies require pages to reveal advertiser details in case they are sponsoring ads related to politics, yet the two pages discussed in this report provided names of websites as ‘disclaimer’. A website is not an individual and it is nearly impossible for social media users to trace the people behind it. Summarily, the disclaimer information does not necessarily disclose the names of the individuals or organisations pumping lakhs of money to shape public opinion online. Users also cannot rely on the contact information provided by these pages. The phone numbers given by ‘My First Vote For Modi’ and ‘Nation With NaMo’ are 6372802105 and 6372802059 respectively. Apart from the last three digits, the numbers match. Searching for both the numbers on Treucaller throws up the identical result – “not yet available”. Calling up the numbers is also fruitless because both are switched off. The sole lead that we have is the address provided by the pages, which matches BJP headquarters in Delhi. This raises two pertinent questions – one, does the BJP fund these pages to sponsor political ads favouring the party?; two, if the BJP is, in fact, responsible, has the investment been disclosed to the Election Commission? UPDATE: Some of the figures in an earlier version of the article were incorrect, and have now been corrected. 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	23rd March 2019 / 9:42 pm / Last updated: 24th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/facebook-pages-spent-rs-2-5-crore-on-political-ads-in-2-weeks-bjp-leads-by-huge-margin/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
866	Facebook post from 2015 ascribing false quote to ex-Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia viral - Alt News Archit 21st August 2021 / 2:27 pm / Last updated: 21st October 2021 Several people have shared an image of former Bangladeshi PM Begum Khaleda Zia ascribing the alleged quote to her – “I regret the continuing of massacre of Hindus & Buddhists in Bangladesh, but Bangladesh is an Islamic Nation and not Secular. Now, the Muslims are in majority here. Under the circumstances, if Hindus & Buddhists want to live safely, they should either convert to Islam or go to India.” The image also has the text ‘This is why CAA’. It is circulating against the backdrop of the recent communal violence against the minority Hindu community in Bangladesh. पिछले साल 20 जुलाई को। पढ़िए…इधर भारत मे अल्पसंख्यक हिन्दुओ के टैक्स के पैसों से मौज कर रहे है हर देश मे जब दंगे भड़कते… Posted by स्वयंसेवक on Tuesday, 19 October 2021 Alt News has received multiple requests to verify the alleged statement. It is also widespread on Facebook. Twitter user @ssingapuri had posted the viral image earlier in August. Finally Begum Khalida Zia of Bangladesh proclaims!! If Hindus Buddhist want to live safely, either convert to Islam or move to India. How frank is that? pic.twitter.com/HqYopp8iXS — Sandy Boy 🇮🇳(Sundeep) (@ssingapuri) August 18, 2021 In fact, the claim has been circulating on social media for the past few years. Readers should note if former Bangladeshi PM Begum Khaleda Zia had made this comment it would have been covered by regional and international media. No news outlet has reported that Zia made such a statement. Further, Zia is associated with Bangladesh Nationalist Party. There is no party called ‘Bangla National Party’ as mentioned in the viral image. The viral post was made by Facebook page Khabar24x7.com on July 20, 2015. Alt News looked up the domain khabar24x7.com and found that no such website currently exists. As per Big Domain Data, the domain was created in 2014. It was last hosted on Wix.com. To sum it up, a false communal quote was attributed to former Bangladeshi PM Begum Khaleda Zia. The quote has been circulating on right-wing websites for several years now. The oldest we could find is from May 2014. Earlier in August, Alt News reported that hoardings with fake quotes attributed to prominent Muslims appeared in UP’s Pratapgarh. We found that some of those quotes date back a decade on social media. 🙏 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	21st August 2021 / 2:27 pm / Last updated: 21st October 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/facebook-post-from-2015-ascribing-false-quote-to-ex-bangladesh-pm-khaleda-zia-viral/", "author": "Archit" }
867	Facebook purge: The curious case of pages that did not feature in FB press release - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 6th April 2019 / 8:02 pm On April 1, Facebook took down thousands of pages, groups and accounts from Facebook and Instagram, describing the crackdown as “removing coordinated inauthentic behaviour and spam from India and Pakistan.” Specifying that the initiative had nothing to do with the content posted by these accounts, Facebook furthered that “the people behind this activity coordinated with one another and used fake accounts to misrepresent themselves, and that was the basis for our action.” While the tech giant did not provide a list of all the pages removed, it threw light on the four separate categories of the takedown – Congress found a place in Facebook’s release but the same could not be said about the BJP. BJP’s participation in ‘coordinated inauthentic behaviour’ was veiled behind the accounts linked to the IT firm, Silver Touch – the company behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘NaMo App’. Facebook said that it removed one page, 13 accounts and a group associated with this company. The page in question was ‘The India Eye’ – a pro-BJP propaganda outlet which used to host its corresponding website on the servers of Silver Touch. ‘The India Eye’ is also one of the 15 accounts promoted on ‘NaMo App’ where users don’t enjoy the discretion to unfollow its posts. According to Facebook’s press note, ‘The India Eye’ alone spent over Rs 48 lakh on Facebook ads, in contrast to Rs 27 lakh spent by all the Congress-linked pages. Furthermore, the follower count of ‘The India Eye’ was more than 10 times the follower count of all Congress pages combined. The apparent connection between Silver Touch, ‘The India Eye’ and the BJP was highlighted by Alt News in an earlier report. Alt News found that the takedown of pro-BJP pages wasn’t limited to ‘The India Eye’. We discovered hundreds of other pages which published content in favour of the ruling party and were recently removed by Facebook. A similar observation was made with regard to pro-Congress pages. Though their number was smaller, several Congress-supporting accounts, recently taken down by Facebook, found no mention in its statement. Alt News has compiled an index of pages that are no longer active on Facebook and seemed to have been taken down recently. We verified the same by searching for the Google cache of each of these pages and included only those whose cache is still available on the search engine. If a page has been removed for a while, it is most likely that the cache is unavailable. Several social media users also posted about certain pages that no longer appear on Facebook. Our list includes these post-substantiation. We discovered hundreds of pages and groups that were recently purged by the social networking platform. Due to the large number, the table below comprises only those that had over 4 lakh likes. ‘भारत माता की जय’ evidently had the maximum likes – 6 million (60 lakh). In contrast, as per Facebook’s release, the combined likes count (approx) of all the Congress pages taken down was 2.06 lakh. Accessing Google cache results of some of its posts revealed that the page frequently shared pro-BJP and pro-Modi posts. The political inclination of several other pages is apparent from their names. We also found several pages devoted to journalist Ravish Kumar that no longer exist of Facebook. The combined likes of three of these pages with over 4 lakh followers was more than 2 million. In the past, we have identified that pages created in the name of Kumar continually publish posts targeting the BJP or circulating misinformation. Right-wing outlet My Nation and the official Facebook page of BJP MLA Raja Singh also came under Facebook’s knife. Both the pages were verified handles. My Nation editor Abhijit Majumder took to Twitter to post that Facebook had not given the outlet a prior warning of the removal. More than 24 hours that @facebook has taken down @MyNation verified page with 1 million+ followers. No alert prior to the action and no explanation thereafter. FB officials have only told us it’d be resolved soon. The timing — peak election season — is interesting. And worrisome. — Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) April 2, 2019 BJP MLA Raja Singh alleged the same. My official Facebook page has been unpublished / removed couple of days back @facebook may I know the reason. — Chowkidar Raja Singh (@TigerRajaSingh) April 1, 2019 Facebook took down hundreds of pages from its platform that engaged in inauthentic behaviour. While such a move is welcome, several concerns arise with regard to the purge. Why was the action taken so close to the elections? Why are offending pages and accounts not removed on a regular basis? There are multiple testimonies of admins who claim that they were neither given a prior warning before the purge and nor any clear explanation as to why their pages were deleted/unpublished. When multiple organisations depend on Facebook, the lack of transparency regarding its actions is worrying. Besides coordinated inauthentic behaviour, elections are also influenced by rampant misinformation on platforms owned by Facebook, which include WhatsApp and Instagram. Facebook has partnerships with fact-checking websites in India for many months now. Why weren’t pages/accounts who are serial offenders in the area of misinformation not taken down as well? The Facebook release clearly mentions that the takedown was not based on content. Facebook needs to bring in more transparency toward an action that might significantly influence elections in India. Furthermore, it is concerning that a platform which claims sincerity in its effort to deter misinformation has not identified routine purveyors of disinformation and made them a part of the recent takedown. 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	6th April 2019 / 8:02 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/facebook-purge-the-curious-case-of-pages-that-did-not-feature-in-fb-press-release/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
868	Photo of film shooting shared as Chinese soliders captured by Indian army in Arunachal - Alt News Kinjal 12th October 2021 / 4:12 pm A group of Chinese soldiers who allegedly crossed over into the Indian side of Tibet were temporarily detained by Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang. Against this backdrop, a photo has been shared with the claim that it depicts Indian army personnel with the captive Chinese soldiers. It is claimed that Indian soldiers detained more than 150 Chinese soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh. BJP Ghaziabad’s social media convener Anand Kalra shared the picture. Kalra’s post amassed more than 2,000 retweets as of this writing. (Archive link) Twitter user ‘हम लोग We The People’ also amplified the photo with the same claim. (Archive link) राहुल गांधी या कोई वामपंथी कभी इस पर ट्वीट नहीं करेंगे कि भारतीय सेना ने अरुणाचल में डेढ़ सौ से ज्यादा चीनी सैनिकों को बंदी बना लिया फिर जब चीन के सेना के कमांडर और भारतीय कमांडर के बीच में मीटिंग हुई उसके बाद ही नहीं छोड़ा गया। pic.twitter.com/9TTW3DPAX1 — हम लोग We The People (@humlogindia) October 9, 2021 It is widespread on Twitter and Facebook. Alt News performed a reverse image search and found a few similar images in news articles from December 2020. One of these reports has shared the photo as a behind-the-scenes of a movie on the clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Galwan Valley. (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4) It is noteworthy that on June 15, 2020, 20 soldiers of the Indian Army were martyred in a deadly face-off with Chinese soldiers in the Galwan Valley. We performed a keyword search based on this, which led us to a YouTube video uploaded on December 3, 2020. Scenes from the viral photo appear in this clip at the 5:48 mark. According to the description, this is a video from the shooting of a film titled ‘LAC’. The film is about the violent skirmishes between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley. It also names Instagram user ‘ig_tonyjaa’ as the choreographer for the film. Tony Jaa himself clarified the context behind the image on Facebook. Daily Excelsior had also aired scenes from the shooting of LAC on November 30, 2020. The film previously made headlines last year when cast member Rahul Roy suffered a brain stroke during the shoot and had to be airlifted from Kargil to Mumbai. To sum it up, the viral image of Indian soldiers who allegedly captured China’s PLA personnel is actually from a film shoot. 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	12th October 2021 / 4:12 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fack-check-old-film-shooting-photo-shared-as-indian-army-capturing-pla-souldiers/", "author": "Kinjal" }
869	Fact-check: Namaz offering displayed on UP tableau during SP's rule in the state? - Alt News Kinjal 29th January 2021 / 4:59 pm Two photos, purportedly of the Uttar Pradesh tableau from Republic Day parades, have been going viral on social media. The first shows a replica of Ayodhya’s Ram Temple, while the second shows a person offering namaz. Users are claiming that the second tableau is from the days of the Samajwadi Party’s rule in the state. Twitter user Akash RSS shared these photos with the same claim (Archive link). Akash has been caught sharing false information on Twitter several times in the past. Another user named Purva Dixit tweeted the image and accompanying claim. Her post was liked by 500 handles at the time of writing. Many others have juxtaposed both images and shared them online. समाजवादी राज में उत्तर प्रदेश की झांकी और योगी राज में उत्तर प्रदेश की झांकी बस यही सबसे बड़ा बदलाव है और यही बदलाव सबसे सुखद है दोनों तस्वीर 👇🏽देखें ।। pic.twitter.com/FZFjUBCOIt — पूर्वा दीक्षित (@dixit_purva) January 25, 2021 These photos have also made their way to Facebook and Twitter with the same claim. Alt News has received a few requests to verify the viral photo on our official mobile app. The claim being circulated online is completely false. While Uttar Pradesh did present a tableau featuring the Ram Temple in the recent Republic Day parade, the second photo is not Uttar Pradesh tableau. Alt News performed a reverse image search and found the original image in a News18 article. It states that this picture is of the 2011 Republic Day parade at New Delhi’s Rajpath. With a Maner Sharif theme, it was actually Bihar’s tableau that showed a Muslim person offering namaz. The caption reads that as soon as Amir Khusrao’s Sufi song was played, Maner’s 17th-century saint Makhdoom Shah Daulat appeared on the tableau. The photo was also shared as the Bihar tableau in India Today’s photo gallery of the parade that year. Prasar Bharati uploaded videos of the 2011 Republic Day parade on January 25, 2021. In the video given below, the tableau of Bihar appears at the 34:25 mark. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scEDE-1xjkA] In 2011, PIB shared a list of the states participating in the parade along with the themes for their tableau. Here, the theme of the Bihar tableau is mentioned as Maner Sharif. This is also stated in a January 2011 Times of India story. In 2011, the BJP-JD (U) alliance was in power in Bihar. A photo of the Bihar tableau from the 2011 Republic Day parade with a man offering namaz was falsely shared as the Uttar Pradesh tableau under Samajwadi Party rule, allegedly with a Sufi saint theme. 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	29th January 2021 / 4:59 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-2011-image-of-bihar-tableau-shared-as-ups-during-sps-regime-republic-day/", "author": "Kinjal" }
870	No, this video doesn't show woman beating her harassers at Congress Andhra office - Alt News Kinjal 27th August 2021 / 10:08 pm A video of a woman embroiled in a physical altercation with a man has been circulating on social media. The woman hits the man with slippers. It is being claimed that the incident took place at the Congress office in Karimnagar, Andhra Pradesh and the woman was a chief guest at a flag hoisting program where she was harassed. The claim suggests that she thrashed the perpetrator. Twitter user ‘Rajni Sharma T. A. B Sanatani’ posted this clip and accompanying claim, where it amassed more than 4,000 views at the time of writing. (Archive link) आन्ध्रप्रदेश के करीमनगर कांग्रेस कार्यालय में पहले ध्वजारोहण.. फिर मुख्य अतिथि की छेड़छाड़ का परिणाम सार्वजनिक रूप में दे चप्पल.. दे चप्पल..!! 😝👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/NnUoVsqCMQ — 🚩रजनी शर्मा T. A. B🇮🇳 सनातनी 🚩🚩 (@rajnime) August 23, 2021 Facebook user Niraj Kaushik also shared the video with the same claim. (Archive link) आंध्रा के करीमनगर कांग्रेस कार्यालय में पहले ध्वजारोहण..फिर मुख्य अतिथि की छेड़छाड़ करने पर चप्पल वितरण😆😆😆 Posted by Neeraj Kaushik on Monday, August 23, 2021 The video is widespread on Facebook and Twitter. Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube to verify the visuals. ETV Andhra Pradesh covered the incident in a video story dated August 15, 2014. The outlet said that a spat ensued between YSR Congress Party workers during a flag hoisting ceremony in Karimnagar. Upon further research, we also found an NDTV report dated August 15, 2014. According to the article, the woman seen in the video is Susheela, a senior leader in the women’s wing of the YSR Congress party. In the video, Susheela is beating District Chief Bhaskar Reddy with slippers. She had also accused him of not keeping her informed about party events and denying her the post of the district women’s wing chief. In addition to this, she had also accused other party workers of assault. However, YSRC shrugged off the incident as an internal matter. To sum it up, a seven-year-old video of a scuffle between YSRC workers was shared as a recent clash at the Congress office in Andhra Pradesh. 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	27th August 2021 / 10:08 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-2014-video-shared-as-andhrapradeshs-congress-office-woman-chief-guest-beaten-up-false-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
872	ABP News falsely claims 'free' COVID vaccine in India costs Rs 3-5k in US, UK - Alt News Kinjal 16th January 2021 / 2:11 pm / Last updated: 18th January 2021 On January 2, ABP News claimed that India would administer COVID-19 vaccine to 3 crore people for free in the first phase, while the US and UK are charging Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 3,000 respectively. ABP News took down its post after Alt News Hindi published a fact-check report but an archived link can be found here and a screenshot has been added below. It didn’t take long for the claim to go viral on social media. Cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta was also found sharing it. (Archive link) Shame on @yadavakhilesh..its Indian vaccine not BJP’s…Dont mislead ppl for your seats…. क़ोरोना वैक्सीन की क़ीमत अमेरिका 5000 ₹ इंग्लैंड 3000 ₹ भारत 0₹ #माफी_मांगो_अखिलेश pic.twitter.com/QP4eoyk9R0 — Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’ (@NandiGuptaBJP) January 3, 2021 Twitter user @ThePushpendra_ pushed out a tweet which received more than 1,800 retweets at the time of writing. (Archive link) Several people have shared this claim on Facebook and Twitter. American and British governments have decided that their citizens will be given the vaccine free of cost. ABP News’s claim is false. India On January 2, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan revealed that in the first phase, 1 crore health workers and 2 crore frontline workers would receive the vaccine free of cost. He stated that the government was still finalising the details of how to administer the vaccine to the remaining 27 crore people on the priority list by July. In 1st phase of #COVID19Vaccination free #vaccine shall be provided across the nation to most prioritised beneficiaries that incl 1 crore healthcare & 2 crore frontline workers Details of how further 27 cr priority beneficiaries are to be vaccinated until July are being finalised pic.twitter.com/K7NrzGrgk3 — Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) January 2, 2021 Apart from this, several states including Bihar, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Assam promised to provide the vaccine for free. Vaccine prices in India India has approved two COVID-19 vaccines – Serum Institute’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is being manufactured locally by the Serum Institute, and is being rolled out as ‘Covishield’ in India. In an interview with NDTV, Adar Poonawala, CEO of the Serum Institute, said, “The initial 10 million doses of the Oxford vaccine Covishield will be given to the Government of India at Rs. 200 per dose.” According to the report, the price of the Bharat Biotech vaccine has not been released yet. Poonawala added that the price of Covishield in the private sector would be Rs. 1000 per dose, which means that a common citizen would have to pay Rs. 2,000 for the two doses. United States According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US government is purchasing the vaccine using taxpayers’ money and giving it out for free. However, vaccine providers may be charging administration fees to deliver the shots. They can collect these charges from the patient’s public or private insurance company. However, for patients without insurance, this charge will be deducted from the Health Resources and Services Administration Provider Relief Fund. Vaccine prices in the US (the prices at which the US government will buy the vaccine) Reuters reported that the US government would buy 100 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine at $39 per dose (about Rs 2,860). According to The Guardian, it will purchase the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine for $4 per dose. A BBC story listed the cost of the COVID-19 vaccine per dose. The information about the vaccine included in the chart has been credited to the vaccine companies. It shows that the cost of the Moderna vaccine is Rs 2,400 in the US, whereas the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is about Rs 1,500 and the Oxford-AstraZeneca one is Rs. 300 (The amounts in the chart are given in USD, which we converted into INR.) Contrary to the claim ABP News made, none of these vaccines is priced at Rs. 5,000. Even when the per-dose price is doubled, the final cost does not surpass Rs. 5,000. Since the US government is procuring the vaccine, US citizens will not have to pay separately to get the shots. England The UK government’s website mentions that the COVID-19 shot would be distributed only through the National Health Service (NHS) and that this would be a free vaccination drive. According to the BBC’s January 11 story, 1.5 million people have been administered the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine so far. It states further that no payment will be required for the vaccine because it will be given for free through the NHS. How much is the UK government is paying for the vaccine? We found a report about the preparation of the COVID-19 vaccine on the website of the National Audit Office of England (NAO). It mentioned that the UK government will invest Rs. 11.5 billion (£ 11.7 billion) to buy or manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine. A Bloomberg Quint report dated December 16, 2020, states that according to the UK’s National Audit Office, the Government of England will spend around Rs 11.5 billion for the production and purchase of COVID vaccine. The UK has signed a contract to buy 267 million doses of the vaccine. Furthermore, a report in The Guardian quoted the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), UK which stated that information about the vaccine payment made by the British government would not be released to the public. Therefore, it cannot be confirmed what the UK government has paid for the vaccine. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is the only one common to India, the US, and the UK. It is priced at Rs. 200 in India for the first 100 million doses, while in the US and UK, it costs around Rs. 300. Livemint’s report also mentions the countries that have promised to provide a free COVID-19 vaccine, including Japan, the US, France, and Norway. On January 5, The Quint published a fact-check report, investigating the truth behind this claim. ABP News therefore falsely claimed that the US and UK are charging Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 3,000 for the COVID-19 vaccine respectively. In reality, both nations have made it clear that the shot will be provided free of cost to their citizens. 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. 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	16th January 2021 / 2:11 pm / Last updated: 18th January 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-abp-news-misreports-free-vaccine-in-india-but-not-in-us-uk/", "author": "Kinjal" }
873	Fact-check: Did an 'Islamic mob' attack constable Sandeep after Kanhaiya Lal's murder? - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 12th July 2022 / 8:07 pm On June 28, 2022, tailor Kanhaiya Lal was brutally murdered by two Muslim men in Rajasthan’s Udaipur. The attackers made a video of the incident and shared it on social media. In their video, the two assailants termed the murder of Kanhaiya Lal as an act of revenge for the alleged derogatory remarks on Prophet Mohammad made by former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Sharma’s comments on Prophet Mohammad made during a TV debate, triggered widespread protests across the country. Her statement was also condemned by several Gulf countries, following which, the BJP expelled Nupur Sharma from the party, calling her a ‘fringe element’. Police identified the two main accused of Kanhaiya Lal’s murder as Mohammad Riaz and Ghaus Mohammad. Seven people have been arrested so far in connection with the murder of Kanhaiya Lal. Against the backdrop of this unfortunate incident, it is being claimed that people from the Muslim community attacked the police while protesting against the arrest of the killers of Kanhaiya Lal. Pro-BJP propaganda website OpIndia reported that an Islamic mob attacked police constable Sandeep on his neck with a sharp weapon, leaving him seriously injured (archived link). OpIndia also shared the same on its Twitter handle and Facebook page. However, the posts were later deleted. BJP spokesperson Prashant Kumar Umrao tweeted, “While protesting the arrest of the terrorist killers of Kanhaiya Lal in Rajsamand, a mob attacked constable Sandeep with a sword, injuring his neck.” Umrao has deleted the tweet. (Archived link) Kreately Media tweeted that when police officers went to arrest Goz Mohammed and Riyaz, the two main accused in Kanhaiya Lal’s murder, a mob attacked the police with stones and swords. Constable Sandeep was seriously injured in the attack and was referred to Ajmer. (Archived link) आप सभी को ये पता होना चाहिए- कनाहिया लाल के हत्यारे गोज मोहम्मद और रियाज़ को पकड़ने गई पुलिस पर पत्थरबाजी और तलवार से हमला हुआ। कांस्टेबल संदीप को खंजर से मारा। गंभीर हालत में अजमेर रेफर कराया गया। #Kanhaiya #Kanahiyalal — Kreately.in (@KreatelyMedia) June 29, 2022 Bhagva Update, RB Pathak, BJP supporter Divyam Thakur and several other handles amplified the claim on Twitter. A keyword search led us to an article by ETV Bharat. As per the report, various organizations staged demonstrations in protest of the murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal. As the crowd became rowdy, the police made attempts to control them. One of the youths from the mob attacked police constable Sandeep with a sword in which he was seriously injured. According to media reports, the situation in the area was tense following this incident. The police were only able to gain control of the crowd by using force. We reached out to Rajsamand SP Sudhir Chaudhary to gather information on the matter. Refuting the viral claim, SP Sudhir Chaudhary said that the mob in which one of the youngsters attacked constable Sandeep was not led by the Muslim community. The mob was made up of local groups who opposed the killing. He revealed that 23 people have been arrested in the case so far. The Rajasthan Police also refuted the viral claim via its official Twitter handle. यह खबर सरासर झूठ है। इसमें गलत तथ्य प्रस्तुत किए गए हैं। पुलिस कांस्टेबल संदीप पर हमला करने वाला आरोपी उसी के समुदाय से संबंधित है। हमारी आपसे दरख्वास्त है फेक न्यूज फैलाने से बचें।#RajasthanPolice#StopFakeNews pic.twitter.com/cAPTnSXmU4 — Rajasthan Police (@PoliceRajasthan) June 29, 2022 After the main accused was apprehended, the Rajsamand SP informed us that in a joint operation on July 8, the Rajasthan Police and Gujarat Anti Terror Squad (ATS) arrested Mahavir and Shravan along with main accused Balveer, who attacked constable Sandeep. They were arrested from Vadodara in Gujarat. Bhim Police Station SHO Gajendra Singh issued a statement on the development. Bhim is a town in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district. “Some anti-social elements had entered Bhim with swords, petrol bottles and sticks. The police and administration chased them away, but Balveer, a man from the crowd, attacked Sandeep using a sword on his neck with the intention of killing him.” The three accused were arrested from Limda in Vadodara’s Waghodia area, a Gujarat ATS official said. To sum it up, right-wing propaganda website OpIndia falsely claimed that a police constable named Sandeep was attacked by a Muslim mob. When Rajasthan Police declared this news to be false, the outlet updated its article. BJP spokesperson Prashant Kumar Umrao and several social media accounts also falsely claimed that a mob attacked a police constable while protesting the arrest of Kanhaiya Lal’s killers. However, there have been no such demonstrations against the arrest of the killers. The people in the mob that attacked the police were not Muslims. 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). 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	12th July 2022 / 8:07 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-after-udaipur-kanhaiyalal-murder-constable-sandeep-attacked-by-supporters-of-accused/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
874	Fact-check: Did Ahmed Patel resign as a trustee well before an alleged ISIS operative was arrested from Sardar Patel Hospital? - Alt News Sam Jawed 30th October 2017 / 4:28 pm “If Ahmed Patel was a patron of hospital from where 2 suspected ISIS terrorists were arrested then should he be not held responsible?” asked Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at a press conference after the arrest of two suspected terrorists by Gujarat ATS. One of the two suspects had worked and recently resigned from Sardar Patel Hospital where Congress leader Ahmed Patel was once a Trustee. With elections around the corner, this information was enough to set in motion a barrage of claims and counterclaims by both parties. Alt News examines the claims and documents that have been shared on social media. Soon after the controversy broke out, Siddharth Mazumdar (@sidmtweets) posted a set of images to prove that Patel had resigned as a Trustee way back in 2013 whereas the suspect Mohmad Kasim Stimberwala had joined and resigned in March and October 2017. This was followed by an article that posted an image of the statement of the hospital. Doubts have been raised regarding the veracity of the above images as to whether the documents are genuine or not. 1.Handwritten resignation letter of AP without any stamp.Very convenient 2. Hospitals disclaimer dated 29/10//2017.It's 28th today 3. Idiots https://t.co/cqEeb1OtWu — दिव्या (@divya_16_) October 28, 2017 Let us examine each of these claims: Alt News has verified the image posted on Twitter by Siddharth Mazumdar with the Trustees of the Sardar Patel hospital and can confirm that Patel had indeed resigned in September 2013. The resignation was accepted by Trust and Charities Commissioner in September 2014. The following documents were again posted on social media claiming to be the documents which confirm Ahmed Patel’s removal from the Board of trustees. Alt News emailed Ahmed Patel’s office and received an official confirmation stating that the documents making the rounds on social media are genuine. However the biggest confirmation that Patel is no longer a Trustee comes from CM Rupani himself. He had stated at the Press Conference that “Patel was earlier a trustee of the hospital from which he resigned in 2014. However, he continued to run the show at the hospital where President Pranab Mukherjee was invited to inaugurate the premises in 2016” Those questioning the documents perhaps missed that Rupani had also confirmed that Patel had resigned in 2014. They have since been busy trying to prove that the resignation letter is fake because it is handwritten and without a stamp. CM Rupani had raised concerns about the resignation of the suspect in his press conference, “Just two days before being caught, they had resigned or their resignation was procured. This looks suspicious.” The documents confirm that the suspect was hired in March 2017 and resigned on Oct 4, 2017. His resignation letter states the notice period from Oct 4 till Oct 24. The suspect was hired after Patel quit as a Trustee and had resigned from the hospital. When Alt News spoke with Jayesh Patel who is one of the trustees in Sardar Patel hospital, he stated that the accused was employed based on a recommendation letter from his previous employer. Even though the hospital had issued a statement, the authenticity of this letter was doubted on the basis of the date. “Hospital’s letter dated 29th, while today is 28th”, said many on social media. However, they overlooked the fact that like the letter, the date is also written in Gujarati and is to be read as Oct 27 and not October 29. Oblivious to this fact, over one thousand people had retweeted this tweet. Based on the conversation that Alt News had with Jayesh Patel who is a Trustee of Sardar Patel hospital and the email exchanged with Ahmed Patel’s office, it can be confirmed that the above documents that are circulating on social media are genuine. Nobody's cheerleader, I tweet at @samjawed65 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 2017 / 4:28 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-ahmed-patel-resign-trustee-well-alleged-isis-operative-arrested-sardar-patel-hospital/", "author": "Sam Jawed" }
875	No, Amul has not fired 1.38 lakh employees who consume beef - Alt News Kinjal 21st July 2021 / 7:30 pm A claim that Amul owner Anand Seth recently fired 1.38 lakh employees who consume beef is viral on social media. Facebook user Shri Radhe Krishna shared the claim on three Facebook groups: ‘केंद्रीय मंत्री स्मृति ईरानी – अमेठी सांसद’ (Union Minister Smriti Irani – Amethi MP), ‘Kangana Ranaut fans.(Actor)‘, and ‘मुख्यमंत्री – योगी आदित्यनाथ जी’ (Chief Minister – Yogi Adityanath ji). These posts amassed thousands of likes at the time of writing. BJP supporter Yuvika Sharma also tweeted the claim. (Archive link) अमूल दूध के मालिक आनंद सेठ ने 1 लाख 38 हजार गाय का मांस खाने वालो को नौकरी से निकाला !! 🙏 जय गौमाता 🙏 — Yuvika Sharma (@Theyuvikash) July 8, 2021 Several other users promoted the claim on Facebook and Twitter. Amul is not owned by one individual but operated by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Federation Limited (GCMMF), the apex organisation of the Dairy Cooperative of Gujarat popularly known as ‘Amul’. Since it is a cooperative, it cannot be owned by one person. We also did not find the mention of anyone named ‘Anand Seth’ on the company website. Shamalbhai B Patel is the chairman of GCMMF, while Valamjibhai R Humbal is serving as vice-chairman and RS Sodhi is the managing director. GCMMF was established in 1973. The Amul headquarters are located in Anand, Gujarat. There are also no media reports corroborating the viral message. BBC reached out to Amul MD RS Sodhi who clarified, “We don’t know how this kind of news is being circulated. We have not fired any of our employees in the last two years because our business is growing. Even if we do terminate someone, it is never based on religious reasons.” Sodhi also told the outlet that Amul factories employ around 16,000 to 17,000 people. He stated that employees are selected based on merit, and not their socio-religious background. To sum it up, the claim on social media that the Amul company has fired 1.38 lakh employees who consume beef is completely 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. 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	21st July 2021 / 7:30 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-amul-fired-1-38-lakh-workers-beef-eating-false-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
876	Fact-check: Are circuit boards with 'COV 19' engraving being installed on 5G towers? - Alt News Jignesh Patel 3rd June 2021 / 8:47 pm / Last updated: 3rd June 2021 A video of a man presenting himself as a telecom engineer and showing equipment labelled ‘COV-19’ to be installed in 5G towers is doing the rounds on WhatsApp. The man in the video can be heard claiming that he is erecting 5G masts when everyone is indoors due to lockdowns. Later in the video, he shows a circuit board and points that it has ‘COV 19’ imprinted. “We don’t crack open these kits because we are explicitly asked not to,” he says. Alt News received several requests on its official mobile application and WhatsApp number (+917600011160) to fact-check the video. 🔥🔥 5G ve COVID-19 🔥🔥 5G istasyonlarına yerleştirilen ve asla açmayın denilen kiti açan teknisyen anlatıyor. İstasyona yerleşecek elektronik kitin içinde COV 19 yazan elektronik devre. pic.twitter.com/3QApd1nB1N — mehmet pehlivan (@epehlivan1071) April 10, 2021 The message shared along with the video reads, “This person is a labourer working on a 5G tower. He had to repair a technical fault on this 5G tower and he was specifically told not to open and see the plate. He went against the order and risked his job. When he opened the plate, he saw a chip of Covid-19 in it.” [Translated from Hindi: “यह शख्स 5 G टॉवर पे काम करने वाला लेबर है इस 5 G टावर पर टैक्निकल खराबी पर रिपेयरिंग करना था और खास तौर पर मना किया गया था एक प्लेट को खोलकर नही देखना है उस ने हुक्म की खिलाफ वरजी की और अपनी नौकरी को दाव पे लगा के उस प्लेट को खोलकर देखा तो उस मे Covid-19 की चिप नजर आई उस से साफ जाहिर होता है के इंसानियत के खिलाफ कुछ ना कुछ साजिश जरुर चल रही है।”] The video has been circulating since last year. _ أكتشف أحد الفنيين لأبراج 5G بوجود جهازا إلكترونيا علية أسم “COV-19” في لوحة الدائرة الإلكترونية بأحد أعمدة 5G !! .. +….. pic.twitter.com/X24mgiX3LZ — سلطان العتيبي (@sultaa999) May 14, 2020 A few users had also posted a screenshot of the circuit board that purportedly says ‘COV 19’. The video was created by documentary maker Heydon Prowse last year in June. The video does not promote a conspiracy theory but shows how easy it is to start one. How easy is it to start a conspiracy theory? Posting again. Full vid here: https://t.co/RmPi3VU6rq pic.twitter.com/0s2Qm411mv — Heydon Prowse (@HeydonProwse) July 10, 2020 Prowse is the editor-in-chief of Don’t Panic London, a creative agency specialising in viral content. Don’t Panic London had uploaded the full video of his experiment on its YouTube channel. The video shows him paste ‘COV 19’ on the plate. Reuters had published a fact-check report on the video on May 16, 2020. The outlet said that the circuit board featured in the video is an old Virgin Media TV box. In one of the frames in the video towards the end, one can spot the casing of this circuit placed on the bonnet of a van. A company spokesperson from Virgin Media informed Reuters, “That is a board from a very old set-top TV box and which never featured any component parts inscribed/stamped/printed or otherwise with COV 19. It has absolutely no relation with any mobile network infrastructure, including that used for 5G.” Ireland-based The Journal also quoted Virgin Media stating that the company “circuit board looked like a Cisco 4585 HD card which they began distributing to customers around 2011”. The claim that circuit boards with the engraving ‘COV 19’ are getting installed on 5G towers is false. The video was created last year by a London-based documentary maker as an experiment to show how easy it is to promote viral conspiracy theories. 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. 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	3rd June 2021 / 8:47 pm / Last updated: 3rd June 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-are-circuit-boards-with-cov-19-engraving-being-installed-on-5g-towers/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
