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1,039	Fact-check: Was Pragya Thakur kept in jail without any chargesheet being filed? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 11th July 2021 / 9:58 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2021 On July 5, activist and Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, arrested under the draconian UAPA, died awaiting the beginning of his trial. Swamy, 84, was arrested on charges of connection to the banned outfit Communist Party of India (Maoist) and instigating violence in Bhima Koregaon in 2018. His death attracted mounting flak for the Modi government and the Indian judiciary. Swamy, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, was denied bail multiple times during the seven months he spent in jail. The international community, including the UN, condemned his death. However, a section of right-wing advocates in India has claimed that the outrage has been selective. Columnist Abhijit Iyer Mitra claimed in a tweet that MP Pragya Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, currently out on bail on terror charges, were kept in jail without chargesheets filed. Several people have similarly claimed that they were in police custody “for years” without any chargesheet. This narrative has been circulating for quite some time. Alt News could trace it back to at least 2012. In recent years, the claim reappears upon outrage against the detention of those critical of the Modi government. BJP supporter Shefali Vaidya had claimed last year that Thakur was in jail for eight years without any chargesheet filed. OpIndia columnist Abhishek Banerjee wrote that she spent 10 years in jail without a chargesheet. On September 29, 2008, a bomb blast in Maharashtra’s Malegaon killed six and left 100 others injured. The state’s Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested Pragya Thakur in October 2008 as one of the primary accused. Thakur claimed that the ATS kept her in illegal detention from October 10, 2008 to October 22, 2008. She filed a default bail application with the Bombay High Court which was rejected on March 12, 2010. Thakur had argued that she should be granted bail on the ground of violation of the mandate of Article 22(1) and 22(2) of the Constitution of India and also on the ground of non-filing of chargesheet within 90 days as contemplated by Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Supreme Court advocate Vivek Sharma had explained default bail in a blog on The Times of India, “Bail must be only on consideration of merits, except default bail which is under Section 167(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 wherein trial judges grant bail upon failure to file chargesheet by the police within the statutorily stipulated time period after taking an accused in custody.” Sub-section (a)(i) of Section 167(2) of the CrPC provides that 90 days would be the maximum permissible custody where the investigation relates to “an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years”. Subsection (a)(ii) of Section 167(2) of the Code provides that the maximum period of custody would be sixty days for any other offences not being punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years. According to Thakur, she was arrested on October 10, 2008, and the chargesheet was filed on January 20, 2009, after the expiry of the 90-day period. On September 23, 2011, Thakur filed a plea with the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court order rejecting her default bail application. However, the top court also dismissed her plea and observed, “The plea that Article 22(2) of the Constitution was violated is based on the averment by the appellant that she was arrested on October 10, 2008. Factually this plea has not been found to be correct. The appellant was in fact arrested only on October 23, 2008.” The chargesheet filed by the ATS on January 20, 2009 also reflects her date of arrested as October 23, 2008. The SC held the High Court’s judgement that she was not detained or taken into custody on October 10, 2008 “but was only questioned and was thereafter allowed to go. It was also noticed that she had stayed in different lodges and was in hospitals and was free to move around and contact everybody. According to the High Court, the appellant was in touch with her disciple and was using her mobile phone which was not disputed.” According to the Supreme Court’s judgement, the ATS filed the first chargesheet on the 89th day from the date of her arrest. The ATS filed a supplementary chargesheet on April 21, 2011 before the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Mumbai, where Thakur was named among 14 accused. According to the chargesheets, an ATS team led by Hemant Kare traced the motorcycle that set off the explosives to Thakur. The case was taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on April 13, 2011. On March 13, 2016, the NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet that dropped all charges under MCOCA against all accused. Furthermore, Pragya Thakur was named among the persons against whom prosecution was “not maintainable”. “The central issue is whether the chargesheet had been filed and the trial commenced, or whether the undertrial accused was rotting in jail without the trial commenced. The ATS had already filed a chargesheet against Pragya Thakur and the trial had begun. Later the case was handed over to the NIA, which departed from the case of the ATS and filed a supplementary chargesheet exonerating Pragya Thakur. The supplementary chargesheet was filed to undermine the case of the ATS. However, Pragya Thakur was not languishing in jail without trial, as in the Bhima Koregaon case, where three years have passed and the trial had not yet started,” said lawyer and women’s rights activist Vrinda Grover to Alt News. On October 15, 2016, the Bombay High Court questioned Thakur’s imprisonment after NIA had dropped the charges. She was granted bail on April 25, 2017, under medical grounds. On December 27, 2017, the NIA special court made observations on the chargesheet and held that there was enough evidence to book Thakur. The court rejected her plea for discharge from the Malegaon blast case and held that the accused will face trial now under Sections 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (conspiring for and committing/organising a terror act) and under the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder and causing hurt besides charges under the Explosive Substances Act and Arms Act. However, the MCOCA charges remained dropped as proposed by the NIA. The NIA filed a fresh chargesheet on November 2, 2018, after the special court’s order. Thakur and six others were charged under various sections of the UAPA, IPC and ESA. Pragya Thakur has, therefore, been chargesheeted multiple times in the Malegaon blast case. The claim that she was incarcerated for 8-10 years without any chargesheet filed is false. Alt News reached out to Abhijit Iyer Mitra for comment on his tweet that promoted the false claim. Mitra refused to speak to us. It may be reiterated the Supreme Court held in 2011 that she wasn’t illegally imprisoned by Maharashtra ATS as the (first) chargesheet was filed within 90 days of her arrest. 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	11th July 2021 / 9:58 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-was-pragya-thakur-kept-in-jail-without-any-chargesheet-being-filed/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,040	Fact-check: Was Saayoni Ghosh running due to harassment by TMC workers? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 26th March 2021 / 3:23 pm / Last updated: 26th March 2021 A video of TMC candidate from Asansol Dakshin, Saayoni Ghosh, running during election campaigning in Burnpur is widespread on social media. It has been claimed that she was running after being harassed by TMC workers. OpIndia penned an article on the video citing ETV Bharat as the source. Bengal: Actress Saayoni Ghosh, TMC candidate from Asansol, forced to run after being harassed by her own party membershttps://t.co/jT9qXE3xBR — OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) March 22, 2021 Twitter account @BefttingFacts, infamous for promoting false and communally motivated claims, also shared Ghosh’s video. She is Sayani Ghosh, TMC MLA Candidate who had picture of condom on Shivling. She is running after getting harassed by her own part workers. pic.twitter.com/UrGDA6kxgl — Facts (@BefittingFacts) March 22, 2021 The account reshared Chayan Chateerjee’s tweet. He is the great-grandson of former Calcutta University vice-chancellor Ashutosh Mukherjee. It is also circulating on Facebook. She is Sayani Ghosh, TMC MLA Candidate who had picture of condom on Shivling. She is running after getting harassed by her own part workers. Posted by Divyesh Parikh on Monday, 22 March 2021 Alt News spoke with Saayoni Ghosh on WhatsApp and was told, “My movement isn’t remote-controlled by people sitting in Delhi. I take care of my own campaign and decide for myself. BJP is losing plot hence engaging in fake and frivolous comments.” Ghosh had herself uploaded the video of election campaigning in Burnpur on March 22. She can be seen running and meeting people from 2:40 onward in the video below. Asansol Dakshin It’s only pyaar..because #Banglanijermeyekeichaye 💚 #AsansolDakshin🥰 Posted by Saayoni Ghosh on Monday, 22 March 2021 There are in fact numerous videos of the TMC candidate running during campaigning. The one below is captioned, “My feet my will”. My feet my will 😎 #আমারপাআমারইচ্ছে☝🏻 Sound on 💚 Posted by Saayoni Ghosh on Tuesday, 23 March 2021 Several media broadcasts have also covered her ‘running for election’ campaign in Asansol. OpIndia referred to ETV Bharat’s report to assert that Ghosh was being harassed by party workers. However, the report carries no such claim. ETV Bharat said that she ran because she was agitated with party workers and supporters gathering close to her. It is to be noted, however, that Ghosh neither stated this to us or The Logical Indian (TLI) that had earlier published a report on the viral claim. “I am a young politician who wants to meet as many people in my constituency as I can. So I run to cover distances so that I can meet more people,” she has been quoted saying in TLI. A false claim that TMC candidate and actor Saayoni Ghosh was running during election campaigning in Asansol after being harassed by party workers is circulating online. 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 March 2021 / 3:23 pm / Last updated: 26th March 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-was-saayoni-ghosh-running-due-to-harassment-by-tmc-workers/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,041	Fact-check: Was the case of Tabrez Ansari's mob-attack raised at a UN convention? - Alt News Aqib Pathan 6th July 2019 / 6:22 pm A video clip with the claim that it is a United Nations conference is doing rounds on social media since the last few days. In this video, a representative can be heard speaking about the recent mob-lynching in Jharkhand where Tabrez Ansari was tied to a pole and forced to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. “Tabrez Ansari ke liye awaaz UNO tak pahunchgayi. India is getting defamed because of Gau Rakshaks in front of the whole World… Shame,” is the most common caption used to share the video. Tabrez Ansari ke liye awaaz UNO tak pahunchgayi. India is getting defamed because of Gau Rakshaks in front of the whole World… Shame. Posted by Delta News – Hyderabad on Wednesday, 3 July 2019 In the video, the speaker begins his note by saying, “In the last five years Muslims in India have seen a rise in hate crimes committed against their community. In the last five years, there have been lynching of Muslims and Dalits across India by fanatic Hindu mobs ostensibly for the protection of the holy cow,” then goes on to talk about the lynching of Tabrez Ansari. “Ten days ago, 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari was beaten for hours until he died in the hands of the Hindu mob in the eastern state of Jharkhand for not chanting Jai Sri Ram,” he states. The clip quote-tweeted by AIMIM President Assauddin Owaisi. Several people have reached out to Alt News, asking about the veracity of the claim that mob-lynchings in India was discussed at the UN. Alt News found that Tabrez Ansari’s case and mob-lynchings in India were indeed raised at the 7th Meeting of the 41st Regular Session held before the UN Human Rights Council. Paul Newmman Kumar Stanisclavas of the NGO Centre for Africa Development and Progress raised the issue. The complete video is posted on the official website of the United Nations Web TV. At 2:09:36 hours in the video, the relevant portion can be heard. UN Human Rights Council is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. While addressing the session, Newmman said that India is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights but in the last five years, mob-lynching against Muslim and Dalits in India have been on a rise. His entire speech on the issue is as follows: “In the last five years Muslims in India have seen a rise in hate crimes committed against their community. In the last five years, there have been lynching of Muslims and Dalits across India by fanatic Hindu mobs ostensibly for the protection of the holy cow. Since April 2017, at least 10 Muslims have been lynched in public in suspected hate crimes. The attacks have contributed to a growing sense of insecurity among Muslims and intensified religious tension. The recent trend is to make Muslims chant Jai Sri Ram. Ten days ago, 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari was beaten for hours until he died in the hands of the Hindu mob in the eastern state of Jharkhand for not chanting Jai Sri Ram. Recently, a Muslim teacher has attacked in a train for being Muslim. He was heckled to say Jai Sri Ram, when he refused he was beaten and forced to get off the train. Member of Parliament, Pratap Sarangi, of the ruling party, in his first speech in the Parliament, asked why people who refuse to chant Hindu slogans should be allowed to live in India. These fanatic Hindu mobs have moved around with apparent impunity. The Indian state has remained mute to the cries of the minorities.” It is noteworthy that BJP MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi, in his maiden Parliament speech, did not say that people who refuse to chant Hindu slogans should not be allowed to live in India. His comment was on ‘Vande Mataram’ and not ‘Jai Shri Ram’ or any other Hindu slogans. Newmman ended his speech by urging the UNHRC to intervene and requested India to follow the principles laid down in its Constitution. It is, therefore, true that the issue of mob-lynchings, including the recent murder of Tabrez Ansari, was raised at the UN. 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	6th July 2019 / 6:22 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-was-the-case-of-tabrez-ansaris-mob-attack-raised-at-a-un-convention/", "author": "Aqib Pathan" }