877	Fact-check: Are majority of candidates selected in WB police SI exam 2019 Muslims? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st June 2021 / 3:02 pm / Last updated: 21st June 2021 The West Bengal Police Recruitment Board (WBPRB) announced the final result of the 2019 Recruitment to the post of Sub-Inspector (Armed Branch and Unarmed Branch) Exam on June 18, 2021. Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Madhya Pradesh state president Vaibhav Pawar tweeted a list of 50 selected candidates. A majority of the candidates on the list are Muslims. “Mamata Banerjee is ensuring (West Bengal) transforms into Pakistan,” he wrote. बंगाल में हुई पुलिस भर्ती की इस मेरिट लिस्ट से पता चलता है कि पश्चिम बंगाल में हिन्दू क्यों पलायन कर रहे है। ममता बानो #KhelaHobe से लेकर पाकिस्तान बनोबे तक का सफर तय कर रही हैं। pic.twitter.com/Jav1Yy2q9P — Vaibhav Pawar (@vaibhavpawarmp) June 19, 2021 One Subuhi Khan who describes herself as ‘Sanatani Muslim’ tweeted the same list, gathering replies such as “this is Bangladesh police recruitment”. Merit list of 50 candidates selected for the post of sub-inspector by West Bengal Police Recruitment Board. pic.twitter.com/Z73CiJM44Q — Subuhi Khan (@SubuhiKhan01) June 18, 2021 Another user Atul Ahuja, followed by BJP leaders Piyush Goyal, Kapil Mishra and Tajinder Bagga, sarcastically wrote, “There is discrimination against Muslims in India ~ The Wire, BBC, NDTV, The Wall Street Journal.” भारत में मुसलमानों के साथ भेदभाव होता है ~ The wire, NDTV, BBC ,The wall street Journal etc… pic.twitter.com/9d5pN5EWLu — Atul Ahuja (@atulahuja_) June 19, 2021 A plethora of other users – Kalpana Srivastav, Sameet Thakkar and Minty Sharma – alluded that a majority of candidates recruited as sub-inspectors in West Bengal police hail from the Muslim community. The list is also widespread on Facebook. The list widespread on social media is the list of candidates provisionally selected against OBC (Other Backward Classe)-A vacancies. The website of the West Bengal Police Recruitment Board (WBPRB) has two lists for each vacancy (10 lists in total). One of the lists with a majority of Muslim names has been cherry-picked to falsely portray that WBPRB has only selected Muslim candidates. The lists of provincially selected candidates against SC reservation has 147 names (1 and 2) and the lists against ST reservation has 40 names (1 and 2). It is noteworthy that Muslims are not eligible for SC and ST reservations. Furthermore, there are 366 provincially selected candidates against the UR (Unreserved) category (1 and 2) and a majority of them are Hindus. ‘OBC-A vacancies’ is visible upon a careful look at the list shared on social media. This list is available on the website of WBPRB and indeed has 50 names, most of which are Muslims. The second list of 18 candidates provisionally selected against OBC-A vacancies also shows that most candidates are Muslims. OBCs are classified into two categories in West Bengal. “Those who are socially and economically better off are in the OBC-B category and the rest are in the OBC-A category,” former West Bengal Commission for Other Backward Classes chairperson Ashim Banerjee had explained. “Category A is called ‘More Backward’ and enjoys 10 per cent reservation, while Category B is called ‘Backward’ and enjoys 7 per cent reservation — thus increasing the total OBC reservation in the state to 17 per cent,” according to The Quint. WBPRB announced separate lists (1 and 2) of candidates provincially selected against OBC-B vacancies where a majority of the names are Hindus. The West Bengal government recognises 170 OBC communities, out of which 112 are Muslim. The OBC quota in the state has been expanded by successive Left and TMC governments. According to The Quint, 97 per cent of Muslims in West Bengal fall under the OBC quota. This has led the BJP to claim for some years now that Muslims have disproportionately gained from OBC reservations. The party also attacked the TMC government ahead of the assembly elections this year for Muslim “appeasement”. However, Muslims do not make the cut to avail reservation in the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) categories. Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 states, “Notwithstanding anything contained in paragraph 2, no person who professes a religion different from the Hindu [the Sikh or the Buddhist] religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.” Last year, former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde had “called the social exclusion of Christians and Muslims from the SC and ST backgrounds a pertinent issue that requires the Supreme Court’s consideration.” He made the observation after the National Council of Dalit Christians’ (NCDC) petitioned that religion should not be a consideration for the SC/ST status. To come back to the misinformation widespread on social media, a false narrative was manufactured by sharing the OBC-A list to claim only Muslims were selected by WBPRB. But there are nine other lists that show that a majority of selected candidates hail from the Hindu community. 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	21st June 2021 / 3:02 pm / Last updated: 21st June 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-are-majority-of-candidates-selected-in-wb-police-si-post-muslims/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
878	False claim that only temples have to pay taxes viral - Alt News Kinjal 2nd October 2021 / 10:54 am On September 26, YouTuber Elvish Yadav tweeted that only Hindu temples have to pay taxes. His post received more than 8,600 retweets as of this writing. (Archive link) In a country where everyone enjoys religious freedom, why only Hindu temples have to pay taxes? #FreeTemples — Elvish Yadav (@ElvishYadav) September 26, 2021 Another YouTuber Gaurav Taneja quote-tweeted Yadav’s post and wrote, “If they [BJP] cannot do it with 282 (2014) and 303 (2019), I doubt if even 543 would be enough.” The claim is widespread on Twitter. It is also being shared widely on Facebook. Alt News had already fact-checked this claim back in 2017 when Subramanian Swamy claimed that mosques and churches were exempt from GST. The claim is false. The Finance Ministry had also tweeted on July 3, 2017, that the claim was false. It stated that GST was not implemented on the basis of religion. There are some messages going around in social media stating that temple trusts have to pay the GST while the churches & mosques are exempt. — Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) July 3, 2017 This is completely untrue because no distinction is made in the GST Law on any provision based on religion. — Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) July 3, 2017 We request to people at large not to start circulating such wrong messages on social media. — Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) July 3, 2017 Apart from this, Alt News had contacted a few Muslim trusts. They had informed us that they were following the new tax laws implemented in the country and also had GST certificates to show for it. Usman H Qureshi, a member of the Qureshi Committee from Mirzapur, Ahmedabad, told us that he had received a GST registration number and was set to pay taxes as per the new laws. He shared a picture of his GST certificate with Alt News. We also spoke to Rizwan Qadri, president of the Ahmedabad Sunni Muslim Waqf Committee (Trust). He explained that the trust owned some properties in the city, from which they received Rs. 3,00,000 as rent. Since the GST regulations contain an exemption for earnings up to Rs. 20,00,000, it was necessary for them to register their annual income. He also confirmed that he had been paying tax on the earnings of the trust even before the introduction of GST. Explaining GST Any organization with an annual earning of more than Rs. 40 lakh (more than Rs. 20 lakh in special circumstances) must obtain GST registration. Only an entity registered under Section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 can avail of the tax exemption. The government had earlier issued a list of services the trust must provide in order to be eligible to receive a GST certificate. These services include organizing religious ceremonies, renting out the religious premises, etc. It is noteworthy that this does not include renting out the halls, open spaces, or rooms of the religious premises (with a rent of more than Rs. 1000) or any shop/place within the premises. Services provided outside this list would be covered under GST and the trust would have to pay the stipulated tax on them. In the GST provisions regarding religious and charitable trusts, it has been clearly mentioned that religious activities from all faiths would be exempted, provided these services were part of the aforementioned list issued by the government. The claim that only temples, and no churches or mosques, have to pay tax has been circulating online since 2017. It is completely 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 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	2nd October 2021 / 10:54 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-are-only-hindu-temples-paying-taxes-false-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
879	Fact-check: Are those worn-out feet of an Indian soldier on active duty? - Alt News Niddhi Rathi 6th July 2019 / 6:55 pm “അതിർത്തി കാക്കുന്ന ഒരു പട്ടാളക്കാരന്റെ കാലുകൾ ….സല്യൂട്ട് മൈ ഇന്ത്യൻ soldiers (Translation: the legs of a soldier guarding the border… salute my Indian soldiers.)” The above message is being shared on social media with an image that shows wrinkled feet of a man dressed in military uniform. The picture shows a condition known as Trench foot which is caused by long immersion of feet in cold water or mud. This picture has been shared by several users on Facebook with the same claim. This photograph has been circulating on social media since 2018. One Vishnu Prakash’s post on Facebook, with the same claim, has been shared more than 12,000 times. We have also received requests to verify the image on the Alt News app. Often, the quality of an image deteriorates as it traverses the world of social media from one platform to another. The strategy to fact-check blurry images or videos is to find a clearer version of the same, one with a higher resolution. A reverse image search on Yandex led Alt News to a better quality image posted by a Reddit user. This was one of the earliest instances of the image uploaded on the internet that Alt News could find. 😬 from USMC In this image, the tag ‘US Marine’ embroidered above the left breast pocket is clearly visible. Alt News compared the viral image with several other images available on the official website of the United States Marine Corps for further corroboration and found that the uniform is identical to that of the US Marines. Thus we were able to conclude that the person in the image is wearing the uniform of a US Marine and is not an Indian army soldier. Similar misinformation has been circulated in the past. BJP MP Kirron Kher had posted an image of Russian army soldiers as Indian army men. Earlier this year, a still from a winter surfing video from Michigan, USA was viral as an Indian army soldier on duty in extremely cold weather. 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 July 2019 / 6:55 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-are-those-worn-out-feet-of-an-indian-soldier-on-active-duty/", "author": "Niddhi Rathi" }
880	Fact-check: Did Arvind Kejriwal publish an ad asking Delhiites to donate coal? - Alt News Kinjal 14th October 2021 / 6:12 pm / Last updated: 14th October 2021 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently expressed concern over the shortage of coal in the country and the impending power crisis. He also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi on the matter. Against this backdrop, a picture of an ad featuring the AAP minister in the Hindi daily Hindustan is viral on social media. It contains a full-page advertisement with Kejriwal’s photo underneath and a headline that reads, “Help the Delhi government by donating coal to overcome the power shortage”. The line below states, “Your donation of one bucket of coal can help bring power back to all of Delhi.” Twitter user Devendra Tripathi tweeted this clip with the hashtag ‘#kejri_k_haseen_sapne’ (Kejriwal’s lofty dreams). (Archive link) Shocking if not true🤣 pic.twitter.com/iu9YhE7PKt — Naweed (@Spoof_Junkey) October 11, 2021 Another Twitter user amplified the image. A Facebook user shared the image mocking the Delhi Chief Minister. The image is widespread on Twitter and Facebook. Upon a closer look at the viral clipping, we noticed a few details which led us to believe it is manufactured. For example, the word ‘satire’ is printed on the bottom right corner. The clipping is dated July 9, 2021 and is purportedly from Hindustan’s Bihar edition. Alt News examined the e-paper and discovered that the actual line in the advertisement reads – “The Delhi government stands with families who lost loved ones to COVID-19”. The ad states that families who lost their chief earning member due to COVID-19 would receive financial assistance of Rs 2,500 per month from the Delhi government. Apart from that, families who lost any member to the illness would be given a lump sum of Rs 50,000 as compensation. The ad was, therefore, manufactured for satire but believed to be true by many. 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	14th October 2021 / 6:12 pm / Last updated: 14th October 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-arvind-kejriwal-coal-donate-ad-fake-poster-hindustan/", "author": "Kinjal" }
881	Man arrested for robbery in Gujarat, video falsely viral as Delhi riots accused arrested - Alt News Kinjal 2nd July 2021 / 6:32 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2021 A video of policemen in civilian clothes arresting four men eating at a roadside Dhaba has been making the rounds on social media. It has been claimed that Bharuch Crime Branch arrested ‘Siraj Mohammad Anwar’, an accused in last year’s Delhi riots. Twitter user @SortedEagle shared the clip, drawing over 1.2 lakh views as of this writing. The tweet was later taken down but an archived can be accessed here. @SortedEagle’s tweet was quote-tweeted by @KreatelyOSINT and OpIndia CEO Rahul Roushan. The latter has deleted his tweet. … लाइव फुटेज दिल्ली दंगे में आरोपी सिराज मोहम्मद अनवर को क्राइम ब्रांच ने गुजरात से दबोचा Posted by Politics Solitics on Thursday, July 1, 2021 Several others have promoted the identical claim. Live Operation of Bharuch Crime Branch arresting Mobsters from Delhi, whose name is Siraj Mohd Anwar n involved in Delhi riots. Upon tips, Bharuch Crime Branch nabbed him and his Associates… Rare to see such footages…!!!*👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/dyi9xNg5jZ — శ్రీ சோழ (@srinath_adv) July 1, 2021 The footage is also circulating on Facebook with Tamil and Hindi captions. Pro-BJP propaganda pages Politics Solitics and Mission Modi, and SSB Crack garnered thousands of views for the CCTV footage. Alt News performed a keyword search which led us to a Times of India report dated July 1, 2021. According to the report, Ahmedabad police crime branch officers, posing as customers, managed to arrest a group of criminals at a roadside eatery. The accused is identified as wanted man Kishore Luhar who has 14 cases of robbery and rape registered against him. The report informs that he was nabbed from a Dhaba in Amarpura village of Saraswati taluka in Gujarat’s Patan district. Police also recovered a gun from Kishoer. The three individuals dining with him were also arrested. The Indian Express also covered the incident in a video report. So did News24. Undercover police officers from the #Ahmedabad crime branch arrested a man carrying a weapon in a Dhaba. He was also wanted in several criminal cases. pic.twitter.com/WuW7AcNedb — The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) July 1, 2021 Alt News reached out to the Ahmedabad Crime Branch and was informed, “On June 27, an accused named Kishore Kantilal Luhar, 29, was arrested on charges of rape and vehicle theft from a Dhaba on Patan Highway. He has many criminal cases registered against him in three different states. The police also found a gun in his possession and arrested the three others sitting with him, but they were released after interrogation. The individual has since been handed over to Baroda police for further investigation.” A journalist with The Indian Express sent us a press release issued by the crime branch. The press release in Gujarati states, “An investigation was initiated on receipt of evidence of offences of theft and illegal arms in respect to accused Kishore Luhar, resident of District Banaskantha, Gujarat. The police initiated further action upon receiving concrete information that Kishore was in a hotel in Patan. As soon as the individual was found, he was brought to the Ahmedabad Crime Branch office for questioning. During the interrogation, Kishore also told police about three vehicles he had stolen with accomplice Naresh Garg.” Kishore has been accused of stealing vehicles and robbing locked homes. Apart from this, he was also accused of rape in 2013. The press release has no mention of Delhi riots. Ahmedabad police denied that Kishore was arrested for involvement in the Delhi riots when questioned by Alt News. He was arrested on charges of theft, robbery and rape. The claim circulating on social media names one Mohammad Siraj Anwar. A press release dated June 29 was tweeted by Bharuch police stating that they “conducted an investigation regarding illegal weapons and caught a man travelling in the city with illegal weapons. The individual has been identified as Mohammad Siraj Anwar alias Manzoor Alam Ansari, a resident of Bharuch city. However, he is from Delhi and Patna, Bihar. The police recovered two country-made pistols, two magazines, three mobile phones, 19 7.65 mm cartridges along with Rs 3,310 cash from Anwar. He had travelled from Bihar to sell weapons in Bharuch city. Apart from this, he has moved around and lived in several Indian states and also in Malaysia.” The press release states that the investigation in the matter is underway but has no mention of the Delhi riots. ભરૂચ તાલુકાના દેરોલ ચોકડી પરથી ગેરકાયદેસર અગ્નિશસ્ત્રો( પિસ્તોલ ) નંગ -૦૨ તથા મેગજીન નંગ -૦૨ અને કાર્ટીઝ નંગ -૧૯ સાથે એક ઇસમને ઝડપી પાડતી ભરૂચ ક્રાઇમ બ્રાન્ચ.#DGPgujarat#Gujaratpolice#Bharuchpolice pic.twitter.com/4F8bF0vP1d — Bharuch Police (@BharuchPolice) June 29, 2021 Therefore, neither of the two cases are linked to the Delhi riots. The video shows Gujarat police arresting a man accused of theft and alleged rape, while Mohammad Siraj Anwar was nabbed by Bharuch police for possession of illegal weapons. 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	2nd July 2021 / 6:32 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-bharuch-crime-branch-didnt-arrest-accused-of-delhi-riots-cctv-footage-viral-with-false-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
882	Fake bill portrays Mumbai petrol pump bill asking people to not vote for PM Modi again - Alt News Kinjal 29th June 2021 / 3:48 pm An image of a bill from a petrol pump has been gathering quite a lot of traction on social media. Printed on the bottom of a bill is a message that reads, “If you want to reduce petrol price don’t vote Modi again. Thank you visit again!” The name of the pump printed on the alleged bill is ‘Sai Balaji Petroleum HPL Dealer Vikhroli (West) Mumbai’. Users have been sharing the image while targeting the Maharashtra government. Twitter user Archana Shah tweeted the image and wrote, “Look at this. What an amazing statement. Shame on you, Maharashtra government.” (Archive link) देखिए…..क्या गजब लिखा है #शर्म करो महाराष्ट्र सरकार#शर्मकरो pic.twitter.com/sYnp7PNc0F — अर्चना साह (@archanasah) June 20, 2021 The image is widespread on Facebook. The photo is also being shared on WhatsApp with the accompanying claim. Alt News received a few requests to verify it on its mobile app. In fact, it has actually been doing the rounds online since 2018. Posted by Save The Constitution on Thursday, October 11, 2018 There is no pump in Mumbai named ‘Sai Balaji Petroleum HPL Dealer Vikhroli (West) Mumbai’. There is also no oil company or a fuel retailer called ‘HPL’. There is however Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited but its short form is HPCL. A closer look at the bill reveals a discrepancy in the font sizes of the words and numbers. These errors have been underlined in the image below. The date printed on the bill is October 4, 2018, when the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was in power in Maharashtra and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was the chief minister. Several other fact-checking outlets including Boomlive, The Logical Indian, and SM Hoax Slayer have debunked the fake bill in the past. These reports carried a sample bill from a petrol pump similar to the viral bill. The URL linked to the sample bill is currently unavailable. But the similarities between both – the name of the pump, its address, the car’s license plate number, and the name of the customer – have been highlighted below. To sum it up, an image of an old sample petrol pump bill was edited and circulated on social media. The accompanying false claim said that the Maharashtra government is appealing to people to not vote for PM Modi in the next elections. 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	29th June 2021 / 3:48 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-bill-of-petrol-written-dont-vote-for-modi-at-mumbai-petrol-pump-is-fake/", "author": "Kinjal" }
883	Clipped video of Rahul Gandhi's press conference amplified by BJP leaders - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 10th August 2022 / 2:43 pm / Last updated: 10th August 2022 A four-second video clip of Rahul Gandhi is viral on social media. Here, he can be heard saying, “We are fighting against India’s entire infrastructure.” BJP leaders, workers, and social media users are circulating this video, calling the remark dangerous and anti-national. BJP IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya tweeted this short clip of Rahul Gandhi and wrote, “If Rahul Gandhi’s prater were not puerile, they would be deeply dangerous.” (Archived link) If Rahul Gandhi’s prater weren’t puerile, they would be deeply dangerous… pic.twitter.com/QISIDV3xTn — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 5, 2022 BJP worker Priti Gandhi also amplified this clip and added that Rahul Gandhi is fighting against the entire infrastructure of India. (Archived link) राहुल गांधी हिंदुस्तान के पूरे इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर के खिलाफ लड़ रहे हैं! ऐसा मैं नहीं, वे स्वयं कह रहे हैं!! pic.twitter.com/svbsWmsHpP — Priti Gandhi – प्रीति गांधी (@MrsGandhi) August 5, 2022 BJP Delhi treasurer Visshnu Mittal also made a similar claim while tweeting the video. (Archived link) स्वाभाविक है राहुल गांधी कि आपको देश का विकास नहीं सुहाता। चीन से एमओयू साइन करने वाले को भला भारत का इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर क्यों अच्छा लगेगा। आप लड़िए देश के इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर के खिलाफ, देश आपको इस लायक छोड़ेगा ही नहीं कि आपके कुछ करने से कुछ फर्क पड़ सके। pic.twitter.com/jtBGrqBBZ4 — Visshnu Mittal (@visshnumittal) August 5, 2022 Similarly, many social media handles including BJP Maharashtra, Maldhari Sena Gujarat president Dinesh Desai, and author Ravi Ranjan tweeted this video with the same claim. Alt News closely examined Rahul Gandhi’s YouTube channel to gather more information on this video. The full video of this press conference was uploaded on Rahul Gandhi’s YouTube channel on August 4. We listened to the press conference in its entirety. Responding to a question asked at the 11:30 minute mark, Rahul says, “The opposition that fights in democracy fights on the strength of the institution. This means that the opposition derives its power from the country’s legal structure, judicial structure, electoral structure, and the media. All these institutions are giving full support to the government. Why? Because the government has installed its own workers inside these institutions. Today, not a single institution in India is independent. Today, every institution in India is under RSS control. Every institution has at least one RSS member sitting inside these institutions. So, we are not fighting a single political party, . When Congress was in power, the infrastructure was neutral, we did not control the infrastructure. Two or three political parties would compete against each other. Today, the infrastructure belongs to the government, it belongs entirely to one party. The country’s financial infrastructure belongs to them. If anyone wants to support another political party, they are threatened and intimidated by bodies like the ED and CBI. Then there is the financial monopoly held by the BJP and the institutional monopoly of the RSS. That’s why the opposition is effectively and aggressively coming forward, but the impact that this should have had is not visible.” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvvwGpUp-zc] Evidently, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya and various other BJP supporters took a small clip from Rahul Gandhi’s press briefing and shared it out of context. This is not the first time that the BJP IT cell in-charge has been found spreading misleading information. In the past, Alt News has debunked many instances of Amit Malviya sharing false information. 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). 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	10th August 2022 / 2:43 pm / Last updated: 10th August 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-bjp-leaders-share-clipped-video-of-rahul-gandhi-fight-against-infrastructure/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
884	BJP MP Nishikant Dubey made false claim about farmers' suicide in Lok Sabha - Alt News Kinjal 4th August 2022 / 12:51 pm / Last updated: 4th August 2022 On August 1, 2022, Dr Nishikant Dubey, BJP MP from Jharkhand’s Godda made a statement in Parliament. He alleged that in the last eight years, the opposition did not discuss farmers’ suicide because farmers were not dying by suicide. Dubey stated in Hindi, “Did the opposition ever have a single discussion about farmers’ suicides in the last eight years? If they didn’t,. We (BJP) have given so much power to farmers that today the farmers’ are agitating. And what is the condition of the farmer? Modi’s government was in power for the whole year and the same amount of funds was provided to the farmers. And that’s how we strengthened farmers enough to continue agitating for over a year, .” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqitVkQY2kE?start=241] Alt News performed a Google search to investigate the statement made by MP Nishikant Dubey in the Lok Sabha. In October 2021, NDTV India published a report about farmers’ suicide in 2020. Quoting a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, the article states that a total of 1,53,052 cases of suicide were reported in 2020. Out of these, a total of 10,677 cases of suicide were reported in the agriculture sector. Of which 5,579 suicides were of farmers and 5,098 suicides were of agricultural labourers. It is worth noting that these figures represent just 2020 alone. In his statement, Dubey referred to the eight years under the rule of Narendra Modi, i.e. from 2014 to 2021. We examined the data from 2014 to 2020. (The data for 2021 is not yet available on the NCRB website.) A total of 1,31,666 people died by suicide in 2014. As per the data, farmers died by suicide in 2014. There is not much of a difference between these and the 2015 figures. That year, farmers took their own lives, out of a total of 1,33,623 deaths. The following year, a total of 1,31,008 people died by suicide. Of them, 8.7 per cent were involved in the agriculture sector. The report states that in 2016, 11,379 people engaged in agriculture died by suicide, out of which were farmers and 5,109 were agricultural labourers. According to NCRB data, a total of 1,29,887 cases of suicide were registered in 2017. Of these, 8.2% were from the agriculture sector. 10,655 people employed in the agriculture sector had died by suicide, of which were farmers and 4,700 were agricultural labourers. Similarly, in 2018, out of a total of 1,34,516 suicide cases, 10,349 were related to the agriculture sector. This figure accounts for 7.7% of the total suicide cases. In other words, in 2018, farmers and 4,586 agricultural labourers died by suicide. At the same time, in 2019, 10,281 people working in the agricultural sector died by suicide, which accounts for 7.4% of the total figures. Of these, were farmers and 4,324 were agricultural labourers. An Aaj Tak report dated July 28, 2021, contains data on farmers’ suicide in each state of India from 2017 to 2019. According to this data, Maharashtra and Karnataka reported the highest number of farmers’ suicides in the country. In Maharashtra, 2,426 farmers died by suicide in 2017, 2,239 in 2018 and 2,680 in 2019. On the other hand, in Karnataka, these figures are 1,157, 1,365 and 1,331 respectively. The same data can be found on data.gov.in on farmers’ suicides in different Indian states in 2018 and 2019. To sum it up, according to NCRB data, between 2014 and 2020, 78,303 people involved in the agricultural sector died by suicide, of which 43,181 were farmers. These figures clearly refute the claim made by Lok Sabha MP Nishikant Dubey. Therefore, the BJP MP falsely stated that no farmers’ suicide occurred in India without citing any evidence in the Lok Sabha. 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	4th August 2022 / 12:51 pm / Last updated: 4th August 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-bjp-mp-nishikant-dubey-said-no-farmers-suicide-in-8-years/", "author": "Kinjal" }
885	Fact-Check: Burqa-clad woman on DTC bus in viral clip is not a child kidnapper - Alt News Kalim Ahmed & Vipul Kumar 21st September 2022 / 3:15 pm / Last updated: 22nd September 2022 On September 19, Alt News received a series of videos on our WhatsApp tip line (+91 7600011160) clubbed together as an incident of child kidnapping in Delhi. The tipper, who was most likely aware of our work on child-kidnapping-related rumours, shared these videos with the accompanying message that these rumours were again gaining momentum. Clip 1: Woman in burkha allegedly kidnaps a child and escapes in an auto In the first clip, we can see a woman in a burka approach a child begging. As the child hands over something, she manages to drug him and then the child loses consciousness. Immediately after this, a man arrives in an auto-rickshaw at the scene and they put the child in the vehicle and make off. This clip has been viral on Indian social media since July 2022 and has been debunked by Alt News on multiple occasions. It is a staged video from Egypt created by a group of men who had planned to earn money through social media views. The full fact-check can be read here. Clip 2: A woman travelling in a bus with a child is confronted by police and bystanders In this clip, we see a woman seated on a bus, who is confronted by a police officer carrying a baby. The officer says that he will shoot her if he finds out that the child does not belong to her. He asks her twice about whose child she stole, to which she replies that she does not know and they can take the child away. She also suggests that they should go to the hospital and get a DNA test done. Clip 3: Continuation of the confrontation In the third clip, we find the camera person saying that the woman was allegedly caught stealing a child near Bawana nehar (canal). They also show the face of the child that has been allegedly kidnapped. The above clip of the woman allegedly caught stealing a child is viral on both Twitter and Facebook. User @TheRitamApp tweeted that in Delhi’s Bawana, a burqa-clad woman was discovered to be a child kidnapper. DTC bus staff caught a woman in a burqa with a stolen child. दिल्ली के बवाना में बुर्काधारी महिला निकली बच्चा चोर DTC बस स्टाफ ने पकड़ी बुर्काधारी महिला, चोरी किए हुए बच्चे के साथ दबोची pic.twitter.com/ySTKPvVPIG — TheRitamApp \| द ऋतम् एप (@TheRitamApp) September 15, 2022 The same clip is viral on Facebook as well with over 29k views. Alt News started with verification of the location. Using all the clues from the clip we found the video to be from Main Bus Stand, Bawana Stop, Bawana Village, Bawana, Delhi. A street view of the location is also available on Google Maps, readers can access the visuals by clicking on this link. Freelance journalist Vipul Kumar visited the location and spoke with some of the locals who were there or were aware of the viral clip. To preserve the identity of the witnesses, Alt News will refer to the witnesses only by their profession and not by their names. Shop owner We first spoke with a shop owner who told us that the woman could not be a child kidnapper. The shop owner was not there when the viral clip was shot but he had seen her earlier that day when she was sitting in front of his shop and breastfeeding the baby and changing its diaper. When the clip went viral, his first intuition was how could she be a child kidnapper if she was nurturing the child so delicately? The shop owner also had CCTV footage of the woman but it got deleted as the feed gets wiped off every six days. The incident happened on September 14. Vendor #1 “I am not aware of what transpired that day but I had seen the policemen take her somewhere. She was on the bus and the DTC staff called the police because she appeared suspicious,” said the vendor. Vendor #2 “Those claims are fake. I was there that day when the incident occurred, she was seated on the bus and she had held the baby in a way that appeared suspicious to the DTC staff. They immediately called the police because of her appearance.” He further added, “She was mentally unstable, she was saying that you can take the child away and her face was also half burnt. The police took her with them and what I have heard from others is that she was later released after her family members came to the station with proof of her identity.” None of the eyewitnesses agreed to speak on camera due to the nature of the incident. SHO Rakesh Yadav of Bawana Police Station told Alt News that the news of the woman being a child kidnapper is “fake”. Vipul Kumar also paid a visit to the police station where the same information was confirmed by a different officer. Alt News could not independently verify the identity of the woman, or if any disciplinary action was taken against the officer who had threatened to shoot the alleged suspect. Based on the words of the locals and the police, it is safe to conclude that a woman who is most likely mentally unstable was assumed to be a child kidnapper, and the viral clips do not narrate the full story. 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	21st September 2022 / 3:15 pm / Last updated: 22nd September 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-burqa-clad-woman-on-dtc-bus-in-viral-clip-is-not-a-child-kidnapper/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed & Vipul Kumar" }
886	Fact-check: Can you pick up a 40 tonne truck with 2,000 drones? - Alt News Archit 19th November 2019 / 2:48 pm World of Engineering, a Twitter account which shares content related to science, technology and engineering, tweeted a six-second video which shows drones lifting a truck on November 17. The video was tweeted with the caption ‘Can you pick up a 40-tonne truck with 2,000 drones? Credit to @ScaniaGroup.‘ It has received over 15,000 re-tweets and over 69,000 likes. Can you pick up a 40-ton truck with 2,000 drones? Credit to @ScaniaGroup pic.twitter.com/q2oMBJyStZ — World of Engineering (@engineers_feed) November 17, 2019 Since then many people have uploaded or shared the same video on social media. Leaving many puzzled about the capabilities of present-day drone technology. Several people, including Giuliano Liguori, founder of GLWEB, an Italy-based Italy-based engineering company, were quick to point out that the video in question is made using CGI (computer-generated imagery). The video is a cool #CGI advert made by @ScaniaGroup. Do you think it’s possible for #drones to lift a #truck? Via @ingliguori#innovation #drone #challenge #future@enricomolinari @FrRonconi @Paula_Piccard @Julez_Norton @NevilleGaunt @Lago72 @alvinfoo @AghiathChbib @techpearce2 pic.twitter.com/yduGTBCbaG — Giuliano Liguori (@ingliguori) October 11, 2019 Scania, a Sweden-based commercial vehicles manufacturer, has uploaded multiple videos which involve drones lifting trucks. One of them is uploaded on YouTube as ‘Scania truck lifted by drones’ where the use of CGI is obvious. As per PRNewswire, they signed an agreement with Bublar Group’s subsidiary Vobling for services related to CGI, augmented reality and virtual reality on September 27. But the video in question seems is produced in a way so that it looks like it is shot on a smartphone which adds to the confusion. However, the fact that Scania staff appear to be standing just a few feet away from an 18,000-kilogram truck hanging in the air does raise suspicion because of the lack of safety standards for the employees. In an attempt to authenticate the video in question, Alt News searched the phrase ‘Can you pick up a 40-tonne truck with 2,000 drones?’ on Facebook and found that the video in question was shared by the verified account of Scania Group on September 25. Flying with drones Can you pick up a 40 tonne truck with 2,000 drones? Learn more: http://bit.ly/2lC0LnH Posted by Scania Group on Wednesday, 25 September 2019 Interestingly, the same video was uploaded a month earlier than Scania Group’s post on a YouTube by an account named Trucks & Funs. https://youtu.be/1udReOsk5dM The Facebook post by Scania Group also used the same phrase ‘Can you pick up a 40-tonne truck with 2,000 drones?’ but if you click the ‘See more’ button one can see the following text ‘Learn more: http://bit.ly/2lC0LnH’ The link takes you to a webpage called Future Room, a platform where futuristic ideas and concepts are discussed on Scania’s global website. At the bottom of the page, there is a video ‘Scania truck lifted by drones’ followed by other videos which capture ‘discussions and engaging stories that imagine a better future through innovation.’ Therefore it is clear that ideas shown in the videos on this section of the website are futuristic and do not represent currently available technology. However, the video in question is being shared on social media without the link by Scania which has resulted in many people believing that the video is real. A 40-ton truck picked up with 2,000 drones😳 Credit to @ScaniaGroup Posted by राजनीतिक Engineer on Sunday, 17 November 2019 The ten-second or six-second video made by Scania that shows a truck being lifted by multiple drones is a CGI video and is being shared without context. There have been several instances in past when a CGI video was considered to be real. In February, Alt News reported CGI video by Russian inventor viral as Israeli drones supplied to India and digitally-created video viral as ‘robot’ used by US to take down IS chief Baghdadi. 🙏 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 November 2019 / 2:48 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-can-you-pick-up-a-40-tonne-truck-with-2000-drones/", "author": "Archit" }