1,042	Fact-check: Was the nurse present during Rahul Gandhi's birth 13 years old? - Alt News Jignesh Patel 11th June 2019 / 5:04 pm / Last updated: 11th June 2019 A claim by a Twitter handle @MuralikrishnaE1 has garnered massive traction on social media. His tweet has hypothesized that Rajamma Vavathil, the nurse who was present during Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s birth, was only 13 years old at the time. According to his claim, the present age of Rajamma’s is 62 while Rahul is 49. The user took a jibe at Gandhi by tweeting, “Yaha bhi Saala Scam (There is a scam here as well -translated)”. The handle quote-tweeted a tweet by ANI which reported Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with Rajamma Vavathil during a 3-day visit to his new constituency Wayanad. Muralikrishna is followed on Twitter by the office of Piyush Goyal. At the time of writing this article, this tweet has been liked more than 12,100 times and retweeted close to 6,700 times. Rajamma is 62 Rahul is 49 So when he was born, the nurse was 13 year old Yaha bhi saala scam….🤔 https://t.co/Aht03Br951 — Muralikrishna🇮🇳 (@MuralikrishnaE1) June 9, 2019 A screenshot of the same tweet was also shared by many other individual users on Facebook. Alt News found that the claim about Rajamma’s age is untrue, according to several media reports. As per a report published by India Today, Rajamma is a “72-year-old” retired nurse. The Hindu, The Quint, Republic TV and The Asian Age similarly reported her age as 72. Furthermore, a detailed report published by The Outlook stated that Rajamma Vavathil, who was then a nurse serving at the Holy Family Hospital, was 23 years old at the time of Rahul Gandhi’s birth in 1970. Alt News contacted Rajamma Vavathil to confirm her age during the time when Rahul Gandhi was born. She said, “I was 23 when Rahul Gandhi was born. I am a 72-year-old lady now. It has been 48 years since he was born. The relationship between me and Rahul Gandhi is that he was born in front of me and I call him beta [son]. My date of birth is June 1, 1947. He was born on June 19, 1970. You calculate. I don’t want to be insulted like this. I am not into politics.” Thus, the claim that Rajamma was only 13 years old when Rahul Gandhi was born is factually incorrect. 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 June 2019 / 5:04 pm / Last updated: 11th June 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-was-the-nurse-present-during-rahul-gandhis-birth-13-years-old/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
1,043	Fact-check: Was Urdu replaced with Sanskrit on Dehradun Railway station signboard? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri & Ketan 13th July 2020 / 8:38 pm / Last updated: 15th July 2020 BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra wrote “Sanskrit” in bold letters while tweeting pictures of the signboard at Dehradun railway station. While the first photograph shows the city’s name written in Hindi, English and Urdu, the second picture shows Urdu replaced with Sanskrit. The tweet garnered close to 20,000 retweets and more than 88,000 likes as of this writing. An archived link of the tweet can be accessed here. SANSKRIT pic.twitter.com/6coUpaIQyF — Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) July 13, 2020 Most people commenting on Patra’s tweet believe that the language was recently changed on the board. A reverse-image search on Yandex took us to a report by Hindustan Times from February 18, 2020, which carries the same photograph. “View of Dehradun railway station with the name written in Sanskrit on the day (February 8, 2020) the station re-opened for public after three months,” reads its description. The image has been credited to photographer Pravin Dandriyal. According to the report, “In a bid to promote use of Sanskrit in Uttarakhand, the Railways ministry decided to rename the name of its stations in the state. The signboards which have names of railway stations written in Hindi, English and Urdu will now be written in Hindi, English and Sanskrit…Last week (first week of February 2020), name of Dehradun railway station was written in Sanskrit as Dehradunam, along with Hindi and English, when the station re-opened for public after three months.” A report in The Times of India states, “According to railway officials, the decision has been taken as per provisions of the Railway Manual, which says that names of the railway stations should be written in Hindi, English and in the second language of the state.” In January 2010, the Uttarakhand government led by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal of the BJP gave Sanskrit the status of the second official language of the state. Hindi remains the first official language. A controversy erupted in February this year when Urdu was replaced with Sanskrit on a signboard. According to Hindustan Times, Rekha Sharma, senior divisional commercial manager Moradabad railway division, which manages the stations falling under Garhwal region, told local media, “The name was written by the construction agency which was renovating the station. They had put up a board with the name written in Sanskrit. The board was removed as soon as the matter came to light.” “The state government has to provide us with how the names of the railway stations are to be written in Sanskrit. Only then we would be writing to the railway headquarter to clarify on that fact of adding a fourth language on station signboards,” Sharma added. On February 7, Division Railway Manager (DRM) Moradabad issued a clarification notice regarding the replacement of Urdu with Sanskrit from Railway signboard in Uttarakhand. As per the letter, “Indian Railways has neither replaced Urdu language from any station nor has any intention to do so at this point in time. Sanskrit may be used as an additional language apart from existing languages in the signboards at railway stations but will not replace Urdu wherever the same exists.” Clarification regarding replacement of Urdu language at stations in Uttarakhand pic.twitter.com/zQFb9PhK6a — DRM Moradabad (@drm_moradabad) February 7, 2020 However, a senior railway official from Kathgodam railway station in Nainital was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying, “Even though official orders have not been received, preparations are afoot to write names of stations in Sanskrit.” Urdu was put back in place of Sanskirt after it was removed in February. A photograph of a man sticking a paper over ‘Dehradunam’ with the name written in Urdu was shared by Aaj Tak on February 14. The outlet spoke with Dehradun Station Director Ganesh Chandra Thakur who clarified that the railway work manual dictates that names in only three languages can appear on the board. According to him, there were no plans yet to remove Urdu. Aaj Tak had also aired a ground report from the station where the paper with Urdu text can be seen placed on the earlier Sanskrit text. Alt News was able to get a photo of the board clicked by a local resident today. Here as well, the paper is clearly visible. The Sanskrit text on a signboard at Haridwar railway station was also similarly replaced with Urdu. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, therefore, shared an old photograph of a signboard at Dehradun station with the city’s name written in Urdu replaced with the Sanskrit language. The board was altered to its earlier form a few days later but Patra did not share this information. An Alt News compilation on the numerous instances of misinformation shared by Sambit Patra can be read here. 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 July 2020 / 8:38 pm / Last updated: 15th July 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-was-urdu-replaced-with-sanskrit-on-dehradun-railway-station-signboard/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri & Ketan" }
1,044	Fact Check: Were grocery shops owned by Hindus set on fire in Bangladesh? - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 10th August 2022 / 6:17 pm / Last updated: 10th August 2022 Several images that portray the aftermath of a fire accident have gone viral on social media with the claim that six grocery shops owned by Hindus were set on fire in Kadhurkhil village of Boalkhali Upazila of Chittagong in Bangladesh. Twitter account Voice Of Bangladesh posted these images with the same claim. The tweet was later deleted. (Archived link) Epaper Sanatan Prabhat also reported this story. The report cited the tweet by Voice of Bangladesh as a source. Facebook page সনাতন একতা মঞ্চ (Sanatan Ekta Manch) posted these images with hashtags #SaveBangladeshiHindhu and #savebangladeshihindustemple. The post has also named three Hindu people- Rony De, Dolon, and Parimal Debnath as the owners of the shops that burned down. বোয়ালখালী উপজেলার পোপাদিয়া ইউনিয়ন ৩ নং ওর্য়াড কধুরখীল উচ্চ বিদ্যালয়ের পাশে গতপরশু রাত ৩ টায় ৫টি দোকান পুড়ে ছাই হয়ে… Posted by সনাতন একতা মঞ্চ on Thursday, 4 August 2022 Through a keyword search of the place mentioned in the viral claims on Google, Alt News found that several Bangladeshi media outlets have reported on this incident. According to Jago News’ report, on August 2 at around 4 a.m., a massive fire took place near Kadhurkhali Government High School in which five shops and three goats were burnt to ashes. A grocery shop, a salon, two vegetable shops, and a cooling corner were burnt down. Furthermore, several media outlets including Dainik Azadi, Chattogram News, Chattogram Khobor, and Jago News named two of the shop-owners as Md. Muharram and Md. Karim who are Muslims. We found a video of the incident on Facebook uploaded by a Boalkhali local named S M Arif. The video was uploaded at 8:49 a.m. i.e., four hours after the incident occurred. The video is captioned “আজ ভোরের দিকে কধুরখীল স্কুলের পশ্চিম দিকে থাকা সব দোকান আগুনে পুড়ে গেছে।” (Translation: All the shops on the western side of Kadhurkhil School were burnt down early in the morning today.) Many people inquired the reason behind the fire, to which the user replied that the fire was possibly from an electrical short-circuit. Boalkhali Fire Service Leader Haider Hossain said in a statement to Jago News, “We’re speculating an electrical short-circuit as the cause of the fire. Boalkhali fire service personnel came and brought the fire under control after the locals reported the fire.” Roni Roy, whose grocery shop burnt down in the fire, also spoke to Jago News. He said, “I lost three goats, a motorcycle, and all the goods in the shop. I had taken a loan to buy these items. This fire has forced me to beg on the streets now.” Alt News spoke to an officer of the Boalkhali Fire Service Station who confirmed that shops owned by Muslims and Hindus were burnt in the fire. When asked about the cause of the fire, they said that it is still an ongoing investigation but in all likelihood, it was an electrical fire. Thus, images from the aftermath fire accident at Boalkhali Upazila of Chittagong, Bangladesh were circulated on social media with the claim that six grocery shops owned by Hindus were deliberately set on fire. In reality, shops of both Muslims and Hindus got burnt in the fire. Preliminary investigation suggests that it was due to an electrical short circuit. Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th August 2022 / 6:17 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-were-grocery-shops-owned-by-hindus-set-on-fire-in-bangladesh/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
1,045	Old photo shared as Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi 'laughing' en route Hathras - Alt News Priyanka Jha 8th October 2020 / 5:27 pm / Last updated: 8th October 2020 A picture of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi smiling and posing for a photo has been trending on social media recently. Users are claiming that this picture was taken on their way to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras. Sharing this on Twitter, AVBP member Anima Sonkar wrote, “Here is the Leader of Opposition going to Hathras, extreme grief is clearly visible on both their faces.” Sonkar later took down her tweet but an archived link can be accessed here. After the alleged rape of a Dalit woman in Hathras and her subsequent death, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi visited the victim’s family on October 3. A number of netizens have shared this picture on Facebook and Twitter linking it to the Hathras case. हाथरस जाते विपक्ष के नेता, अत्यधिक दुःख चेहरे पर साफ़ दिखाई दे रहा हैं #ड्रामेबाज_भाईबहन Posted by Amitava Sarker on Thursday, 1 October 2020 We performed a reverse image search and found that the photo was taken in April 2019 when the Congress leaders were campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections. The two had arrived at Kanpur airport from their own private planes at the same time. They had a light-hearted chat before heading off to their respective destinations. Congress’s Twitter handle had shared several pictures from this meeting on April 27, 2019. The viral image has been taken from this set of images. चुनावी व्यस्तता के बीच कुछ सुनहरे पल @RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi pic.twitter.com/b1Bzt1ahDo — Congress (@INCIndia) April 27, 2019 In fact, pictures and videos from the siblings’ meeting had gone quite viral on social media at the time. In the video below, the duo can be seen laughing while talking to each other. Rahul Gandhi says, “Let me tell you what it means to be a good brother. I am doing these massive long flights and I am travelling in a little helicopter, squeezed up. And my sister is doing short flights and she’s going in (incomprehensible) helicopter. But I love her.” After saying this, both of them can be seen heading towards their helicopters. They posed for a picture after requests from bystanders. This clip was broadcast live on Rahul Gandhi’s official Facebook page. Was nice meeting Priyanka at Kanpur Airport! We’re headed to different meetings in UP. Posted by Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, 27 April 2019 In April 2019, several news outlets carried pictures and videos of this meeting. The Indian Express, NDTV, Dainik Jagran, Navbharat Times, Punjab Kesari, and India TV were some of the major media outlets that covered the story. A picture that is over a year old is being circulated to falsely suggest that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were not grief-stricken by the alleged Hathras rape but were merrymaking. The Hathras case has brought an onslaught of public outrage and criticism towards the Uttar Pradesh government. Opposition parties have been equally vocal in their flak. Rahul Gandhi has been targetted with misinformation following his criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s handling of the case. He was accused of grabbing a policeman’s collar in a scuffle while trying to meet the victim’s family on October 1. Alt News Fact Check on the claim can be read here. Apart from this, several unrelated news reports are being given false rape-murder claim in Congress-ruled states. One of the more prominent instances came from Punjab, where a false angle was given to pictures of a woman constable killed in a road accident. A photograph of an Adivasi woman killed in a personal dispute in Madhya Pradesh was also shared as an incident of rape and murder by a Muslim man in Tonk district of Rajasthan. 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	8th October 2020 / 5:27 pm / Last updated: 8th October 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-check-were-rahul-gandhi-and-priyanka-gandhi-cought-laughing-on-way-to-meet-hathras-victim-family/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