887	Fact-check: Child kidnapping video viral on WhatsApp is scripted - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 8th September 2022 / 5:32 pm / Last updated: 9th September 2022 A 30-second video showing three men haggling over money and apparently unconscious children lying around them is viral with the claim that the clip is yet another incident of child-kidnapping. The person recording the incident can be heard pointing out that the men are kidnapping children. Alt News has received multiple requests on its WhatsApp helpline (76000 11160) to verify the authenticity of the viral video. The video has been shared on Facebook with the claim that it is real. बच्चों को किडनैप करके जंगल में गेरा बच्चे किडनैप करके पैसे बाटते हुए 4 मुजरिम देखिये कैसे बच्चों को बेहोश करके………..ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर कीजिये अपने बच्चों का भी रखे ध्यान Posted by देवा भईया – समाज सेवी on Thursday, 25 August 2022 The video has also been shared on Twitter with the same claim. वीडियो को देखकर आपकी आंखें खुली की खुली रह जाएंगी पैर के नीचे की जमीन खिसक जाएगी कलेजा एक बार दहल जाएगा वीडियो कहां की है यह तो नहीं पता है वीडियो कहीं की भी हो प्रशासन को हरकत में आना चाहिए pic.twitter.com/EzMkXxmKXv — Sunil Yadav (@SunilYa59918245) July 6, 2022 Upon reverse image searching key-frames of the video, Alt News found a longer version of the video on Facebook, shared by user Gafoor Ibrahim on June 30, 2022. His post was shared almost 10,000 times. The viral clip can be seen from 2:03 in this video. School കുട്ടികളെ തട്ടി കൊണ്ട് പോയി അവയങ്ങൾ എടുത്ത് വിലപ്പന നടത്തുന്ന സംഘം Posted by Gafoor Ibrahim on Thursday, 30 June 2022 Upon closer inspection, it can be seen that at the 0:30-mark in this video, a text-box appears at the bottom of the video, which reads, “Please read the video disclaimer carefully. This is not a real incident”. However, the Hindi part of the disclaimer reads, “यह वीडियो बहुत ही रिस्क लेकर बनाया गया है, ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर करे” (Translation: The making of the video was very risky, please share as much as possible). It does not mention that the video is scripted. Hence, only English readers can understand that the video is a work of fiction. Those who read only the Hindi disclaimer can easily be misled. Again, at 1:27, the disclaimer at the bottom of the video reads, “This video is a complete fiction, all events in the video are scripted and made for awareness purpose”. Additionally, it states that the video has “nothing to do with any real incident” and that all the “characters/persons shown in the video are playing their roles”. There are also certain observations that can be made after a thorough inspection of the video. These are not uncommon in other scripted videos. Moreover, the reader might notice that the text of the disclaimer reads, “The video is a complete fiction….” which is grammatically incorrect. We looked up this text on Google and found that similar disclaimers starting with this exact phrase have been used in several other scripted videos as well. For instance, a similar video of child kidnapping was believed to be true in the past. It was subsequently debunked. This video also contains a disclaimer which starts with “The video is a complete fiction….”. The disclaimer is quite similar to the one seen in the viral video. Hence it is clear that a staged video was shared on social media with the claim that it is real. Apart from having a disclaimer declaring that the events in the video are fictitious, there are several other elements in the clip that can commonly be seen in scripted videos. Alt News has, in the past, debunked several such staged videos and child kidnapping claims on social media. Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation. 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	8th September 2022 / 5:32 pm / Last updated: 9th September 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-child-kidnapping-video-viral-on-whatsapp-is-scripted/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
888	Fact-check: Christians praying to Hindu deity for peacefully building church? - Alt News Aritraa Dey 4th August 2022 / 4:05 pm / Last updated: 5th August 2022 A photo of a woman in a catholic nun outfit offering prayers to a photograph of the Hindu deity Ganesha is viral on social media. It appears to be a religious gathering with the presence of a few children in school uniforms on the left side and some men in relaxed formals on the right. On the top of the image, a text written in Tamil can be seen which reads, “To not have any obstacles while building the church, they are doing a Ganapati pooja.“ [Original text in Tamil: “சர்ச் கட்ட தடங்கல் வராமல் ‘ இருக்க கணபதி பூஜயாம்..”] The same photograph has multiple shares on Twitter. சர்ச் கட்ட தடங்கல் வராமல் இருக்க கணபதி பூஜை பண்றாங்க… அப்ப இயேசுவுக்கு சக்தி இல்லை போல. காப்பார்,இரட்சிப்பார்,கூடவே இருப்பார்னு சொன்னுதுலாம் பொய் போல… pic.twitter.com/uK8sdUgdLd — டகால்டி (@Da_galti_3) February 7, 2022 It is widely viral on Facebook with the very same claim. Alt News has received multiple requests on our WhatsApp helpline (76000 11160) to verify the authenticity of this claim. On performing a reverse image search on Google, we found out that the photos were picked from a report by a website named Omlanka. Neither the webpage nor the website is accessible. However, an archive of the website is available on the Wayback Machine which helps us to see what the websites looked like at various points of time in the past. We retrieved the article from Omlanka through this service and took a screenshot of the article dated January 20, 2016. It states that the event was chaired by Zonal Director of Education Sahadul Najeem and Srila Siri Nirmaleswara Kurukal conducted the poojas. We also found the same viral image along with several others from what appeared to be snapshots of this event. The article stated that this was a custom native to the Sammanthurai district in Sri Lanka during the celebration of the Thai Pongal festival. In this particular region, the Buddhist, Christian and Muslim religious leaders come together to celebrate the auspicious festival. On performing a keyword search, we found photos of the director of education in Sammanthurai, Sahadul Najeem in an article from 2015 by The Marasu. The article is written in Tamil. The first paragraph of the article when translated states that “On the occasion of International Children’s Day, District Level Children’s Day events organized by Sammanthurai Zonal Education Office were held today at Savalkadai Weerattidal Al-Hidaya Maha Vidyalaya.” Below we have added a collage of the photos available in the 2015 article by The Marasu and the 2016 article by Omlanka. Both the events were chaired by the Zonal Education minister of Sammanthurai, Sahadul Najeem. This further confirms that the viral photograph is from Sammanthurai, Sri Lanka. Alt News reached out to Sri Lankan journalist Dilrukshi Handunetti via email to ask if there was a possibility of such an event taking place in parts of Sri Lanka. She told us that the Thai Pongal is celebrated by the Tamil Hindu community in Sri Lanka. “It is possible to have people of other faith including priests share in the celebrations. However, Sri Lanka also has new interfaith movements that promote multi-religious and multi-cultural events. People in the area may also be invited to join in the celebrations,” she stated further. Therefore, based on the information present at hand, it is safe to conclude that the viral photograph is not of Christians offering prayer to the Hindu deity Ganesha to peacefully build a church. It is an interfaith celebration in Sammanthurai, Sri Lanka where it is custom for people of other faiths to participate in the fest. Writes. Fact Checks. Sleeps. 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	4th August 2022 / 4:05 pm / Last updated: 5th August 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-christians-praying-to-hindu-deity-for-peacefully-building-church/", "author": "Aritraa Dey" }
889	Tajinder Bagga shares clipped video of Rahul Gandhi's interaction with students in Assam - Alt News Kinjal 24th March 2021 / 8:25 pm On March 19, BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga tweeted a video of Rahul Gandhi. The Congress leader is seen addressing a crowd and poses the question – “Ask them one thing, do they think unemployment has increased under the BJP rule?” In response, a boy can be heard saying, “It has not increased.” The viral video amassed more than 54,000 views and over 2,000 retweets at the time of writing. (Archive link) 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/3zFEn6CBy6 — Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) March 19, 2021 Twitter user Atul Ahuja shared the clip and wrote, “What an amazing insult.” It racked up more than 22,000 views at the time of writing. (Archive link) Gajab beijjati hai yaar 😭😂 pic.twitter.com/sH7kTeWMJ9 — Atul Ahuja (@atulahuja_) March 19, 2021 Another Twitter handle called @ModiBharosa also posted this video. (Archive link) Gajab Beijjati Hai Yaar 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/S3jVe93dkf — Modi Bharosa (@ModiBharosa) March 19, 2021 It is gathering a lot of traction on Facebook and Twitter. साला गजब बेइज्जती है यार😭😂 Posted by Amar Purohit on Friday, March 19, 2021 Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube and found a March 19 video uploaded by the Indian National Congress. Rahul Gandhi is dressed in the same clothes as in the viral clip. The video is titled, ‘LIVE: Shri Rahul Gandhi interacts with College Students at Lahowal, Dibrugarh, Assam’. In the hour-long video, visuals from the clip in question appear after the 24:16 mark. The conversation between Rahul Gandhi and the audience member in the white shirt is as follows: Rahul Gandhi: “Ask them one thing, do they think unemployment has increased under BJP rule?” Student: “It has not increased.” Rahul Gandhi: “It has increased?” (The rest of the students explain the question to the person in the white shirt.) The student then says something in Assamese which is translated by another student – “He is saying that unemployment has increased.” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OVy1CPAsFc] It is noteworthy that the audience member in the white shirt, who first denied that unemployment has increased, speaks Assamese and is not fluent in Hindi. At 17:23, he talks to Rahul Gandhi in Assamese. The student did not understand Gandhi’s question and changed his answer to ‘unemployment has increased’ when the same was translated for him. Gandhi then asked him another question – “Why has unemployment increased during the BJP’s time” to which the youth again answers in Assamese – “Providing employment to the public is not part of the BJP’s ideology. They think the industry has to do all this. If the youth do not get jobs how will they move forward?” If one carefully listens to their conversation, it is clear that the student is critical of the BJP government. A clipped video of Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with students in Assam was shared by BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. 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	24th March 2021 / 8:25 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-clipped-video-of-rahul-gandhi-in-assam-asking-question-to-a-student-shared-with-false-narative/", "author": "Kinjal" }
890	Ex-I&B minister, other BJP leaders share clipped video of Ashok Gehlot with misleading claim - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 7th November 2022 / 1:50 pm A short clip of chief minister Ashok Gehlot speaking to the media from his car is viral on social media. Responding to a question about various leaders giving statements, he says there should be only one goal since the people of Rajasthan are suffering. Many BJP leaders shared this clip in a way that it seems the Rajasthan chief minister was acknowledging that the public was suffering under his own party’s rule. BJP MP and former Union information and broadcasting minister Rajyavardhan Rathore tweeted a 16-second video. In it, Gehlot says, “There should be only one goal in front of us right now, the people of Rajasthan are suffering”. The two sentences are repeated three times in the clip. Tweeting the video, Rathore wrote, “Mr. chief minister, the people of Rajasthan are suffering. But the Congress is responsible for this, isn’t it? So who is going to take responsibility for this? You, Sachin Pilot or Rahul Gandhi?” (Archived link) मुख्यमंत्री जी, राजस्थान के अंदर जनता तो त्रस्त है ही। लेकिन इसकी जिम्मेदार भी तो कांग्रेस ही है न! तो इसकी जिम्मेदारी कौन लेगा; आप, सचिन पायलट जी या राहुल गांधी? pic.twitter.com/XaWy9v3mB0 — RajyavardhanRathore (@Ra_THORe) November 2, 2022 BJP leader from Rajasthan Laxmikant Bhardwaj tweeted a 26-second video in which Gehlot, quoting Congress general secretary Venugopal, instructs Congress leaders to follow decorum, and not indulge in any rhetoric. He adds that they should only focus on one goal as the people of Rajasthan are suffering. Tweeting this video, Laxmikant Bhardwaj wrote, ‘The chief minister of Rajasthan is saying the people of the state are suffering. Because of whom?” (Archived link) राजस्थान के मुख्यमंत्री जी कह रहे हैं , राजस्थान की जनता त्रस्त है …किससे ? pic.twitter.com/duKyt3mBrU — Laxmikant bhardwaj (@lkantbhardwaj) November 2, 2022 BJP Andhra Pradesh general secretary Vishnu Vardhan Reddy tweeted the 26-second clip and quoted Ashok Gehlot’s statement. (Archived link) Several other users also shared the clip without any additional context. After inspecting the video more closely, Alt News suspected that it had been tampered with. This is because it appears that Ashok Gehlot says something more than what can be heard in the viral clips, but that part has been cropped out. We examined Ashok Gehlot’s official Twitter handle and found the full-length video from which the viral clip was taken, posted on November 2. In the accompanying text, he says that the Prime Minister had not fulfilled his promise regarding the construction of the ERCP (Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project) in Jaipur and Ajmer. This footage of Gehlot interacting with the media is a little over seven-minute long. After watching the video in its entirety, we can confirm that the video in circulation is being shared out of context with a misleading claim. ईआरसीपी के लिए प्रधानमंत्री जी ने वादा किया था जयपुर में, अजमेर में और वो अभी तक वादा निभा नहीं रहे हैं जबकि ईआरसीपी इतना महत्वपूर्ण है, ये कोई राजनीति का खेल नहीं है, वसुंधरा जी के वक्त में बनाई है ये, हम उसको आगे बढ़ा रहे हैं, ये खुशी होनी चाहिए कि हमने बंद नहीं किया उसको। pic.twitter.com/HuCDP4ysJW — Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) November 2, 2022 Scenes from the viral clip appear in this video at the 5:44 mark onward. Here, a reporter questions Ashok Gehlot about statements given by Congress leaders like Sachin Pilot in the past. Responding to this, the Rajasthan CM says, “In all fairness, such remarks should not be made, because no matter what, Mr. Venugopal is our general secretary, and he said that no one would make any rhetoric. We want everyone to maintain discipline. There is tension, violence, inflation, unemployment. On the one hand, Rahul Gandhi is out on the streets putting in great effort toward this walking 25 kilometers every day. Lakhs of people are walking with him. We want to mount pressure on the central government. After that, our target should be to ensure we form the government next time. This is our goal. We have introduced so many historic schemes in Rajasthan. The whole country is appreciating the schemes we have launched in Rajasthan. The whole world is appreciating our handling and management of COVID-19. Not only this, other countries believe that this superb management by the Rajasthan administration saved the people, whereas so many were killed in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Delhi due to unavailability of oxygen. So we did a great job. Now we have set out on this journey on the back of all the good governance we introduced. Our only goal now is focusing on getting re-elected.” In other words, Ashok Gehlot spoke not just about the people of Rajasthan, but the entire country. However, that portion was left out to suggest that the chief minister was complaining that the public was suffering under his leadership. Alt News dug further to ascertain the context of Gehlot’s remarks on giving statements. We found that on November 1, he had shared the stage with Prime Minister Modi at Mangarh in Banswara. Following this, without naming Gehlot, Sachin Pilot remarked that Modi’s praise was an ‘interesting development’. Pilot also alluded to Modi’s appreciation of Ghulam Nabi Azad n the past, who later left the Congress. Alwar, Rajasthan \| They should not make such remarks. KC Venugopal has asked everybody in the party to not make any such remarks. We want that everybody should follow discipline: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot on Sachin Pilot’s remarks https://t.co/ptGGHUY7M3 pic.twitter.com/ELTQLrNG3K — ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2022 To sum it up, several BJP leaders, including a former I&B minister, shared an edited clip of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s statement to journalists without context. In reality, Ashok Gehlot was not referring to just the people of Rajasthan when he said the public was suffering, but the whole country. 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). 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 November 2022 / 1:50 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-clipped-video-of-rajasthan-cm-ashok-gehlot-shared-by-bjp-leaders/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
891	Fact-check: Is INC leader Adhir Chowdhury's controversial tweet on Rajiv Gandhi 'fake'? - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 22nd May 2022 / 8:12 am On the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury posted a tweet that attributed the following quote to Gandhi: “When a big tree falls, the ground shakes.” It must be noted that this was said by the former Prime Minister about the violence that occurred after Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984. He subsequently took down his tweet but tweeted the graphic again with a different quote that talked about development. pic.twitter.com/crBgIaMaiW — Adhir Chowdhury (@adhirrcinc) May 21, 2022 He further said in another tweet that the earlier quote ascribed to Gandhi has “nothing to do with my own observations” and a “malicious campaign” has been propagated by unfriendly forces. (Archive link) a malicious campaign is propagated by those forces inimical to me. — Adhir Chowdhury (@adhirrcinc) May 21, 2022 Many users claimed that the earlier graphic was fake. Journalist Aditya Menon had quote-tweeted Chowdhury’s earlier tweet and said, “This disgraceful tweet is something to be celebrated?” We searched the link of the deleted tweet on Twitter and found that several people had quote-tweeted it. The time 11:27 AM is visible on the viral screenshot. Chowdhury posted the subsequent tweet at 11:54 AM. With the help of UNIX Epoch Time, we searched for replies to Chowdhury’s tweets in the timeframe between 11:27 AM and 11:54 AM. In one of the replies, Times Now journalist Siddharth Shekhar tagged the Twitter bot ‘Tweet Stamp’. The bot captured a snapshot of Chowdhury’s tweet and replied with a link to the tweet stamp. Alt News checked the link of the ‘tweet stamp’ that led us to the link of the viral graphic along with other details of the deleted tweet. The deleted infographic can be accessed via this link which is live as of this writing. Thus, the tweet where Adhir Chowdhury shared Rajiv Gandhi’s statement (“when a big tree falls, the ground shakes”) is not fake. It was a genuine tweet. 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). 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 May 2022 / 8:12 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-congress-leader-adhir-ranjan-chowdhurys-tweet-on-rajiv-gandhis-death-anniversary-is-fake/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
892	Man claiming COVID vaccine will have mind control chip is Pakistani, NOT Indian - Alt News Kinjal 8th January 2021 / 1:23 pm A video on the COVID-19 vaccine has sent social media into a tizzy. In the 56-second clip, a man is heard saying that the coronavirus vaccine has a chip in it which will be used for mind control. BJP Uttar Pradesh spokesperson Shalabh Mani Tripathi tweeted the video, alluding that the Muslim man making the claim is Indian. It had been viewed more than 1.3 lakh times at the time of writing. (Archive link) ये हैं भारत के ‘ मुन्ना भाई वैक्सीन विशेषज्ञों ‘ का इस्लामिक संस्करण, कहते हैं वैक्सीन में चिप लगी है, सबका मिज़ाज क़ाबू कर लेंगे। pic.twitter.com/IgJ4V1o89u — Shalabh Mani Tripathi (@shalabhmani) January 4, 2021 The man in the video states that the injectable vaccine will be made mandatory. He suggests that it will contain a substance that can be used for mind control. Once the vaccine is administered to an individual, they will no longer have control of their own thoughts. He also states that there will be a microscopic chip in the drug. BJP national spokesperson RP Singh tweeted this clip and claimed that the man is a member of the Samajwadi Party (SP). He further targetted SP Member of Legislative Council (MLC). (Archive link) यह मौलाना समाजवादी पार्टी के सदस्य लगते है पार्टी का एक MLC कहता है कि #Coronavirusvaccine आप को नपुंसक बना देगी, मौलाना साहिब थोड़ा और आगे बढ़ गए वैक्सीन में चिप की बात करते है। pic.twitter.com/vWIYOvCZXN — R.P. Singh: ਆਰ ਪੀ ਸਿੰਘ National Spokesperson BJP (@rpsinghkhalsa) January 4, 2021 This video has gone viral on Twitter and Facebook. Alt News performed a reverse image search of stills from the video and found a report by Pakistani newspaper Siasat dated June 2, 2020. The story contains a link to the full version of the original clip on YouTube. The man in the video is identified as Pakistani religious teacher Kaukab Noorani Okarvi. He is an Islamic scholar, researcher, and writer from Pakistan. Okarvi had made these remarks while addressing people in a Karachi mosque. Furthermore, it is mentioned here that he also accused the doctors of killing COVID-19 patients. On May 29, 2020, a longer version of this video was uploaded by a YouTube channel called ‘Islamic Lectures Official’. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihi7tBS1myg] It was also discussed in an Aaj Tak video story dated December 13, 2020 which identified him as Pakistani. Therefore, neither this video nor the man is related to India. This clip is part of an address by an Islamic scholar from Pakistan named Kaukab Noorani Okarvi. 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. 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	8th January 2021 / 1:23 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-corona-vaccine-chip-maulvi-false-claim-india/", "author": "Kinjal" }
893	Dalveer Bhandari hasn't been elected 'chief justice' of ICJ; messages falsely laud PM Modi - Alt News Priyanka Jha 20th September 2021 / 8:23 pm / Last updated: 31st January 2022 A claim that former Supreme Court judge Dalveer Bhandari has been elected as the Chief Justice of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has been shared on social media. The claim lauds PM Modi for the achievement, suggesting that his hard hard work has nurtured good relations with countries across the world. From the Facebook page भूरसिंह सी लंगेरा, the claim received over 4,000 likes and 1,000 shares. मोदी भक्ति में केवल भारत ही नहीं बल्कि पूरा विश्व डूबा हुआ हैं पढ़िए ये खबर … अंतरराष्ट्रीय न्यायालय के मुख्य… Posted by भूरसिंह सी लंगेरा on Friday, 28 January 2022 It has, in fact, been shared by several Facebook accounts. BJP Bihar General Secretary (Organisation) Nagendra Nath Tripathi had made the same claim last year. (Archive link) अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय न्यायालय का मुख्य न्यायाधीश भारतीय चुना गया भारत की शानदार जीत !!! PMमोदी की चाणक्य कूटनीति। विश्व पटल पर ब्रिटेन की हार। कैसे पीएम मोदीजी ने दुनिया भर में संबंध विकसित किए हैं।न्यायमूर्ति दलवीर भंडारी को अंतर्राष्ट्रीय न्यायालय के मुख्य न्यायाधीश केरूप मेंचुना pic.twitter.com/9XLkucdVqS — Nagendra Nath (@BJPNagendraji) September 15, 2021 Tripathi also made this claim from his Facebook page, which was amplified by the BJP Bihar page. Apart from this, a number of pro-BJP Facebook pages promoted the claim including ‘मोदी में है दम‘ (Modi Mein Hai Dum) and ‘एक आवाज़ नमो‘ (Ek Awaaz Namo). We performed a keyword search and could not find any news reports corroborating this claim. A few articles from 2017 stated that Dalveer Bhandari was re-elected as a judge in the International Court of Justice. However, none of these claims Bhandari was elected as Chief Justice. On November 22, 2017, The Quint reported that the former Supreme Court judge secured the post after British candidate Christopher Greenwood backed out. The General Assembly was in support of Bhandari, which the UK could not challenge. No Chief Justice post in the International Court of Justice According to the International Court of Justice website, there is no Chief Justice post. The Court has 15 member judges along with a president and a vice president who each serve for three-year terms. Furthermore, as per the ICJ website, Joan E. Donoghue of the US and Russia’s Kirill Gevorgian were elected as president and vice-president respectively on February 8, 2021. Dalveer Bhandari’s post in the ICJ On April 27, 2012, Dalveer Bhandari was elected as one of the 15 member judges of the ICJ. On February 8, 2018, he was re-elected as a member for a nine-year term. This confirms that this achievement occurred before the Modi government came to power. Bhandari has been a member of ICJ since April 2012, when the UPA government was at the centre. 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	20th September 2021 / 8:23 pm / Last updated: 31st January 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-dalveer-bhandari-hasnt-been-elected-as-chief-justice-of-icj/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
894	Fact-check: Will CM Kejriwal-led Delhi govt set up country's first teachers' university? - Alt News Kinjal 15th March 2021 / 8:03 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2021 On March 9, Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia presented the state’s budget for the year 2021-22. A sum of Rs 16,377 crore was allocated for education. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the nation’s first teachers’ university will be established in Delhi. (Archive link) दिल्ली सरकार इस साल देश की पहली टीचर्स यूनिवर्सिटी की स्थापना करेगी। जहां देश और दुनिया के बेहतरीन शिक्षक तैयार किए जाएंगे। — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 9, 2021 Aam Aadmi Party Bihar’s Twitter handle promoted the same claim. (Archive link) दिल्ली सरकार इस साल देश की पहली टीचर्स यूनिवर्सिटी की स्थापना करेगी। जहां देश और दुनिया के बेहतरीन शिक्षक तैयार किए जाएंगे : @ArvindKejriwal — Aam Aadmi Party – Bihar (@AAPBihar) March 9, 2021 Aam Aadmi Party Uttar Pradesh and Aam Aadmi Party Gautam Budh Nagar Facebook pages also posted this claim. The claim is viral on Facebook and Twitter. Is the upcoming teachers’ university in Delhi the first of its kind in India? We began our investigation with a Google search which revealed that teachers’ universities, which train students for the teaching profession, exist in several cities. One of these is the Indian Institute of Teacher Education (IITE) in Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. Established in 2010 by the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, it offers Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Research level programs. The Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University was set up in Tamil Nadu under an Act passed by the government in 2008. Students can opt for courses in the Bachelors to Research level. Apart from this, there is also a teachers’ university in West Bengal which was established in 2015 and offers Bachelor’s, Master’s, PhD, and M.Phil programs. There are a number of private institutes also which offer courses in education. The National Council for Teacher Education is an organization created specifically for teacher training. A list on its website contains the names of the teacher training institutes in India, which can be accessed here. Currently, teachers and headmasters receive training under the government’s flagship teacher training initiative, ‘NISHTHA’. On March 11, The Quint published a fact-check article on Arvind Kejriwal’s statement. The Delhi CM’s claim about setting up the first teacher training university in Delhi is false. Several such institutes already exist in the country. 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	15th March 2021 / 8:03 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-delhi-cm-arvind-kejriwal-indias-first-teachers-university-false-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
895	Fact-check: Was Rs 7k crore seized from Kerala's Believers Church in IT raids last year? - Alt News Kinjal 15th May 2021 / 5:44 pm / Last updated: 3rd December 2021 A viral claim suggests that Rs 7,000 crore was recovered from Believers Eastern Church in Kerala during Income Tax raids. An image of bundles of currency notes on a table has been shared to support the claim. Alt News has received multiple verification requests on its WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160) and official mobile application. It is noteworthy that the name of the church has been misspelt as ‘Bolorean’ Eastern Church. The claim also suggests that Bishop Johanan Wagyara was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. The claim is viral on Facebook. Alt News has also received verification requests for the claim. The same claim was widespread earlier in May. Twitter user Subhash Pandey T.A.B. drew over 3,000 retweets for his post. (Archive link) बेलोरियन ईस्टर्न चर्च, केरल से 7000 करोड़ का काला धन जप्त, बिशप जोहानन वाग्यारा द्वारा संचालित, प्रवर्तन विभाग द्वारा पकड़ा गया, क्या किसी मीडिया ने दिखाया या डिबेट किया..? कल्पना कीजिए, यदि इसके दसवें हिस्से का भी आरोप किसी हिंदू संत पर लगा होता तो मीडिया आज क्या कर रहा होता.. pic.twitter.com/DhqHXcSHWK — subhash pandey T.A.B.🇮🇳 (@sp_subhash) May 9, 2021 One Pinky Singh also tweeted the claim. (Archive link) #बेलोरियन_ईस्टर्न_चर्च, #केरल से 7000 करोड़ों का काला धन जब्त बिशप जोहानन वागयारा द्वारा सञ्चालित प्रवर्तन विभाग द्वारा पकड़ा गया क्या किसी मीडिया ने इसे दिखाया या डिबेट किया कल्पना कीजिए कि यदि इसके दसवें हिस्से का भी आरोप किसी हिंदू संत पर लगा होता तो मीडिया आज क्या कर pic.twitter.com/4H4qdNd4P8 — पिंकी सिंह #3ह🚩🕉️🚩🇮🇳🇮🇳 (@PinkySi67436470) May 9, 2021 Facebook user Vidhyarthi Shivam posted a similar assertion. The claim is viral on Twitter and Facebook. Alt News performed a keyword search that led us to news reports from last year. Believers Church in Kerala’s Thiruvalla was raided by Income Tax officials on November 5, 2020. The Hindu reported, “An official statement said the searches followed credible information that the group had received donations from abroad ostensibly for helping the poor and for evangelical purposes.” The New Indian Express stated that raids were conducted at “66 premises of the church which include its headquarters and a medical college hospital run by the church at Tiruvalla”. The outlet quoted the official statement of the IT department stating that Rs 6 crore was recovered during the search, including Rs 3.85 crore unexplained cash found at a place of worship in Delhi. A press release by the ministry of finance issued on November 6, 2020, also said that Rs 6 crore were seized during the raid. Another article in The Indian Express said there was prima facie evidence suggesting the church had spent Rs 1,000 crore on real estate development. “I-T sources said the Union Home Ministry had earlier cancelled the FCRA account of Believers Eastern Church after it was found that foreign funds originally obtained for charity purposes have been diverted for religious needs,” per the report adding that the IT department had seized Rs 8 crore from various premises. Mathrubhumi included some photos from the raid that resemble the viral image. The outlets said that an IT probe found that the church received R. 6,000 crore in foreign aid in the last five years. Income Tax officials recovered Rs 14.5 crore from offices of the church, the report added. The priest whose image has been shared in the viral posts is KP Yohannan, the metropolitan bishop of the Believers Church. He has been misidentified as Bishop Johanan Wagyara in the viral claim. There are also no reports of any arrests taking place. According to reports from last year, the IT department seized Rs 6-14.5 crore cash, not Rs 7,000 crore, from the premises of Kerala’s Believers Church. The reports also said that the IT officials had found evidence of Rs 6,000 crore received in foreign aid. 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 May 2021 / 5:44 pm / Last updated: 3rd December 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-7000-cr-rs-seized-from-it-raids-in-a-church-from-kerala/", "author": "Kinjal" }
896	Fact-check: Did a 26-member Muslim family test positive in Delhi's Jahangirpuri? - Alt News Archit 29th April 2020 / 6:51 pm On April 18, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal gave a 10-minute speech on the coronavirus situation in New Delhi. It was also live-streamed on YouTube. At the 2:00 mark, Kejriwal pointed out that some people in coronavirus hotspots area continue to step out on streets and visit their neighbours. He said in Hindi (from 2:00 to 2:44), “Yesterday in a containment zone at Jahangirpuri, 26 members from one community (translated from कुनबा) tested positive for corona… all members are from one family. Their homes were next to each other — thus they went to each other’s homes despite containment.” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYxfWXPqfW8?start=120] Since then the media has reported — 1. 26-members from a family were infected in Jahangirpuri, quoting CM Kejriwal [The Free Press Journal, Hindustan Times, The Outlook(IANS syndicated copy) and NDTV] 2. 31 people tested positive in Jahangirpuri out of which 26 members were from one family [Scroll, The Indian Express and Kalinga TV(IANS syndicated copy)] 3. 31 members of an extended family tested positive for Covid-19 in Jahangirpuri [India Today (PTI syndicated copy) and ABP News] On April 19, The Indian Express reported 60 samples were taken as part of the government’s community testing efforts in Jahangirpuri, a coronavirus hotspot. Out of these, 31 people tested positive, including 26 from the same family. As per the report, the source of the infection was a 60-year-old woman who succumbed to coronavirus on April 5. As per the sources in the health department, the 26-member family are relatives of the elderly woman. On April 18, North District Magistrate Shinde Deepak Arjun told ANI, “These 31 people, who were tested positive with COVID-19, are either members of the family of an old woman who died after being infected with coronavirus or have visited her.” It is pertinent to note that Arjun did not state that a 26-member family was infected. On April 22, The Print published a ground report from Jahangirpuri. The report stated that Ajiman Bibi was the woman who passed away due to coronavirus on April 5. According to the report, the result came four days after her death. The scope of this fact-check is limited to — 1. Verification of the number of members in Ajiman Bibi’s family. 2. Circumstances that led to Ajiman Bibi’s death. Alt News spoke with Ajiman Bibi’s son Noor Mohammed’s family had 16 members. This was until 5 pm, April 5 when he lost his 52-year-old mother: “My mother hasn’t been healthy for the past 10 years. But the pain and discomfort she experienced in the days leading up to her death were unlike anything she had had to bear.” Alt News has a copy of Ajiman Bibi’s Aadhaar card which states she was born in 1968. Thus, the media had botched-up Ajiman Bibi’s age as well. Mohammed, who works as an electrician, informed, “Since March 30, my mother had a fever and trouble breathing. We visited three different hospitals multiple times on April 3 and April 4; none of them bothered to test her for coronavirus.” Mohammed and his family are a resident of ward 21, Jahangirpuri. State failure: Why wasn’t Ajiman Bibi tested for coronavirus when she was alive and showed symptoms? According to Mohammed, he took his mother for a health check-up to the following hospitals on April 3 and 4 — Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Rajan Babu TB Hospital and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The Print’s report that carries statements of neighbours corroborates the same. Mohammed shared documents which confirm that he visited some of the hospitals mentioned above. The image below shows a form of the Department of Radiodiagnosis at Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital on April 3. Despite having the symptoms for coronavirus, according to Mohammed, the government hospitals didn’t test his mother when she was alive. On April 5, she passed away at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital around 5 pm. Mohammed was allowed to take his mother’s dead body home after a couple of hours. The next day, Mohammed and 35 others — family members and neighbours — paid respects to Ajiman Bibi at her funeral. Alt News spoke with Poonam Ashwini Bagri, Jahangirpuri ward 21 municipal councillor. “On April 9, I received an official document which listed new COVID-19 positive cases — alive and deceased. As per this document, Ajiman Bibi’s coronavirus test report arrived on April 7. So why did Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital allow Mohammed’s family to take Ajiman Bibi’s dead body on April 5? That has severely put my ward at risk.” Alt News has a copy of the said document. It is pertinent to note that Block ‘B’ Jahangirpuri was one of the first 22 containment zones in Delhi announced on April 8. Block ‘C’ (Ajiman Bibi’s block) was also added to the list on April 10, once the authorities realised Ajiman Bibi had tested positive. On April 10, Noor collected his mother’s reports from Dr RML Hospital which confirmed that she was coronavirus positive. “I can’t help but wonder, why did the hospital allow us to take her home if they were yet to confirm that she had contracted the infection,” questioned Noor. How many family members does Noor have? Mohammed and his family have been quarantined since April 10 at Delhi Development Authority (DDA) flats in Narela. “My family includes — my father, uncle, five brothers (of which three are married), three women and five children,” he said. This a total of 15 people. As of April 27, Mohammed’s family is quarantined in two separate facilities. “Eight of us were shifted in a building where people who have tested negative are quarantined. The remaining seven are in a different building where people who have tested positive are quarantined,” said Noor who has tested negative. According to Noor, out of the seven — six have tested positive. “The seventh member, who tested negative, is my sister-in-law’s baby. My sister-in-law tested positive but since the baby needs to be breastfed, she insisted to keep the baby in her custody.” Noor pointed out doctors have not given a hard copy of their test results. A Delhi-based journalist (identity concealed at request) shared an image of an excel sheet with Alt News that was provided by a government official. The document lists the names, ages and addresses of 31 people from Jahangirpuri who tested positive. Alt News has attached the image after concealing personal details. Noor said, “Since I work as an electrician in the area, I know all 31 people on the list. In fact, I must have visited their house at some point in the past. Out of the 31, 13 are a part of my extended family.” Noor informed that the 13 members from his extended family include his sister and her in-laws. While they stay nearby they aren’t a part of his 15-member immediate family. Alt News spoke with three people (identity concealed at request) from the list of 31 patients. Each of them confirmed that the people listed on the document do not belong to one family. They also informed at least one of the names and the addresses has been inaccurately recorded. According to Noor, two people from this list attended the funeral on April 6. At that time, none of them was aware that Ajiman Bibi (wrongly spelt in the list as ‘Ajeewan’) was infected with coronavirus. Simply put, six members of Noor’s immediate family have tested positive and 13 members of his extended family (sister and her in-laws) have tested positive. Since the hospital hasn’t provided the test reports to Noor, we were unable to independently verify the results. However, it is clear that 26 members of a single-family did not test positive. Additionally, municipal councillor Bagri also confirmed that the 31-member list does not include a 26-member family. “I’m not sure why CM Kejriwal felt the need to highlight the 26-member family despite the data collected shows no such family,” she said. Delhi CM Kejriwal’s statement that a 26-member family was tested positive for coronavirus in Jahangirpuri was therefore inaccurate. The media was also at fault for not verifying the data and instead, sensationalising that a 26-member family tested positive. Kejriwal blamed the family for not adhering to lockdown guidelines. The media failed to report that Noor took his mother, Ajiman Bibi, to multiple hospitals and despite showing symptoms she was neither admitted nor tested until it was too late. Dr RML Hospital allowed the family to take Ajiman Bibi’s dead body home without first confirming if she had the infection. The family held a funeral which was attended by several people. Inaccurate media reports overlooked the state’s failure and held the family responsible for contracting the infection. On April 18, Twitter account @India_Policy, which claims to inform on topics related to public policy and governance, tweeted, “#BREAKING : 26 members of a single family found #COVID19 positive in Jahangirpuri area of Delhi, including Husband, his 2 wives, 12 daughters, 7 sons and more…”(archive link) @India_Policy has over one lakh followers and its post was retweeted by 3,500 people. BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga quote-tweeted the tweet drawing 2,000 retweets (archive link). Alt News has debunked several instances in the past when Bagga promoted misinformation. Right-wing outlet The Frustrated Indian published an article which cited the tweet by @India_Policy. The article said, “Not only does this development serve as a clarion call for the government to bring in legislation on the lines of a population control bill, but it is all the more reason as to why a Uniform Civil Code is the need of the hour. How can anyone have 19 children, even if from different wives?” (archive link) Alt News also found that there is a WhatsApp image being circulated based on @India_Policy’s tweet. Just like the media reports, social media latched on “26-member family” to target the Muslim community. Noor confirmed that no one from his family or extended family has engaged in polygamy. BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga retweeted communal misinformation and promoted the stereotype that Muslim families are polygamous and have many children. The rumour was originally shared by @India_Policy, an anonymous Twitter account. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. 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	29th April 2020 / 6:51 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-a-26-member-muslim-family-test-positive-in-delhis-jahangirpuri/", "author": "Archit" }