1,046	Fact-checking Dhoni run-out in WC 2019 semi-final: Was there a violation of fielding restrictions? - Alt News Jignesh Patel, Mohammed Zubair & Arjun Sidharth 12th July 2019 / 6:23 pm New Zealand stunned India in the semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2019 played at Manchester. Following the sensational win by the Kiwis, social media was abuzz with the claim that an umpiring blooper had possibly cost India the match. A screenshot of the live broadcast of the match, taken right before MS Dhoni was run-out by a direct throw from the deep by Martin Guptill, has been circulated by social media users, alleging that Lockie Ferguson had bowled an illegal delivery because there were six players outside the inner circle. ICC rules state that only five fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle in the third powerplay of an innings, which is between overs 41-50 i.e the final ten overs of the innings. Some prominent social media users and influencers have drawn attention to this supposed error by the umpires who failed to take into account the fielding positions of the New Zealand players ahead of the delivery. CNN News18 anchor Anand Narasimhan posted the screenshot with a message, “Glaring umpiring error? Could they afford this in a World Cup semi final? 6 players outside the circle… how long did they play like that in P3?”. Glaring umpiring error? Could they afford this in a World Cup semi final? 6 players outside the circle… how long did they play like that in P3? #INDvNZL #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/Hb5UlA4tsI — Anand Narasimhan (@AnchorAnandN) July 10, 2019 Several other individuals have posted the screenshot on Twitter to suggest that such an umpiring error did take place during the match. In P3 (41-50) over, Only 5 players are allowed outside the 30 yard circle. Period! #INDvNZ #MSDhoni #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/ogA12Cwxkc — MS Dhoni Fans Official (@msdfansofficial) July 10, 2019 MS Dhoni Fans official, a Facebook page with close to 6 lakh followers, was one of the earliest to post this image. A YouTube video titled, “देखिये,Dhoni थे नोटआउट मेहनत से नही अम्पायर की बईमानी से जीता है न्यूज़ीलैण्ड,सबूत देख होश उड़ जायेंगे“, has garnered more than 11 million views. Prominent media outlets like The Indian Express, India Today, Aaj Tak and Wion have also published articles giving credence to the theory of a possible violation of fielding restriction during the third powerplay of the Indian innings. Alt News found that there was an error in the graphic of the field setting shown by the broadcaster before the ball was delivered off which Dhoni was dismissed. In the course of the article, we shall analyse the field setting of each delivery starting from the first ball of the 49th over to the ball on which Dhoni was run-out by Guptill. We have corroborated the exact field setting for these three balls with visual, images and live commentary. It may be noted here that the fielders standing outside the 30-yard circle and their fielding positions are discussed in the context of the 49th over in the third powerplay, with an exception for the third ball. In a screenshot of the broadcast taken right before the first ball, one can see that there are five fielders outside the circle. The fielding positions were third man, deep fine leg, deep point, deep square leg and long-on. On the first ball of the 49th over, Dhoni hit Ferguson for a six. Now, the man at mid-wicket is moved back and deep fine leg is brought inside the circle [This is corroborated by Ian Smith’s commentary before the third ball of the 49th over was bowled]. The second delivery from Ferguson to Dhoni is fuller and straighter, and results in a dot. The field setting before the third ball, when Dhoni lost his wicket in the 49th over, was deep point, deep fine leg, deep square leg, deep mid-wicket and long-on. While the graphic shown during the broadcast showed the short fine leg shifting to deep fine leg, the shifting of the fielder placed at the third man position to short third man position as described by commentator Ian Smith wasn’t shown. Right before the third ball, Ian Smith can be heard saying, “has come across to Ferguson and said bring up the third man, send back fine leg. Williamson wasn’t really involved in the conversation. Ferguson shifting his own man here.” pic.twitter.com/NuLGLIC8Ef — Karan Gurjar (@Gurjar077) July 10, 2019 The video posted below demonstrates the error. The fielder at the short fine leg can be seen moving towards the deep fine leg position. The error in graphics broadcast during the match has been highlighted with a circle. The graphics did not show the real-time movement of the third man coming inside the 30-yard circle. The fielder at short third man is also seen in one of the frames in the video, as Ferguson takes the run-up towards the pitch. You can see the legs of that fielder [on the top-left corner] in one frame while the other shows him running towards the stumps as Dhoni is running towards the non-striker’s end. In the comparison posted below, the graphic of the field setting seen at the start of the 49th over is placed on top of the graphic of the field setting broadcasted before the 3rd ball of the over. Simply put, mid-wicket moved to deep mid-wicket after the first ball was bowled, which was correctly displayed in the graphic. However, the movement of the third man fielder to short third man position was not displayed on the graphic in real-time. Hence, it showed 6 men outside the 30-yard circle whereas there were actually 5 men. There was no umpiring error. There was a graphical error in the broadcast. The error by the broadcaster has been highlighted with a yellow circle in the second image, posted below. In another tweet, Anand Narasimhan posted a clarification acknowledging the fact that the third man was moved inside the circle before the third delivery and that there was no fielding violation. He tweeted, “Trent Boult was making the fielding changes & before Ferguson ran in, 3rdman was moved up”. It may be noted that Narasimhan’s tweet which raised doubt over a possible violation of the field restrictions has been retweeted more than 3,700 times, whereas the clarification has only garnered close to 100 retweets at the time of writing this article. #Dhoni Here is the clarification. Apparently thirdman moved into the circle just before the delivery was bowled and their was NO fielding violation. Trent Boult was making the fielding changes & before Ferguson ran in, 3rdman was moved up… #CWCUP2019 — Anand Narasimhan (@AnchorAnandN) July 10, 2019 An error in graphics by the broadcasters, which is evident from the commentators’ explanation regarding the changes in field placement during the 49th over of the semifinal between New Zealand and India was widely shared on social media with the false claim that a major fielding violation had gone unseen by the umpires. The claim has become a major talking point on social media, with several prominent Twitter handles tweeting about the half-baked conspiracy theory and mainstream media outlets validating the same. Moreover, it may be noted that the legality of the delivery is irrelevant in the case of a run-out, the manner of dismissal of MS Dhoni. Graphics by Ronak Shukla and Smit Bhatt 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 July 2019 / 6:23 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-checking-dhoni-run-out-in-wc-2019-semi-final-was-there-a-violation-of-fielding-restrictions/", "author": "Jignesh Patel, Mohammed Zubair & Arjun Sidharth" }
1,047	Fact-checking India Today’s erroneous fact-check on Gajendra Chauhan's tweet - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 18th March 2021 / 2:11 pm In a recent fact-check, India Today claimed that a tweet attributed to Gajendra Chauhan, actor and former chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), is fake. The channel claimed that the morphed screenshot reads, “I Am With Shringi Yadav. Nation With A Nationalist. #IStandWithShringiYadav,” but Chauhan has so far not tweeted anything on the incident. The tweet is in reference to a minor Muslim boy beaten by Shringi Yadav for entering a temple in Ghaziabad to drink water. Yadav has since been released on bail. #AFWAFactCheck \| Did Gajendra Chauhan tweet in support of Shringi Yadav? Read to know the truth. Read: https://t.co/YPC9EVrE4a#FactCheck @AFWACheck pic.twitter.com/pKwHTjupQw — IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) March 18, 2021 India Today’s reasons for declaring the tweet fake are – 1. A Twitter advanced search does not throw up the tweet. 2. The date and time format in some of the screenshots does not match the current format of Twitter. India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found that the viral image is morphed.#afwafactcheck #FactCheck (@AFWACheck) (@KunduChayan)https://t.co/u5J8IeQgUj — IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) March 17, 2021 Below is a tweet where the time does not have an ‘AM or PM’ and the date reads 16/03/21 instead of the common ‘Mar 16, 2021′ on desktop and ’16 Mar 21’ on Andriod phones. For this bit of human excreta, somebody who beats up a boy for drinking water is a nationalist. pic.twitter.com/mPOl6MDvt1 — Ajay Kamath (@ajay43) March 16, 2021 Gajendra Chauhan indeed tweeted in support of the accused who beat up a minor in Ghaziabad. Below is a screenshot of an archived link to his tweet. The date and time format that led India Today to the conclusion that the tweet is fake can be explained via phone settings. Below is another tweet by Chauhan where the date format is DD/MM/YY and the time does not have ‘AM or PM’. This is because the tweet has been accessed on an iPhone set on the 24-hour clock. Contrastingly, the format is different when the same tweet is accessed on an Android phone with the 12-hour clock setting. India Today could have easily ascertained that the tweet is genuine because it was quote-tweeted by several people. Below are tweets by journalists Aditya Menon and Uzair Hasan Rizvi. Ashwatthama ka role behtar hota iske liye https://t.co/MyYEmitgkg — Aditya Menon (@AdityaMenon22) March 16, 2021 Certification of nationalism can easily be obtained by harassing and beating a Muslim in India. https://t.co/9DXmeLwjpg — Uzair Hasan Rizvi (@RizviUzair) March 16, 2021 Chauhan’s tweet in fact caused substantial outrage on Twitter. ‘ A man best remembered for playing ‘Dharmaraj’ Yudhisthir in the 1980s TV show Mahabharat stands for adharm in real life. Mr. Chauhan, thrashing a child is nothing but wanton cowardice. But if your idea of nationalism is incomplete without thrashing kids, it has to be resisted. https://t.co/zhSASNaWTS — Manimugdha Sharma (@quizzicalguy) March 16, 2021 It is also noteworthy that based on India Today’s erroneous fact-check, the tweet has been marked as ‘altered photo’ on Facebook. India Today therefore falsely declared that Gajendra Chauhan did not tweet in support of Shringi Yadav when in fact he did and later took it down. 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	18th March 2021 / 2:11 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-checking-india-todays-erroneous-fact-check-on-gajendra-chauhans-tweet/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,048	Fact-checking media reports about surge in UP's Gross State Domestic Product - Alt News Archit 10th March 2021 / 9:10 pm / Last updated: 11th March 2021 On February 26, Uttar-Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted in Hindi, “Despite the global economic recession due to the pandemic, Uttar Pradesh has become the second-largest state in India in terms of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). This success is due to the honourable Prime Minister’s skilled guidance and the hard work of all the people of the state. Heartiest congratulations to all.” वैश्विक महामारी कोरोना जनित आर्थिक मंदी के उपरांत भी उत्तर प्रदेश, सकल राज्य घरेलू उत्पाद (GSDP) के मामले में भारत का दूसरा सबसे बड़ा राज्य बन गया है। यह आदरणीय प्रधानमंत्री जी के कुशल मार्गदर्शन एवं समस्त प्रदेशवासियों के परिश्रम का सुफल है। सभी को हार्दिक बधाई। — Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) February 26, 2021 Shortly after The Times Of India (TOI) reported, “Despite Covid-induced slowdown in economies across the world, Uttar Pradesh has become the second-largest state of India in terms of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), surging ahead of even industrialised states like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. The finance department data, accessed by TOI, reveals that the state’s GSDP in the 2020-2021 financial year has crossed Rs 19.48 lakh crore, equivalent to $268 billion, and UP has climbed to the second spot from number five in 2019-2020.” The same was reported by The New Indian Express and Swarajya. TOI also stated, “Maharashtra continues to lead from the top position while UP moved up three ranks past Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka… Tamil Nadu was second and Gujarat third last fiscal [2019-20] while Karnataka was at the fourth slot.” TOI’s report was shared by OpIndia columnist @AbhishBanerj, Prayagraj MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi, BJP supporter Shehzad Poonawala, Swarajya columnist Aashish Chandorkar, and Ashwini Mahajan national co-convener of RRS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. CM Adityanath’s tweet and media reports give the impression that Uttar Pradesh (UP) attaining the second-highest Gross State Domestic Product is a new achievement. The Times of India touted this growth as a quick rise. Alt News studied the historic data published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) on Gross State Domestic Product (current prices) from financial year (FY) 2004-05 to FY 2019-20 (view spreadsheet). This data was also published by the Reserve Bank of India (RB) in October 2020 and Economic Survey 2020-21. As per MOSPI, the latest GSDP data available is for the financial year 2019-20. However, in this FY, the GSDP of several states including Maharashtra and Gujarat is not available. Therefore, The Times of India’s claim that UP’s GSDP rank fell to fifth in FY 2019-20 and is back to the second cannot be ascertained based on the lastest available data in the public domain. Alt News spoke to journalists who reported on the matter. They said that FY 2020-21 data was presented by the UP finance department. Alt News has reached out to the state government and will update the article if we are able to access the data. However, what can be ascertained is the fact-check that UP’s GSDP was second or third highest between the financial years 2004-05 and 2018-19. As per MOSPI data, UP had the second-highest GSDP from the financial year (FY) 2004-05 to 2013-14. In the FY 2014-15, UP’s GSDP was third-highest just behind Tamil Nadu. Maharashtra had the highest GSDP between 2004 and 2015. MOSPI set FY 2004-05 as the base year. (view PDF) As for the data beyond FY 2014-15, the base year was FY 2011-12. As a result, UP’s GSDP rank changed from second to the third spot between FYs 2011-18. But in FY 2018-19, UP’s GSDP rose back to the second spot. Readers should note that CM Adiyanath was sworn in as the chief minister on March 19, 2017. The following graph shows the comparison of the GSDP (current price) between the top five states in India — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat — from FY 2011-12 to FY 2019-20. Analysis of the graph Data by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation makes it evident that UP’s GSDP has been second-highest or third highest from FY 2004-05 to FY 2018-19. Barring FY 2019-20, where the GSDP data is missing for several states, and FY 2020-21 which isn’t in the public domain yet, UP’s GSDP has always been higher than that of Gujarat and Karnataka. The headline, “UP surges to the second spot on GSDP…” is misleading as it creates an impression that it’s a new achievement under CM Adityanath. 🙏 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	10th March 2021 / 9:10 pm / Last updated: 11th March 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-checking-media-reports-on-surge-in-ups-gross-state-domestic-product/", "author": "Archit" }