897	Fact-check: Did a 'Kashmiri Pandit' stop Muslim group from slaughtering cows in Kashmir? - Alt News Archit 20th September 2021 / 5:35 pm A two-minute video of a man requesting a group to not slaughter cows near his home has been widely shared on social media. The man can be heard saying “…I have an issue with you slaughtering 20 cows… I won’t let you… seedhi baat … let’s see how you do it this time. Is this a slaughterhouse? Do you have a license? I get (bad) smell.” The video has been shared with the claim that a Kashmiri Pandit stood up against Muslim butchers in Kashmir. One Kashmiri Pandit stands strong against Muslim butchers & stops Cow Slaughter in Kashmir. All Hindus must support this unidentified Pandit by sharing the video, hats off to this one man to fight for his belief. That’s the changed face of Kashmir thanks to Modi Ji & Amit Ji🙏🏾🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/khcGjlBjRy — Eagle Eye (@SortedEagle) September 15, 2021 Facebook Page ‘RSS Fan Club‘ posted this video on September 15. In less than 24 hours, it had over three million views. The page pointed that this was the impact of nullification of Articles 370 and 35 (A) in the valley. Several Twitter users, including @VidyaSanatani and @prabhato777, also made similar claims. @VidyaSanatani wrote that all Hindus should be like the man recording the video. Alt News received several requests to fact-check this claim on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160). The messages are labelled “Forwarded many times”. The Hindi text associated with the video lauds Prime Minister Modi. In a similar manner, the English text credits PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for a “change in the attitude of Hindus” in Kashmir. [Hindi text: कश्मीर में एक कश्मीरी पंडित कई मुल्लों का मुकाबला करते हुए। मुल्ले मौलवी गाय काटना चाहते हैं लेकिन वह सबको खुलेआम चेतावनी दे रहा है। मोदी होने का मतलब समझ में आया। खासकर उन लोगों को समझ जाना चाहिए जो नोटा नोटा चिल्लाते है] Alt News performed a reverse image search and found that in August, Jammu-based advocate Ankur Sharma tweeted two videos, including the viral clip. He wrote that the video was recorded by a Muslim around Eid this year. Eid was observed on July 21. In the second video, we see cows in a front building surrounded by unkempt grass. The building bears a green sign with Urdu text ‘Markazi Dar Al Uloom Daud’, which is an Islamic seminary institution. Video recorded by a man named Arif Jan In the closing seconds (2:11 mark) of the video, we can see the face of the man who recorded the incident. A local from Kashmir connected us with him and shared his mobile number. The man’s name is Arif Jan, a resident of Ganderbal. Alt News compared Jan’s WhatsApp display picture and his face visible in the viral video and found a match. Upon Jan’s request, we are refraining from visually identifying him. Alt News spoke with Jan over a telephonic call. He confirmed that he took the video and said, “This incident happened around Bakra-Eid. I’m a Muslim and the social media claims are false.” “There is a Dar Al Uloom next to my home. Both properties share a common wall. These days it’s closed due to the ongoing pandemic. Two years ago, people had conducted sacrificial rituals there. Back then, I had requested them to not repeat this again because of hygiene-related issues — residual blood and leftovers. So when it was happening during this Bakra-Eid, I felt disrespected that my request was not taken seriously and decided to amplify my voice via social media,” he continued adding that he now regrets uploading the video on social media due to the false communal spin injected into the incident. He clarified, “I would like to make it clear that I didn’t oppose the sacrifice of animals but the place where they were chosen to be sacrificed. I suggested that the sacrifice should take place behind the Masjid compound which is just 200 feet away.” “Shortly after the incident, the Falah Behbood Masjid Committee intervened and the issue was resolved. I would like to make it clear, I have no animosity with my neighbours,” he said. Masjid committee’s response Alt News spoke with the chairman of Falah Behbood Committee, Ghulam Rasool Kara, 85. He said, “This issue was resolved about two months ago. The crux of the issue was the place of sacrifice. Requests made by Arif Jan were practical. I would like to further point out that such conflicts aren’t common. The committee reiterated to the concerned neighbourhood that mass sacrificial rituals should not happen in close proximity of residences and the property of Masjid committee should be used.” Social media users therefore falsely claimed that a Kashmiri Pandit stood up against Muslims against cow slaughter in Kashmir. However, both parties hailed from the same community and the issue wasn’t related to the slaughtering of cows but the sacrifice being conducted near a residence. Arif Jan, the man who raised the issue, was concerned about hygiene. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. 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 September 2021 / 5:35 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-a-kashmiri-pandit-stop-muslim-group-from-slaughtering-cows-in-kashmir/", "author": "Archit" }
898	Old photos of AAP leader injured while saving girl in Punjab shared as recent incident from UP - Alt News Kinjal 25th October 2020 / 11:23 am Social media has been abuzz lately with users circulating a picture of a man who apparently came to the rescue of a girl being sexually assaulted in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur. The claim adds that he sustained three bullets injuries while trying to save her. Professor Neeran Gautam tweeted an image with this claim. (archived link to the tweet) A Brave Heart was travelling near Shahjahanpur in UP. He saved an unknown girl from rape from four Gangsters and killed two of them. He got three gunshots and serious in Hospital. No media has given the news.@ArunDeshpande20 @shytigress @narendramodi @nrajabpcl pic.twitter.com/kxEisVRqPu — Prof (Dr) Neeran Gautam (@neerangautam) October 15, 2020 Another Twitter user named Kamaljeet Singh shared a picture of an injured man lying on a stretcher with the same claim. A brave sikh was travelling near shahjahanpur in UP. He saved an unknown girl from rape from four gangsters and killed two of them. He got three gunshots and serious in hospital. No media has given the news. pic.twitter.com/61qqbXgcAE — Kamaljit singh (@Kamalji57571961) October 16, 2020 In addition to these two images, a third picture of the injured man is also being shared with the viral claims across Twitter and Facebook. Alt News performed a keyword search and found that no such incident has recently been reported from Shahjahanpur. In fact, the viral claim was debunked by Shahjahanpur Police’s official Twitter handle on October 14, 2020. “Some people on social media have been spreading misinformation by posting a photo and claiming that a brave Sikh rescued a girl in Shahjahanpur during a journey and was shot by her attackers,” reads the tweet. The police stated that the message was merely a rumour. #shahjahanpurpol~सोशल मीडिया प्लेटफार्म पर वायरल खबर “एक बहादुर सिख द्वारा यात्रा के दौरान शाहजहाँपुर मे एक लडकी को बचाया तथा बदमाशों द्वारा उसे गोली मारकर घायल कर दिया है” के सम्बन्ध मे खण्डन। #UPPolice @UPGovt @CMOfficeUP @UPPolice @KPGBJP @adgzonebareilly @News18UP pic.twitter.com/jksGz6Dpdi — SHAHJAHANPUR POLICE (@shahjahanpurpol) October 14, 2020 Alt News performed a reverse image search of the injured person’s photo and came across a report by Punjab Kesari from March 14, 2019. The article identified the man as Chetan Singh, president of the Patiala (rural) unit of the Aam Aadmi Party. According to the article, some people were trying to force a girl into a car in the Patti assembly constituency. Singh was at the scene and sustained injuries while trying to defend her, as some of the attackers opened fire at him. He was immediately admitted to a government hospital by villagers and was later shifted to a hospital in Tarn Taran when his condition deteriorated. The incident was covered by The Times of India in a March 15, 2019 report. It quotes IGP Surender Pal Singh Parmar as saying that the girl had come from Harike to get her Aadhaar card when six miscreants attempted to abduct her. Chetan Singh was at the scene and rescued the girl. He sustained a bullet wound on his neck during the tussle. Apart from this, AAP MP Sanjay Singh tweeted this picture of Chetan Singh on March 14, 2019, demanding the Chief Minister of Punjab to take action at the earliest. Sanjay Singh’s tweet was also quote-tweeted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. AAP Patiala distt president Chetan Singh fired upon & injured while trying to save a girl from some men who were trying to abduct her. Proud of u Chetan. I wish for ur fast recovery Law & order situation deteriorating by the day in Punjab. Capt. govt has been a complete failure! https://t.co/5159DMyLpX — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 14, 2019 It is worth noting that none of the media reports claims Singh killed any of the attackers. Therefore, neither is the image in question from Shahjahanpur nor is it recent. These pictures show AAP leader Chetan Singh, who was injured while protecting a woman from sexual assault in Punjab’s Patti. The photos were circulated with the false claim that Singh had killed two people while trying to defend the girl. 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	25th October 2020 / 11:23 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-a-man-saved-a-girl-from-rape-and-killed-two-miscreants-in-up-shahjahanpur/", "author": "Kinjal" }
899	No, an elderly man in Meerut did not stop Yogi Adityanath from entering his lane - Alt News Priyanka Jha 20th May 2021 / 6:13 pm A video of an elderly man interacting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is doing the rounds on social media. State President of West UP Youth Congress Omveer Yadav tweeted the video and claimed, “In Bijauli village of Meerut district, an old man stopped Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from entering his lane and put a cot to block his way. The old man did not make way for the Chief Minister even after the latter urged him to let him enter and Yogiji had to go back”. Adityanath can be heard saying in the video, “Take care, wear a mask”, while a crowd raises slogans in his support. We later see Adityanath walking away from the spot. At the time of writing this article, the video garnered over 4,000 retweets. ब्रेकिंग न्यूज़- बस करो अब हमें आपकी ज़रूरत नहीं है- जनपद मेरठ के बिजौली गांव में एक बुजुर्ग ने मुख्यमंत्री योगी आदित्यनाथ को अपनी एक गली में खाट खड़ी कर जाने से रोक दिया मुख्यमंत्री जी के लाख कहने पर भी बुजुर्ग ने रास्ता नहीं खोला और योगी जी को वापस जाना पड़ा !! pic.twitter.com/PRTWFPTanF — Omveer Yadav (@OmveerYadavINC) May 16, 2021 The same video has been shared by the Facebook page of Youth Congress Central UP. Congress leader Nagma Morarji also tweeted the video with the same claim. Her tweet has garnered close to 450 retweets so far. Meerut Police responded to Omveer Yadav’s tweet and dubbed his claim as false. The police wrote that his post is completely baseless and misleading and comes under the category of rumour-mongering. Furthermore, it is informed that the CM was inquiring about the health status of a member of a COVID-infected family in a containment zone in Meerut district’s Bijauli village. A cot has been placed at the entrance of the containment zone to block entry. pic.twitter.com/CQUoF0Uuw3 — MEERUT POLICE (@meerutpolice) May 17, 2021 A few others responded to Yadav’s tweet and informed him that local news outlets have reported that Adityanath enquired about the health status of the old man and appealed him to wear a mask. Dainik Jagran reported on May 17 that Adityanath had spotted the elderly man, Tara Chandra Sharma, when the CM was returning after meeting Nitin. He folded his hands and appealed to the man to wear a mask. Sharma put on a mask on the CM’s request and also chanted a slogan in his support. BJP worker Nitin Tyagi had posted about Adityanath’s visit. He had come along with MP Rajendra Agarwal, and MLA Satyaveer Tyagi to meet Tyagi at his residence in Bijauli and inquire about his health. Local media reported that after holding a meeting in the COVID control room at Meerut Collectorate and inspecting the same, Adityanath reached Bijauli village where he saw Tara Chandra Sharma without a mask. Therefore, a video of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister meeting an old man infected with COVID in a containment zone in the Meerut district was shared with the false claim that his visit was protested. 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	20th May 2021 / 6:13 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-a-old-man-in-up-stopped-cm-yogi-adityanath-to-come-to-meet-him/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
900	No, ASI Dhannaram did not "fake" injuries sustained during violence on Eid in Jodhpur - Alt News Kinjal 11th May 2022 / 1:46 pm Violence broke out in Jodhpur on the intervening night of May 2 and 3 after a group of BJP supporters forcibly removed Eid flags and loudspeakers. Following this, on the morning of Eid, members of the Muslim community sloganeered and pelted stones. A few police officers were also injured in the violence. Internet services were later suspended and a curfew was imposed in the area. 97 people have been arrested in this case so far. Against this backdrop, a video of a policeman is making the rounds on social media. It has been claimed that the policeman, seen in the video tying a blood-stained handkerchief on his head, was pretending to be injured. Facebook user Mufi Mohd. Zubair Qasmi also amplified the video and viral claim along with a newspaper clipping. (Archive link) जोधपुर हिंसा मामले में अखबार में जिस पुलिसकर्मी का फोटो छपा है,,, आइये उसकी हक़ीक़त से आपको रु-ब-रु करवाते है,,,,। देखिये किस तरह से पुलिस और मीडिया नैरेटिव सेट करती है। Posted by Mufti Mohd Zubair Qasmi on Thursday, May 5, 2022 Several Twitter users promoted the video and accompanying claim. जिस पुलिस वाले के सर पर लगी उस को गौर से देखना अखबार में फ़ोटो भी आया है.. और इस के आधार पर मुस्लिम लड़को को जेल में बंद भी किया गया… आगे वीडियो है उसको जरूर देखें…. pic.twitter.com/8o2hNo7FdD — 𝔻𝔯𝔵.𝔸𝔪𝔪𝔞ℝ 𝕂𝔥𝔞𝔫🐦 (@AK___Bhai) May 6, 2022 Using the Crowdtangle, Alt News discovered that the footage and accompanying claim were circulated on a number of Facebook pages and groups. Rewatching the video frame by frame, we noticed the injury on the policeman’s forehead. Furthermore, blood was trickling down the back of his hand. Jodhpur Police took to Twitter to condemn the viral claims on social media. As per the tweet, ASI Dhannaram suffered a head injury during the violence at Jalori Gate. An FIR was also lodged over the incident at the Sardarpura Police Station. #Jodhpur ASI श्री धन्नाराम की जालोरी गेट घटना में लगी चोट के संबंध में भ्रामक खबरों की सच्चाई… घटना में लगी थी ASI के सिर में चोट जिससे हाथ और रुमाल पर लगा था खून… घटना के बाद चोटिल ASI का कराया गया था मेडिकल व थाना सरदारपुरा मे दर्ज की गई F.I.R. …#AvoidFakeNews pic.twitter.com/LKtJxm0Xki — Jodhpur Police (@CP_Jodhpur) May 6, 2022 Alt News contacted Sardarpura Police Station and was able to speak with ASI Dhannaram. He informed that he was on duty on the day of Eid and following the prayers, a group of miscreants began throwing stones during which he got injured. He used a handkerchief to wipe away the blood. He later tied the same handkerchief around his head. ASI Dhannaram also sent us a picture of the wound. To sum it up, a video of ASI Dhannaram, a police officer injured in the Jodhpur violence, was circulated with a misleading claim that he was faking his injuries. 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 May 2022 / 1:46 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-a-rajasthan-cop-fake-his-head-injury-during-clashes-on-eid-in-jodhpur/", "author": "Kinjal" }
901	Fact-check: Did Akhilesh Yadav say 'I don't need Ram and Hanuman'? - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 8th October 2020 / 8:51 pm A statement attributed to former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav is doing the rounds on social media. “In 2022, SP will form the government in UP and we don’t need Ram and Hanuman,” reads the purported quote. Twitter user ‘Kosindra Tomar (BJP)’ posted an image carrying the statement and took a jibe at the SP leader. “Tap thief (referring to Yadav) used to say we don’t need Ram and Hanuman but he is now saying that he wants to build Vishnu temple in Itawa.” According to his Twitter bio, Tomar is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Twitter user @gulab_dharkar had posted the same image on May 23, 2020. It was retweeted more than 300 times. The image is being shared on Facebook as well. Alt News also received verification requests on its official WhatsApp number (+91 7600011160). With a keyword search on Google, we found a report published by Hindi newspaper Hindustan. The article was titled, “Hindustan Summit Conference: I don’t need to latch on to Ram and Hanuman. I will hold on to work.” (translated) Akhilesh Yadav was one of the speakers invited at the Hindustan Summit held on February 22, 2020. Yadav was asked, “Kejriwal is latching onto Hanuman, BJP is latching onto Ram…so you latch onto Krishnaji… you are Yaduvanshi.” In response to the question, he said, “We are holding on to work, we are making an expressway.” At 25 minutes in the video posted below, the relevant portion can be heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_0E1bFjoLw News reports of Yadav’s statement were also published at the time. Dainik Jagran’s fact-checking wing Vishvas News earlier fact-checked the same claim. 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	8th October 2020 / 8:51 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-akhilesh-yadav-say-there-is-no-need-of-ram-and-hanuman/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
902	Fact-check: Did Akhilesh Yadav say UP will see prosperity if 'Yogi govt' is elected? - Alt News Aqib Pathan 19th January 2022 / 11:15 pm / Last updated: 20th January 2022 Several social media users have claimed that Akhilesh Yadav, president of the Samajwadi Party, admitted that Uttar Pradesh will prosper if the Yogi government is elected. This claim has been shared along with an 11-second video. Facebook user Vishal Kushwaha posted this video. It has close to two million views. Posted by Vishal Kushwaha on Saturday, 8 January 2022 Twitter users @RajputKanyaUP, @ImranAnsariAIM1, @Mushahi55826411 and @DubeyLed also shared this video. अखिलेश यादव जी आपने भी मान लिया है जब फिर योगी सरकार बनेगी तभी उत्तर प्रदेश में खुशहाली आएगी pic.twitter.com/KRShNJ2QNF — Poonam Thakur (@RajputKanyaUP) January 17, 2022 This video has also been uploaded on or by several high network Facebook pages/groups such as Mission Modi 2024 [over one lakh followers]; Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)\|\| भारतीय जनता पार्टी(भाजपा) [over one lakh followers]; Lok Jansakthi party National LJP pasupathi paras prince Raj [over one lakh followers]; I Support Tejasvi Surya [over 79k followers]; टीम रितेश शाह [over 20k followers]. We noticed that one of the viral videos has a logo of ‘Headlines India’. Alt News rummaged the Facebook page of ‘Headlines India’ and found that the viral video is a clipped version of a longer video that was uploaded on January 2. The viral video is clipped from the 58-second mark. इधर मोदी मेरठ पहुंचे उधर अखिलेश ने योगी-मोदी पर ये क्या बोल डाला इधर मोदी मेरठ पहुंचे उधर अखिलेश ने योगी-मोदी पर ये क्या बोल डाला Posted by Headlines India on Sunday, 2 January 2022 If one listens carefully, Yadav says, “हम आपसे निवेदन करना चाहते हैं, अगर उत्तर प्रदेश को ख़ुशहाली के रास्ते पर ले जाना है तो योग्य सरकार बनेगी.” (We would like to request you that if you want to take Uttar Pradesh to the road of prosperity then a worthy government should be elected.) Readers should note that in the viral video the word ‘yogya’ [योग्य, English translation: worthy] has been mispresented as ‘Yogi’. The phrase ‘yogya sarkar’ is a wordplay by Yadav and he has used it on multiple occasions. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRqPC0YNONY?start=188] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T48QsvMWHzU?start=174] To sum it up, a clipped video of SP president Akhilesh Yadav’s speech was shared with the misleading claim that he admitted Uttar Pradesh will see prosperity if the Yogi government is elected. 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	19th January 2022 / 11:15 pm / Last updated: 20th January 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-akhilesh-yadav-say-up-will-see-prosperity-if-yogi-govt-is-elected/", "author": "Aqib Pathan" }
903	Fact-Check: Did Amartya Sen claim that Sri Lanka is ahead of India in terms of global indices? - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 4th August 2022 / 2:52 pm In the backdrop of the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka, several social media users have shared an image of Nobel laureate Dr Amartya Sen along with the following statements: “Sri Lanka is ahead of India in Happiness Index, Sri Lanka is doing far better than India in Hunger Index, Sri Lanka has done better than India in GDP Index too.” Due to the nature of the graphic, viewers can misinterpret these statements as quotes by Sen. Alt News has received multiple requests on our WhatsApp helpline (76000 11160) to verify the authenticity of this claim. It must be noted that the timeline of the alleged statements is not clear. Several users claim that Dr Sen’s statements date back to one year (1, 2), while several others claim two years (1,2,3,4). Twitter user @AreyBangdu shared a graphic in question and claimed that these statements were made two years ago. A screenshot of @AreyBangdu’s tweet has been widely shared on social media. Facebook page Kashmiri Pundit posted the screenshot and garnered over 1000 likes and 345 shares. Another page called Pradhanmantri Meme Yojana posted this screenshot and garnered 1500 likes and almost 300 shares. Some tweets have also cited Dr Sen’s 2013 book ‘An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions’ which he had co-authored with welfare economist Dr Jean Drèze. (Archived link) @NobelPeaceOslo @NobelPrize In 2013, Dr.Amartya Sen said: Sri Lanka is ahead of India in Happiness index, doing far better in Hunger Index & has done better in GDP index too. Ref: An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions (2013). May be considered for a 2nd Nobel Prize. — Sanjeev Goel (@sanjeevg30) July 14, 2022 The earliest tweet claiming this information is dated July 11, 2022. “Sri Lanka is ahead of India in Happiness index Sri Lanka is doing far better than India in Hunger Index Sri Lanka has done better than India in GDP index too” Economist Amartya Sen & Koushik Basu. 😄😄 https://t.co/nR6HVSlivp — Bangladeshi Hindu : बांग्लादेशी हिन्दू : হিন্দু (@bdHinduUpdates) July 10, 2022 According to a BBC report, many experts blamed the current crisis on former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his failed attempt at providing for the domestic markets. At the end of its civil war in 2009, Sri Lanka imported more and exported less, which led to an increase in import bills while the exports remained low. Consequently, Sri Lanka ran out of foreign currency. Mr Rajapaksa was also criticized for introducing tax cuts, which led to a massive decline in government revenue. On the other hand, the government blames major events like the 2019 bombings and the COVID-19 pandemic for the decline in tourism trade- one of Sri Lanka’s biggest foreign earners. Rajapaksa fled the country on July 13 as his presidency was met with huge protests. Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as acting president. An index is a sign or a measure that something else can be judged by. The viral claims involve three indices, namely – the Happiness Index, the Hunger Index, and the GDP Index. The happiness index or the World Happiness Index is based on The World Happiness Report which is a publication of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Nations are ranked according to happiness which is also correlated with various life factors. According to the World Happiness Reports, India ranked higher than Sri Lanka in 2013 and 2015, while Sri Lanka took the lead in the subsequent years of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. The official index related to hunger is the Global Hunger Index which tracks hunger globally, nationally and regionally. It is prepared by European NGOs of Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe. India has ranked lower than Sri Lanka over nine consecutive years from 2013 to 2021. The first two indices mentioned in the viral claims turn out to be true. Both World Happiness Index and Global Hunger Index have put Sri Lanka ahead of India for many years, including the latest reports (2021). As for the GDP Index, there are various ways of comparing the GDPs of two countries and Alt News could not ascertain which index had been used in the claim. We reached out to welfare economist, Dr Jean Drèze for a clarification, wherein he said, “This is a red herring. I don’t even know what the term GDP Index intends to refer to in these alleged statements. What matters is GDP or GDP per capita, depending on the context.” It must be noted that neither GDP nor GDP per capita is clearly mentioned in the viral claims. We did a Google keyword search but could not find a single credible report on Dr Sen’s alleged comparative statements on Sri Lanka and India’s rank in terms of the World Happiness Index, Global Hunger Index, or the GDP Index. Dr Sen has not made any detailed comparisons between Sri Lanka and India recently. Some of the viral tweets cited the 2013 book An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions, co-authored by Dr Sen and Dr Jean Dreze as the source of the claims. In this section, we have highlighted some of the comparisons made in the book. Alt News searched the book for relevant keywords. The book analyses India’s attempt at addressing the post-independence challenges faced in the areas of healthcare, education, and rising inequality, among many others. It draws several comparisons between the countries in the Indian subcontinent looking at various social indicators. It must also be noted that on page 47, the authors do make comparisons in terms of per capita GDP. Although not a direct measure of GDP, the per capita GDP breaks down a country’s economic output per person. On pages 48-49 of the book, the authors compare education in Sri Lanka and India. They state that, in comparison to the increasing interest in private education in India, private schools in Sri Lanka (which is much ahead of India in terms of social indicators) have been prohibited since the 1960s. They also compare the two countries’ planning in terms of access to immediate healthcare. The authors also rank the South Asian and East Asian countries in terms of Adult Literacy Rate and Youth Female Literacy Rate. The authors then highlight India’s abysmally low expenditure on public health as a percentage of GDP compared to Sri Lanka, China, and Brazil at the time. The authors have also listed the growth rates of the Gross Domestic Product and State Domestic Product of several countries including India and Sri Lanka. Contrary to the viral claims, India had higher growth rates than Sri Lanka during 1980-81 to 1990-91 (Sri Lanka- 2.4 and India-3.1), and from 2000-01 to 2010-11 (Sri Lanka- 4.5 and India-5.9). The two countries had the same value (3.9) during 1990-91 to 2000-01. Sen and Drèze also published a paper named Putting Growth in its Place in 2011. The paper contains the same comment on India’s performance in terms of social indicators among South Asia’s six major countries (including Sri Lanka) as the aforementioned book. In 2018, at the launch of ‘Bharat Aur Uske Virodhabhas’, the Hindi edition of his 2013 book, Sen reportedly said that 20 years ago among India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan, India was the second best after Sri Lanka in terms of various social indicators. Times Of India quoted Sen, “Now, it is the second worst. Pakistan has managed to shield us from being the worst.” The comments made by Sen during the event can be viewed at the 25:00 mark on the YouTube channel Rajkamal Books. Barring this, he made no other comparison between India and Sri Lanka. Within a week of Dr Sen’s comments at the launch, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar told PTI, “I wish Professor Amartya Sen would spend some time within India and actually look at conditions on the ground. And at least review all work that has been done in the last four years by the Modi government before making such statements,” Kumar told PTI in an interview. Alt News reached out to Sen via email along with the screenshot of Twitter user @AreyBangdu. He responded, “Thank you for your letter, I have not made any comparative statement between Sri Lanka and India for many decades (not to mention two years), and I can only conclude that Mr Bangdu, whom you quote, likes propagating false statements. It is interesting that some alleged loudspeakers prefer lying rather than looking for truthful statements!” Hence, it is quite evident that Dr Amartya Sen has not made any comparative comment between Sri Lanka and India based on their respective World Happiness Index, Global Hunger Index and “GDP Index”. In his book, ‘An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions’, Sen, along with co-author Drèze, compared the per capita GDP and the growth rates of the per capita GDP of the two countries (which are not direct measures of the GDP). Contrary to the viral claims, the book states that the growth rate of the per capita GDP of India is, in fact, higher than that of Sri Lanka. Thus the quotes that are being attributed to Dr Sen are false. 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… 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 August 2022 / 2:52 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-amartya-sen-claim-that-sri-lanka-is-ahead-of-india-in-terms-of-global-indices/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
904	Did an NGO file a plea to stop road construction along India-China border? - Alt News Kinjal 13th November 2021 / 4:48 pm A photo of people sitting with placards in their hands has been shared on social media. One of the placards allegedly reads, “No road on Indo-China border”. It is being claimed that an NGO called “Citizens For Green Doon” filed a petition in the Supreme Court against road construction along the India-China border in Uttarakhand, citing environmental concerns. The petition was filed by lawyers Colin Gonzales and Mohammad Aftab, as per the claim. The claim adds that the lawyers have argued that the road is unnecessary since the army can use the air route during war. Pro-BJP propaganda portal Kreately tweeted the image with the same claim. Stop road construction at the Indo-China border: NGO to the Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/ONDwSf9XQU — Kreately.in (@KreatelyMedia) November 10, 2021 A former head of the BJP IT Cell and Digital India Foundation co-founder Arvind Gupta shared Kreately’s tweet. User @MeghBulletin also promoted the photo with this claim, which garnered 1,296 retweets. (Archive link) An alleged NGO “Citizens For Green Doon” through lawyers Coulin Gonzales & Md Aftab have filed a petition in the SC urging it to stop the construction of roads on the Indo-China border in Uttarakhand citing the environment. Says “Indian Forces can use air route in war” pic.twitter.com/4TuUvBwrjP — MeghUpdates🚨™ (@MeghBulletin) November 10, 2021 Twitter user ‘@drapr007’ amplified the claim as well. The image is widespread on Facebook and Twitter with the claim that an NGO filed a petition to stop the construction of roads at the Indo-China border. A few Twitter users circulated this claim but without the images. (Link 1, Link 2) When we searched for the ‘Citizens For Green Doon’ Facebook page, we discovered that the viral image was set as their cover photo. However, in this version, the placard the woman is holding reads, ‘Come join CFGD’. This confirms that the image in question is edited. Upon further research into the petition, Alt News came across a Live Law report from November 10. According to Live Law, the petition did not mention anything about restrictions on road construction. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had proposed a width of 5.5 meters for roads in hilly and mountainous terrain in a 2018 circular. The petition states that the objective of the Char Dham project was to broaden the roads to enable easier access for religious pilgrims and so that the buses could cross each other without difficulty. The army wanted a road that was 10 meters wide, but the NGO maintains that it should only be 5.5 meters wide for the pilgrims. The organisation was against road widening, and nothing has been mentioned about the army or the India-China border in 2018 circular. In 2020, the circular was amended to widen the border roads to 7 meters. Alt News also reached out to the NGO’s lawyer Colin Gonsalves for more information. Refuting the viral claim, he said that their petition did not mention anything about road construction for the Char Dham Yatra. “In 2018, the width of the road was fixed as 5.5 meters under this project. Afterward, there was a call to widen the roads to 10 meters, which is harmful to the environment and increases the risk of landslides. There was no talk of banning road construction in court from our side. We had actually demanded that the width of these roads be reduced. We proposed that the width of these roads should be fixed as per the requirements of the Char Dham devotees,” he explained. To sum it up, an edited image on social media was circulated with the false claim that an NGO had filed a petition objecting to road construction on the India-China border citing environmental concerns. 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	13th November 2021 / 4:48 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-an-ngo-citizen-for-green-doon-filed-a-petition-to-stop-road-construction-at-indo-china-border/", "author": "Kinjal" }
905	Fact-check: Did an official Pakistani Defence account retweet Rahul Gandhi's tweet? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 26th October 2018 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 22nd March 2019 With the caption “retweet indicates someone is fighting for Pakistan in India”, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh, on October 25, tweeted a screenshot of Rahul Gandhi’s tweet on former CBI Director Alok Verma. Gandhi’s tweet was retweeted by a Twitter account “Pakistan Defence” and the language used by Giriraj Singh in his tweet attempted to imply that the Congress President is supported by Pakistan’s Defence wing. His tweet was liked over 1,500 times and retweeted 810 times at the time of writing this article. Retweet indicates that someone is fighting for Pakistan in India. pic.twitter.com/5mcEPznqtK — Shandilya Giriraj Singh (@girirajsinghbjp) October 25, 2018 Anurag Dixit also made the identical claim, with his tweet drawing over 1,000 retweets. Dixit is followed by top leaders of the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Allies of @RahulGandhi are retweeting him. Indeed a proud moment. pic.twitter.com/wNfCdy1fud — Anurag Dixit (@bhootnath) October 25, 2018 Several others who are followed by the office of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also circulated that the Pakistani Defense wing retweeted Rahul Gandhi’s tweet. Within hours of the aforestated tweets, it was pointed out that the account which retweeted Rahul Gandhi’s tweet wasn’t the official handle of the Defense Ministry of Pakistan. However, none of those who made the claim took down their tweets. There are several clues that indicated that the Twitter account “Pakistan Defence” (@defencedotpk), which retweeted Rahul Gandhi, has nothing to do with Pakistan’s Defence Wing: Numerous unofficial/parody accounts are active on social media and it is common to fall for them. Alt News had earlier reported how parody accounts of several news organisations fooled individuals on the internet. In June this year, a parody account of Warren Buffet escaped the noticed of The Economic Times which published one of its tweets on the daily. Several social media users had also fallen for a parody handle dedicated to Tripura CM Biplab Deb. However, a cabinet minister posting the screenshot of a retweet by the Twitter handle of an online forum to imply that Rahul Gandhi is “fighting for Pakistan in India” cannot be ignored as a mere slight. Despite several social media users pointing out the falseness of the retweet, Giriraj Singh and others are yet to take down their tweets and issue a clarification. 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	26th October 2018 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 22nd March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-an-official-pakistani-defence-account-retweet-rahul-gandhis-tweet/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
906	Bajrang Dal protesting against farm bills? No, video of Shiv Sena protesting fuel prices hike - Alt News Kinjal 18th February 2021 / 4:50 pm A video has recently gone viral on social media platforms with the claim that Bajrang Dal members protested against the new farm laws in Uttar Pradesh. The clip shows a group of protestors raising slogans against Prime Minister Modi. Congress media panelist Surendra Rajput tweeted the visuals and wrote, “Now the BJP’s Bajrang Dal also stands with farmers.” It racked up over 7,500 views at the time of writing. (Archive link) अब #भाजपा का #बजरंग दल भी #किसान के साथ। pic.twitter.com/GOSeyPAF89 — Surendra Rajput (@ssrajputINC) February 13, 2021 Twitter handle @TheDehatDastak shared the clip with the same claim. (Archive link) धीरे धीरे पुरा देश जागेगा अब #भाजपा का #बजरंग_दल भी #किसान के साथ। pic.twitter.com/KmwqLoa1rv — Dehat Dastak/देहात दस्तक (@TheDehatDastak) February 13, 2021 The video is being circulated with the accompanying claim on Facebook and Twitter. अब #भाजपा का #बजरंग दल भी #किसान के साथ। #किसानआंदोलन@UttarPradeshPMC @INCUttarPradesh @priyankagandhi @MahilaCongress @AjayLalluINC @INCIndia @INCMP pic.twitter.com/AncOulQ9qQ — Himani Singh (@imHimanisingh) February 13, 2021 The group is heard rasing Hindi slogans, “This is Modi’s game, cheap alcohol, expensive fuel” and “Word on the street is Modi is a thief”. Apart from this, a poster of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray appears at the 0:21 mark in the clip tweeted by Surendra Rajput. Using this as a clue, Alt News performed a keyword search in Marathi on YouTube. This led us to a channel named ‘NEWS TODAY 24 AHMEDNAGAR’ which had uploaded the original clip on February 6, 2021, as Maharashtra’s Hingoli. The caption mentions that the Shiv Sena staged a protest over the rising price of petrol and diesel in Hingoli. Shiv Sena district chief Santosh Bangar led the rally. Several other YouTube channels have uploaded this video as the Shiv Sena’s protest in Hingoli. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObWQkY1QCD4] Apart from this, ‘Satishchandra Renukadas’ appears on a board in the viral video at the 9th second (readers are requested to watch the video in slow motion). This is a fabric retailer store in Hingoli city named ‘Satishchandra Renukadas Dodal‘. Alt News also reached out to Shiv Sena’s Santosh Bangar who clarified, “The claims being made about this video on social media are false. It is from the demonstration held in Hingoli on February 5 to protest the hike in petrol and diesel prices.” Therefore, visuals from a Shiv Sena protest in Maharashtra’s Hingoli over rising fuel prices were falsely shared as the Bajrang Dal protesting against the new agricultural laws. 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	18th February 2021 / 4:50 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-bajrang-dal-protest-farm-bills-petrol-diesel-price-hingoli/", "author": "Kinjal" }
907	Fact-check: Did Brahmins play a role in key events of Dr Ambedkar's life? - Alt News Archit 11th August 2022 / 7:03 pm In April 2021, user TrueIndology made a series of claims regarding Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar’s childhood, education, and how he gained the surname on the microblogging platform Koo, India’s alternative to Twitter. The account said, “Who took care of Ambedkar as a child? A Brahmin! / Who took care of Ambedkar’s education? A Brahmin! / Who gave his surname Ambedkar? A Brahmin / Who funded Ambedkar’s foreign education? A Hindu nationalist king Sayajirao Gaekwad. / Who married Ambedkar? A Brahmin lady. / Who married Ambedkar’s sisters? Brahmins. / Whom do Ambedkarites abuse? Hindus & Brahmins!” (Archived link) Later, in October 2021, Twitter user @BharadwajSpeaks made a similar claim, baring two — about Dr Ambedkar’s wife and sisters. Thus implying that the major accomplishments of Dr Ambedkar took place because of kind-hearted Brahmins. Yet he “abused” Brahmins. This tweet gained over 5000 retweets. Twitter has suspended this account and as of publishing the article, the account is inaccessible. The readers should note that @BharadwajSpeaks previously owned the Twitter account called TrueIndology which is infamous for sharing fictitious historical claims. In 2017, Alt News published a three-part series called ‘TrueIndology or TrueFraudology‘ that documented and debunked 17 accounts of misinformation by TrueIndology. The account posted an identical tweet in April 2021, which gained over 10,000 retweets. Back then, multiple pro-BJP Facebook pages — PMO Report Card, We Support Arnab Goswami, The Right Side, and Vedic Science, Fighting AntiIndia Elements, Indian Right Wing Community — shared the screenshot of @BharadwajSpeaks’ tweet. Several social media users have made the same claim repeatedly. Twitter user @JoyantaKarmoker tweeted the same in 2022 on the occasion of Dr Ambedkar’s Birthday. (Archived link) Who took care of Ambedkar as a child? A Brahmin Who took care of Ambedkar’s education? A Brahmin Who gave his surname Ambedkar? A Brahmin Who funded Ambedkar’s foreign education? A Hindu nationalist king Raja Sayajirao Gaekwad Whom do Ambedkarites abuse? Hindus and Brahmins. — Joyanta Karmoker(জয়ন্ত কর্মকার) (@JoyantaKarmoker) April 14, 2022 Analysis: Ramji Sakpal, Dr Ambedkar’s father, passed away in 1913. At that time, Dr Ambedkar was in his early twenties. Therefore, throughout his childhood i.e., the first 18 years of his life, his father was the de facto guardian. Based on ‘Waiting for a Visa‘, a 20-page autobiographical life story of Dr Ambedkar (April 14, 1891—December 6, 1956), in the chapter ‘A childhood journey to Koregaon becomes a nightmare’ we learn about his father’s occupation. Dr Ambedkar wrote he lost his mother before he turned 10 and they hailed from the Mahar community. They were treated as untouchables in the Bombay Presidency. Their family came originally from Dapoli Taluka of the Ratnagiri District of the Bombay Presidency. His father, like his forefathers, joined the Army and retired as a Subedar. They stayed in Satara until 1904. In this section, he narrates an incident when his father had to leave out of town. Here we learn his father did not leave him under the guardianship of a Brahmin. “When my father went to Koregaon he left me, my brother, who was older than myself, and two sons of my eldest sister (who was dead), in charge of my aunt and some kind neighbours. My aunt was the kindest soul I know, but she was of no help to us. She was somewhat of a dwarf and had some trouble with her legs, which made it very difficult for her to move about without somebody’s aid. Oftentimes she had to be lifted. I had sisters. They were married and were away living with their families.” — Excerpt from ‘Waiting for a Visa’ Based on this paragraph, it appears because of his aunt’s health condition, she could not provide the necessary supervision. Therefore, his father left him under his elder brother and neighbour’s watch. Naturally, his brother was not a Brahmin. Thus leaving us to verify if the neighbours were Brahmins. Alt News reached out to an academician from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. At the request of anonymity, the professor said, “We are talking about social stratification a century ago when casteism was rampant. It is unlikely that Ambedkar’s neighbours would be Brahmins”. The readers should note that Dr Ambedkar’s home is in Satara’s Sadar Bazar. Alt News spoke with Satara-based media advocacy activist Siddharth Kharath. “The Sadar Bazar area comprises four wards all of them are reserved for scheduled caste. It is outlined in the government document Satara Nagar Parishad Annexure 2 [View PDF] which was drafted for the General election 2021-2022. The document covers the border and its description for specific wards in Sadar Bazaar. Out of the four wards, two wards comprise — the old bungalow of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, now identify as “Amane Bungalow” and the tomb of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s mother late Bhimabai Ambedkar.” Conclusion: To sum it up, Dr Ambedkar’s father was the de facto guardian throughout his childhood. Based on his autobiography and inputs from an academician at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, it is unlikely that his neighbours were from the Brahmin community. Thus, there is no evidence that a Brahmin was Ambedkar’s guardian in his childhood. FACT-CHECK: The second claim doesn’t specify the level of education while making this claim. However, the subsequent claim mentions his higher education abroad. Thus, this claim is presumably about Ambedkar’s high school education. Biographer Dhananjay Keer wrote ‘Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission’ in 1956. In the book, he wrote that as a five-year-old Ambedkar enrolled at a school in Dapoli. It is a city in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district. The next time Ambedkar’s primary education is referenced, it is from the period when he was staying in Satara. Keer has mentioned no shortage of funds for education during this period (1896-1906). It’s worth noting that his father was a veteran, thus the cost of primary education must have been affordable. Later in the text, Keer wrote that Ambedkar’s father ran out of funds after Ambedkar’s Inter-Arts Examination. His post-matriculation education took place at Mumbai’s Elphinstone College in Bombay. Maharaja of Baroda — Sayajirao Gaekwad III, a Maratha ruler, funded this. Sayajirao Gaekwad III was the Maharaja of Baroda State from 1875 to 1939. As per a Government of India website, he hailed from a Maratha clan called Matre, meaning minister. Gaekwad is well regarded as a progressive ruler. An article in Better India states, “His tenure saw the abolishment of infant marriage, legalisation of widow marriage, and the introduction of free and compulsory primary education in 1893.” “Among the Indian Princes, it was Shri Sayajirao Gaekwad of Baroda who started schools for the Untouchables in 1883. But in those days his State had to depend upon Muslim teachers for the growth of those schools, for caste Hindu teachers would not accept the posts of teachers in those schools.” — Excerpt from Dr Ambedkar: Life and Mission by Dhananjay Keer In the part one of Volume 17 of the ‘Writings & Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’ available on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs, there is an exchange between Gaekwad and Dr Ambedkar. H. H. Maharaja: What will you do by studying these subjects? Bhimrao: The study of these subjects would give me clues for improving the depressed condition of my society and I shall undertake the work of social reforms on those lines. H. H. Maharaja: (Laughingly) But you are going to serve us, isn’t it? Then how are you going to study, serve and also do the social service? Bhimrao: If H. H. Maharaja gives me due opportunity, I shall manage to do all the things. H. H. Maharaja: I have been thinking on the same lines. I am thinking of sending you to America will you go? Bhimrao: Yes Sir. H. H. Maharaja: Now you can go. Send an application of foreign proposed study to our Academic Officer asking for a scholarship and inform me accordingly. Alt News spoke with Hari Narke, editor of Writings & Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar from volumes 17 to 22. Narke was conferred the 2022 ‘Dr Ambedkar International Award’ by the Ambedkar Association of North America. Narke told Alt News, “Maharaja Sayajirao was a progressive king. Indeed, he was Hindu. But to label him as “Hindu nationalist king” would be inaccurate because the phrase “Hindu nationalist” is politically loaded and often synonymous with an orthodox individual”. Conclusion: To sum it up, Sayajirao Gaekwad funded Dr Ambedkar’s foreign education. However, to label Sayajirao as a “Hindu nationalist king” is disingenuous. There is no evidence of the claim that a Brahmin funded Ambedkar’s education. FACT-CHECK: Dr Ambedkar married twice in his lifetime. Firstpost reported Ramabai Bhimrao Ambedkar was the first wife of Dr Ambedkar. She belonged to a poor Dalit family. At the time of their marriage, in 1906, she was nine years of age, while he was 15. They were married for 29 years until Ramabai’s demise because of prolonged illness. Thirteen years later, Dr Ambedkar married Dr Sharada Kabir. She took the name Savita Ambedkar after her marriage. The Indian Express reported, “Born in a middle-class Sarasvat Brahmin family, Dr Sharada Kabir met and got to know Dr BR Ambedkar as a patient riddled with life-threatening diseases. She eventually married him on April 15, 1948, and got rechristened Savita Ambedkar.” The caste of Dr Ambedkar’s wife does not show his opinion about the caste system or his views on Brahmins. Dr Ambedkar advocated inter-caste marriage to break the caste system in India. “Another plan of action for the abolition of Caste is to begin with inter-caste dinners. This also, in my opinion, is an inadequate remedy. There are many castes which allow inter-dining. But it is a common experience that inter-dining has not succeeded in killing the spirit of Caste and the consciousness of Caste. I am convinced that the real remedy is inter-marriage. Fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin, and unless this feeling of kinship, of being marriage. Fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin, and unless this feeling of kinship, of being kindred, becomes paramount, the separatist feeling—the feeling of being aliens—created by Caste will not vanish. Among the Hindus, inter-marriage must necessarily be a factor of greater force in social life than it need be in the life of the non-Hindus. Where society is already well-knit by other ties, marriage is an ordinary incident of life. But where society is cut asunder, marriage as a binding force becomes a matter of urgent necessity. The real remedy for breaking Caste is inter-marriage. Nothing else will serve as the solvent of Caste.” — Excerpt from ‘Annihilation of Caste’ Conclusion: To sum it up, the claim that Dr Ambedkar married a Brahmin woman is true. However, it does not tell the complete story. Dr Ambedkar’s first wife hailed from the Dalit community and his second wife converted to Buddhism after marriage. FACT-CHECK In Dr Ambedkar’s biography, Keer wrote Dr Ambedkar had 14 siblings. However, by the time they shifted to Satara, only three brothers and two sisters survived — “Balaram was the eldest, Aandrao was the second, then followed two daughters Manjula and Tulsi and the youngest was Bhim.” On page 34, while speaking about the sister’s marriage, he didn’t mention that they were married to Brahmins. Keer does not mention the sisters later in the book. Narke said, “This claim is absolutely false. Both sisters were married to men from the same caste as theirs”. Over an email exchange, Prakash Ambedkar, Dr Ambedkar’s grandson, told Alt News, “Only Dr Ambedkar ventured in inter-caste marriage. None of his siblings did the same.” Conclusion: There is no evidence of the claim that Dr Ambedkar’s sisters were married to Brahmin. Dr Ambedkar’s grandson refuted the claim. FACT-CHECK: Keer in his book wrote a section about the origins of the surname ‘Ambedkar’. According to Keer, a Brahmin teacher offered Dr Ambedkar his surname. However, he didn’t name the said teacher. Author of the 2009 book ‘Geographical Thought of Dr BR Ambedkar’, Deepak Mahadeo Rao Wankhede claimed that the name of the teacher who changed the surname ‘Ambavadekar’ to Ambedkar was Krishna Keshave Ambedkar. In 2022, The Indian Express reported that the surname Ambavadekar was drawn from the name of Dr Ambedkar’s native village Ambavade in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. The report added, “As his teacher, Mahadev Ambedkar was very fond of him, the teacher changed Bhimrao Ramji’s surname to Ambedkar.” Narke said, “People are divided over this issue. However, based on my research and my peers’ work, I can state without hesitation Dr Ambedkar’s primary school teacher — Krushnaji Keshav Ambedkar — offered him his surname.” Narke also provided a sketch of the teacher, along with photos of the kins up to three generations. He continued, “Besides the biographical works by Dhananjay Keer, Changdev Bhavanrao Khairmode, and Vasant Moon, the interview published by Marathi-weekly Navyug on April 13, 1947, is the most ‘sound’ evidence. As per this article, Dr Ambedkar told professor Satyabodh Hudlikar that Krushnaji Keshav Ambedkar gave his surname to him.” While there is no soft copy of this article, Narke shared an image of the relevant section from Khairmode’s book. Alt News used Google Lens to translate its content and found that Khairmode has indeed cited Navyug as evidence that Dr Ambedkar himself said a Brahmin master gave him his surname. Narke added, “As per Khairmode and Moon, Krushnaji Keshav Ambedkar met Dr Ambedkar prior to the latter’s departure from Mumbai to attend the 1930 round table conference in London. Upon inquiry, Narke clarified that Khairmode and Moon hailed from the same community as Ambedkar — the Mahar community, who are presently known as Buddhists. However, Hudalikar hails from the Brahmin caste.” In a 2019 program by ABP Majha, the grandson of Dr Ambedkar, Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar, responded (at 44:40 mark) saying, “It was a fact” when the question was asked whether a Bhramin teacher indeed gave Dr Ambedkar the surname. Prakash is also the president of the political party called the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeYD8-Gl5zc?start=2669&w=560&h=315] Conclusion: Alt News spoke with Rajratna Ambedkar, another kin of Dr Ambedkar. He disputed that a Brahmin teacher changed Dr Ambedkar’s surname. However, the readers should note that there is overwhelming evidence that suggests that Dr Ambedkar himself stated about getting his surname from a Brahmin teacher in an interview with Marathi magazine Navyug in 1947. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. The UK’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away last week. In the backdrop of… A day after the Supreme Court upheld the findings of a special investigation team (SIT)… Tata Sons made the winning bid of Rs 18,000 crore for Air India, the airline… Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday claimed that Hindu Mahasabha leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar filed… On August 7, Neeraj Chopra’s javelin throw of 87.58m bagged him a gold medal at…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th August 2022 / 7:03 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-brahmins-play-a-role-in-key-events-of-dr-ambedkars-life/", "author": "Archit" }
908	Fact-check: Did Chhattisgarh CM 'fake' receiving second dose of COVID vaccine? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 28th May 2021 / 8:11 pm / Last updated: 30th May 2021 BJP Delhi spokesperson Neetu Dabas tweeted a photograph of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel posing for the cameras while receiving the second dose of the COVID vaccine at Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Medical College in Raipur. The image shows that the needle cap on the syringe hasn’t been taken off. Dabas suggested that the CM did not take the vaccine. छत्तीसगढ़ की कांग्रेस सरकार ने नई तकनीक इजात की है जिसमें सिरिंज से “निडिल केप” निकाले बिना सीधे मुख्यमंत्री को वैक्सीन लगाई जा सकती है!! यह अद्भुत आईडिया जरूर राहुल गांधी ने मुख्यमंत्री को दिया होगा। pic.twitter.com/9qiqgN3kON — Neetu Dabas,(नीतू डबास)🇮🇳 (@INeetuDabas) May 27, 2021 BJP Delhi spokesperson Virender Babbar has also shared the photograph and alluded the same. छत्तीसगढ़ की कांग्रेस सरकार ने नई तकनीक इजात की है जिसमें सिरिंज से “निडिल केप” निकाले बिना सीधे मुख्यमंत्री को वैक्सीन लगाई जा सकती है!! यह अद्भुत आईडिया जरूर राहुल गांधी ने मुख्यमंत्री को दिया होगा। Posted by Virender Babbar on Thursday, 27 May 2021 So did former BJP MLA from Chhattisgarh Devji Patel. दाऊ @bhupeshbaghel जी! आप ला बताना चाहत रेहेंव,आपके ध्यान फोटू खिंचाए में रिहिस तेन टाइम ये नर्स बहिनी हा आप ला “ठगेश वैक्सीन” लगा दिस❗ निडिल मा प्लास्टिक के कैप लगा के! काली फेर लगवा लुहु अउ प्रयास करहु आज असन फेर “वैक्सीन बर्बाद” झन हो❗@INCChhattisgarh@PurandeswariBJP https://t.co/tL5YM8JAnO pic.twitter.com/jkuBddhWON — देवजी भाई पटेल (@DevjiBhaiPatel_) May 27, 2021 The claim has been further amplified by individual users on Twitter and Facebook. Alt News spoke with Chhattisgarh CM Advisor Ruchir Garg who shared a video with us that shows CM Baghel receiving the jab. This video was also tweeted by Congress Chhattisgarh leader Idris Gandhi. मुख्यमंत्री @bhupeshbaghel ji कोरोना से बचाव के लिए टीका का दूसरा डोज लगवाते हुए दरअसल छत्तीसगढ़ में आरोप-प्रत्यारोप की राजनीति कुछ इस तरह से कुलाँचे मार रहीं हैं, कि बिना सत्यता को जाने अनर्गल बयानबाज़ी करने से बाज़ नही आ रहे हैं। 1/2 pic.twitter.com/xmqmGGQQ7v — Idris Gandhi (@IdrisGandhi) May 28, 2021 We also contacted Chhattisgarh Collector Bharti Dasan who said that he was present at the vaccination centre with the Chief Medical Health Officer (CMHO) and SSP when CM Baghel received the jab. The photograph where the nurse is holding a syringe with the needle cap intact was a photo-op for the media. CM Baghel had tweeted a picture of him receiving the second dose. He appealed to people to get the jab. मेरे प्यारे छत्तीसगढ़वासियों, जय जोहार! जय सियाराम!! pic.twitter.com/iI2xTkMpYE — Bhupesh Baghel (@bhupeshbaghel) May 28, 2021 BJP members targetted Congress by falsely claiming that Chhattisgarh CM ‘faked’ taking the second dose of the vaccine. Earlier in January, Congress had targetted BJP by claiming that Tumkur medical officials ‘pretended’ to take the jab. The officials had also refuted the claim and clarified they posed for the camera after getting vaccinated. [Update: Devji Patel is a former MLA, not MP. The same has been rectified in the report.] 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	28th May 2021 / 8:11 pm / Last updated: 30th May 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-chhattisgarh-cm-fake-receiving-second-dose-of-covid-vaccine/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
909	No, Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh's men did not disrupt Durga Puja in Mumbai in this video - Alt News Kinjal 21st October 2020 / 7:42 pm A 32-second video is viral with the claim that ‘Jihadis’ went inside a Durga Puja pandal in Mumbai and interrupted the festivities. In the video, a man wearing a blue shirt enters the pandal along with another man and asks people to stop the music. Later, the same man can be heard saying, “If you want to live in the colony, you will have to chant Aslam Bhai Aslam Bhai. Modiji won’t come here, only Aslam Bhai will.” Twitter handle @MyBharat9 tweeted the video with the same claim. At the time of writing this article, the tweet garnered over 2,600 retweets. (archive link) Columnist Shefali Vaidya also quote-tweeted the video and asked, “Is this for real”. Is this for real? https://t.co/6518FEGrMA — Shefali Vaidya. (@ShefVaidya) October 19, 2020 On Twitter, several other users including Babli Pandey, @Kreately Media and Richa Rajpoot posted the video with the same claim. देखिये कैसे जिहदीयो ने नहीं मानने दिया #दुर्गापूजा #मुंबई pic.twitter.com/mBfYV9WKzW — Kreately (@KreatelyMedia) October 18, 2020 It may be noted that Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh has been elected thrice from the Malad West Assembly Constituency in Mumbai. The video was also shared on Facebook with identical narrative. Best Hindi News published an article on the video, on October 19, 2020, reiterating the social media claims. दुर्गा पंडाल में घुसकर भजन बंद करवा कर बोला, “कॉलोनी में रहना है तो असलम भाई कहना है, यहां मोदी नहीं आएगा !” मलाड मुंबई की घटना ! Posted by Saurabh Singh on Sunday, 18 October 2020 With a keyword search, we found that the same video was shared last year with the claim that members of the Muslim community interrupted Durga Puja celebrations. Media outlets like News Nation, Swarajya (now deleted), OpIndia, and InKhabar passed it off with this claim. Postcard News founder Mahesh Vikram Hegde also promoted the claim in 2019. InKhabar alleged that the video is from Mumbai’s Malad area. According to its report, the person wearing a blue shirt is associated with Aslam Shaikh. The claim, however, is false. On October 11, BBC Hindi published a fact-check report stating that the man in blue shirt is Ashish Singh. As per his Facebook profile, Singh is the owner of Kings Fitness gym and the vice president of Yuva Ekta Samajik Sanstha. Alt News contacted Ashish Singh to know the details of what exactly transpired. “I was jokingly creating a video similar to Tik-Tok clips. On that day around 1 PM, my friends and I were sitting together and discussing the elections. This was ahead of Maharashtra assembly elections. We were speculating that Aslam Shaikh is destined to win the elections. We made the video to have fun. But the clip was picked up on social media and shared with the claim that Durga Puja festivities were interrupted for Azaan. The video was falsely linked to Aslam Shaikh and shared online ahead of Maharashtra polls. However, the claim isn’t true at all. The video was given a Hindu-Muslim narrative. We had registered a complaint against social media misinformation,” he said. Singh further added, “The video is viral once again before Bihar elections.” When asked about the other individuals, he said, “The person with whom I am speaking to in the video is Ravishankar Dubey and the one standing with me is my friend Nadeem Shaikh.” Last year, Singh had tweeted about the complaint filed by him and his friend Ravishankar Dubey. In another tweet, he can be seen alongside Dubey in a video where they reiterate the sequence of events as explained to Alt News. @INCMumbai @BJP4Maharashtra @bjp4mumbai pic.twitter.com/K5FoEfMRW2 — Ashish Singh Raghuvanshi (@ashraghuvanshi) October 9, 2019 Ashish also informed that a complaint was filed against him after the video went viral with false claims. However, the complaint was quashed after he and his friend clarified the details to the police. 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	21st October 2020 / 7:42 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-congress-leader-aslam-khans-men-stopped-bhajan-at-durga-pandal-in-mumbai-malad/", "author": "Kinjal" }
910	Fact-check: Did Darul Uloom Deoband slam TMC MP Nusrat Jahan for celebrating Durga Puja? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 9th October 2019 / 1:00 pm First-time parliamentarian, TMC’s Nusrat Jahan, recently celebrated Durga Puja with her husband Nikhil Jain in Kolkata. Soon after, news reports by mainstream media flashed headlines stating that a Darul Uloom Deoband cleric ‘Mufti Asad Qasmi’ attacked Jahan for participating in the celebrations of a Hindu festival. The headline of an article in Firstpost read, “‘Nusrat Jahan defaming Islam’: Muslim cleric from Darul Uloom Deoband slams TMC MP for attending Durga Puja celebrations”. This was a syndicated PTI feed, same as the news reports published by many other news organisations – Moneycontrol, The Wire, Times of India, Free Press Journal, The Hindu, Outlook and News18. Darul Uloom Deoband is one of the oldest Islamic universities in India. “The institution never makes personal statements on any individuals. If it does give opinions on an issue, it is always through a press note,” spokesperson of Darul Uloom Deoband, Ashraf Usmani, told Alt News. Mufti Asad Qasmi, whom the media posed as a cleric from Darul Uloom Deoband, is not associated with the institution. Incidentally, this wasn’t the first time he has been featured on TV to comment on Nusrat Jahan’s life choices. He was also invited to news studios in July this year when the media created a controversy about Jahan adorning vermillion in the Parliament after her marriage to a Jain. Qasmi’s personal statements were first reported as the views of Islamic clerics, then as opinions of Darul Uloom Deoband and lastly, as a fatwa issued against Jahan. Alt News had spoken to Asad Qasmi at length in July when he had clarified that he is not associated with Darul Uloom Deoband in any manner but used to be a former student in the institution. Qasmi is currently a Mufti in Deoband. You can read Alt News’s detailed report on the misinformation here. In other words, an obscure Mufti was chosen to give a statement on Nusrat Jahan’s Durga Puja celebrations which created a controversy out of thin air. “Islam doesn’t need people who assume Muslim names and defame Islam and Muslims,” Mufti Asad Qasmi, a cleric associated with Darul Uloom Deoband, told TV news channels,” reported PTI. As mentioned earlier, this was republished by multiple media outlets. However, there were also a few media organisations that published independent reports on the misinformation. “Mufti Asad Qasmi, a cleric associated with Darul Uloom Deoband, accused Nusrat of defaming Muslims and Islam,” wrote Financial Express. Similar reports were carried out by India TV and Swarajya. According to an India Today report, Mufti Asad Qasmi, a cleric associated with Darul Uloom Deoband, told media, “She [Nusrat Jahan] had also married outside religion. She should change her name and religion. Islam doesn’t need people who assume Muslim names and defame Islam and Muslims.” India Today also covered the ‘issue’ on multiple television broadcasts. While Darul Uloom was not mentioned during the shows, journalist Shiv Aroor, anchoring the channel’s daily program ‘5ive’, said, “Clerics have called her Unislamic.” He further added, “Remember this is not the first time that Nusrat Jahan has been attacked by certain clerics. Soon after taking oath in the Lok Sabha, a fatwa was issued against Nusrat for wearing sindoor and chanting Vande Matram.” Aroor’s statements were incorrect on all counts – the opinions of one Mufti were represented as views of Islamic clerics on the whole. He also referred to a piece of misinformation, the fatwa story, which was debunked months ago. After Aroor’s introduction, Mufti Asad Qasmi was brought on the show where he made the outrageous statements attributed to him. This was followed by Shia Waqf Board Head and VHP Vice-President condemning Qasmi’s words. The channel also got a hold of Jahan. A reporter asked the MP, “Are you ready for another controversy?” The show was concluded with nearly a half an hour debate on the subject while the channel flashed ‘Nusrat vs Clerics’ on television screens. Times Now also broadcast shows on the topic. While its report said that the cleric was associated with Darul Uloom, the same wasn’t mentioned during the TV broadcast. Anchor Rahul Shivshankar opened the show with the statement, “There has been a major controversy.” Subsequently, he too talked about an earlier ‘fatwa’ issued in Jahan’s name for “adorning symbols of a Hindu bride”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6_xHAhoRZI Hindi media outlets also did not leave behind the ‘controversy’. Navbharat Times, Jansatta, News18 Hindi, Punjab Kesari, NDTV Hindi, Zee News, Prabhat Khabar, Lokmat News, Oneindia Hindi, Webdunia Hindi, Asianet News Hindi, IBC 24 and Newstrack – all published reports with the ‘Darul Uloom Deoband’ angle. However, several other news channels claimed that the Mufti is associated with ‘Itehaad Ulema-hind’. This included ANI, Republic TV, NDTV English and News18 Hindi. Incidentally, News18 also brought in a fatwa angle. Right-wing website Opindia also published a misreport with a fatwa angle and wrote, “The cleric Mufti Azad Wasmi of the prominent Darul Uloom Deoband slammed the TMC MP for embracing Hindu traditions and grimly suggested her to change her religion instead of bringing disrepute to Islam.” In conclusion, the media reached out to an unknown Mufti from Deoband, who was likely to give controversial statements on Nusrat Jahan’s participation in a Hindu festival, and created news out of nothing. While some media platforms falsely linked the cleric to Darul Uloom Deoband, others associated him with an obscure organisation ‘Itehaad Ulema-hind’. While it is possible that he has links to the latter, what is most confounding is that there were also those outlets which couldn’t decide, therefore, carried two different reports – one mentioning Itehaad Ulema-hind and the other, Darul Uloom Deoband. For instance, NDTV claimed in its English report that Qasmi belonged to Itehaad Ulema-hind but the channel’s Hindi report associated him with Darul Uloom Deoband. News18 also published two different Hindi articles – 1, 2 – along similar lines. The Times of India also carried two different reports – 1, 2. This mismatch in reports can be linked to PTI and ANI reporting the story differently. PTI had claimed that Qasmi was associated with Darul Uloom while ANI linked him to Itehaad Ulema-hind. 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	9th October 2019 / 1:00 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-darul-uloom-deoband-slam-tmc-mp-nusrat-jahan-for-celebrating-durga-puja/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
911	Morphed photo: Image showing Kejriwal holding inverted bow and arrow is doctored - Alt News Kinjal 18th October 2022 / 2:58 pm For the last few days, a picture of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been widely circulating on social media. In the image, Kejriwal is taking aim with an inverted bow and arrow. Social media users are sharing the image and mocking Kejriwal. A user with the handle ‘@Sabhapa30724463‘ tweeted the photo, writing that it was the misfortune of the country that the arrow was not shot or there would have been chaos. The post had garnered 544 retweets at the time of writing. Another Twitter user named Ritika also shared the image with a similar message. Several other users also amplified the photo. It also made its way to Facebook. Alt News performed a keyword search and found a report by the Indian Express dated October 6, 2022. However, the bow and arrow is held in the right orientation by Arvind Kejriwal in the picture carried by the newspaper. This indicates that the viral image was doctored in order to mock the Delhi chief minister. According to the Express, Arvind Kejriwal had gone to the Ramlila celebrations organized at Red Fort in Delhi on the occasion of Dussehra. He also addressed the public after the burning of the Ravana effigy. Below is a side by side comparison of the image included in the article and the viral image. It is clearly visible here that Arvind Kejriwal is not holding the bow and arrow in reverse direction. Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted a video from these celebrations on October 5. In the video, the leader is seen setting the Ravana effigy ablaze at the 1:48 mark. भगवान राम त्याग का प्रतीक हैं। वह अपने माता-पिता के कहने पर राजपाट त्याग कर 14 वर्षों के लिए वनवास चले गए थे। भगवान श्री रामचंद्र जी के आशीर्वाद से भारत दुनिया का सर्वश्रेष्ठ राष्ट्र बने, यही मेरा सपना है। जय श्री राम pic.twitter.com/Yj4v02SJfP — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) October 5, 2022 To sum it up, a doctored image of Arvind Kejriwal, who was present at the Dussehra celebrations, was edited and shared on social media while mocking the leader. 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	18th October 2022 / 2:58 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-delhi-cm-arvind-kejriwal-seen-with-inverted-bow-and-arrow-false/", "author": "Kinjal" }
912	Fact-check: Did farmer protestors stop Indian Army convoys heading to China border? - Alt News Archit 8th October 2021 / 4:30 pm / Last updated: 8th October 2021 A video of an Indian army man negotiating for passage of military convoys with a group of Sikh men has gone viral. In the opening few seconds, we see that there is a long queue of military trucks and other civilian vehicles. It is shared along with a Hindi text insinuating that farmers stopped the convoy heading to the Indo-China border. The video is widespread against the backdrop of a minor face-off at Tawang after Chinese troops intruded into Indian territory. Viral messages suggest that farmers are obstructing the Indian Army from carrying its duties. Alt News received requests to fact-check this claim on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160). (Viral text: चीन सीमा पर चढ़ आया है युद्ध की आशंका है भारत अपनी सेना पहुंचा रहा हे ऐसे नाजुक समय में किसानों ने सेना के काफिले को रोक दिया है इसे दो भागों में बाट दिया गया है आधी गाडिय़ों को जाने दिया और आधी को रोक दिया सेना परेशान हे अफसर विनती कर रहे हैं पर इन पर कोई असर नही हो रहा आज यह देखकर मेरे मन में इनके प्रति जो सम्मान था जो इज्ज़त थी वो समाप्त हो गई और में ही नही इस देश का समझदार पढ़ा लिखा और गरीब मजदूर भी इनकी इस हरकत को देख कर इनसे नफरत ही करेगा थूकेगा इनके ऊपर ।) This video has been shared in several pro-government Facebook pages with members ranging from a few thousand to 10 lakhs — भाजपा लक्ष्य 2024 ( समर्थन के लिए जुड़े ) [close to 10 lakh members] योगी आदित्यनाथ जी के फैन (ग्रुप) [ over 3 lakh members], भारतीय जनता पार्टी (2024) [over 3 lakh members], एक कोटी भाजपा समर्थक [84,000 members], RSS [81,000 members], जय भाजपा , तय भाजपा ।। [69,000 members] भाजपा महाराष्ट्र [31,000 members] कट्टर हिन्दु (official group) [14,000 members], 🚩योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना🚩 ( 🚩योगी भक्त जुड़े 🚩) [11,000 members] and We Love & Support PM MODI [2,000 members] At the 20-second mark in the viral video, an army man states that they are engaged in an exercise. This video was also tweeted by Anil Chopra, an Indian Airforce veteran, on September 28. Army convoy stopped. Was highly avoidable pic.twitter.com/gEmViHoePg — Aviator Anil Chopra (@Chopsyturvey) September 28, 2021 In order to verify the video, we spoke with a concerned Indian Army official. He told Alt News, “This video is from September 27.” Readers should note that on this day a Bharat Bandh was called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 40 farm unions from 6 AM to 4 PM to mark one year since President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the three controversial farm laws. “Twenty vehicles were headed from Kapurthala to Bir Sarangwal (Jalandhar) as a part of the field exercise,” he added, which means the convoy was travelling within the State of Punjab. “A section of the convoy was stopped by members of the Kisan Aandolan Morcha near Jalandhar. The stoppage was only for 20 minutes. The farmers were courteous and shook hands while departing which is not shown in the viral video,” the officer said. When we specifically asked if the convoy was heading to the Indo-China border, the officer refuted the claim. To conclude, another video was shared on social media to discredit the ongoing farmers’ protest. Last year, Alt News debunked a video of military trucks passing by on a highway with the false claim that the army has been deployed to control the protests. 🙏 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	8th October 2021 / 4:30 pm / Last updated: 8th October 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-farmer-protestors-stop-indian-army-convoys-heading-to-china-border/", "author": "Archit" }