1,049	Fact-checking PIB Fact Check: Did family of mother who died in Shramik train claim she had long-term illness? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri, Pratik Sinha & Dr Sharfaroz Satani 2nd June 2020 / 8:12 pm / Last updated: 3rd June 2020 The coronavirus outbreak in India has left millions of migrant workers exposed to hunger and homelessness due to an ill-conceived nationwide lockdown imposed by the central government on March 24. The government’s decision to start Shramik special trains nearly two months after labourers began walking home on foot seemed to bring some respite. However, the hope was shortlived as news reports of dozens of workers dying during the train journey started to pour in. A troubling video of a toddler trying to wake up his dead mother on Bihar’s Muzzafarpur railway platform was widely circulated on social media. According to media reports, the child’s mother Arvina Khatoon (23) died of heat, thirst and hunger as passengers were not served food or water inside the train. The Railway authorities were quick to deny the reports. East Central Railway tweeted that Arvina used to keep sick which was the reason for her death. 23.05.20 को अहमदाबाद से कटिहार के लिए चली 09395 श्रमिक स्पेशल ट्रेन में श्रीमती बिना खातून की (उम्र-23 वर्ष) बीमार रहने के कारण यात्रा के दौरान मृत्यु हो गयी। उनके साथ बहन कोहिनूर खातून और उनके पति वजीर आजम तथा दो बच्चे थे। https://t.co/BV4qSIrDPB — East Central Railway (@ECRlyHJP) May 27, 2020 The newly-introduced fact-checking wing of Press Information Bureau (PIB) termed the media reports “incorrect” and “imaginary”. According to PIB Bihar, Arvina was suffering from an illness before she boarded the train and this was corroborated by her family. #दावा: वायरल वीडियो में मुजफ्फरपुर स्टेशन पर एक महिला की भूaboख-प्यास से हुई मौत को दिखाया जा रहा है#factcheck: गलत और भ्रामक है। महिला के पहले से ही बीमार होने की पुष्टि उसके परिवार ने की है। pic.twitter.com/XIsP9c8Esm — PIB In Bihar 🇮🇳#stayhome#staysafe (@PIB_Patna) May 27, 2020 In an earlier tweet, PIB Fact Check had stated that the cause of death cannot be determined without an autopsy. PIB did not provide any details on the alleged statement by Arvina’s family members or the type of illness she was suffering from. In this report, we will present the fact-check that should have been. Arvina hailed from a poor family and lived in Srikol village, Katihar district, Bihar. She is survived by her parents and six sisters, three of whom are yet to be married. Living under the same roof, the family barely managed to make ends meet. Arvina’s husband had divorced her about a year ago. To support her two children, she had moved to Gujarat’s Ahmedabad to work with her sister and brother-in-law in construction. She took her children with her. The lockdown had been hard on Arvina and her family members in Gujarat who were running out of money after losing their jobs. On May 23, they were finally able to board a train from Ahemdabad to Katihar. However, Arvina passed away during the journey on the afternoon of May 25. This was about two hours before the train reached Muzzafarpur station. After her death made headlines, PIB claimed that Arvina was previously ill. Another user shared a police complaint filed by Arvina’s brother-in-law Mohammed Wazir who was travelling with her on the special train. The complaint stated that she was both physically and mentally sick. JDU’s Rajiv Ranjan Prasad tweeted a video where Wazir can be heard saying that they were given food in the train. However, he denied that Arvina was suffering from an illness. A report in the BBC quoted Wazir as saying that they were given a meal once during the day and served snacks and water at intervals. He told BBC too that Arvina did not have a pre-existing medical condition. In order to get video statements from Arvina’s family members, Alt News contacted various individuals who live in close vicinity to their village Srikol. Vice-President of AISA Bihar, Kazim Irfani, agreed to pay them a visit and ask a list of questions prepared by Alt News. Speaking with him, Wazir gave a different statement than the one he had given to BBC where he claimed that they were not given food and water in the train. However, he maintained that Arvina was not previously ill, consistent with his statement to BBC and the video posted by JDU spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad. The complaint filed at Muzzafarpur police station states that Arvina was both physically and mentally unwell. When asked if Wazir had written the complaint himself, he said that he cannot read and write but only knows how to sign his name. The police complaint carries his thumb impression. A policeman had written the complaint on his behalf. However, it wasn’t read out to him before his thumb impression was taken, said Wazir. He further informed that Arvina was not physically and mentally ill. In a phone conversation separate from the video statement attached above, Wazir told Alt News that his initial statements were haphazard because he was in a distressed state of mind: “She [Arvina] had just died and they were asking questions. I said whatever came to my mind.” However, Wazir was not the only person accompanying Arvina. PIB claimed that “family members” of Arvina said that she was previously ill but that was not the case. Below is a video statement of Arvina’s sister and Wazir’s wife Kohinoor Khatoon. She was also on the Shramik train travelling from Ahmedabad to Katihar. She said that Arvina did not complain of any illness when they left, however “was yearning for water” in the train. While Wazir stated that Arvina had eaten before taking the train, Kohinoor said that she didn’t. However, both stood their ground that she was not unwell at the time of boarding. Kohinoor further said that they had visited a doctor for a check-up before they got on the train and the examination found that Arvina was fine. Wazir said the same in a phone conversation with Alt News. This is an important aspect of the story because as per government guidelines, only people asymptomatic for COVID-19 are allowed to travel. Because Arvina boarded the train, it is evident that she did not have a fever, shortness of breath, cold/ cough or related symptoms for the viral infection. Even if we assume that she was suffering from a long-term disease, PIB does not specify the illness which was serious enough to take her life. Moreover, no medical records of long-term sickness were shared. The government also did not conduct a postmortem of the dead body that would’ve ascertained the cause of death. If the media cannot claim that Arvina died of heat, starvation and dehydration because only an autopsy can determine that, as per the Railways, how does it make sense for the government to assert that she ‘did not’ die of these reasons? Another one of Arvina’s sisters, Parveena, also told Alt News that she did not have a pre-existing condition. Her father Mohammed Nehrul said the same. His statement is attached below. “She wanted to take care of her children and had shifted to Ahmedabad. It had been 8 months but in the last two months, she had trouble making ends meet and borrowed about Rs 3000 for food,” he said adding that they had spoken to her half an hour before she had boarded the train. He said that his daughter told him, “We are all okay, don’t worry. We are going to get on the train.” The family later found out that she had died after Kohinoor called and informed them. Mohammed Nehrul was also contacted by NDTV. He told the channel that Arvina could go to Ahmedabad and work “as she was mentally and physically sound.” Arvina’s mother gave a similar account. She too said that Arvina wasn’t sick and wanted to come back home because the lockdown had rendered her jobless. A local journalist from Katihar, Dainik Bhaskar’s Noor Parvez, had visited the family a day after Wazir and his wife returned with Arvina’s children. Parvez told Alt News that the family members informed him that passengers were not given food in the train and Arvina was not suffering from any illness before boarding. Alt News contacted Dr Sylvia Karpagam for her medical opinion on the death of several migrant workers travelling in Shramik trains. Dr Karpagam is a specialist in community medicine with over 15 years of experience. She has worked in ‘Right to food’ and ‘Right to health’ campaigns. She also supports lawyers to look at postmortem reports in medicolegal cases. “These deaths of migrant workers in trains cannot have a single reason. The postmortem should include underlying causes and pre-existing conditions as well. Even if some of the 80 people who died have had an pre-existing medical illness, that is just one factor. Even if people had a pre-existing condition, the question is what aggravated the problem which caused them to die on the train. The problem of poor nutrition is already there in the country. This can be seen by our chronic hunger index and this affects the poor migrant workers more than most people and they often do not have reserve stores of energy. During the lockdown, this became worse as we have seen that they have been driven to travel long distances by foot because they had nothing to eat as their incomes were suddenly lost,” she said. Dr Karpagam further added, “On top of food deprivation, you have dehydration due to the long journeys in hot weather. If hydration was ensured, this could have prevented many of the deaths. Some already sick and starving patients could still have been saved if they had good access to water. Dehydration is more quickly deadly that just starvation. These people clearly suffered both. First the heat exhaustion sets in and given the duration of the journey this can easily become a heat stroke. Heatstroke is a medical emergency and can only be handled in good hospitals. This could not have been addressed in the train by anyone but easily prevented by ensuring adequate water supply for everyone at the very least.” Railway Minister Piyush Goyal recently claimed that deaths in trains were due to pre-existing conditions. He advised that people suffering from serious ailments, pregnant women, those above 65 years of age and children below 10 years of age should avoid travelling in Shramik special trains. However, Dr Karpagam pointed out that people with chronic conditions fly and travel in trains all the time. “Doctors allow their patients to do that with the necessary precautions. They don’t just die at the end of long journeys in such large numbers. The people with chronic conditions are usually aware of their issues and would do what they can to take care of themselves in a long journey. But if they have died in such large numbers, we have to consider the effects of starvation, hypoglycemia (low sugar) and dehydration on top of the medical issues and prolonged starvation during the lockdown they were already having.” Another resident of Bihar Mohan Lal Sharma was found dead in the toilet of a Shramik special train. His dead body went undetected for four days. The deceased’s nephew said that Lal did not complain of any illness while boarding the train but his autopsy said that he suffered a stroke. “If the patient had a stroke as per autopsy that is an incomplete picture. We don’t know the type of stroke, the condition of the deceased — whether there were signs of dehydration or hypoglycemia. This is especially important because 37 is a very uncommon age for strokes. Dehydration can cause heat stroke,” opined Dr Karpagam. The whole incident raises a lot of doubts, none of which was cleared by either the Railways or PIB Fact Check. 1. If Arvina was unwell, why did that not show up in the medical examination before her travel? 2. What was the long-term illness she was suffering from? Where are her medical records? 3. If an autopsy was not conducted, how can the government be sure that she did not die because of lack of food and water in hot weather? 4. If this inference was based on statements by Arvina’s family members, why did PIB not speak with her sister who was also travelling with her? Had Arvina suffered from a long-term illness, her parents would be aware. Why did PIB not speak with her parents? 5. Were her brother-in-law Wazir’s statements the only basis for claiming that she was fed on the train? But this was not what Wazir told us and he claimed that his initial statements were made in a state of distress. While Wazir did give differing statements at various points in time, he never claimed that Arvina suffered from a pre-existing condition. Furthermore, the police complaint which mentions the same was not written by Wazir. He told us that he cannot read and write and the complaint wasn’t read out to him before taking his thumb impression. To summarise, there was no evidence provided by Railway authorities that Arvina Khatoon died of a pre-existing condition. Furthermore, PIB Fact Check, which has emerged as the latest tool for bullying journalists and media organisations, did not write a thorough fact-check. In fact, PIB’s investigation into the death of a migrant worker was barely two sentences. In contrast, it took Alt News almost a week to get to the bottom of the issue. 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	2nd June 2020 / 8:12 pm / Last updated: 3rd June 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-checking-pib-fact-check-did-family-of-mother-who-died-in-shramik-train-claim-she-had-long-term-illness/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri, Pratik Sinha & Dr Sharfaroz Satani" }
1,050	Fact-checking political speech: Facebook's myopic policy and inconsistent standard - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 26th November 2020 / 12:32 pm / Last updated: 26th November 2020 American actor-writer Sacha Baron Cohen had said in a scathing speech that had Facebook existed in the 1930s, the company would have permitted Hiter to run political ads on the “Jewish problem”. Cohen’s analogy isn’t implausible — authoritarian governments across the world are harnessing the power of Facebook (and its subsidiaries such as Instagram and WhatsApp) akin to the Nazi’s use of radio for propaganda. Facebook’s reluctance to include politicians in its third-party fact-checking program allows disinformation to thrive. Recently, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Himanta Biswa Sarma shared a video of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) supporters sloganeering in support of party leader Maulana Badruddin Ajmal at Silchar airport. Sarma falsely claimed that chants of ‘Pakistan zindabad’ were raised. The misinformation was debunked by Alt News and Facebook fact-checking partners Boomlive and The Quint. After Boomlive’s story, Facebook added a ‘false information’ label on Sarma’s post which was later removed. A Facebook spokesperson told The Indian Express that the tag was erroneously put on Sarma’s post. Queries sent by Alt News to the social networking site drew a similar response that content shared by politicians is not eligible for fact-checking. But we noticed a discrepancy in Facebook’s policies. During farmer protests in September this year, a video of Prime Minister Modi’s mock funeral which was taken out in Tamil Nadu in 2017 was misidentified as farmers carrying out the procession. In 2018, the same clip was also shared as a procession held in Pakistan. This was debunked by Boomlive, The Quint and India Today (also a third-party fact-checker with Facebook). Many of the links from two years ago (1, 2, 3) do not carry the ‘false information’ warning but quite a few posts from this year carry an ‘altered video’ label including one by Congress leader Udit Raj. Recently, a ‘partly false information’ warning was also added to a video shared by BJP Delhi leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga after a report by Facebook fact-checking partner Fact Crescendo. Facebook defines politicians as “candidates running for office, current officeholders – and, by extension, many of their cabinet appointees – along with political parties and their leaders.” Both Raj and Bagga should be identified as politicians per this definition yet their posts contain warnings. Facebook had removed the red flag from Himata Biswa Sarma’s post citing the very same reason. In fact, Facebook recently added a ‘false information’ label to a YouTube video shared by Donald Trump who still holds the office of the President of the United States. So @Facebook fact checks kick in only AFTER you pressure Facebook comms people on Twitter. cc: @slpng_giants https://t.co/hGmeXgnM47 — The Real Facebook Oversight Board (@FBoversight) November 19, 2020 In the recent US presidential elections, warning labels were also applied to Trump’s premature claims of victory, though a Buzzfeed analysis revealed that they had no real impact. But would Facebook mirror similar steps during elections in other parts of the world? Unlikely. Both Facebook and Twitter assured during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that the platforms have programs in place to “prevent misinformation aimed at discouraging people from voting” in the upcoming Georgia Senate seat races. While Twitter has globally banned political ads, Facebook placed a temporary ban on political advertising in the US. The ad ban started a week before the Presidential race and has now been extended for at least another month. But Facebook’s policy is limited to the US. India too has elections lined up including polls in West Bengal, a state nearly nine times more populated than Georgia. But Facebook has not announced any policies to combat the dissemination of false news in India. The tech giant’s global policy is vastly based on western politics, especially the US. The company has failed to control the spread of politically-motivated disinformation campaigns in parts of the developing world — whether it was hate speech pushing Ethiopia to the brink of genocide or posts inciting ethnic violence in Myanmar. Facebook relies on third-party fact-checkers to tackle the proliferation of misinformation. But fact-checkers are barred from reviewing political speech. “I don’t think Facebook or internet platforms should be arbitrators of truth. That is a dangerous line to get down to in terms of what is true and what isn’t. And I think political speech is one of the most sensitive parts in a democracy. People should be able to see what politicians say and there is a ton of scrutiny already. Political speech is the most scrutinised speech by the media and I think that will continue,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an interview with CNBC. Political speech may be heavily scrutinised in the US but that is far from the truth in India. The recently-concluded US presidential race was live fact-checked by most channels. Donald Trump may be a disinformation machine but has held several press conferences, whereas PM Modi has held none in the past six years. Most speeches made by the Prime Minister also pass unchecked to viewers. Two years ago, ABP News managing editor Milind Khandekar and news anchors Punya Prasun Bajpai and Abhisar Sharma had to tender resignations amid reports of pressure to keep PM Modi’s name out of critical pieces. The ouster was preceded by Ramdev’s Pantanjali withdrawing advertisements from the channel. India ranks 142 out of 180 countries on the 2020 global press freedom index. While Facebook maintains a blanket policy for every country under the garb of protecting “free speech” journalists in India are imprisoned even for tweets. Facebook imagines that content put out by politicians is the “most scrutinised” but going back to Sarma’s tweet carrying divisive misinformation reveals this is untrue. The tweet was reported at face value by several news organisations until debunked by independent fact-checkers. Alt News also checked if Facebook added the ‘false information’ label on the video shared by non-political pages or individuals. “We apply strong warning labels and notifications on fact-checked content so people can see what our partners have concluded and decide for themselves what to read, trust and share,” according to Facebook’s third-party fact-checking program. Below are three screenshots of links that carry the video with the false message (1, 2, 3) but do not have a warning. Facebook has developed technologies that detect identical and nearly-identical photos and videos. These can be adapted to semi-automate the fact-checking process by auto-marking images and videos on the platform already pronounced misleading by fact-checkers. The third-party outlets can also be aided through efficient interfaces that allow them to mass-tag content. Multiple attempts to ascertain whether Facebook’s policy of “rating” misinformation is manual and solely dependent on its fact-checking partners went unanswered. So we did some digging of our own. Last month, a video of a woman vandalising her husband’s milk parlour after she found he was married to another woman was widespread with a communal spin. The couple hailed from the Hindu community but false messages alleged that a Muslim man had ‘trapped’ a Hindu woman. Several fact-checking outlets including Alt News and Facebook partner Boomlive had debunked the video. Boomlive’s story carries a link by one Jaggu Patel who had shared the video with the false message. His post carries a ‘false information’ warning. However, other links carrying the exact video with identical misinformation have not been marked. A similar pattern was observed for all debunked content. Last year, a video of a man beaten by a group of people for attacking a woman was shared with a false ‘love jihad’ angle. After Boomlive’s fact-check report, most links are no longer available from 2019, barring a few that don’t carry a warning. The same video was revived last month with similar misinformation but differently worded. The Quint also published a fact-check article on the clip. Some of the links carrying the video have been labelled by Facebook while others are not. But most links have been taken down from the platform. In the case of photos as well, we saw that some debunked posts carried a warning and others did not. The above examples show that Facebook does not seem to follow a transparent and uniform fact-checking policy. The social media giant says that it demotes content fact-checked by its partners which was found true in some cases where viral links were no longer accessible. However, this hasn’t been mirrored in every place. Furthermore, many debunked videos and images resurface on the platform with altered claims yet the posts do not carry warnings based on previous fact-checks. Does Facebook require each link to be flagged by its fact-checking partner or is the process automated? This remains unclear. In the case of politicians too, we discovered that Congress leader Udit Raj’s post was flagged but BJP MLA Himanta Biswa Sarma’s was not. In an earlier piece, an internal analysis by Alt News had revealed that most Facebook fact-checking partners in India, barring Boomlive and The Quint, have scanty coverage of BJP-led misinformation. Misinformation in India is weaponised and disseminated in an organised manner in order to shape political narratives. We have repeatedly seen members of political parties including senior leaders who enjoy ministerial posts share false information to their massive supporter base. Unlike several western developed countries, India does not have the privilege of robust mainstream media that questions those in power. Facebook’s refusal to fact-check political speech and content posted by politicians is a poor policy decision based on a myopic understanding of how politics and media interface in many parts of the world. 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 November 2020 / 12:32 pm / Last updated: 26th November 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-checking-political-speech-facebooks-myopic-policy-and-inconsistent-standard/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,051	Fact-checking Prime Minister Modi's address to Indian diaspora in Munich, Germany - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 7th July 2022 / 12:33 pm Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited Germany from June 26 to June 28 for the 48th G7 summit. On his second day of the visit i.e., on June 27, PM Modi interacted with the Indian diaspora in Munich where he listed numerous “achievements” of the Indian government. In the hour-long community programme, PM Modi took the stage at around 21 minutes and delivered a 33-minute-long speech, where he talked about India’s growth story and highlighted the various “achievements” of his government, such as India being “open-defecation free (ODF)” and that “every village” in the country is electrified. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0azNpHROXFk?start=1324] However, amidst the interaction where the PM lauded the Indian community in Munich for promoting India’s “success story” and called them India’s “ambassadors”, lied half-truths, exaggerated assertions and falsehoods. At 27:18 minutes in his speech, the PM said, “Today, every village in India is open defecation free.” However, the ground reality is at odds with PM Modi’s assertion. Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, all villages, gram panchayats, districts, states and union territories in India declared themselves “open-defecation free” (ODF) by October 2, 2019. This is mentioned on the Swachh Bharat Mission website and was also reported by various media outlets. How does the government define ODF? The government under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) terms ODF as “the termination of faecal-oral transmission”, defined by: 1) no visible faeces found in the environment/village; and 2) every household as well as public/community institution using safe technology options for the disposal of faeces To understand whether India has actually become open defecation free as suggested by the PM, we looked at two data sources – the fifth National Family Health Survey (2019 – 2021), and the third round of the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS). NFHS data The National Family Health Survey-5 (2019 – 2021) or NFHS-5, published in March 2022, provides percentage distribution of households by the type of toilet facility available, and also the access to toilets based on religion, caste and wealth distribution. As per the latest data, 83% of households have access to a toilet facility in the country, and 17% do not use any toilet facility. [It is important to note that the NFHS figures are usually rounded up, hence the figure could vary when tallied.] When we compared this with the data provided in NFHS-4 (2015 – 2016) report, there is definitely an improvement. As per NFHS-4, 39% of households practised open defecation compared to the latest data of only 17% of households practising open defecation. According to NFHS-5, among the states/UTs, access to a toilet facility is lowest in Bihar (62%), followed by Jharkhand (70%) and Odisha (71%). Despite improvement, the latest NFHS report does not indicate that the country is 100% ODF. National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) data The NARSS round 3 (2019 – 2020) report carried various indicators for households with toilets. The report reads, “The information on accessibility to toilet facility for the household was collected through a combination of four responses which included: i) Own toilet: Households with access to a toilet which is exclusively used by members of the household ii) Shared toilet: Household with access to toilet used by multiple families iii) Community toilets: Households with access to a public toilet facility (toilet is open to the general public); and iv) No toilet access: Households do not have access to any toilet (family members usually defecate in the bush, fields, or other locations).” As per the report, the percentage of households practising open defecation decreased from 6.7% in NARSS Round-2 (2018-19) to 5.6% in NARSS Round-3 (2019-20) at the national level. In NARSS Round-1 (2017-18), the percentage of households practising open defecation was reported to be 24%. Below we have added a chart to visually represent the trend line. According to UNICEF, in 2015, nearly half of India’s population, around 568 million people practised open defecation. The number came down to an estimated 450 million by 2019. UNICEF credits the government’s flagship programme, the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), for the achievement. Despite discrepancies in data provided by various government reports, we don’t see any surveys mentioning India as 100% open defecation free. However, we do notice a trend that shows a decline in the practice of open defecation over the years. At 27:30 minutes, the PM said that electricity has reached every village in the country. The government launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) scheme in December 2014 for rural electrification works across the country and in October 2017, the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) scheme was launched for electrification of the remaining unelectrified households in rural as well as urban areas. As per the NFHS-5 (2019-2021) data, 96.8% of the Indian population lives in households with electricity. This means that over 3% of the Indian population lives in unelectrified homes. 99% of urban households and 95% of rural households have electricity. On April 28, 2018, PM Modi announced that every single village in India was electrified. But as per reports by Forbes and The Wire at that time, 31 million homes in India were still unelectrified. This is due to the definition of “electrified village” that has been in place since 1997. A village is deemed to be electrified if basic infrastructure such as: India has provided electricity access to 2.82 crore households under the Saubhagya scheme. However, the insincere definition of “electrified village” does not reflect the actual level of success on the ground. It has received widespread criticism, amid the government celebrating the “success” of rural electrification. To sum it up, the claim that India has achieved 100% electricity in all its villages is based on an insincere definition of electrification that has been in place since 1997. At 27:50 minutes, the PM claimed that more than 99% of the Indian population has a gas connection for “clean cooking”. We checked the data of NFHS-5 (2019 – 2021) about the types of cooking fuel used by the urban and rural Indian demographies. As per the data, 57.7% of the Indian population use LPG/natural gas as cooking fuel, while the other sources can be biogas, charcoal, etc. The report reads, “Forty-one percent of households in India use some type of solid fuel for cooking, with virtually all being wood or dung cakes.” 31.7% of households use wood as fuel for cooking. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 2.4 billion people around the globe still cook using solid fuel. These cooking practices are inefficient and use fuels and technologies that produce high levels of household air pollution. Smoke-induced diseases are responsible for the death of 4.3 million people every year. It is one of the most lethal environmental health risks worldwide. The World Health Organization also maintains a household energy database used to monitor global progress in the transition to cleaner fuels and stove combinations in households. As per WHO’s Household energy database, in 2022, 67.9% of Indians have access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking. It is important to note that the sample size used by WHO for the survey is significantly smaller than the sample size used by government agencies. However, both government sources, as well as international sources, do not indicate that more than 99% of the Indian population has access to clean sources for cooking. While a large part of the Prime Minister’s speech contained misleading claims, certain achievements mentioned by him were indeed true. For example, the claim that 40% of the world’s real-time digital transactions happen in India is genuine. India made 48.6 billion real-time payments through 2021 – which is over 2.6 times higher than China. The PM claimed that every poor Indian family is provided up to Rs 5 lakh rupees for free medical treatment. Beneficiary families under Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) do receive this health insurance. They have been identified from the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) of 2011 on the basis of select deprivation and occupational criteria across rural and urban areas. For instance, one of the criteria for a rural household to qualify for AB-PMJAY is the absence of adult members between the age of 16 and 59 in the family. Another criterion is that the family should be living in a one-room house with kucha walls and a kucha roof. Thus, a cursory examination of the Prime Minister’s statement deems the claim to be true. A PhD scholar at IIM Ahmedabad had found that AB-PMJAY follows “a prospective payment mechanism: the upper ceiling of the treatment cost is predetermined and fixed”. It gives the illusion that the treatment is “free” but every treatment or procedure has a fixed amount that has been predetermined. Any amount beyond the limit set for the package might have to come from the pockets of the patients. There have also been cases where patients could not avail treatment because their conditions aren’t covered by the scheme. In 2019, AIIMS and the National Health Authority (NHA) made a request to the health ministry for allowing Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries to avail of high-cost treatment for life-threatening diseases under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi. They cited cases wherein Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries could not avail of treatment for blood cancer and chronic liver diseases as these are not covered under the health insurance scheme. In 2020, the Union Health Ministry revised its guidelines, after initially rejecting the proposal made by AIIMS and NHA. Some of the other issues that were flagged by AIIMS were: The PM also claimed that the government has been providing free rations to 80 crore families for the last two years. This statement is true. Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), 5 kg of food grains (wheat, rice, coarse grain) is provided to each beneficiary each month free of cost. The beneficiaries are recognised through the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. As per NFSA’s own website, 80 crore persons are covered under NFSA. The PM claimed that every month on average, 18 lakh families are being connected to a piped water supply. We could not find data on how many families have been onboarded for piped water supply. However, using the database of Jal Jeevan Mission, we found that in 2021 on average 20 lakh households were provided with tap water supply every month. PM Modi also claimed that India is one of the few countries in the world where mobile data is the cheapest. This is true as per the annual worldwide mobile data pricing report by Cable.co.uk. The PM claimed that 110 crore registrations have been made on the CoWin portal. This is true. As per the dashboard on CoWin, 1,09,87,86,318 registrations have been made so far. The PM also claimed that 90% of adults in India are fully vaccinated i.e., they have received both doses. This is also true and can be verified using the dashboard on vaccinations maintained by The Hindu. He further claimed that 22 crore Indians are connected with Aarogya Setu App. As per the dashboard on the Aarogya Setu website, 21,68,00,000 downloads have been made on iOS and Android devices. But it must be noted that the number of downloads does not reflect the number of active users. Moreover, the Supreme Court criticised the use of IT applications for vaccination, observing that “a vaccination policy exclusively relying on a digital portal for vaccinating a significant population of this country between the ages of 18-44 would be unable to meet its target of universal immunisation owing to such a digital divide”. There are also reports that have flagged the issue of relying on a digital system for contact tracing. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kOiixKic3M] The PM claimed that more than 10 crore toilets have been built in India. This is true. As of July 2019, over 9.5 crore toilets had been built across India since the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission. The number must be closer to 10 crores in 2022. However, in 2019, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development reported that many toilets constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission were defunct and unusable. PM Modi claimed that all Indian families are connected to banking services. We checked the 2021 Global Financial Inclusion data by the World Bank. As per the data, 77.5% of people age 15+ have a bank account. 81.3% of people age 25+ have bank accounts. However, as per the report, 27.44% of the accounts of people age 15+ are inactive. In rural areas, the inactive account percentage of the age group 15+ is 31.01% and in urban areas, the figure is 23.33%. Similarly. 29% of the bank accounts of people of age 25+ are inactive. In summary, a large number of people having bank accounts does not necessarily mean that the accounts are active. The PM also made a few claims that could not be fact-checked. For example, he said that every month on average 5,000 patents are being filed. Even if this were true, filing a patent does not necessarily mean technological innovation or progress. To summarise, PM Modi’s speech addressing the Indian diaspora in Munich, Germany was a mix of truth, half-truths, falsehoods and exaggeration of the achievements of the Indian government. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th July 2022 / 12:33 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-checking-prime-minister-modis-address-to-indian-diaspora-in-munich-germany/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
1,052	Fact-checking Times Now's dispatch presenting a local politician as a cleric of a Jammu mosque - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 14th August 2022 / 1:05 pm / Last updated: 17th August 2022 On August 10, Time Now tweeted a video report by journalist Pradeep Dutta. The entire report is shot within the confinement of a mosque where an alleged cleric of the mosque can be seen speaking to a few attendees about the importance of the Indian national flag. In the seven-minute-long video report, we see the Times Now journalist speak with the alleged cleric as well the attendees, who are very “enthusiastically” listening to the sermons. A total of nine people can be seen in attendance, among which a few of them appear to be senior citizens. While speaking to the people in a mosque, cleric from a Jammu mosque tells people the importance of Har Ghar Tiranga campaign and says go for #HarGharTiranga with zeal and enthusiasm. Watch @deepduttajourno‘s #exclusive conversation with him. #TIMESNOWOnGround pic.twitter.com/MVy0a4IGKk — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) August 10, 2022 The same report has also been shot in Hindi as well and was tweeted by Times Now Navbharat on the 10th. In the Hindi report, the Times Now reporter refers to the man as “Maulana“. In this report at the 2:20 minute mark, the reporter asks the man if there’s any external pressure on him or if he’s being forced to raise the flag. To which the man responds by saying that there is no pressure on him at the moment. #JammuKashmir की #ThatriJamiaMasjid में दिखा देशभक्ति का आलम, देखें शानदार तस्वीर#TimesNowNavbharat को #YouTube पर सब्सक्राइब करें 👉: https://t.co/ogFsKfs8b9#TimesNowNavbharatOriginals @deepduttajourno pic.twitter.com/aKJh0xlRZI — Times Now Navbharat (@TNNavbharat) August 10, 2022 This video report has been re-shared twice (here and here) by Times Now Navbharat on August 12. When one looks at the reportage carefully, the following observations can be made: These elements when seen together portray an uncharacteristic way of reporting a public event. We looked at the comments under the tweets of Times Now. A reply by user Asif Iqbal Butt came to our notice. The user wrote in bullet points alleging that the man seen in the video report is not a cleric but a person affiliated with a political party. In a subsequent reply, the user also hinted that the video is from the Doda district of Jammu. Taking this clue, we reached out to a few local journalists who identified the alleged cleric as a local politician. As per journalists, the man seen in the video is Mohammad Rafi Sheikh alias Pinka and he works for the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP). They also told us that the video report by Times Now has been shot in the Hidayi Phagsoo Jama Masjid (جامع مسجد ھدای پھگسو). To probe further, we performed several keyword searches on Facebook and came across news reports featuring Mohammad Rafi. A report from November 2021 mentions Rafi as the ‘Block General Secretary of the APNI Party’. In an interview from September 2021, Rafi can be seen standing next to J&K Apni Party supremo Altaf Bukhari. Alt News reached out to Mohammad Rafi Sheikh to understand what transpired behind the scene. Speaking to Alt News over a telephonic call Rafi admitted that he is a local politician affiliated with the JKAP. “I am not a cleric, imam or scholar or member of any mosque,” said Rafi. Rafi also alleged that the Indian Army along with the reporter of Times Now had forced him to raise the flag inside the mosque and give those sermons. We also spoke with Abdul Kabeer (red box below), the naiyib imam (deputy cleric) who was present at the mosque during the time of the shooting. He agreed with the statement that was given to us by Rafi. Alt News also came across a twenty-six-minute-long interview given to The Chenab Times by the locals who were present at the mosque. Both Rafi and the naiyib imam also speak during this interview. They reiterate that they were forced by the army to raise the flag inside the mosque. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jouNn5GVuUg] “On the evening of August 7, a police officer came to my house and asked me to pose with the flag. He told me I am an OGW (Over Ground Worker) and I need to comply, I did as I was told. The next day that is on August 8, army officials called me and asked me about my whereabouts. I told them that I am at my home,” said Rafi. He further added, “The next time they called me, I was sitting at the shop of my tailor friend near my house. They came to the shop and took me and my friend aside. We were told to speak about the national flag, so we agreed… They gathered a few people and told us to speak about it inside the mosque… We all were reluctant but we complied.” Alt News spoke with tailor Shafqat (green box below) who was there with Mohammad Rafi. He corroborated Rafi’s claim. “We are villagers, we don’t know what transpires between the army and OGWs. I saw the army and I got scared so I did as I was told,” said Shafqat Hussain. An army man is indeed visible in the English report of Times Now at the 3:15 minute mark. According to a local, it is not common for the army to be standing outside the mosque. Alt News reached out to the senior army officials stationed in Phagsoo, but they refused to speak on the record and asked us to reach out to the army PRO. The response from the PRO was that they were not aware of such developments. We also came across a Facebook Live where speaking to journalist Shakeel Raja, a local politician says that an army major told him that it was Rafi’s idea to shoot the video inside the mosque premise. The politician also claims to have spoken with Pinka, with Pinka stating that he did what he did due to coercion. [Watch from 3:10 minutes.] Alt News has reached out to journalist Pradeep Dutta for his comments on the allegations made by Rafi and the others who were present at the scene. Dutta disconnected our call and has not responded to our messages. The story will be updated if and when Pradeep decides to respond to these allegations. While there are differing accounts on whether the raising of the national flag inside a mosque in Phagsoo was an act of coercion, it is clear that Times Now misrepresented a location politician as a cleric in its broadcast. Mohammad Rafi Sheikh alias Pinka is not a cleric or a scholar of the mosque. He’s a politician affiliated with the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP). Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc 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	14th August 2022 / 1:05 pm / Last updated: 17th August 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact-checking-times-nows-dispatch-presenting-a-local-politician-as-a-cleric-of-a-jammu-mosque/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
1,053	Economics Archives - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder & Mahaprajna Nayak 1st December 2022 Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the Indian Right Wing for decades. The alleged defiance of traditional norms and customs by Hindu… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin Poonawala, the video interview of a man claiming to be Rashid Khan from Bulandshahr went… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the last week. Aftab Amin Poonawalla, the accused and Walker’s live-in partner, was arrested on November… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of child kidnapping have spread like wildfire in many parts of the country based on purported… On April 3, 2022, just about two months after Yati Narsinghanand got bail in the Haridwar Dharam Sansad hate speech case on the condition that he would not deliver provocative… The Prime Minister is set to inaugurate 3024 newly-built houses for the economically weaker section (EWS) in Delhi to rehabilitate people living in slums as part of a slum rehabilitation… On October 30, while people were celebrating the Chhatt festival across the country, reports came in of a suspension bridge collapsing in Gujarat. The collapse of the 230-meter-long bridge located… The ministry of information & broadcasting (MIB) on September 26 announced the blocking of 45 videos from 10 YouTube channels. The MIB said in a statement: “Based on the inputs… A video of BJP leader Hardik Patel is viral on social media where some people can be seen expressing their displeasure over the youth leader who shot to fame with… Trigger Warning: Violent visuals. Viewer discretion is advised. In the afternoon of October 4, the residents of Undhela in Gujarat’s Kheda district witnessed a public flogging of 10 Muslim men…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	1st December 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact_checks_claim_type/economics/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder & Mahaprajna Nayak" }