913	Fact-check: Did Finance Ministry state inflation has affected rich more than poor? - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 19th May 2022 / 2:36 pm A graphic featuring a picture of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is making the rounds on social media. It claims that the Finance Ministry said that inflation hurts the rich more than the poor in 2022. The fact-checking wing of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the Indian government’s nodal media agency, declared that the statement was “fake”. PIB tweeted that the Finance Ministry hasn’t given any such statement. (Archive link) A Tweet with the picture of Union Finance Minister @nsitharaman is being circulated claiming that the Finance Ministry has stated – “Inflation will affect the rich more than the poor in 2022” #PIBFactCheck: ▶️ The Claim is #Fake ▶️ @FinMinIndia has not given such statement pic.twitter.com/DpwEWr7DJt — PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 15, 2022 Finance Ministry’s Twitter handle retweeted PIB’s fact-check. (Archive link) Alt News performed keyword searches on Twitter and found a tweet posted by Moneycontrol dated May 12. It states that the Finance Ministry wrote in the April edition of the Economic Review Report that the poor have suffered less due to rising prices in FY 2022 than the rich (archive link). The tweet also contained a link to an article. Writing in the monthly economic review report for April, the finance ministry’s officials said the poor were hurt less by higher #prices in FY22 as compared to the rich. Here’s how👇https://t.co/ZI6B7J3HUD By @SiddharthUbiWan \| #Economy #FinanceMinistry — Moneycontrol (@moneycontrolcom) May 12, 2022 The headline of the article reads, “Inflation hurt rich more than poor in FY22, says Finance Ministry”. Its archived version can be accessed here. The Economic Report for April 2022 accessible on the Finance Ministry’s website states verbatim, “Evidence on consumption patterns further suggests that inflation in India has a lesser impact on low-income strata than on high-income groups.” This can be read on the third page of the report. Livemint and Deccan Herald also published articles quoting the Economic Review Report based on the Moneycontrol article. However, it must be noted that the outlet has since replaced the article. The earlier link redirects readers to a new article. To sum it up, the Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance stated in a report that inflation had a lower impact on people with lower incomes than those with higher incomes. The fact-checking wing of the Press Information Bureau, the Indian government’s nodal media agency, falsely declared the statement “fake”. 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). 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 May 2022 / 2:36 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-finance-ministry-say-richest-facing-more-inflation-than-poorest/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
914	Fact-check: Has Dr Manmohan Singh been invited to Joe Biden's swearing-in ceremony? - Alt News Kinjal 13th November 2020 / 1:55 pm Joe Biden emerged as the winner and the 46th President of the United States in the recently-concluded US Presidental elections. He is set to take the presidential oath at his inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2021. Meanwhile, social media has been rife with claims that former Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has been invited to Biden’s inauguration. A few photos of the two leaders with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have also been shared along with this claim. Facebook user Gurcharan Singh Bindra made one such post. (Archive link) अमेरिका के नए राष्ट्रपति बाईडन के शपथ ग्रहण समारोह के मुख्य अतिथि होंगे भारत के पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री डॉ.मनमोहनसिंह !! Congratulations !! Posted by Gurcharan Singh Bindra on Sunday, November 8, 2020 Twitter user @Shayarcasm, which seems to be a parody account of India Today’s senior journalist Rahul Kanwal, also tweeted this claim. (Archive link) Several other users made similar statements on Twitter and Facebook. Alt News also received some requests to fact-check the viral message on our official mobile application. We did not find any media reports confirming the alleged invitation by Biden to Singh in our keyword search on Google. If an Indian leader were indeed invited to an American president’s inauguration, it would have undoubtedly received widespread media coverage. In fact, a number of media outlets have rubbished the claims of Dr Manmohan Singh being invited for the swearing-in ceremony. Furthermore, while searching for Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony, we found an article in The New York Times from November 9, 2020. It states that only American officials and some well-known public figures will take part in the ceremony. The event will be organised by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremony (JCCIC). On the JCCIC website, we found a press release dated July 1, 2020, with the latest update. The press release gives details of the preparations for the swearing-in ceremony. It contains no information about the list of attendees or invites. It is worth noting that guests cannot enter without an invitation or ticket. At the time of writing, there was no news of invitations to Biden’s swearing-in ceremony being sent out. Alt News reached out to Daman Singh, daughter of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, to uncover the truth behind this claim. She informed us that Dr Singh had no knowledge of the matter. In 2009, no foreign leaders were invited to former US President Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony. Furthermore, pictures of Dr Singh, Biden, and Clinton accompanying the claim are actually from November 24, 2009, when then-Secretary of State Clinton and then-Vice President Biden organised a lunch program for the former Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh. This is when these photos were also taken. This event has also been mentioned in the archive of the Prime Minister’s Office. Therefore, the online claim regarding former Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh’s invitation to the swearing-in ceremony of American President-elect, Joe Biden, is fabricated. No media reports corroborating these claims were found at the time of writing. 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	13th November 2020 / 1:55 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-former-pm-manmohan-singh-get-invitation-of-joe-biden-oath-ceremony/", "author": "Kinjal" }
915	Fact-check: Did Gautam Gambhir use a body double for his election campaign? - Alt News Jignesh Patel 11th May 2019 / 10:39 pm / Last updated: 12th May 2019 A photograph related to BJP’s East Delhi candidate Gautam Gambhir’s campaign trail has gone viral on social media. In the image, Gambhir can be seen seated on the front passenger seat while an unidentified man is standing on top of the vehicle and waving at the crowd. It is being claimed that Gambhir had hired a doppelganger who was campaigning on his behalf. Aam Aadmi Party supporter Kapil tweeted the photo claiming that Gambhir had “hired a ‘duplicate’ to stand for him in the heat and campaign for him!”. Chowkidar @GautamGambhir hired a ‘duplicate’ to stand for him in the heat and campaign for him! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/uBIqFw5x9J — Kapil (@kapsology) May 10, 2019 AAP social media head also quote-tweeted Kapil’s tweet with a comment, “2 वोटर कार्ड – 2 गौतम गंभीर (2 voter card -2 Gautam Gambhir -translated)”. 2 वोटर कार्ड – 2 गौतम गंभीर https://t.co/4ussDPfiZe — Deshbhakt Ankit Lal (@AnkitLal) May 10, 2019 Joint Secretary of AAP, Akshay Marathe went a step further by tweeting a collage of photos to suggest that a Congress leader named Gaurav Arora was campaigning for Gambhir as a “stunt double”. Another AAP supporter Durgesh Pathak also made the identical claim posting the same images. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also quote-tweeted a tweet by Pathak taking potshots at Gambhir and his party for allegedly using a “duplicate” in order to avoid the heat. Kundan Kumar, a journalist with Hindi news channel TV9 Bharatvarsh, was one of the earliest to tweet the image. ये कांग्रेस और बीजेपी की महामिलावट है. गौतम गम्भीर ए.सी. गाड़ी में नीचे बैठे है. उन्हें धूप में समस्या है. उनकी जगह उनका हमशक्ल कैंप लगाकर खड़ा है. कार्यकर्ता ‘डुप्लीकेट’ को गौतम गम्भीर समझकर माला पहना रहे हैं. और जो डुप्लीकेट है वो असल में कांग्रेसी नेता है. https://t.co/bT0k0QYVSG — Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) May 10, 2019 Alt News found that the man claimed to be Gambhir’s ‘duplicate’ has had a long association with the BJP candidate. The individual’s name is Gaurav Arora. We found multiple pictures and videos of Arora where he is flanked by Gautam Gambhir. These pictures date back to the time before Gambhir joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Alt News was able to access multiple pictures of Gambhir’s rally from the same spot as the viral picture. We tried to ascertain whether Arora’s hand waving as can be seen in the viral image was a one-off thing, or whether he was indeed posing as the candidate. In the picture below, Gaurav Arora can be seen standing on top of an open jeep and waving at the crowd. As opposed to the picture that is viral on social media, here Arora is seen waving in the opposite direction. It can also be observed that besides Arora, no one else is waving at the crowd. In the gallery below, you can see multiple pictures from the same spot, where atop the vehicle Arora kept waving at the crowd. Notably, Gambhir and Arora were also dressed similarly, both donning a white dress and a cap. Despite the fact that both men have markedly different physique, the difference may not be so clear from a distance in a rally. As seen in the picture below, Arora was seen accepting and wearing garlands in the rally, which is typical of a contesting candidate. Alt News contacted The Indian Express photographer Abhinav Saha who reported the incident. Saha said, “Gambhir was on the vehicle when I first took the picture. Then, I went on the third floor of a building, where I was accompanied by an old man. Meanwhile, Arora had replaced Gambhir at the exact spot, where he stood before. At the time, I started clicking pictures, the old man and his wife [who was standing on the first floor] were gazing at Gambhir in the rally. The couple said to me that they were happy that Gambhir waved back at them. He was waving all the while at the people. Anyone, who is watching him from the terrace will assume that he is Gambhir waving back at them. Arora was not standing with Gambhir when he was on top of the jeep, Arora only came after when Gambhir went and sat at the front seat. I myself took the shot and only later realised, after zooming in the pictures, which I had clicked, that it wasn’t Gambhir.” Alt News also spoke with another journalist who was present at the location when Arora switched his place with Gambhir. The reporter on the condition of anonymity said, “Gambhir was standing on top of the vehicle, while Arora was seating in another car. In the middle of the rally, Gambhir shifted to the front passenger seat of the same car and Arora occupied Gambhir’s position on top of the car. At least for half an hour, I saw Gaurav Arora standing on top of the vehicle and waving at the public. So, I was a little bit confused because he was also sporting a cap and accepting garlands. This was not in sync with Gambhir’s usual behaviour from what I had seen in his previous rallies. So I went even closer to confirm whether he is Gambhir or not and later realised that it was actually Arora.” Alt News got in touch with Gaurav Arora to verify whether he was indeed the man standing on top of the open jeep while Gautam Gambhir was seated in the car. Gaurav Arora evaded the question and refused to give clarity in this regard. BJP has reportedly denied the allegation that Gambhir had used a “lookalike” and said that he had sat down because he was feeling unwell. Speaking to The Indian Express, BJP’s East Delhi Lok Sabha in-charge Rajiv Babbar said, “For 10-15 minutes during the campaign, Gambhir felt a little giddy due to the heat and sat in the front seat of the campaign vehicle. Meanwhile, party workers atop the vehicle kept waving at people. Waving of hands by workers atop campaign vehicles is a normal practice.” Arora’s past photographs with Gambhir clearly show a long association with the cricketer-turned-BJP candidate. Thus, the claim that Gambhir had hired a body double doesn’t hold water. However, the journalists that Alt News spoke with, and who were covering Gambhir’s rally, did mistake Arora as the BJP candidate because they were similarly dressed. They seemed to have realised only later that the person was Gambhir’s friend, Arora. At the least, the fact that Gaurav Arora was standing on top of the vehicle where Gambhir would normally be expected to stand and was seen waving at the crowds and accepting garlands was a misleading series of events. Whether this was by design or a coincidence cannot be conclusively ascertained. 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	11th May 2019 / 10:39 pm / Last updated: 12th May 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-gautam-gambhir-use-a-body-double-for-his-election-campaign/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
916	False claim that Haldiram's is sold to Muslims viral amid IPO reports - Alt News Kinjal 5th May 2022 / 4:24 pm A claim about the sweets and snacks company Haldiram’s is viral on social media. As per the claim, the company is now under the control of Muslims and is owned by a Muslim individual. The elaborate message claims that Haldiram had a salt-making shop. His son Ghasi Lal later opened a namkeen (snacks) factory. Ghasi Lal’s sons Yogesh and Naresh Khandelwal sold this factory to a Muslim man. An appeal to boycott Haldiram’s has been made in the message. A Facebook user shared the message on a group named ‘Kangna Ranaut’. Several other Facebook pages also promoted the viral message. (Link 1, Link 2) It was also widespread on Twitter. शायद आपको पता नहीं है कि #हल्दीराम_नमकीन अब वर्तमान में #मुस्लिम के अधीन है इसका मालिक नरेश खण्डेलवाल ने यह कम्पनी एक मुस्लिम को बेच दी है *हल्दी राम इसके दादा थे और उन्होंने ही नमकीन बनाने का कार्य किया जो कि अच्छा चला तो हल्दी राम के पुत्र घासी लाल ने इसे फेक्ट्री लगा कर — V।JAY हिंदु 100% FB Hindutva Rashtra prem (@VKGAUTAM4) April 12, 2022 Alt News performed a keyword search, but we could not find any news reports corroborating the claim about Haldiram’s being sold. We then checked the company’s ‘About’ section which states, “Our origins can be traced back to a small namkeen shop in Bikaner founded by Ganga Bishan Agarwal (Haldiram Ji). This modest shop quickly gained popularity and scaled up to meet a booming demand for its unique-tasting bhujia. Building on this legacy, his grandson, our pioneer Mr. Shiv Kishan Agrawal steered the business towards the heights it has tasted today. Determined to take bhujia beyond the boundaries of Bikaner, he shifted base to Nagpur in 1970.” We found a Forbes report carrying the family tree of Ganga Bishan Agarwal. There is no mention of “Ghasi Lal and Naresh and Yogesh Khandelwal” – the names that appear in the viral message. According to the report, Ganga Bhishen Agarwal (Haldiram) had two sons. He successfully expanded the business to Kolkata in the 1950s with the help of his sons Moolchand and Rameshwar Lal. And in the coming three decades, Moolchand’s sons Shiv Kishan Agrawal, Manohar Lal Agarwal, and Madhusudhan Agarwal further expanded the business to Nagpur and Delhi respectively. On April 14, 2022, Moneycontrol quoted Haldiram’s Chairman Manoharlal Agarwal as saying that the company is planning to soon launch its IPO. Agrawal had also mentioned this in an interview with CNBC-TV18. However, he did not mention anything about the company being sold. In fact, he detailed his plans to expand the business further. Alt News found a list of the directors of the three Haldiram companies registered in Delhi, Nagpur, and Kolkata on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website. None of the names are Muslim. A few days ago, Suresh Chavhanke, Editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News, alleged a conspiracy and accused Haldiram’s of hiding information about its products using “Urdu” text on the packaging. However, the information was printed in Arabic and it is a common practice when exporting products to West Asian countries. In conclusion, the claim that Haldiram’s has been sold to a Muslim man is false. The viral message has been used to appeal for a boycott of the company’s products. 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… 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	5th May 2022 / 4:24 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-haldiram-owner-sold-this-company-to-muslims-false-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
918	Fact-check: Did Japan deploy missiles to counter Chinese threat after India-China conflict? - Alt News Archit 1st July 2020 / 6:50 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2020 On June 20, a Thailand-based news website Asia News published an article with the headline ‘Japan deployed ballistic missiles at China border after its conflict with India’. The article claimed that Japan “will implement the Patriot Pac-3 MSE Air Defense Missile System deployment at four military bases by June this year”. Since then, the report has been shared by several social media users on Twitter and Facebook. On June 22, Republic TV (archive) published an article based on the Asia Times report. This article was retweeted over 1,200 times (archive). The article by Asia News was also shared by BJP IT head Amit Malviya, BJP national panellist Rohit Chahal, ABP anchor Namrata Wagle, actor Praveen Dabas and blogger Narayanan Hariharan (archived link). Prashant Patel Umrao, whose trysts with misinformation have been documented in this report, similarly tweeted, “Japan deployed ballistic missiles at China border after its conflict with India. In addition to deploying its missile, Japan has also increased the number of army [men] along China border & asked China has to vacate Diaoyu Island by saying it belongs to Japan.” This was retweeted over 3,000 times as of this writing (archive). The headline of the article by Asia News claimed that Japan deployed missiles at China border. However, the body of the report does not make this assertion. In fact, without references to Indo-China dispute, it claimed that Japan “will implement the Patriot Pac-3 MSE Air Defense Missile System deployment at four military bases by June this year”. In this fact-check, we’ll answer the following: 1) What is Patriot PAC-3 MSE? 2) When did Japan deploy PAC-3 MSE? 3) Is Asia News an authentic source of information? 4) What is the territorial dispute between Japan and China? 1) What is PAC-3 MSE? As per the Japnese Ministry of Defence (MoD), Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) or Advanced PAC-3 is an air defence systems for countering airborne threats specifically ballistic missiles. It is an enhanced version of PAC-3 with double the range. The graphic attached below from ‘2017 Defence of Japan’ report (view pdf), shows the improved range of PAC-3 MSE. 2) When did Japan deploy PAC-3 MSE? Alt News performed a keyword search in Japanese and found an article by Kyodo, a Japan-based news website. As per the article, Yoshinari Marumo, a general officer at Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force, stated that PAC-3 MSE was made available to four prefectures (states) in March. This was also reported by The Sankei News, Tokyo Web, The Hokkaido Shimbun Press and several other websites. Since the missiles were deployed in March, this cannot be linked to the recent India-China dispute. As per a 2016 report by Reuters, Japan is upgrading from PAC-3 to PAC-3 MSE in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as a response to North Korean’s growing missile threat in the region. Even articles on PAC-3 do not that state that they have been deployed with regard to India’s tensions with China. A June 17 article by Japan Times states that PAC-3 was deployed at the Defense Ministry’s Ichigaya military base in Tokyo after North Korea announced plans to deploy troops at inter-Korean cooperation sites. On June 18, the Japan Ministry of Defense/Self-Defense Forces tweeted images of PAC-3 at camp Naebo in Hokkaido. On June 18, #JASDF @JASDF_PAO_ENG 3rd Air Defense Missile Group conducted the PAC-3 maneuver deployment training at JGSDF Vice-Camp Naebo. JMOD/JSDF will continuously conduct this training throughout Japan, to response to any situational developments. pic.twitter.com/zEcOumDtm2 — Japan Ministry of Defense/Self-Defense Forces (@ModJapan_en) June 19, 2020 Thus, the claim by Asia News that PAC-3 MSE missiles were deployed at China border is false and misleading. 3) Source verification: Asia News Bylines of all articles on the Asia News website are identical — ‘Asia News’. This probably explains why the website does not have a ‘Team’ page. Its ‘About‘ section states that the Thailand-based website cover news from Thailand, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia. However, in the last six months, all videos uploaded on its unverified YouTube channel (archive link) are related to India. In fact, the last video was made in Hindi, rather odd for a Thailand-based news website. Similarly, none of Asia News’s social media accounts is verified. Red flags in the article The first clue that raised suspicions about the Japan-China story was that a Thailand-based news website filed a report from Budapest. Furthermore, a sentence in the first paragraph reads, “However, to respond to his intentions, India, as well as Japan, have created a mood.” For starters, the sentence is grammatically incorrect, and it attempts to bring India into the discourse to somehow link the ‘news’ to the Indo-China dispute. We also noticed that unlike other Asia News articles, the viral article is not attributed to a source. For instance, a June 24 article with the headline ‘South Korea: First female trade minister bids for top WTO job’ has been attributed to Reuters News Agency. The two nations share a territorial dispute over a group of uninhabited islands known as Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands in China. On June 22, CNN published a report that includes updates about the recent conflict along with historical context. The screenshot below shows the location of camp Naebo in Hokkaido, where PAC-3 missiles were deployed in June, and the approximate location of inhabited islands subjected to decades-old territorial dispute between China and Japan. On May 10, Japan Times reported, “According to the Japan Coast Guard, Chinese government ships entered the Japanese waters around the Senkakus for two consecutive days for the first time since August 2016.” On June 22, Reuters reported that Japan passed a bill to change the name of the administrative area covering the islands to Tonoshiro Senkaku from October 1. As per the same report, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded, “The bill is a severe provocation to China’s territorial sovereignty. It’s illegal and invalid.” It is evident that tensions are rising between the two countries. But an armed conflict has not taken place. Readers should note that the Article V of Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, listed on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, states, “Each Party recognizes that an armed attack against either Party in the territories under the administration of Japan would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional provisions and processes.” Therefore, if Japan had taken any military action against China, the US would have been involved. Therefore, a shoddy website named Asia News published an article with a false and misleading headline claiming that Japan deployed ballistic missiles at China border after its conflict with India. This was republished by Republic TV and also shared by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya. 🙏 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 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	1st July 2020 / 6:50 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-japan-deploy-missiles-to-counter-chinese-threat-after-india-china-conflict/", "author": "Archit" }
919	Fact-check: Did JRD Tata write "Nehru stabbed me in the back" after nationalisation of Tata Airlines? - Alt News Archit 21st October 2021 / 3:17 pm Tata Sons made the winning bid of Rs 18,000 crore for Air India, the airline founded by JRD Tata in 1932. Back then it was known as Tata Air Services. In 1953, the Government of India passed the Air Corporations Act and purchased a majority stake in the carrier from Tata Sons. However, Tata continued as the chairman till 1977. On October 11, 2021, Tata Group subsidiary Talace Pvt Ltd won the bid for Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express. Before the winning bid made news, there was already speculation on social media that Air India is returning to the Tatas. Anand Ranganathan attributed a quote to JRD Tata in a tweet, according to which he said, “My own friend Nehru stabbed me in my back. I can only deplore that so vital a step was taken without giving us a proper hearing.” This gained close to 30,000 likes and 8,000 retweets. Readers should note that Ranganathan has been found posting misleading claims in the past. My own friend Nehru stabbed me in my back. I can only deplore that so vital a step was taken without giving us a proper hearing. – JRD Tata on the cruel and sudden nationalisation of his beloved Airlines. 68 years later, Air India returns to the Tatas. What a day. What a man. pic.twitter.com/ceks7lK79R — Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) October 1, 2021 His tweet was included in various media reports including by The Economic Times, Aaj Tak, East Mojo and Business Today. The quote attributed to JRD Tata by Ranganathan has no references in the public domain. Alt News found that it is made up of two sentences from two different sources. Only one of them can be traced back to JRD. First statement lifted from a 2014 blog A keyword search on Google reveals that this claim dates back to 2014. It was found on a blog called ‘SRajah Iyer’s Blog’. The blog has multiple claims and numerous typographical errors. However, we shall only focus on the verification of the alleged statement. The blog states, “[sic] This Tata Airlines was Naionalised in 1953 by Jawaharlal Nehru. JRD unable to bear this, writes in his diary “my own close friend stabbed me on my back!” Adding insult to injury, Nehru sends word thro a Joker called Jagajivan Ram to convey this Nationalisation. History knows what wd have happened if Tata Airlines had continued…” As per the author, the quote in question is from JRD Tata’s diary. It must be noted that the correct idiom is ‘stab me in the back’ and the grammatical error is mirrored in Ranganathan’s tweet. While this doesn’t prove that the quote is fabricated, it raises doubts. Anyone familiar with JRD Tata’s writings would know this is a mistake the man is unlikely to make. JRD Tata’s life has been well documented in the form of a biography and other books written by the late author Russi M. Lala who was known for his chronicles of the Tatas. It’s worth noting that Lala joined the Tata Group in 1974, and he retired in 2003 as director of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. Furthermore, based on the publicly available literature, Tata and Lala seem to have been close friends. In 2000, Lala authored, ‘The Joy of Achievement: Conversations with JRD Tata’. This book mentions that Tata read out a joke from his “personal red Tata diary”. This is the only reference to a diary that we could find. However, in the same book’s preface, which was written by Tata himself, he says that he didn’t maintain a diary. Furthermore, the same information – that Tata did not maintain a diary – is mentioned in JRD Tata’s biography ‘Beyond the Last Blue Mountain: A Life of J.R.D. Tata’. “He was liberal with his time and granted interviews whenever requested and made available two big cupboards full of his personal letters as he kept no diary.” – Excerpt From: Lala, R M. “Beyond the last blue mountain”. Second statement from Tata’s telegram to PM Nehru Unlike the previous statement, this statement can be traced back to the 1952 telegram (view PDF) Tata wrote to PM Nehru penning down his views on changes in the Air Transport Industry, in response to a letter Nehru had written to Tata regarding his concerns about nationalisation of Tata Airlines. In the letter, JRD Tata informs Nehru that he learnt about the change in policy from Jagjivan Ram. This information is critical because the 2014 blog also mention Ram. The blog tries to stir up controversy that Tata and Ram didn’t have an amicable relationship. In the 1952 telegram, JRD Tata didn’t express any disdain regarding the channel of communication about the nationalisation of airlines. The readers should note that Ram was the incumbent Union Minister for Communications from 1952 to 1956. Additionally, based on Tata’s biography, it appears Tata and Ram had a healthy relationship. Lala wrote, “J.R.D. was very impressed with Ram’s efficiency. Ram had no arrears of work and would always know everything about the subject J.R.D. was to see him on.” JRD Tata’s views on Tata Airlines, its nationalisation and PM Nehru In 1987, JRD Tata was interviewed by senior journalist Rajiv Mehrotra as part of his “In Conversation” series, which aired on Doordarshan. The 1987 interview is available on Tata Son’s website and Mahrotra’s YouTube channel. Around the 3:00 mark, Mehrotra asked, “How do you evaluate yourself?” to which Tata responded, “I certainly estimate myself on a much lower level than seems to be extended to me. I don’t think that I quite deserve the friendship.. not the friendship… friendship is the wrong word, the admiration, the regard that I get. After all, all that I’ve done in my life, except perhaps creating Air India from scratch, from a little mail Airline, I haven’t done, personally.. I’ve never created anything entirely new. It happens that I inherited the situation…” It is quite evident that he was passionate about Tata Airlines. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68otfg601HI?start=180] His views on the nationalisation of airways are well documented. He was not in favour of it. However, Lala wrote in his biography, “Looking back, JRD feels that things had come to such a pass that nationalization was inevitable but years later he spoke with feeling about the approach of government to an industry pioneered by private enterprise.” While skimming through the biography, we learnt that JRD Tata had known Nehru since he was 20 years of age and Nehru was 36. Tata has confessed his admiration and affection for Nehru multiple times in the biography. Despite their mutual administration, both disagreed on multiple topics, specifically the type of socialism and economics that would be best for India in the long run. In fact, even in the 1987 interview, Tata spoke fondly of PM Nehru. A misleading quote attributed to late JRD Tata was tweeted by Anand Ranganathan. It was published by multiple media outlets without verification. There is no evidence of him saying “Nehru stabbed me on the back” after Tata Airlines was nationalised even as he was not in favour of nationalisation. 🙏 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	21st October 2021 / 3:17 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-jrd-tata-write-nehru-stabbed-me-in-the-back-after-nationalisation-of-tata-airlines/", "author": "Archit" }
920	Fact-check: Did LPG cost more during UPA than under BJP government? - Alt News Archit 2nd March 2021 / 6:41 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2021 After the fifth increase in LPG refill prices since December 2020, except for a meagre cut of Rs 10 on March 31, 14.2 kg LPG refill will now cost Rs 834.50. However, BJP supporter Rishi Bagree shared a tweet listing LPG cylinders since 2011 and claimed that non-subsidised LPG gas is 32% cheaper than its price during the UPA government. Year LPG Price 2011 ₹ 877 2012 ₹ 922 2013 ₹ 1021 2014 ₹ 1241 2015 ₹ 606 2016 ₹ 584 2017 ₹ 747 2018 ₹ 609 2019 ₹ 695 2020 ₹ 594 (lockdown) 2021 ₹ 834 Non Subsidised LPG Gas is 32% cheaper than in UPA time. — Rishi Bagree 🇮🇳 (@rishibagree) July 2, 2021 Bagree had tweeted the same earlier in February and in 2020. The claim was widespread on Twitter and Facebook. In the past, Bagree has shared misinformation on multiple instances. A similar narrative is regularly pushed on social media – that despite the recent increase in LPG price, refills cost cheaper than their price during the UPA rule. National general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chikkamagaravalli Thimme Gowda Ravi and National vice president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BYJM) Santosh Ranjan Rai had made such posts in February. Year LPG Cylinder Price 2011 ₹ 877 2012 ₹ 922 2013 ₹ 1021 2014 ₹ 1241 2015 ₹ 606 2016 ₹ 584 2017 ₹ 747 2018 ₹ 609 2019 ₹ 695 2020 ₹ 594 2021 ₹ 719 Will #AndolanJivi @RahulGandhi explain to people why his Govt looted them for years? — C T Ravi 🇮🇳 ಸಿ ಟಿ ರವಿ (@CTRavi_BJP) February 19, 2021 On Facebook, several users shared this claim in the form of a screenshot of the above-mentioned tweets or an infographic along with Bengali text, amongst other formats. The viral list creates the impression that the price of LPG cylinders was much higher during Congress’s rule. However, this is a misleading representation of data as neither subsidised prices nor the international price of LPG have been considered. In order to understand the price of LPG cylinders, this fact-check has been divided into: Analysis of the viral text The prices listed on social media are based on Indian Oil’s webpage that lists the cost of a non-subsidised 14.2 kg LPG cylinder in New Delhi. The data on the Indian Oil website dates back to December 11, 2013. As for the prices in 2011 and 2012, we found that the 2012 prices in the viral text match with the one cited in Pune Mirror from the same year. Alt News couldn’t find a report that stated the non-subsidised LPG price of 14.2 kg LPG cylinder was ₹ 877 in 2011. A 2011 report by Aaj Tak stated that the non-subsidised price reached ₹ 710 in July and could increase to ₹ 800. Readers should note that the viral message carries a typo where ₹ 809 is written as ₹ 609 from the year 2018. The table below shows a comparison between non-subsidised prices listed on Indian Oil against subsidised prices of 14.2 kg LPG in Delhi in the past 10 years. (view pdf) What does a higher non-subsidised price indicate? LPG prices in India are based on international LPG prices. The dollar-denominated figure is converted into rupees before local costs — such as local freight, bottling charges, marketing costs, margins for oil marketing firms and dealer commissions and the Goods and Services Tax — are added. The local costs more or less have remained constant. The government resets the LPG price every month, the decision being influenced by international prices and how the rupee has behaved against the dollar in the immediately preceding weeks (The Hindu). A higher domestic price of non-subsidised LPG indicates that the international LPG cost was high. Domestic prices are dependant on petroleum by-products propane and butane prices. The historic cost analysis of propane on Trading Economics, a world economics data website, concur with trends observed in FOB prices at Arba Gulf — LPG cost more during 2013-2014 as compared to 2014-2021. In fact, Trading Economics pointed out that propane’s price was at an all-time high in February 2014. As per the price build-up of 14.2 kg LPG cylinder listed by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (view pdf), the leading factor determining LPG prices is the ‘Free On Board’ (FOB) price of LPG. FOB is a weighted average of Saudi Aramco contract price (CP) for Butane (60%) & Propane (40%) for the previous month and also includes daily quotes of premium/discount (published by Platts Gaswire) averaged for the previous month. We found a similar break-up listed for the years 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018 in the Ready Reckoner report by Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell which said that FOB prices are essentially the international price benchmark. How is LPG subsidised? The government regulates LPG prices via subsidy or/and under-recovery. In a 2012 interview with The Hindu, Indian Oil Corporation Chairman RS Butola explained, “Under-recovery is the difference between the procurement price of products and their selling prices.” This cost is borne by the government or oil marketing companies. Since 2014, the gap between non-subsidised and subsidised cylinder rates have reduced. As per the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (view PDF), the under-recovery amount has been nil since May 2020. The same was reported by The Hindu Business Line in 2020. Thus, as of today, LPG cylinders are not subsidised. Alt News confirmed this by contacting the customer care helpline of Indian Oil. Posted above is a screenshot from a document by Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell that lists the historical monthly prices of various petroleum products since April 2011. The last column lists cash transfers by oil marketing companies towards uncompensated costs under direct benefit transfer of LPG in Delhi. As one can see, the column states ‘0’ for all months since last year. In 2015, the BJP government launched ‘Give It Up‘, an initiative to encourage domestic LPG consumers who can afford to pay the market price for LPG to voluntarily surrender their LPG subsidy. In 2019, the government declared that over one crore consumers surrendered their LPG subsidy. The average subsidy offered on 14.2 kg LPG cylinder from 2017-2020 (September) can be viewed on Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell. On February 23, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan told ANI, “Reports of stopping LPG subsidy are baseless. We are still providing subsidy to the consumers of remote and interior areas of the country. Eight crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana got 14 crore LPG cylinders free of cost during the lockdown period.” However, the cost of 14.2 kg LPG for a majority of citizens has increased during the BJP government despite the fact global LPG prices have come down. Cost 14.2 kg LPG cylinder after subsidy The cost of a 14.2 kg LPG cylinder paid by the end consumer can be ascertained by analysing the subsidised cost. Readers should note this price varies from region to region in India. Typically the prices of metro cities are cited on the official websites and media reports for reference. One can view the current LPG prices in any district on the consumer portal of Hindustan Petroleum. Several social media users, including BJP leaders CT Ravi and Santosh Ranjan Rai, shared the cost of non-subsidised LPG cylinders and portrayed that prices were higher during the Congress government’s rule. Based on our research, it is evident that non-subsidised LPG prices were higher during the Congress government’s term because the global LPG prices were high. However, since the Congress government provided LPG cylinders at subsidised prices, the cost was lower than the current amount borne by the end consumer. From 2014 onwards, the international LPG prices have reduced yet the cost of 14.2 kg LPG cylinders is higher because the BJP government has stopped subsidising the LPG on retail price. However, as per Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan eight crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana got 14 crore LPG cylinders free of cost since the lockdown in 2020. 🙏 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	2nd March 2021 / 6:41 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-lpg-cost-more-during-upa-than-under-bjp-government/", "author": "Archit" }
921	Fact-check: Did Madras HC say that removal of thali amounts to mental cruelty? - Alt News Nilofar Absar 23rd July 2022 / 6:24 pm / Last updated: 23rd July 2022 A social media uproar recently ensued following an alleged ruling of a division bench of the Madras High Court in an appeal filed against a divorce petition. “Removal Of Mangalsutra by wife is mental cruelty of highest order to husband: Madras HC”, reads the headline of a report published by PTI on July 23, 2022. Several other media outlets, such as Outlook, India Today and NDTV had also published syndicated articles with similar headlines. Several users took to Twitter to express their opinions on the verdict based on these headlines. And you thought it happens only in melodramatic movies from #Bollywood #Kollywood #Mollywood #Tollywood #Sandalwood and whatever else? #ThaliSentiment #Mangalsutra Removal Of Mangalsutra By Wife Mental Cruelty Of Highest Order: Court – NDTV https://t.co/2kpp2R7PNS — Uma Sudhir (@umasudhir) July 15, 2022 Marital rape is not a crime. But if even an estranged removes ‘thali’ (Mangalsutra) that is subjecting the husband to mental cruelty of the highest order. OF THE HIGHEST ORDER. Milords, Justices VM Velumani and S Sounthar, I believe your patriarchy and male fragility are showing — Avantika Mehta (@bitingfriends) July 17, 2022 #Patriarchy According to the Madras High Court, removing the mangalsutra from the neck of a Hindu woman is the culmination of mental cruelty. The judge said that this is playing with the feelings of the husband. In such a situation, she allowed the husband to divorce…. pic.twitter.com/o8LIx8uCHt — The Dalit Voice (@ambedkariteIND) July 15, 2022 WION shared a five-minute-long clip of its primetime show Gravitas, where the host Palki Sharma read out excerpts from the judgement. The host pointed out that such observations were being made by the courts in “21st Century India”. #Gravitas \| The Madras High Court has observed that removal of mangalsutra by wife is mental cruelty of the highest order. Would you agree? Is mangalsutra even mandatory? Listen in to @palkisu pic.twitter.com/r7Gi0yIAsE — WION (@WIONews) July 15, 2022 Both WION and India TV published reports based on the opinions expressed by social media users. Multiple Hindi media outlets such as Aaj Tak, ABP Live, Jagran and Navbharat Times also reported on this issue. Alt News retrieved a copy of the verdict passed by the Madras High Court bench comprising Justices VM Velumani and S Sounthar. The appeal was filed against an order of a lower court denying divorce to the petitioner (husband) on the ground of mental cruelty due to a lack of sufficient evidence. The operative paragraphs of the judgment have been extracted below along with the Hon’ble benches rationale behind arriving at their decision. 17. “In the light of the decisions referred above, we have no hesitation in holding that in the present case, the respondent /wife caused mental cruelty to the husband by suspecting his character and making false allegations of extra marital affair in the presence of his colleagues and students and also before the police. We are given to understand that the appellant and the respondent are living separately from 2011 onwards and there is no evidence available on record to show that respondent has made any attempt for a reunion during this period.” The above paragraph clearly indicates that the “mental cruelty” in the present case emanates from the fact that the wife suspected the husband’s character, made false allegations of extra-marital affair and further humiliated him in front of his colleagues and students as well as before the police. While arriving at the conclusion of mental cruelty being inflicted, the bench makes no mention of the sacred thread being removed. Subsequently, in paragraph 19 (extracted below), the bench places reliance on a 2016 judgement of the Madras High court passed in a different divorce petition. Placing reliance on one of the holdings of the earlier judgment (paragraph 33), the present bench held that the removal of the sacred chain read in tandem with all of the other evidence placed on record was sufficient to prove that the parties had no intention to reconcile. Based on this, the present appeal was allowed. 19. “When the respondent/wife was examined as R.W.1, she admitted that at the time of separation, she removed her thali chain (Sacred chain worn by wife as a token of having married). Though she proceeded to explain that she retained thali and only removed the chain, the act of removing thali chain had its own significance. The learned counsel for the respondent by taking us to ceremonious for Hindu Marriage referring to Section 7 of Hindu Marriage Act submitted that tying of thali is not a necessary one and hence removal of thali by respondent, even assuming it was true, would not have any impact on the marital tie. But, it is a matter of common knowledge that tying of thali is an essential ritual in marriage ceremony that takes place in this part of the world. It is useful to refer, the observations of a coordinate Bench of this Court in Vallabhi Vs. R.Rajasabahi reported in 2017 (1) MWN (Civil) 128. The Observations of the Division Bench of this Court is as follows: “33. From the materials available on record, it is also seen that the petitioner has removed the “Thali”(Mangalsutra) and it is also her own admission that she has kept the same in Banck locker. It is known fact that no Hindu married woman 18/22 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis C.M.A.No.3249 of 2017 would remove the “Thali” at any point of time during the lifetime of her husband. “Thali” around the neck of a wife is a sacred thing which symbolises the continuance of married life and it is removed only after the death of Husband. Therefore, the removal of “Thali” by the petitioner/wife can be said to be an act which reflected Mental Cruelty of highest order as it could have caused agony and hurted the sentiments of the respondent.” It is pertinent to note that the conclusion arrived at in paragraph 33 above is not the view taken by the present bench. The present bench merely placed reliance upon this finding of the coordinate bench to arrive at the conclusion that the act of removing the sacred chain could be inferred as an indication that the wife was no longer interested in maintaining her relationship with the petitioner (husband). It is a standard practice for common law courts to cite previous judgments commonly known as “precedents” while making a ruling on a certain issue. This does not necessarily mean that both cases are identical in terms of their factual matrices but is simply an indication that reliance is being placed upon a previous finding in a similar case that may aid the present court to arrive at a certain conclusion. Further, paragraph 20 of the present judgement is extracted below: 20. “The removal of thali chain is often treated as an unceremonious act. We don’t say for a moment that removal of thali chain per se sufficient to put an end to the marital knot, but the said act of respondent is a piece of evidence in drawing an inference about the intentions of the parties. The act of respondent in removal of thali chain at the time of separation coupled with various other evidences available on record, compel us to come to a definite conclusion that the parties have no intention to reconcile and continue the marital knot.” It is clear from paragraph 20 of the judgment that the Hon’ble bench did not hold that the removal of the sacred chain itself is a sufficient legal ground to prove cruelty leading to divorce. Alt News reached out to Areeb Uddin Ahmed, an advocate practising in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. He stated the following: “It is unfortunate that certain media outlets reported the judgment/ order in a very wrong manner. After pursuing the said order, it is clear that the High Court did not make any such observations, it only referred to a coordinate bench judgment in Vallabhi v .R.Rajasabahi (2016) which had in a similar instance held that “the removal of “Thali” by the wife can be said to be an act which reflected Mental Cruelty of the highest order as it could have caused agony and hurt the sentiments of the respondent. Hence the “thali” observation was wrongly made the headline by certain media outlets, and this led to the creation of hype about the judgment“. He further stated, “There is a manner in which a judgment or an order is to be reported or read. It fairly starts with the facts of the case, then the issues, then the submissions made by both the parties and their arguments and lastly the observations of the court. This can also be divided into two parts: 1) Ratio decidendi which is defined as the principles of law formulated by the Judge for the purpose of deciding the problem before him or the court and 2) Obiter dicta which means observations made by the Judge, but are not essential for the decision reached.” While the PTI article which was republished by several media outlets such as NDTV, only had a misleading headline, the contents of the article in its entirety sufficiently captured the essence of the judgment. However, some other media outlets such as IndiaTV and WION, have completely misinterpreted and in turn, misreported the findings of the judgment. WION also did a video report with the same misleading facts. Nilofar Absar is a lawyer by training and a storyteller by nature who takes a keen interest in the lives of people belonging to South Asian diasporic communities. 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	23rd July 2022 / 6:24 pm / Last updated: 23rd July 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-madras-hc-say-that-removal-of-thali-amounts-to-mental-cruelty/", "author": "Nilofar Absar" }
922	No, Indian govt has NOT removed 'nationality' column from passports - Alt News Kinjal 11th January 2021 / 8:06 pm A viral claim suggests that the Government of India allegedly removed the ‘nationality’ column from Indian passports. Facebook user Mohammed Ishtiaq posted a screenshot of a WhatsApp forward with this claim. The post was shared more than 400 times at the time of writing. (Archive link) Posted by Mohammed Ishtiaq on Sunday, December 27, 2020 Facebook user ‘Ian Newz Channel‘ also posted this screenshot. The image is widespread on Facebook. Alt News did not find any media reports corroborating the viral claim. We searched the Ministry of External Affairs official Passport Seva Portal and failed to locate any information about ‘nationality’ column removed from Indian passports. The latest news update in this section is dated July 31, 2020, pertaining to the promotion of certain officers. Nevertheless, we were able to find a copy of a passport issued in October 2020, which can be seen below. The ‘nationality’ column still appears at the top of the passport. Next, we had a look at the Passport e-form on the portal. The applicant is asked to fill in their citizenship details in Column 2.8. They must choose from one of three options: 1. Birth, i.e. being an Indian citizen by virtue of being born in India. 2. Descent, which indicates that the applicant was born outside India on or after January 26, 1950, but before December 10, 1992. In order to qualify as a descendant citizen of India, the individual’s father must have been an Indian citizen at the time of their birth. 3. Naturalization/Registration, which is for an individual who wishes to apply for Indian citizenship. Therefore, it is clear here that the ‘nationality’ column has not been removed from the passport application form. At the end of the application is a self-declaration form which reads, “I owe allegiance to the sovereignty, unity & integrity of India, and have not acquired citizenship or travel document of any other country. I have not lost, surrendered or been deprived of the citizenship of India. I have not contravened any of the conditions related to the possession and use of an Indian passport. I have not violated any condition related to the right or use of the Indian passport. ” Alt News also reached out to the Passport Office for confirmation. The officer told us that the claim circulating on social media is completely false. He further stated that without a nationality column, there would be no way to distinguish an Indian passport from that of any other country. Thus, the online claim regarding the alleged removal of the nationality column from Indian passports is completely baseless. In a similar incident in Maharashtra, a BJP MLA falsely accused the Shiv Sena of removing the ‘Hindu’ option in Class 10 and 12 examination forms and replacing it with ‘non-minority’. 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 January 2021 / 8:06 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-modi-govt-remove-nationality-column-from-passport/", "author": "Kinjal" }
923	Did Shivraj Singh Chouhan support sale of illicit liqour ahead of MP by-polls? Clipped video, false claim - Alt News Archit 3rd November 2020 / 2:53 pm / Last updated: 3rd November 2020 Ahead of the Madhya Pradesh (MP) by-elections on November 3, a clip of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was shared on Twitter and Facebook. “What is this excise officer doing? What are they there for? Supply alcohol to such an extent in the state so that they drink and stay drunk,” Chouhan can be heard saying in the clip (Translated from क्या कर रहा है ये आबकारी अमला..कायके लिए बैठा है ये …दारू इतनी फैला दो पूरे प्रदेश में की पिये और पड़े रहे.) This was tweeted by Twitter users @BramhRakshas and @sara75165335. (archived links 1 and 2) मामा तो गयो….! 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/AxSIDqrkPT — ब्रह्मराक्षस (@BramhRakshas) November 1, 2020 Some Facebook users posted the video as well. The claim was debunked by Chouhan in June itself when it was similarly viral. He wrote, “Strict legal action will be taken against those who are sharing a fake video by Congress’s dirty tricks department on Twitter and WhatsApp. This is the original video. There is no place for cheap politics in Madhya Pradesh!” कांग्रेस के डर्टी ट्रिक्स डिपार्टमेंट द्वारा जारी किए गए फेक वीडियो जो भी ट्वीट और व्हाट्सएप्प पर शेयर कर रहा है, उसके खिलाफ कड़ी कानूनी कार्रवाई की जायेगी। यह ओरिजिनल वीडियो है। मध्य प्रदेश में ओछी राजनीति की कोई जगह नहीं! https://t.co/6RIFzi5fGQ pic.twitter.com/76YImjHhxY — Office of Shivraj (@OfficeofSSC) June 14, 2020 The video was widely shared back in June, including by Facebook page AAP News and Congress members Pushpak Bakshi and Rajkumar Ahir. Their posts gained over 4 lakh views. The ten-second video was originally posted by Chouhan in January when Congress leader Kamal Nath was the chief minister. In the video, Chouhan can be seen criticising Nath’s move to open liquor stores in the state while more pressing issues remained unaddressed. चारों तरफ त्राहि – त्राहि मची है। किसानों की धान नहीं बिक रही, कर्जा माफ नहीं हो रहा, युवाओं को बेरोजगारी भत्ता नहीं मिल रहा है। विकास के काम भी ठप्प हैं। ऐसे में शराब की उपदुकानें खोलकर सरकार युवा पीढ़ी को बर्बाद करने पर अमादा है। हम चुप नहीं रहेंगे, लड़ेंगे। #MP_मांगे_जवाब pic.twitter.com/eZ863NGY9W — Shivraj Singh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) January 12, 2020 The video begins with Chouhan saying, “… rice isn’t selling, debt isn’t being waived, unemployment support isn’t there, rapes committed, people’s demands aren’t being fulfilled, development is at an all-time low, farmers and the poor are crying and this government is busy opening liquor stores…” The next section includes the phrases heard in the viral video. It is highlighted in bold text. Around the 58-second mark, he says “If the license holder wants to open a store, he can open one or more stores. Do you want to drown MP’s youth in a sea of alcohol? Why do we need liquor stores? They are acting as per instructions of liquor mafia. Lives will be destroyed, bribes have increased as well. No matter how much I have to fight I won’t let this ruin MP. I have written letters to the CM who is of the opinion that illicit liquor will stop because of this move. What is this logic? Where is the excise officer? What is he there for? Why doesn’t he stop the sale of illicit liquor? Alcohol will ruin the youth of this state. The farmers can’t ask for a loan waiver, youth don’t ask for unemployment support, the poor should not talk about Sambal Yojana, nobody should ask for money from the chief minister, and that’s why supply alcohol to such extent in the state so that they drink and stay drunk.” On January 12, Outlook reported that Chouhan wrote a letter to Kamal Nath criticising his decision to allow liquor license holders to open sub-shops by paying extra. Nath rebutted by stating that MP has five liquor shops per lakh population as compared to 12 per lakh in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. Thus, the video has been mispresented on social media to claim the opposite of what Shivraj Singh Chouhan meant. He was speaking against setting up liquor shops in the state but his words were distorted to falsely suggest that the Chief Minister, ahead of MP by-polls, was supporting the sale of illicit liquor. 🙏 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	3rd November 2020 / 2:53 pm / Last updated: 3rd November 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-mp-cm-shivraj-singh-chauhan-encourage-liquor-sell-no-old-edited-clip-is-viral/", "author": "Archit" }
924	Fact-check: Did Muslims enter a 'temple' in Maharashtra's Malanggad to disrupt aarti? - Alt News Archit 3rd April 2021 / 3:55 pm / Last updated: 3rd April 2021 Two videos have surfaced on social media that show a heated confrontation between Muslim and Hindu communities at a place of worship. The videos show them arguing near two enshrined tombs. The Muslim group can be heard chanting “Allah Hu Akbar”. In one of the video chants of “Jai Shree Ram” are also heard. These clips were published by various news outlets to claim that Muslim men entered a temple and interrupted aarti. Propaganda outlets Sudarshan News, OpIndia and Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamana carried such reports. Sudarshan News editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke tweeted, “Jihadis entered a temple, stopped the aarti and chanted Allah Hu Akbar slogans. After the lynching of Sadhus in Maharashtra, who is supporting these jihadis to target holy shrines of saints? Jihad conspiracy on the land of Nath community at Malanggad in Maharashtra’s Thane (Machhindranath).” Chavhanke’s video gained over 18,000 views. जिहादियों ने मंदिर में घुस कर रोकी आरती लगाए अल्लाह हु अकबर के नारे महाराष्ट्र में साधुओं की हत्या के बाद अब सन्तों की पवित्र समाधियां निशाने पर कौन दे रहा है इन जिहादियों को संरक्षण? नाथ संप्रदाय की भूमि पर मज़ार जिहाद की साजिश महाराष्ट्र ठाणे के मलंग गढ़, (मच्छिंद्रनाथ) pic.twitter.com/MSrEDZWYLx — Suresh Chavhanke “Sudarshan News” (@SureshChavhanke) March 30, 2021 Times Nows aired a bulletin showing a man’s reaction to the alleged atrocity inflicted by the Muslim community against Hindus in Maharashtra. The man can be heard saying, “…these days anti-Hindu forces are being encouraged to the point that they enter Hindu temples and stop aartis. I ask Maharasthra CM Uddhav Thackery – how much atrocity do we have to face?” Maharashtra: Devotees from 2 communities clash at a religious place in Kalyan, in the outskirts of Mumbai. Listen in to a reaction. pic.twitter.com/TpO6g3Edim — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) March 31, 2021 India TV aired the same video and reported, “As Hindu devotees were performing the traditional aarti, members of the Muslim community entered the Machindranath temple and attempted to disrupt the service. The angry Muslim crowd raised slogans of ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’.” News Nation also reported the same. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfEE4kIBri4] BJP supporter Sanjay Dixit shared OpIndia’s report. He wrote, “A crowd of 50-60 Muslims entered the Machindranath temple and chanted ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’ slogans: Aarti interrupted: Video viral”. It gained over 1,500 retweets. Similarly, BJP supporter Asha Nakum and author Tuhin A. Sinha tweeted the report as well. Jain Bhattaraka Swami Arrihant Rishi and Twitter users @SonuSri795 and @PiyushTweets1 shared the viral video. Each one of these tweets gained over 1000 retweets. Multiple Facebook users either posted an article about the incident or the videos including the page ‘I Support Narendra Modi‘ that has over 15 million followers. This gained close to 10,000 reactions. महाराष्ट्र के मंदिर में ‘शांतिप्रिय’ कौम का नया बवाल, आरती के दौरान लगाए गए मजहबी नारे, पूजा बाधित करने का प्रयास Posted by I Support Narendra Modi on Wednesday, 31 March 2021 The videos capture a conflict between Hindu and Muslim communities on March 28 at a disputed place of worship – Haji Malang dargah – situated on Malanggad hilltop at Maharasthra’s Konkan administrative block. A section of the Hindu community refers to the place of worship as Machindranath Samadi or temple. While the Muslim community recognises the same as a dargah. In 1999, Yoginder Sikand explained the nature of the conflict for the online portal Sabrang. His article was the cover story for the ‘Communalism Combat’ column. He wrote that in 1986, “Shiv Sena kicked up a controversy over the dargah claiming that it was actually the site of 700-year-old Machindranath temple. Thane Sena leader Anand Dighe, in particular, espoused the cause in early 1996 and declared that they had been trying to ‘secure justice’ for several years now but the Congress government had paid no heed.” Sikand is currently a consultant at Henry Martin Institute of Islamic Studies, Hyderabad. As of today, the dispute stands and awaits the court’s verdict. The video was recorded at Haji Malang dargah around 8 PM. Readers should note that this year both Hindu festival Holi and Muslim festival Shab-e-Barat were observed on March 28. However, the Haji Malang Trust informed that the festive celebrations didn’t have any role in the conflict. According to the official website of Konkan, one of the six administrative divisions in Maharashtra, “Haji Malang is a 300-year-old dargah at Ambernath, where Baba Abdur Rehman Malang was buried. Malang was a Sufi saint who came to India in the 12th century AD from the middle east. Haji Malang, in true syncretic tradition, was one of the few dargahs where a Hindu vahivatdar (traditional priest from the Hindu Karandekar family) and a Muslim mutavalli (claiming to be distant kin of the saint), had both been officiating at religious rituals. Hazrat Qamli Shah Baba, this hazrat’s dargah, is near the dargah of Hazrat Haji Malang in Ambernath, thane district”. In 1968, in the Supreme Court of India case Gopal, Krishnaji Ketkar vs Mahomed Haji Latif & Ors, referred to Haji Malang as a dargah. Senior police inspector Manoj Khandare at Hill Line police station, Ambernath told Alt News, “It’s not correct to report that the video was shot in a temple. The correct terminology would be Samadhi or Mazar (enshrined tombs). People from both communities visit this place of worship.” He added that cases have been filed against men from both communities and necessary action will be taken. The images below show the dargah on Google Maps. Alt News accessed Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency Vol XVI published in 1882 on Wayback Machine Internet Archive. This document is attested by The Central Archaeological Library, New Delhi. Details of Malanggad can be found in the sub-section ‘Mahuli Fort’ on page 220 and 221 under the chapter titled ‘Places of Interest’. Among other facts, the document establishes that the tomb of Haji Abd-ul-Rahman exists in Malanggad. However, there is no reference to Machindranath’s tomb. More significantly, the document says that in 1817 Kashinath Pant Kethkar [Ketkar] was proclaimed the guardian of the dargah. Ketkar is a Brahmin family that still continues to hold the responsibility. Haji Malang Baba Dargah is one of the few Muslim places of worship where legal guardianship belongs to a Hindu family. Alt News spoke with lawyer Vijay Ketkar, kin of Kashinath Pant Ketkar. He said, “I am well aware that some news media outlets have falsely reported that this place of worship is a temple. As per the reported 1954 Supreme Court case, it is a dargah. I have informed the concerned authority and needful steps will be taken.” Sudharshan News felt it was appropriate to use Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhnath Temple as a reference image while reporting the story. Based on the videos, it is evident that aarti was interrupted. However, the claim that Muslim men entered a temple requires greater scrutiny. This report is further divided into the following sections: YouTube account MKT NEWS uploaded an eight-minute clip on March 31. The following image shows that the conflict took place near a protected tomb also known as samadhi (as per Hindu community) or mazar (as per Muslim community). A member of Haji Malang Baba Dargah Trust shared an image of the place where the conflict took place. The pictures show that the interiors do not resemble a temple. Haji Malang Baba Dargah Trust shared the dargah’s incorporation certificate which was attested by the deputy charity commissioner, greater Bombay. According to the document, the trust was incorporated in 1953. Nasir Khan, chairman of Haji Malang Baba Dargah Trust, told Alt News, “This trust was registered in 1953 and has members from both the communities. However, it is under the legal guardianship of the Ketkar family. Since the issue was politicised in 1986, at least once a year aarti is performed at the dargah. But they (Bajrang Dal & VHP members) soon started referring to the dargah as Machindranath Temple. In the past few years, aarti is being performed every month and over the past three months, it appears that the timings of aarti have gained a structure. We have raised this issue with the local authorities multiple times. Such behaviour not only disrespects the religious sentiments of the Muslim community but can lead to conflicts.” Alt News spoke with Nasir Khan’s son Rizwan. He was present on the night of March 28 when the conflict took place. “The Muslim community visits the dargah on a daily basis. Shab-e-Barat celebration had nothing to do with the conflict. That day the aarti extended well beyond the usual duration. When Muslim devotees approached the police personnel in charge to seek permission to perform rituals they were stopped. This aggravated the situation. That’s when Jai Shri Ram slogans were raised by a few Bajrang Dal members and in retaliation, some men chanted Allah Hu Akbar,” said Rizwan. “In the past three years, the trust has complained about unceremonious aartis against the customs of the dargah to different government bodies such as minority cell, public grievance cell Bombay High court and the police,” he furthered. Below are press releases against unceremonious aartis in December 2020, February 2021 and the one that took place on March 28. Kokan-based Bajrang Dal member Sandip Bhagat gave his organisation’s version of events. “Since the past two years, each month on Purnima we perform aarti at Machindranath samadhi. We have been performing aartis since 1986 after Hindu groups raised this issue,” he said. “About 25 Hindus were present on the day of the conflict. We had informed the local police prior to the aarti. We had a verbal agreement with the cops who permitted seven people to part take in aarti. As soon as our rituals began, several Muslim men interrupted the aarti and raised slogans. I personally believe they should not have interrupted the aarti. They could have raised their concerns after the aarti was completed,” he continued. Bhagat connected us with Rajesh Mandrang Gaykar who was present at the site of conflict on March 28. Gaykar told us that he has been visiting Machindranath samadhi every month for the past 16 years. “There have been minor conflicts between the two communities in the past. But this is the first time an aarti was interrupted,” he said. When informed that Muslims were referred to as ‘jihadis’ by several people, including Suresh Chavhanke, Gaykar said, “It is not right to call them such names.” In the same phone call, he added, “If the police don’t take action against the people who interrupted the aarti, we will conduct Satyanarayan havan in protest”. A conflict between Muslim and Hindu communities at Haji Malang Dargah was further communalised by propaganda outlets and misleading media reports. While the aarti was indeed interrupted, Muslims did not enter a temple. The Haji Malang has been historically referred to as dargah, where both the Hindu and Muslim communities have been offering prayers for decades. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. 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	3rd April 2021 / 3:55 pm / Last updated: 3rd April 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-muslims-enter-a-temple-in-maharashtras-malanggad-to-disrupt-aarti/", "author": "Archit" }
925	Old video falsely viral as Muslims set ablaze French embassy in Sudan after Paris beheading - Alt News Priyanka Jha 28th October 2020 / 12:54 pm A video is being shared on social media with the claim that Muslims set fire to the French embassy in Sudan. It is being suggested that the embassy was set ablaze in retaliation for the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad shown by French teacher Samuel Paty in his class on freedom of speech. The teacher was beheaded by an offended Moscow-born teenager in suburban Paris on October 16. सूडान में फ्रांस की अंबेसी को मुसलमानों ने किया आग के हवाले ऐ ज़ालिमों! तुम दुनिया के मुसलमानों पर लाख ज़ुल्म व सितम करो,बर्दाश्त किया जा सकता है लेकिन हमारे नबी की शान में गुस्ताख़ी हम हर्गिज़ बर्दाश्त नहीं कर सकते हैं चाहे तुम हमें आतंकवादी कहते फिरो या जिहादी@Allah_Ki_Talwar pic.twitter.com/Jl6Ck2Gyu6 — Mohammad Saifullah (GAF & MDP) (@Allah_Ki_Talwar) October 25, 2020 The complete message in Hindi reads, “सूडान में फ्रांस की अंबेसी को मुसलमानों ने किया आग के हवाले ऐ ज़ालिमों! तुम दुनिया के मुसलमानों पर लाख ज़ुल्म व सितम करो,बर्दाश्त किया जा सकता है लेकिन नबी की शान में गुस्ताख़ी हम हर्गिज़ बर्दाश्त नहीं कर सकते हैं चाहे तुम हमें आतंकवादी कहते फिरो या जिहादी.” A number of Twitter users with followers count in the thousands, including @RajaRajaAti17492920, @msjoha8, @Riyajulhaq3, and @HifzanSiddique shared the clip. The viral video and accompanying claim have also made their way to Facebook. बताया जा रहा है कि सूडान के ग़ैरतमंद मुसलमानों ने फ्रांस की अंबेसी का घेराव करके आग लग दी है… जो कि बहुत उम्दा काम किया है। बतला दो गुस्ताख ए नबी को गैरत ए मुस्लिम जिंदा है । #WeLoveMuhammadﷺ 🌺 Posted by मोहम्मद इमरान खान on Sunday, 25 October 2020 Alt News received a request to investigate these visuals on our official app. When we performed a reverse image search of a frame from this clip, we found the original source on YouTube from September 2012. The Arabic description of the video reads, ” فيديوا إقتحام السفارة الأمريكية في السودان… .أكشن .” This roughly translates to, “A video of the attack on the American Embassy in Sudan.” A subsequent keyword search led us to media reports from September 2012 stating that various foreign embassies in Sudan had been attacked. As reported by Al Jazeera on September 15, 2012, violent protests in Tunisia, Yemen, Sudan and elsewhere targeted the American, British and German embassies. This was in response to an ‘anti-Islamic’ scene in an American movie trailer. The protesters claimed that the video insulted Muhammed. Parts of the opening scenes of Al Jazeera’s video report match the visuals from the viral video. We also noticed the viral clip was part of a CNN story dated September 14, 2012. The report stated that the protesters seen here were storming the German Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan. The Guardian also covered the unrest. “The film which sparked the unrest, ‘Innocence of Muslims’, appears to have been made by a Californian Coptic Christian who posed as an Israeli. The film was denounced as ‘reprehensible’ by the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.” A September 2020 report in The Wall Street Journal mentioned that the filmmaker had been arrested in another case of fraud. Therefore, the viral clip has nothing to do with any recent events. The video in question actually shows scenes from the violent demonstrations that took place in Sudan in 2012. 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	28th October 2020 / 12:54 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-muslims-in-sudan-attacked-on-france-embassy-after-cartoons-of-prophet-muhammad-shown-by-a-teacher/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
926	Video of people offering namaz in knee-deep water is from Bangladesh - Alt News Kinjal 3rd August 2021 / 5:27 pm / Last updated: 4th May 2022 Footage of a large crowd of people offering namaz in knee-deep water is circulating widely on social media against the backdrop of Eid. Now Namaz in rivers ,what the hell is going on pic.twitter.com/b4orD3hPGf — Dr.SushmaShallakaul🇮🇳 (@shallakaul) May 4, 2022 The same video was shared last year when the accompanying Hindi caption said, “This is a plan to capture a secluded place in the river Ganges by offering prayers there. According to their plan, a temporary encampment should be built on the banks of the river, which will be converted into permanent accommodation. Because the next war of the world will be for water. And the experiment to convert Mother Ganges to Abe Zamzam has begun!” #उत्तराखंड_मांगे_भू_कानून#जमीन_जिहाद यह मुस्लिमों की एक योजना है कि एकान्त स्थान पर गंगा नदी में अज़ान लगा कर कब्जा किया जये। इनकी योजना के अनुसार गंगा नदी के किनारे किनारे पर अस्थाई निवास बनाये जाय बाद में यह स्थाई निवास में परिवर्तन कर दिया जायेगा। क्यों कि विश्व की अगली👇 pic.twitter.com/4ANIH8zduk — 🇮🇳कल्याणी_पुष्पा🇮🇳 (@P_Katyayan) July 28, 2021 यह मुस्लिमों की एक योजना है, की एकांत स्थान पर गंगा नदी में, अजान लगाकर कब्जा कर लिया जाए, इनकी योजना के अनुसार गंगा नदी के किनारे किनारे पर अस्थाई निवास बनाया जाए, बाद में यह स्थाई निवास में परिवर्तन कर दिया जाएगा, क्योंकि विश्व की अगली लड़ाई पानी के लिए होनी है। pic.twitter.com/CaypnUoZUa — 🇮🇳 शेषधर तिवारी 🇮🇳 (@sdtiwari) July 28, 2021 Facebook user Sanjay Singh shared the visuals with the same caption. यह मुस्लिमोंकी एक योजना है कि एकान्त स्थान पर गंगा नदी में अज़ान लगा कर कब्जा किया जये। इनकी योजना के अनुसार गंगा नदी के किनारे किनारे पर अस्थाई निवास बनाये जाय बाद में यह स्थाई निवास में परिवर्तन कर दिया जायेगा। क्यों कि विश्व की अगली लड़ाई पानी के लिए होनी है। और यह गंगा के किनारे रह कर यह मुस्लिम इस्लाम को बुलन्द करेंगे। Posted by Sanjay Singh on Monday, July 26, 2021 Facebook page ‘I Love MODI JI’ promoted the clip as well. The video was viral on Facebook and Twitter. The same video was shared on YouTube as Florida, India and Maharashtra. Alt News performed a keyword search, which led us to a Dhaka Tribune article dated May 25, 2020. The accompanying image is a still from the viral video. The outlet states that there was a flood in the Koira subdistrict of Khulna, Bangladesh due to the Amphan cyclone. Because of this, locals offered prayers in knee-deep water on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr. The storm, which hit at a speed of 180 kmph, caused a lot of devastation. Mohammad Humayun Kabir, chairman of the Koira Sadar Upazila Parishad, revealed that close to 3,000 people had offered prayers at three different places in the city during flooding. Below is a side-by-side comparison of a screengrab from the viral video and the image carried by the Dhaka Tribune. Bangladeshi newspapers like the Daily Sun and Bangla Mirror also reported about residents offering prayers in water during flooding in Koira. Therefore, a video of a crowd of people offering Eid prayers in knee-deep water in Bangladesh amid the 2020 floods was shared on social media as India and Florida. While sharing the visuals, users falsely claimed that Muslims were offering prayers in the River Ganges, considered holy by Hindus. 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. 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	3rd August 2021 / 5:27 pm / Last updated: 4th May 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-muslims-offer-namaz-in-ganga-river-false-claim/", "author": "Kinjal" }
927	Fact-check: Did Nehru say "I took the decision of partition" in his last interview? - Alt News Archit 28th January 2022 / 5:43 pm A one-minute clip of India’s first prime minister being interviewed by American TV Host Arnold Michaelis in 1964 has been widely shared on social media (Facebook and Twitter). It has been shared with the caption that he said, “I took the decision of partition.” (विभाजन का निर्णय मैंने ही लिया था). ”धमाकेदार सबूत” ”विभाजन का निर्णय मैंने ही लिया था” -जवाहरलाल नेहरू मई 1964 में दिए गए अपने अंतिम साक्षात्कार (Interview) में नेहरु ने स्वीकारा कि मुसलमानों व हिंदुओ में विभाजन का निर्णय उन्होंने ही लिया था। 👇👇 pic.twitter.com/ObyPhfl0RI — Rajeev Chaudhary (@rmdr786) January 24, 2022 This claim dates back a few years. In 2019, Twitter user @indiangujarati1 had posted it. Since then his tweet gained over 500 retweets. Recently it has been shared by several users on Twitter as well. “धमाकेदार सबूत” “विभाजन का निर्णय मैंने ही लिया था” – नेहरू मई 1964 में दिए गए अपने अंतिम साक्षात्कार (Interview) में नेहरु ने स्वीकारा कि विभाजन का निर्णय उन्होंने ही लिया था। देख लो अपनी आंखों से चमचो🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/E4AbaH68GJ — 🇭‌🇮‌🇳‌🇩‌🇺🚩 (@indiangujarati1) December 19, 2019 It was posted on multiple high network Facebook groups such as भारत रक्षक संगठन, [over 3 lakh followers]; Kangna Ranaut Group [over 2 lakh followers]; मोदी लक्ष्य 2024 [about 2 lakh followers]; Sudarshan News [over 1 lakh followers]; and हिंदू देशभक्त [over 10K followers]. Alt News has received several requests to fact-check this claim on our official mobile application. (iOS and Android). The viral video is a clip from a 45-minute interview. The full interview is available on the YouTube channel of the Government of India’s ‘Prasar Bharati Archives’. As per the video description, this is Nehru’s last significant interview before his death on May 27, 1964. The portion in the viral video is clipped from the 14:34 mark in the Prasar Bharati Archives video. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlTfXWFQYGQ?start=874] In the viral video, at the 1:06 mark, Nehru said, “…ultimately I decided…” and the corresponding Hindi subtitle that appears is – “आख़िरकार मैंने यह निर्णय लिया”. This is an accurate translation that does not mean, “I took the decision of partition” or “विभाजन का निर्णय मैंने ही लिया था” as suggested in the caption. More crucially, this is only a small portion of Nehru’s statement that fails to offer context. To understand the full context, viewers must know the question that was asked by Michaelis before the segment that was shared on social media. Below is the transcript of the ‘Prasar Bharati Archives’ video from relevant timestamps. 14:34 Michaelis: “Now you and Mr Gandhi and Mr Jinnah… you were all involved before the point of independence and partition in the fight for the independence of India from British domination.” 14:51 Nehru: “Mr Jinnah was not involved in the fight for independence… at all. In fact, he opposed it. The Muslim League was started …about 1911, I think. It was started really by the British… encouraged by them so as to create factions… and they did succeed to some extent. And ultimately there came the partition.” 15:23 Michaelis: “Had you and Mr Gandhi been in favour of that?” 15:27 Nehru: “Mr Gandhi was not in favour of it, right to the end. Even when it came he was not in favour of it. I was not in favour of it either. But ultimately I decided like others did… many others, that it is better to have partition than this constant trouble and you see the leaders of the Muslim League were big landlords… who did not like land reform. We were very anxious to have land reform, which we did have afterwards, and that was one reason that we agreed to partition because we thought if they remained with us, apart from the struggle continuing, they would oppose our measures… many of our measures. And we said it is better to have a part of India end… go ahead with our program of reforms etc than to be tied up with those leaders who would come in the way of these reforms.” Based on Nehru’s response alone it’s clear that he did not say, “I took the decision of partition.” However, to understand the nuances in the partition of undivided India and Nehru’s role better, we spoke with Sucheta Mahajan, Professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Mahajan is also a co-author of the 2016 book ‘India’s Struggle for Independence’. Mahajan told Alt News, “There is no doubt that the partition was a decision that was taken by the British government. No Indian party, Congress or Muslim League, were in a position to accept it or not accept it. So there is no question of Nehru saying “I decided on partition” because the British government was in power. The decision to transfer power to a united India or divided India was in their provenance.” She added, “Around April/May 1947, the final Viceroy of India Louis Mountbatten, who oversaw the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan, decided with consultation with the British government that a divided India is the only practical solution. Before the two dominion partition, Mountbatten proposed a partition where provinces and princely states could become independent countries. Nehru staunchly refuted this attempt to balkanise India in an elaborate letter. Subsequently, the partition was awarded under the two-dominion model. It is worth noting that there are no signatures by Indian parties, signifying that it is not even an agreement between these parties.” Thus, for the past few years, a one-minute clip is being shared with the false claim that Nehru said, “I took the decision of partition.” 🙏 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	28th January 2022 / 5:43 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-nehru-say-i-took-the-decision-of-partition-in-his-last-interview/", "author": "Archit" }