1,054	History Archives - Alt News Archit 11th August 2022 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… A day after the Supreme Court upheld the findings of a special investigation team (SIT) that cleared Prime Minister Narendra Modi of alleged complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots, the… On December 13, Kashi Vishwanath Dham was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi. He showered flower petals on sanitation workers at Kashi Vishwanath Temple as a gesture of gratitude for keeping… Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday claimed that Hindu Mahasabha leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar filed mercy petitions before the British government following Mahatma Gandhi’s advice. Singh was speaking at the… On March 3, BJP MP and former deputy chief minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi posted several tweets targeting Rahul Gandhi and the Congress. One of these addressed Gandhi himself…. Social media has been brimming with claims that the Muslim regiment of the Indian Army had refused to fight in India’s 1965 war with Pakistan. Several users have been using… On June 21, several social media accounts of the Indian National Congress shared an image of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi addressing a crowd of army men. As per the… A picture tweeted by former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai on January 10, 2020, took Twitter by storm. It garnered 4,500 retweets and 9,500 likes in one day. The text on… Images of coins bearing figures of Hindu gods and goddesses have been posted by social media users, with the narrative that these were issued by the erstwhile East India Company… “When Pakistan invaded India, one of my friend Commander-in-chief Gen Chaudhuri, asked permission of PM Nehru to counter attack as being defensive wouldn’t help. That’s a simple military strategy; if…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th August 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact_checks_claim_type/history/", "author": "Archit" }
1,055	News Archives - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 27th November 2022 Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about each member of the Saudi Arabian squad being awarded a Rolls Royce started circulating on… Several Twitter users have shared a clip of a man narrating an assault on him inside a train. The users have alleged that the man was beaten up by people… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the body of a young woman found on the Yamuna Expressway, with the claim that she… A graphic from news channel Aaj Tak’s show ‘Desh Ka Mijaz’ is viral on social media, in which the figure ‘52%’ is shown along with Rahul Gandhi’s name and ‘34%’… The famed vegetarian crocodile named Babiya, living at the Ananthapura Lake Temple, recently passed away in Kerala’s Kasaragod district. Several news organizations reported the news carrying a picture of a… A few days ago, media outlets reported that 400 mosques and madrasas in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur were operating on stolen electricity. According to these reports, the electricity department issued notices… On September 23, a day after Popular Front of India (PFI) offices across the country were raided by multiple law-enforcement agencies, a protest by PFI activists in Pune created a… On September 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new flag of the Indian Navy in Kochi. The St George’s Cross was removed from the erstwhile flag and it was… Typhoon Hinnamnor has ravaged parts of Japan and South Korea in the last few days. As per ABC News Australia, in Japan’s southern region, more than hundred people were evacuated… On September 2, Star of Mysore, an evening newspaper from the city of Mysuru, reported that a 21-year-old engineering student, Apoorva Shetty, was found murdered in a private hotel on…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact_checks_claim_type/news/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
1,056	Politics Archives - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 28th November 2022 Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar as part of the ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. Following this, Amit Malviya, the in-charge of… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created an uproar on social media. News reports mentioned that the reason for the man’s behaviour… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile attack in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine. The explosion… Sharing a purported ABP News report, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal recently tweeted, “Watch this video to feel the pulse of Gujarat”. In the video,… On September 22, 2022, in a raid jointly conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and police in multiple states, over 100 leaders of the Popular Front… On September 13, Twitter user Anshul Saxena, who claims to be a ‘news junkie’, ‘observer and analyst’ tweeting ‘informative facts and opinions’, shared a tweet containing a table of data… On September 10, the BJP organized a Jana Spandana program in Doddaballapur, Bengaluru to celebrate the third anniversary of the party’s coming to power in Karnataka. BJP MP and Union… Political debates have heated up across the country after a report was published in the international edition of The New York Times about the government-run schools in Delhi. This story… 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… As per the latest updates on Bihar’s ongoing political crisis, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has resigned and is set to form the majority government with the opposition party RJD….	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	28th November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact_checks_claim_type/politics/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
1,057	Quotes Archives - Alt News Mahaprajna Nayak & Abhishek Kumar 15th November 2022 Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine for some hours so that Indian students caught in… On August 28, in the 92nd edition of the monthly radio show ‘Mann Ki Baat’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to actively participate in the annual ‘Poshan Maah’ or… Droupadi Murmu took the oath to become the 15th President of India on July 25. Ever since it was announced that Murmu won the presidential election by an overwhelming margin,… A screengrab of an alleged India TV News graphic plate airing two quotes attributed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi is viral on social media. The first quote reads, “I used… An alleged statement attributed to Ratan Tata has been making the rounds on social media. It is being claimed that Tata suggested that the government should stop offering subsidies to… A quote on Ayodhya-Ram Mandir issue, attributed to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, is widely circulating on social media. It says, “Kapil Sibal once said that he will die… A screenshot of Aaj Tak has been shared on social media, according to which a statement is ascribed to Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari. In the screenshot, the title of… Following the Murshidabad triple murder case, a quotation ascribed to journalist Ravish Kumar has been shared on social media. “बंगाल में हिन्दू मरे हैं इसलिए मुझे कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ता… “इसरो ब्राह्मणवादी है और अल्पसंख्यक विरोधी भी चाँद पर विक्रम ही क्यों भेजा उस्मान अब्दुल या पीटर क्यों नहीं? चन्द्रयान से क्या हासिल होगा हजार करोड़ फूक दिए दक्षिण की… The text of a speech supposedly given by Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, is being circulated on social media platforms. According to this speech apparently given at the Duma (Russian…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact_checks_claim_type/quotes/", "author": "Mahaprajna Nayak & Abhishek Kumar" }
1,058	Science Archives - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 2nd November 2022 In the first week of October, the World Health Organization (WHO) made a medical product alert about substandard (contaminated) pediatric medicines identified in The Gambia, a small west African country…. In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है फायदे” (Translation: Scientific and Spiritual Aspects of Lamp Lighting, Know These Benefits), Hindi news media… A video of a group of panellists claiming that the world is not facing a coronavirus pandemic is widespread on social media platforms. “WHO has completely taken a U-turn and… Pharmaceutical manufacturer Zydus Cadila got the approval of DGCI (Drugs Controller General of India) for a medication ‘Virafin’ to treat moderate COVID-19 patients. ‘Virafin’ is the brand name of Zydus’s… On May 18, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that a new COVID variant originating from Singapore could prove fatal for children and the central government should ban flights from… A message widely circulating on WhatsApp claims that Indian Air force Air Marshal Ashutosh Sharma, based at Bengaluru’s Command Hospital, recommended steam inhalation to kill coronavirus and end the pandemic… Coronavirus cases are rapidly increasing in Gujarat. More than 14,000 cases are being reported in the State daily while the healthcare sector is overwhelmed with high demands it is unable… On April 17, 2021, the Government of India decided to review the prices of Remdesivir (GS-5734™ or Veklury®) in the country. However, the most sought after drug during the current… A viral message widely shared across WhatsApp and Twitter suggests that inhaling the vapour of camphor, lawang, ajwain and eucalyptus oil can increase blood oxygen level and even relieve respiratory… The COVID-19 pandemic has given a big boost to the Ayurvedic and other alternative therapeutics industry. Despite limited evidence, several ayurvedic products are being endorsed by many including the health…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact_checks_claim_type/science/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
1,059	Social Media Claim Archives - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 21st November 2022 A 14-second-long video clip of a youth speaking to the camera while a bleeding woman lies on a bed with her throat slit is viral on social media. In the… Soon after the news of the alleged murder of 26-year-old Shraddha Walker in Delhi’s Mehrauli by her partner became viral, the religion of the accused, Aftab Ameen Poonawalla, became a… A CCTV footage of a person being stabbed in a narrow lane is being circulated on social media with the claim that the accused belongs to the Muslim community. National… On October 27, the United Kingdom got its first non-white Prime Minister in Rishi Sunak. At 42, the former chancellor of the exchequer also became Britain’s youngest Prime Minister in… Recently, the Indore Bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court delivered its verdict on an appeal made by a rape convict and reduced his life sentence to 20 years’ rigorous… [The following story includes graphic photos and videos. Readers’ discretion is advised.] In the first week of September, Alt News started receiving multiple requests daily to verify audio and videos… On September 4, Pakistan defeated India by 5 wickets in the Super 4 Match of the 2022 Asia Cup. At a certain point in the game, Pakistan’s score was 151… Bollywood film ‘Brahmastra’, slated to be released in September 2022, has been in the headlines for some time now. A call to boycott the film, too, has gained momentum on… A text message widely shared on social media claims that seventeen influential positions in the Government of India (GOI) are held by persons from Odisha. According to the viral message,… A claim that suggests that the official logo of the State Bank of India was inspired by the aerial view of the Kankaria Lake in Ahmedabad is being circulated on…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact_checks_claim_type/social-media-claims/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
1,060	Viral Photos Archives - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 23rd November 2022 Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried out large-scale lay-offs. While many social media users made memes poking fun at the development,… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad in Pakistan’s Punjab on Novermber 3. Khan was leading his party members to the capital,… 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… A collection of opinion polls apparently predicting the results of the upcoming Gujarat polls is going viral. All the graphics indicate the victory of the Aam Aadmi Party. The four… On October 18, 2022, seven people on board a helicopter to Kedarnath were killed in a crash. The rescue and search operation was conducted by the state disaster response force… A picture of a gigantic crowd is viral on social media with the claim that it is a picture from the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Congress leader and MP… 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… On September 13, Iran’s ‘Morality Police’ arrested 22-year-old Mahsa Amini from Tehran for not wearing her hijab according to official dictates. Mehsa Amini died three days later, allegedly in police… An image of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is viral on social media, in which he can be seen with a girl. BJP leaders and supporters have claimed that the girl… Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17 released wild cheetahs brought from Namibia at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Following this, the prime minister was also seen taking…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact_checks_claim_type/viral-photos/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
1,061	Viral Videos Archives - Alt News Kinjal 22nd November 2022 The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to it and assaulting the occupants is viral on social media. It has been linked to… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media. It is being shared with the claim that this is the condition of a Hindu… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting with the public is viral on social media. One Luke Rudkowski posted the video on… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers can see a woman getting down from a car outside a residential complex and as… A video of a glittering fleet of boats cruising in a serpentine motion supposedly on a river in Kerala has been doing the rounds on social media with the hashtag… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social media in which a burqa-clad woman recounts her past as a Hindu named Shalini Unnikrishnan… 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… A video apparently showing visuals of a raid by the Enforcement Directorate at the house of a Surat-based cloth merchant named Sekhar Agarwal has been shared widely on Twitter. It… Twitter user @IRONMONK002 recently shared a purported video from Kanpur of a group of policemen beating two people with sticks and lathis on the terrace of a building. Two bulldozers… The video of a man standing behind bars while an individual confronts him is going viral on social media. In the clip, a bearded man called Mushtaq Ahmed is asked…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd November 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fact_checks_claim_type/viral-videos/", "author": "Kinjal" }