928	Old video of Nitish Kumar taking dig at BJP viral with misleading claim - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 10th August 2022 / 5:24 pm The ongoing political crisis in Bihar continues to deepen further. Nitish Kumar recently met with the Governor and resigned from the post of Chief Minister of the NDA government. Along with this, he also proposed to form a new coalition government. As of writing this article, Nitish Kumar has taken oath as the CM in a grand alliance with the RJD. Against this backdrop, a video of Nitish Kumar is circulating widely on social media. Here, he can be heard saying, “After this, there’s no basis for going back under any circumstances. Whether we remain in power or become irrelevant (get mixed into the soil), we will never compromise with you in the future. Impossible! It is simply not possible now. Impossible! This chapter is over now because you people broke our trust.” A number of BJP leaders, journalists, and social media users shared the video claiming that Nitish Kumar was directing these remarks at the RJD. ANI-affiliated journalist Amit Kumar tweeted this video and wrote, “We may become irrelevant but we will not compromise with the RJD. This statement was given by Nitish Kumar in the assembly. Listen for yourself.” (Archived link) हम भले ही मिट्टी में मिल जाए लेकिन राजद के साथ समझौता नहीं करेंगे. ये बयान नीतीश कुमार ने विधानसभा में दिया था. आप खुद सुनिए pic.twitter.com/nnYJqcflRq — Amit Kumar (@kumaramit06) August 9, 2022 BJP Delhi IT cell head Punit Agarwal also tweeted this as a statement given by Nitish Kumar targeting the RJD. (Archived link) रहें या मिट्टी में मिल जाएँ, RJD के साथ अब कोई समझौता संभव ही नहीं है भविष्य में – @NitishKumar pic.twitter.com/rSAX0nGmKg — Punit Agarwal 🇮🇳 (@Punitspeaks) August 9, 2022 BJP Madhya Pradesh leader and former IT cell state in-charge Shivraj Singh Dabi also made a similar claim while tweeting this video. (Archived link) “इसके बाद किसी भी परिस्थिति में लौटकर राजद के साथ जाने का प्रश्न नहीं बनता… रहे या मिट्टी में मिल जाये आप लोगों के साथ कोई समझौता भविष्य में संभव नहीं है।”#बिन_पेंदी_का_लोटा#BiharPolitics #NitishKumar #नीतीश_कुमार pic.twitter.com/uZ37gWUKjI — Shivraj Singh Dabi (@ShivrajDabi) August 9, 2022 Right-wing propaganda portal Newsroom Post made a similar claim in its video report. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-xcnsOdIA] Similarly, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala, Aaj Tak anchor Shubhankar Mishra, Nishant Azad of RSS mouthpiece eOrganiser, along with handles like Political Keeda and MrSinha_, who are often found spreading false news also tweeted the visuals and accompanying claim. The video is widespread on Twitter as remarks by Nitish Kumar against the RJD. Alt News performed a keyword search and came across a Dainik Jagran article dated February 18, 2014. According to this report, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, denying the possibility of rejoining the BJP, said that he would not compromise with the BJP even if it means he would become irrelevant (get mixed in the soil). He added further that it was impossible, and that this chapter was now closed. Next, we listened to the live webcast of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha session held on February 18, 2014, on ‘Webcast’, the video portal of the Indian government. The full-length video of the Assembly proceedings from the same day is available on the site. At the 1:19:23 mark of the video, Nitish Kumar says, “We did not betray you. It’s actually the opposite, you betrayed us. But now that this incident has happened after 17 years, know this – we all had faith, it was Mr. Atal’s era, now that era has passed. That’s why Mr. Advani called when we were separating, saying that the Speaker gave us a promise, and it would be fulfilled. We said that it is not possible for us anymore. And the Speaker who promised us this is no longer the speaker. And who will listen to these things? That’s why we went our own way. That era is over, now you have a new avatar.” Further on at the 1:20:13 mark, Nitish Kumar says, “After this, there’s no basis of going back under any circumstances.Impossible! It is simply not possible now. Impossible! This chapter is over now because you people broke our trust.” Below we have added the full statement given by Nitish Kumar at the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 2014. To sum it up, several BJP leaders, journalists, and social media users shared Nitish Kumar’s statement made against the BJP during the Bihar Assembly proceedings as remarks targetting the RJD. 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). 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	10th August 2022 / 5:24 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-nitish-kumar-say-hell-never-go-with-rjd-false-claim-clipped-video/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
929	Morphed Dawn report claims pilot urinated in Pak fighter jet after calling from Allah - Alt News Kinjal 5th January 2021 / 4:49 pm A purported screenshot of the website of Pakistani daily Dawn shows a headline dated June 10, 2020, which reads, “Pilot caught pissing in the cockpit of PAF F-16, said urine increases efficiancy of Jets told by Allah in his dream.” Facebook page ‘We Support Arnab Goswami’ posted this picture on January 1, 2021, where it was shared more than 180 times at the time of writing (Archive link) This image is also getting a lot of traction on Facebook. Alt News did not find any media reports corroborating the ‘news’ of a pilot urinating in a fighter plane in Pakistan. Neither could we locate any such news story on Dawn’s website. Furthermore, we noticed that the headline shown in the picture contains several mistakes which are as follows: 1. The word ‘efficiency’ is misspelt here as ‘efficiancy’. 2. A few words in the sentence start with a capital letter. 3. The headline contains the word ‘pissing’, whereas media outlets generally use the more formal term ‘urinating’. 4. There is a full stop at the end. However, this is not the standard practice as headlines do not contain any punctuation at the end. These errors make it clear that this screenshot is fake. To confirm this, we also looked through Dawn’s website. There is a lot of difference between the viral screenshot and what the stories on the website look like. The font of the headline on the site looks extremely different from the one in the viral picture. The difference is apparent in a side by side comparison of the two images below. A similar screenshot of an alleged Dawn story regarding the disappearance of an F-16 jet had gone viral earlier. The daily itself published a fact-check report on the claim. We discovered that the same screenshot has been used this time as well, just with an edited headline. The two also share a common date, June 10, 2020. To sum it up, a variety of fake claims was made on social media with an edited screenshot from the website of the Pakistani newspaper Dawn. This alleged story about a pilot urinating in a fighter plane is completely 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	5th January 2021 / 4:49 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-pakistans-dawn-report-about-a-pilot-urinated-in-f-16/", "author": "Kinjal" }
930	No, this video doesn't show people in Brazil and Switzerland following PM Modi's '9pm-9min' appeal - Alt News Kinjal 9th April 2020 / 2:27 pm On April 3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation and requested citizens to turn off all lights for nine minutes at 9 pm on April 5 and light a candle/ diya or use the flashlight of their phones to mark the country’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic. A 40-second video which shows people flashing their mobile phones has gone viral with multiple claims. Some Facebook and Twitter users have shared the video suggesting, “Brazilian television channels showed Prime Minister Modi’s speech in his country, and Brasilians did it last night itself. (Translated from ब्राज़ील के टेलीविज़न चैनलों ने भारत के प्रधानमंत्री मोदी का भाषण अपने देश में दिखाया और कल रात को ही ब्राज़ीलिओ ने ये कर दिखाया।).” ब्राज़ील के टेलीविज़न चैनलों ने भारत के प्रधानमंत्री मोदी का भाषण अपने देश में दिखाया और कल रात को ही ब्राज़ीलिओ ने ये कर दिखाया। pic.twitter.com/pGOP9GzbFc — Arghya Jadav (@ArghyaJadav) April 6, 2020 Other social media users shared the video and claimed, “Look at this! In Switzerland and several other countries, similar things are happening. In India, just saying light lamps has lead to jealously among some people. (translated from यह देखिए स्विट्जरलैंड में ओर इसी तरह अन्य देशों में भी हो रहा हैं। भारत में दीया जलाने भर कहने से लोगों के दिल जलने दो दिन पहले से ही शुरू हो गया था)” Alt News also received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160) and on our official Android application. Alt News analysed the viral video using InVid, online video verification tool, and performed a reverse image search. Doing so we found that the viral video was posted on Facebook page Name Above All Names on 28 March 2020. As per the description, the video shows people praying to Jesus in Brazil. LOOK IN THE STREETS OF BRAZIL! LOOK IN THE STREETS OF BRAZIL! THE PEOPLE ARE TURNING TO JESUS IN PRAYER & WORSHIP! CAN I GET AN AMEN?! Posted by NAME above all names on Friday, March 27, 2020 Facebook page Brazil Pera Christ also posted this video on March 27. Since PM Modi had made the ‘9PM-9minute’ announcement on April 3, the video cannot represent an event that took place as a reaction to his speech. Therefore, while Alt News was unable to independently verify where the video was shot, it certainly does not show Brazilians joining India using the flashlights of their cellphones as per PM Modi’s appeal. 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	9th April 2020 / 2:27 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-people-of-brazil-and-switzerland-follow-pm-modi-lights-out-call/", "author": "Kinjal" }
931	Fact-check: Did PM Modi induct Prathap who claims to make drones from e-wastes into DRDO? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 7th July 2020 / 2:43 pm A claim massively viral on social media suggests that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “inducted” 22-year-old Prathap NM from Karnataka, who builds drones from e-wastes, into the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Infographics created by fake news portal Postcard News in both English and Kannada are doing the rounds. A Twitter thread by Amit Singh Rajawat claiming that Prathap was appointed in the DRDO by PM Modi has received close to 17,000 retweets. The claim is also viral in Hindi — “#Karnatak के 21 साल के NM Pratap की कबाड़ से #ड्रोन बनाने से DRDO साइंटिस्ट बनने की कहानी दिलचस्प है”. BJP politician Ameeta Singh tweeted with the hashtag #DRDO. Speaking with Alt News, Prathap claimed while other details of his accomplishments are true, the bit about his induction into the DRDO is false. “Not yet,” he told us. “I haven’t received any offer from the Prime Minister’s Office. The PM cannot recruit for DRDO, isn’t it? Several people from Kannada media have told me that I will be getting a call. But I am not sure. Till now I haven’t received any call or email.” A keyword search for news reports claiming that Prathap has been appointed as a scientist in DRDO led us to a December 2019 report by India Times which said, “He is currently working on a project with India’s DRDO for drone application in critical national projects.” When asked about the report, Prathap clarified that he has never directly worked with the DRDO. “I worked with a Bengaluru-based company which was working on a project for DRDO.” Every year, the DRDO recruits scientists in DRDS (Defence Research & Development Service) mostly at entry-level (Scientist ‘B’). “However, depending on the requirements in specialized areas of research & development, limited number of scientists are also recruited in higher grades (Scientist ‘C’ to Scientist ‘H’),” according to the website of Recruitment and Assessment, DRDO. The essential qualifications for scientists in science/ engineering category are first class master’s degree in relevant subjects and work experience ranging between 3 to 15 years depending on the position. The claim that PM Modi has inducted Prathap NM into the DRDO is baseless. It is to be noted that Alt News was unable to independently verify the awards and accomplishments credited to Prathap NM. 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	7th July 2020 / 2:43 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-pm-modi-induct-prathap-who-claims-to-make-drones-from-e-wastes-into-drdo/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
932	Fact-Check: PM Modi did not insult former President Ram Nath Kovind - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 26th July 2022 / 5:21 pm On July 23, a farewell ceremony for President Ram Nath Kovind was held at Parliament’s Central Hall, a day before the last day of his tenure. Members of both the houses of the Parliament, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the ceremony. Against the backdrop of this event, a video of PM Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind is circulating widely on social media. It has been claimed that as President Ram Nath Kovind was greeting the Prime Minister, the latter looked at the camera instead of acknowledging him. Various users claimed that the PM had insulted the President by ignoring him. Aam Aadmi Party leader and MP Sanjay Singh tweeted the video, calling it an insult to the President. Addressing Ram Nath Kovind, he wrote “This is how these people are, now that your tenure is over, they will not even look at you.” (Archived link) ऐसा अपमान Very Sorry Sir ये लोग ऐसे ही हैं, आपका कार्यकाल ख़त्म अब आपकी तरफ़ देखेंगे भी नही। pic.twitter.com/xaGIOkuyDM — Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) July 24, 2022 National Forum, an organisation led by Yashwant Sinha also amplified the video on Twitter, writing, “How can you insult the President like this? It’s not good to be so arrogant, Mr Prime Minister. Today, you’re in power, and tomorrow it will be someone else.” (Archived link) ऐसा अपमान राष्ट्रपति का ?? इतना घमंड प्रधानमंत्री जी ठीक नहीं हैं, ये सत्ता आते जाते रहती हैं आज आपके पास है कल किसी और के पास होगी। pic.twitter.com/tUPGOvy1FV — NationalForum (@RashtraManch) July 24, 2022 RJD leader Rishi Kumar tweeted the clip, adding, “Is this not an insult to a Dalit President?” (Archived link) सामने कोई भी हो , सम्मान कैमरे को ही मिलेगा । क्या ये दलित राष्ट्रपति का अपमान नही है ? 🤔@RJDforIndia @yadavtejashwi @laluprasadrjd pic.twitter.com/FHCSQ5790V — Rishi Kumar (@rishi_mail) July 24, 2022 This video has been shared by several social media users. However, it is worth noting that while some users have pointed out Prime Minister Modi’s love for the camera, others have termed it an insult to the President. Alt News noticed that the ‘Sansad TV’ logo is visible in the viral visuals. Using this as a clue, we examined the timeline of the Sansad TV channel on YouTube and found the full video from which the viral clip was taken. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW_gFzcRX7I] This can be seen clearly in the screengrab added below. To sum it up, a video clip of former President Ram Nath Kovind’s farewell ceremony was shared with a misleading claim. PM Narendra Modi did not insult the former President. In fact, he acknowledged and returned the greeting with folded hands. In the clip being circulated as the PM ignoring the former President, the latter is actually greeting Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh) MP Geeta Vishwanath Vanga, who was standing behind PM Modi. 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). 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 July 2022 / 5:21 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-pm-modi-insult-president-ram-nath-kovind-during-his-farewell/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
933	Fact-check: Did PM Modi write a congratulatory letter to CJI after Ayodhya verdict? - Alt News Archit 14th November 2019 / 11:22 am / Last updated: 14th November 2019 A supposed letter written by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi is circulating on social media. The said letter is dated on November 11 and reads, “Dear Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Let me begin by congratulating you and your bench Justice S.A. Bobde, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Ashok Bhushan & Justice S. Abdul Nazeer for your stupendous contribution to Hindu Rashtra. Hindus will always be grateful to you and your team for your compendable and memorable decision, which will make a new history for Hindu Rashtra. I wish you and your family the very best for your future endeavours and once again congratulate you for this remarkable decision. Thank you for the wonderful support at this crucial time.” The letter has been trending on social media, primarily on WhatsApp. Alt News has receieved several requests to fact-check the image on WhatsApp. As an official correspondence, the language used in the letter is inconceivable. Statements “Hindus will always be grateful to you and your team for your commendable and memorable decision, which will make a new history for Hindu Rashtra” and “Thank you for the wonderful support at this crucial time” are used to create a perception of conflict of interest within the government. There is also a typo in the two-paragraph letter. The word ‘commendable’ is spelt as ‘compendable’. Moreover, if the letter was truly sent by the Prime Minister it would have made national news. Alt News was unable to find any such reports in the media. After performing a reverse image search on Google, we discovered a similar letter written by PM Modi to Gautam Gambhir. Thanks @narendramodi @PMOIndia for the kind words. Nothing of this would have been possible without love and support of our fellow countrymen. All these deeds are dedicated to our country. pic.twitter.com/3P3HcViIJ5 — Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) December 16, 2018 On comparing both the letters, we spotted that the letter being circulated as “Narendra Modi writes a congratulatory letter to the Chief Justice” doesn’t have the saffron and brown border at the bottom. Nor does it mention the address of the recipient at the bottom, as seen in Gambhir’s letter. Taking a closer look at both the letters, one can observe that the background texture in Gambhir’s letter is consistent throughout the letter, as highlighted below. However, the viral letter does not have a consistent texture. The textured background is only present where there are no words. The official Twitter account of the High Commission of India in Bangladesh shared a tweet on November 13 refuting the claims. #FakeNewsAlert #MaliciousNewsAlert pic.twitter.com/vN7WgsGfBo — India in Bangladesh (@ihcdhaka) November 13, 2019 Based on visual analysis and lack of reports in the media, it is clear that the image circulated as “Narendra Modi writes a congratulatory letter to the Chief Justice” is inauthentic. [This article was updated on November 14, 2019, to include to tweet of High Commission of India in Bangladesh.] 🙏 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	14th November 2019 / 11:22 am / Last updated: 14th November 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-pm-modi-write-a-congratulatory-letter-to-cji-after-ayodhya-verdict/", "author": "Archit" }
934	Mock drill of police apprehending terrorists at Dahod Railway Station believed to be true - Alt News Kinjal 8th April 2021 / 4:30 pm A video of police officers arresting two people from a railway station is gathering a lot of traction on social media. It has been claimed police arrested terrorists in Gujarat’s Dahod city. Sharing the video, Facebook user Akash Kumar wrote, “See how the brave soldiers of the country caught terrorists in Dahod station #Jaihind…”. It had garnered over 59,000 views at the time of writing. वीर सैनिकों ने आतंकवादियो को पकड़ा दोहदा स्टेशन🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 देखिए कैसे दाहोद स्टेशन में देश के वीर सैनिकों ने आतंकवादियो को पकड़ा🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 #जयहिंद🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 #mockdrill Posted by Aakash kumar on Monday, April 5, 2021 A Facebook page titled ‘E UP Hai Chacha’ also posted the video with the same claim, where it garnered 50 million views and 6,700 shares before it was deleted. (Archive link) Facebook page ‘HN24 News’ shared the clip with the same claim. (Archive link) हमारे देश के वीर #सैनिक जवानों ने दाहोद स्टेशन पर पकड़ा आतंकवादी को #जयहिन्द हमारे देश के वीर #सैनिक जवानों ने दाहोद स्टेशन पर पकड़ा आतंकवादी को #जयहिन्द Posted by HN24 News on Monday, April 5, 2021 It is being circulated widely on Facebook. A closer look at the video confirms that it is from Dahod Railway Station. Alt News performed a keyword search which led us to an article in the Gujarati newspaper Divya Bhaskar dated April 2. It states that on March 31, a mock drill was conducted in Dahod Railway Station. After the video went viral, rumours began spreading about terrorists being caught in areas around Dahod. Therefore, a mock drill video at the railway station in Dahod city was shared as real. Social media users believed that terrorists were actually apprehended by the police. In the past, similar mock drill videos have been shared with misleading claims. 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	8th April 2021 / 4:30 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-police-arrest-terrorists-from-dahod-railway-station-in-gujarat/", "author": "Kinjal" }
935	No, Rahul Gandhi is NOT with Chinese Ambassador to Nepal in this video - Alt News Abhishek Kumar & Mohammed Zubair 7th May 2022 / 4:08 pm / Last updated: 7th May 2022 Congress MP Rahul Gandhi travelled to Nepal recently. As per a May 2 article by a Nepali news portal, he was attending his friend Sumnima Udas’ wedding. Udas is a former CNN journalist and the daughter of Myanmar’s Ambassador to Nepal. A video of Gandhi, in the company of a woman, at a nightclub in Nepal was widely shared by several BJP leaders and supporters with the claim that the woman is Hou Yanqi, the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal. It is worth noting that amid escalating border dispute between India and Nepal in 2020, the latter accused Indian media of running false “propaganda” against Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Nepal banned private Indian news channels a day after Zee News suggested Oli had close ties with Hou Yanqi. Kapil Mishra of the BJP shared the video and wrote, “Who is this with Rahul Gandhi? This is not a personal matter. Is he siding with the Chinese agents? Does Rahul Gandhi post tweets against the army due to pressure from China? Questions will be raised. This isn’t just about Rahul Gandhi, but the country at large.” (Archive link) ये राहुल गांधी की निजी जिंदगी का मामला नहीं राहुल गांधी किसके साथ है? क्या चाइना के एजेंटों के साथ हैं? क्या राहुल गांधी जो ट्वीट करते है सेना के खिलाफ वो चाइना के दबाव में करते है ? सवाल तो पूछे जाएंगे ? सवाल राहुल गांधी का नहीं, देश का हैं https://t.co/dNmzqFo36L — Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) May 3, 2022 Sai Prasad, Treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, also tweeted the video, identifying the woman with Rahul Gandhi as Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi. (Archive link) Rahul Gandhi with Hou Yanqi (Chinese ambassador to Nepal). She earlier honey trapped Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli . pic.twitter.com/EuH6AXFNXX — PM Sai Prasad🇮🇳 (@pm_saiprasad) May 3, 2022 Rajya Sabha MP Vijaysai Reddy further amplified the claim. (Archive link) Video of @RahulGandhi partying in a Nepal night club with Chinese diplomats is disturbing as China’s honey traps are rising. Hou Yanqi,Chinese Ambassador to Nepal also spotted with him.Congress unnecessarily questions @NarendraModi Ji’s Europe trip while its own leader does this! — Vijayasai Reddy V (@VSReddy_MP) May 3, 2022 So did BJP supporter Surendra Poonia. (Archive link) कांग्रेस को बताना होगा कि क्या राहुल गाँधी जी चीन की नेपाल में राजदूत Miss Hou Yanqi के साथ पार्टी कर रहे हैं ? वो अपनी निजी ज़िंदगी में कुछ भी करें पर अगर वो चीनी राजदूत के साथ हैं तो भारतीय नागरिक होने के नाते हमें मंज़ूर नहीं है ! pic.twitter.com/UgbWoBIQ6V — Major Surendra Poonia (@MajorPoonia) May 3, 2022 Right-wing account Hawk Eye, BJP Delhi chief Ajay Sehrawat, BJP supporter and journalist Taruni Gandhi, BJP supporter Rishi Bagree, BJP worker Harish Khurana, Aam Aadmi Party MLA Naresh Balyan, RSS mouthpiece journalist Shivam Dixit, fake news portal Postcard News founder Mahesh Vikram Hegde and V Patel were some others who claimed that Gandhi was spotted at a nightclub in Nepal with Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi. After performing a few keyword searches on Facebook, we came across a post by Nepali user Bhupen Kunwar. Dated May 2, Kunwar has shared two videos of Rahul Gandhi and claimed he was at ‘Lord of the Drinks’. Alt News reached out to the management of the club and was informed that no Chinese diplomat visited their premises. The woman seen with Rahul Gandhi in the video was actually a guest of the bride/groom and she had arrived with them at the nightclub. We then spoke with Samyak Udas, brother of bride Sumnima Udas. He explained that the woman has been friends with his sister since they were in Hong Kong. Samyak added that although he informed the woman about the viral claim, she does not wish to be identified. Alt News has independently verified the woman’s identity. Writer and activist Kanak Mani Dixit who was an attendee at the wedding reception on April 5 shared more details about the woman with the help of a source close to the bride’s family. He identified the woman in the video as a former journalist working with CNN in Hong Kong. She currently works as a scriptwriter outside of Hong Kong. To sum it up, the woman seen in a viral video with Rahul Gandhi inside a nightclub is not Hou Yanqi, the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal. She is a friend of Sumnima Udas, whose wedding Gandhi was attending in Nepal. BJP leaders, supporters, and several others circulated false claims on social media accusing Rahul Gandhi of meeting the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal. 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 2022 / 4:08 pm / Last updated: 7th May 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-rahul-gandhi-met-chinese-diplomat-hou-yanqi-kpa-in-nepal-pub/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar & Mohammed Zubair" }
936	Did Rahul refuse to perform 'aarti' to Hindu deity Durga? Clipped video shared with false claim - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 1st October 2022 / 3:28 pm In the middle of the Navratri festivities, a 23-second video of Congress leader and MP Rahul Gandhi has gone viral on social media. Due to the poor quality of the video, only the Rahul Gandhi’s face is clearly visible. After performing the aarti, the person standing to Gandhi’s right does not pass him the aarti thali, instead handing it to the person standing to his left. Sharing this, it is being claimed that Rahul Gandhi refused to perform the aarti. Filmmaker and BJP supporter Ashoke Pandit tweeted the video and wrote that Rahul Gandhi, who had donned a janeu in the past, was now refusing to do the aarti. (Archived link) BJP supporter and columnist Himanshu Jain also tweeted the clip, saying, “This is how selective Hindus, who secure votes by appeasing the Hindu and Muslims vote banks, are exposed. They do not even know how to perform the aarti for the mother goddess.” It is worth noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows Jain on Twitter. (Archived link) Another user tweeted this video and wrote that Rahul Gandhi was not singing bhajans and then refused to perform the aarti. (Archived link) Several other Twitter users amplified the video with the same claim. It is widespread on social media platforms. Alt News performed a reverse image search using frames taken from the viral video. This led us to a longer version of the viral clip posted on a Facebook page titled ‘With RG‘. It is seen here that after performing the aarti, Rahul Gandhi hands over the aarti thali to Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, who is standing next to him. This 52 second video was uploaded on September 27, 2017. The caption reads, “Rahul Gandhi at Garba Pandal in Rajkot.” Scenes from the viral video appear between the 0:29 and 0:52-minute mark. Since Rahul Gandhi had already performed the aarti, he was not handed the aarti thali later on. Rahul Gandhi at Garba Pandal in Rajkot ! Posted by With RG on Tuesday, 26 September 2017 Using this information as a clue, Alt News performed a keyword search on Twitter. We found a tweet by India Today journalist Supriya Bhardwaj dated September 27, 2017. Here, Rahul Gandhi can be seen performing the aarti. This is visible only in the first frame of the video. In other words, the source video has been cropped and is being shared with a misleading claim. #RahulGandhi performed puja at Garba pandal in Rajkot .@aajtak .@SATAVRAJEEV .@BharatSolankee .@sushmitadevmp .@IndiaToday .@shaktisinhgohil pic.twitter.com/PCbHztqRCu — Supriya Bhardwaj (@Supriya23bh) September 26, 2017 Congress leader Saral Patel shared the following photographs on Twitter on September 27, 2017. Rahul Gandhi ends with Aarti & blessings of Ambe Maa at Navratri Pandal, Neel City, Rajkot! 🕉 🙏 pic.twitter.com/nga9GFP1Zo — Saral Patel #BharatJodoYatra (@SaralPatel) September 26, 2017 To sum up, filmmaker Ashoke Pandit and BJP supporter Himanshu Jain among other users shared an old, clipped video of Rahul Gandhi with the false claim that the Congress leader refused to perform the aarti for Hindu deity Durga. 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). 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 October 2022 / 3:28 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-rahul-gandhi-refuse-to-offer-hindu-deity-durga-aarti-clipped-video/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
937	Fact-check: Did Rajasthan govt halt buses transporting students to UP for Rs 19 lakh fuel dues? - Alt News Archit 25th May 2020 / 8:17 pm / Last updated: 26th May 2020 On May 16, Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wrote a letter to BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh government seeking permission to send 1,000 buses from Rajasthan for labourers from UP to travel back to their respective native states. Since then, politics has taken over the humanitarian crisis. On May 17, Outlook reported that 500 buses were stuck at the state border waiting for UP government’s approval. On May 19, The Print reported that UP government asked for fitness certificates, insurance documents of buses and drivers. In the backdrop of the controversy, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted, “While bringing students from Kota to UP, some buses by UP [government] needed diesel… forget aid… Priyanka Vadra’s Rajasthan government made UP government pay Rs 19,76,286 at midnight and then allowed the buses to leave. Wow, what help. #TwoFaced_Congress.” The tweet included an image of a cheque, dated May 5, for a sum of approximately Rs 19 lakhs. The cheque was placed on an official document. Patra’s tweet has been retweeted over 18,000 times and liked more than 48,000 times. (archive link) [Translated from कोटा से उत्तर प्रदेश के students को वापिस लाते समय UP के कुछ बसों को डीज़ल की आवश्यकता पड़ गयी ..दया छोड़िए ..आधि रात को दफ़्तर खुलवा कर प्रियंका वाड्रा की राजस्थान सरकार ने UP सरकार से पहले 19 लाख रुपए लिए और उसके बाद बसों को रवाना होने दिया वाह रे मदद। #दोगली_कांग्रेस.] Atul Kumar national vice president at Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) also tweeted the image posted by Patra along with identical Hindi text. His tweet was retweeted 300 times (archive link). Sambit Patra alleged that Rajasthan government made UP government pay Rs 19 lakhs at midnight before allowing buses filled with students from Kota to leave. In April, several media outlets reported the plight of students stranded in Kota, Rajasthan’s education hub. As per Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation (RSRTC) documents, between April 1 and May 14, 16 trains carried over 18,196 students to Jharkhand and Bihar and 1,057 buses carried over 28,761 students from to Kota to other states including districts in Rajasthan. (View PDF)In order to understand the logistics involved in sending students from Kota to their respective states, Alt News spoke with Om Kasera, district collector of Kota and Naveen Jain, chairman and managing director of RSRTC, Jaipur. According to them, over 12,000 students travelled in buses from Kota to UP on April 17, 18, 19. The bus service was a collaborative effort by both the state governments. The RTGS/ NEFT cheque of Rs 19,76,286 from Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) posted by Patra was drafted on May 5 — 16 days after buses from Kota left on April 19. Thus, his claim that the Rajasthan government made the UP government pay Rs 19 lakhs at midnight before allowing buses filled with students to depart is false. Jain shared a bank statement of RSRTC that confirmed RTGS transaction of Rs 19,76, 286 by UPSRTC on May 6. A day after Patra’s tweet, Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma held a press conference and clarified that UPSRTC initiated the payment of Rs 19 lakhs to RSRTC on May 5 for buses sent in April, which clarifies further that the buses weren’t stopped for the Rs 19 lakh dues. Rajasthan govt raised a bill of Rs 19 lakhs for diesel provided by them for UP buses that were run for bringing back students from Kota, we paid the bill on 5th May: Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma pic.twitter.com/Kxksoxdp8r — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 22, 2020 On May 22, Alt News tried contacting Patra for a statement. Despite multiple calls, a WhatsApp text and an SMS, he is yet to respond. We also tried to speak with Raj Shekar, MD UPSTRC. He too is yet to respond. However, we managed to speak with an official from UPSTRC who visited Kota for a period two days between April 17 and 19. The USRTC official said, “RSRTC offered full cooperation and met the demand by UPSRTC to refuel the buses promptly.” Kasera shared a state-wise summary on the number of buses that took over 28,000 students from Kota to their respective states between April 17 and May 14. As per the second page in the document (screenshot attached below), over 12,000 students were from UP and 411 buses were required in total to ensure they reached their native states. “A majority of state governments sent their buses to pick the students. While some states also opted to hire private buses possibly because there were smaller groups of students from those states. Since there was a disproportionately large share of students from UP, there were some logistical hurdles which were subsequently tackled effectively through prompt decision making by both the governments,” said Kasera who also made it explicitly clear that Rajasthan government didn’t charge any student for the bus service. Jain received three letters from his counterpart Raj Shekar, managing director UPSRTC. In a letter on April 17, UPSRTC requested RSRTC to refuel (diesel) 120 litres/bus in 150 buses travelling from Agra to Kota. Next day two letters by the UPSRTC requested the RSRTC for three points of action — refuel 60 litres/bus for 100 buses arriving from Jhansi; additional buses arriving from Agra (50) and Jhansi (20) needed to be refuelled 120 litres/bus and requested 75 buses from Rajasthan government to ensure remaining students from Kota reach UP. The letter requested RSRTC to inform about the cost of diesel so that funds can be transferred via RTGS (real-time gross settlement) as soon as possible. Both the governments expedited the process of sending the students from Kota to UP on April 17, April 18 and April 19. Other than the buses arranged as part of the bilateral state government initiative, certain students hired a private bus service and travelled on May 14. “Only the buses that operated from April 17 to 19 were provided by the state governments. Out of this, 309 buses were from UPSRTC and the remaining 94 were from the RSRTC. And the buses were refuelled as per the need of the hour,” said Kasera after referring to the records available with him. On April 27, UPSRTC requested RSRTC to share the details of their total expenses. Subsequently, RSRTC sent two invoices to UPSRTC — the cost of fuel for the buses which was around Rs 19 lakhs and the operation cost involved in running 94 buses from Kota to UP which was Rs 36 lakhs. The cost of hiring RSRTC buses was in accordance with the tariff fixed in 2017. (View PDF) Jain shared another bank statement of RSRTC which showed that UPSRTC paid Rs 36 lakhs on May 20. That same day, Press Trust of India also tweeted, “UP govt clears Rs 36 lakh bill sent by Rajasthan govt for return of students from Kota: Official.” UP govt clears Rs 36 lakh bill sent by Rajasthan govt for return of students from Kota: Official — Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 22, 2020 🙏 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	25th May 2020 / 8:17 pm / Last updated: 26th May 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-did-rajasthan-govt-halt-buses-transporting-students-to-up-for-rs-19-lakh-fuel-dues/", "author": "Archit" }

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