1,062	Inside the secret world of Facebook groups offering fake Aadhaar cards - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 9th August 2018 / 11:59 am / Last updated: 9th August 2018 “Fake Aadhaar available…Ib [Inbox] for deal,” reads one of the posts on a Facebook group “Help for Friends – Advertising Deals” or as its over 7,000 members call it “HFF”. HFF is a secret group and does not come up on Facebook search results. You need an invitation to join it. The group is a close-knit circuit of individuals buying and selling all sorts of things. However, amidst deals violating Facebook’s terms and conditions, we stumbled upon an issue even more grave – people offering to manufacture Aadhaar cards. In the screenshot below, one of the members can be seen asking others to “inbox” him if they want Aadhaar cards. He claims that the ID proof will be “1001% working”. He also makes a post offering “fake Aadhaar cards for Facebook verification”. Another member claims that he has at his disposal “many” PDF files of Aadhaar cards. He wishes to know at what price he will be able to sell them. One of the members advertises his stock of 100 Aadhaar cards as “loot loot loot”, selling them for Rs 150 each. There are also offerings of PAN cards in the group. The collage below captures several others offering fake Aadhaar cards. However, this bargain is not one-sided as supply is only created by demand. In the screenshot below, members can be seen willing to purchase fake Aadhaar cards as long as they “look real”. One of the members also asked for Aadhaar data, which he claimed was “available a few days back.” He wrote, “I am willing to pay good money to anyone who has it.” There was another Aadhaar related demand that came to our notice – editing. In the screenshot below, one of the members is looking for someone who can edit his date of birth in his Aadhaar card. “Bas real lagna chahiye,” he writes. We discovered a substantial demand for Aadhaar related editing work for various purposes. Recently, Alt News published another story about a closed Facebook group that goes by the name “Sharing is Caring – Advertising Deals”. Our detailed report disclosed the inner workings of its 18,000 odd members who regularly buy/sell Facebook pages, Instagram accounts and more. Help for Friends is more close-knit than Sharing is Caring (SIC) but has a lot of the same members as SIC. Just like in SIC, deals on Facebook pages dedicated to politics, army, girls, actresses and cricket and more are made on HFF too. Deals on Fake Aadhar cards are not limited to HFF. We stumbled upon deals related to Aadhaar in the ‘Sharing is Caring’ group as well. The screenshots below are from SIC. If you look closely, some of these names appear in the screenshots of HFF posted earlier in the article. However, post Alt New’s story, admins of Sharing is Caring seem to have become more vigilant about what sells in the group. One of them posted “new rules as per the need of time”, which now penalise (temporarily ban) members making deals on Aadhaar cards or any government ID proof and fake government offer websites, among others. There is a reason why groups like SIC and HFF keep their status as closed or secret as the members are well aware that their dealings are often illegal. As this issue comes to light, it becomes pertinent that necessary actions are taken against these groups. 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	9th August 2018 / 11:59 am / Last updated: 9th August 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-aadhaar-cards-secret-facebook-group-help-for-friends-sharing-is-caring/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,063	Fake Aaj Tak tweet created to claim BJP apologised to the Gandhi family - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 31st August 2021 / 5:09 pm A purported tweet in the name of Aaj Tak is widely circulating on social media platforms, including WhatsApp. Alt News has received multiple requests for verification of the tweet that says, “CBI was unable to uncover any evidence of corruption against the Gandhi family, BJP apologised to the Gandhi family in court.” [Hindi text: गांधी परिवार के खिलाफ सीबीआई नहीं ढूंढ पाई एक भी भ्रष्टाचार का सबूत, कोर्ट में गांधी परिवार से भाजपा ने मांगी माफ़ी।] The screenshot below shows the extent to which the tweet is widespread on Facebook. A few Twitter users have also posted the tweet. गांधी परिवार के खिलाफ़ सीबीआई नहीं ढूँढ पायी ऐक भी भ्रष्टाचार का सबूत… भाजपा ने कोर्ट में गांधी परिवार से मांगी माफी…… pic.twitter.com/hkggJXeAlA — Anwar mohammadi (انوار محمدی) (@Anwarmohammadi5) August 31, 2021 Alt News was unable to find any such tweet on Aaj Tak’s Twitter timeline. While tweets can be deleted later, this one is clearly manufactured since all the screenshots shared by hundreds of people is the same. It has an identical number of likes and retweets. There is no second copy of the tweet or a link. Not one person has quote-tweeted Aaj Tak. It is also noteworthy that the news – ‘BJP apologised to the Gandhi family in court’ – would make headlines if it were true. In this case, it is unreported. Aaj Tak has clarified on Facebook that the outlet has not made the tweet. #FactCheck \| यह फ़र्ज़ी ट्वीट की तस्वीर आजतक के ट्वीट के नाम पर सर्कुलेट की जा रही है। #AFWAFactCheck Posted by Aaj Tak on Tuesday, 31 August 2021 Fake tweets are often manufactured in the name of media outlets to inject credibility into disinformation. Alt News has published many similar fact-checks in the past. 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	31st August 2021 / 5:09 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-aaj-tak-tweet-created-to-claim-bjp-apologised-to-the-gandhi-family/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,064	Fake ABP News graphic plates ascribe false statements to Rahul Gandhi - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 5th July 2021 / 7:23 pm / Last updated: 29th December 2021 A screenshot of an alleged graphic plate of ABP News claiming that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “My ancestors were Muslims and I am a Muslim,” (मेरे पूर्वज मुस्लिम थे मैं मुसलमान हू) is circulating on social media. राहुल गांधी जी ने कबूल किया के मैं मुसलमान हूं। चलो देर आए दरुस्त आए 🙏 RT pic.twitter.com/l7wbHwl30O — ❣️कमल सिंह चिब राजपूत ❣️🚩🌹 (@KamalSinghnamo) December 18, 2021 राहुल गांधी जी ने कबूल किया के मैं मुसलमान हूं। चलो देर आए दरुस्त आए 🙏 pic.twitter.com/yCGho4w4vS — 🇮🇳🇮🇳❣️✨Neha Kumari✨❣️🇮🇳 (@Neha_454) December 18, 2021 Earlier this year, three more quotes apart from the one currently viral were also attributed to Gandhi. `. “When our government is formed, we will give Rs 5,000 crore loan to Pakistan without any interest.” (हमारी सरकार बनते ही पाकिस्तान को 5 हजार करोड़ कर्ज देंगे बिना ब्याज 50 साल के लिए.) 2. “Congress belongs to Muslims and will remain theirs.” (कोंग्रेस मुस्लिमों की है और उनकी ही रहेगी.) 3. “It is necessary to provide help to Pakistan and we will surely do this.” (पाकिस्तान की मदद करना जरूरी है और हम यह जरूर करेंगे.) These statements shown to be aired by ABP News have been circulating the past few years (1, 2, 3, 4). ABP News had debunked the fake graphic plates circulating in the channel’s name in 2018. #Urgent: This is to notify that the attached media which is being circulated online has been doctored with our channel’s template. The information about Sh. Rahul Gandhi’s statements, which these images carry have not been reported by ABP & have no relation with ABP News Network. pic.twitter.com/qYU2sJXqsl — ABP News (@ABPNews) November 12, 2018 That the graphic plates are fake is also revealed when they are compared with a genuine ABP News breaking news graphic plate. The font on the viral image does not match the one on the genuine graphic plate. We were unable to find any media organisation carrying reports that said Rahul Gandhi made these statements. It is also noteworthy that ABP News recently changed its template and channel logo, and the ones viral have used the old format. Part Alt News had debunked another fake graphic shared in the name of ABP News which portrayed Rahul Gandhi saying that Congress wants India to be an Islamic country. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	5th July 2021 / 7:23 pm / Last updated: 29th December 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-abp-news-graphic-plates-ascribe-false-statements-to-rahul-gandhi/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,065	Fake ABP News graphic plates on Kangana Ranaut and reopening of schools viral - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 12th September 2020 / 3:44 pm Two purported graphic plates of ABP News are doing the rounds on social media. The first graphic portrays that the channel aired the following breaking news — “Kangana Ranaut will promote BJP during Bihar elections. (बिहार चुनाव में भाजपा का समर्थन करेगी कंगना रनौत.)” From the Twitter account of Neetu Trivedi, the image received close to 900 likes. Actor Mona Ambegaonkar quote-tweeted Trivedi’s tweet. The same is also widely circulating on Facebook. The graphic plate is morphed and not a genuine ABP News screenshot. 1. We were unable to find the broadcast where the graphic was aired. In fact, we did not find any media organisation carrying reports that said Kangana Ranaut will aid the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Bihar elections. 2. The font on the viral image does not match the one on the genuine graphic plate. 3. The viral image has an out-of-place semi-colon. Another ABP News graphic portrays that the government will not reopen schools and colleges this year. The same has been promoted using an image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It also suggests that the Central Education Ministry said that 97,000 students contracted the coronavirus in the past two weeks due to which schools and colleges “may” start functioning in 2021. “स्कुल व कॉलेज अब नहीं खुलेंगे। 2021 में खुल सकते हैं स्कुल व कॉलेज। बड़ी ख़बर। 2 हफ्ते में 97 हज़ार विधार्थी संक्रमित हुएं। :- केन्द्रीय शिक्षा विभाग,” reads the text in Hindi. The graphic is viral on Facebook. This graphic plate is also morphed. Upon comparing the viral screenshot with a genuine ABP News graphic plate, it becomes clear that the latter is fake. The font does not match here as well and the phrase “अब नहीं” is repeated. The first sentence is also incomplete. The Ministry of Health has in fact allowed schools, colleges, and higher education institutes to reopen from September 21. However, with limitations. “For schools, it is the students of classes 9 to 12 who are given an option to attend classes offline. Schools will open only as a support for students who do not have access to online education or are facing issues. For colleges too, students enrolled in skill institutes, PhD scholars, postgraduate students, and those having practical aspects to their studies will be called to campus first as the institutes reopen in a phased manner,” according to The Indian Express. Several other guidelines were issued by the Ministry of Health and can be read here. Thus, both the ABP News graphic plates are fake. This was also confirmed to Alt News by a senior journalist at the media organisation. Earlier, a morphed graphic plate claiming that the UP government will not provide scholarships to students this year due to budget constraints was viral. 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	12th September 2020 / 3:44 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-abp-news-graphic-plates-on-kangana-ranaut-and-reopening-of-schools-viral/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,066	How a fake account with anti-Hindu tweets is tripping the right-wing - Alt News Pratik Sinha 27th February 2018 / 5:42 pm “I am waiting for 2019 when modi loses 2019 elections. Trust me, we Muslims will make the life of Hindus Hell! We Muslims will make Hindus our slaves! Trust me, after Modi loses Muslims will rule India!” is the text of a tweet by a Twitter handle called @Muhammadzee69. The biography of this Twitter account claimed that the person is a teacher in Dhirubhai Ambani International school. The abusive, bigoted, nature of the tweet and the alleged association of this person with Dhirubhai’s school become an object of outrage on social media. Shefali Vaidya, who is followed by PM Modi on Twitter, put out a tweet while tagging Mumbai police. This got retweeted over 1200 times. This man claims to be a teacher at the Dhirubhai Ambani International School, and he is threatening to make ‘baniyas cry’ and is openly stating that ‘Muslims will make Hindus slaves’. Is @MumbaiPolice taking note of this? Why is the school hiring such terrorists? https://t.co/FHdb0WsmLg — Shefali Vaidya (@ShefVaidya) February 26, 2018 Some of the other tweets on this issue which got wide circulation were by Twitter accounts namely @SaffireGem and @goyalsanjeev which got retweeted over 900 and 600 times respectively. The secular peaceful teachers employed at Dhirubhai Ambani International School… Friends tweet this so much that Neeta and Mukesh Ambani sit up and take notice… @ThinkersPad @TigerRajaSingh @malviyamit @sambitswaraj pic.twitter.com/eoz7IqATDu — Nilesh Jain (@SaffireGem) February 26, 2018 The kind of teachers, Dhirubhai Ambani International School, employs👇 Hope someone tells @reliancegroup boss how his father’s name is being ruined by lousy teachers like this😌@ril_foundation pic.twitter.com/BsPkx3xJtD — #Intolerant भारतीय (@goyalsanjeev) February 26, 2018 Madhu Kishwar, who has a penchant for succumbing to fakery, also tweeted about this and then deleted it later. Screenshots of her tweet made it to various right-wing Facebook pages and Whatsapp groups and were shared widely. Fake News site Postcard News also published a screenshot of the tweet on their Facebook page. This man openly threatens to make lives of Hindus hell if Modi loses in 2019. According to his bio on twitter, Muhammad… Posted by Post Card on Tuesday, 27 February 2018 Abhimanyu Basu, the Deputy Head at Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai, clarified on Twitter that no person with the name Muhammad Zeeshan was associated with the school in any position or capacity whatsoever. Request everyone to please check facts here. There is NO ONE under the name of @Muhammadzee69 who is associated with Dhirubhai Ambani International School in a teaching or a non-teaching role. — Abhimanyu Basu (@abhimanyubasu) February 26, 2018 Further, Alt News also came across a tweet by a Jammu & Kashmir based journalist whose picture had been appropriated by the said account a few days ago. Stealing others’ pictures has been a trend that has been noticed repeatedly with fake accounts. Beware. Some one has used my picture as his dp and he is making abusive comments. @Muhammadzee69 is his twitter handle @Twitter plz block his account. pic.twitter.com/QJSDPYQlUQ — Rifat Abdullah (@rifatabdullahh) November 26, 2017 Alt News also looked up some of the old tweets from this account, the contents of which were in stark contradiction to the views presented by this said person in his ‘anti-Hindu’ tweets. There were tweets which were either abusive toward the minority community or endorsement of right wing politics and politicians. The erratic nature of this account’s tweets dates back to the time when this account was first created in October 2017. The first three tweets from this account were similar to the tweets that have now created much outrage. A clear case of a fake account pushing out tweets that gain currency with the right-wing ecosystem, but clearly not the first. Sample these. Such accounts capitalise on the tendency of social media users to outrage first and verify later, if at all. They also try to reinforce popular narratives, such as endorsement of politicians, political parties and policies. Social media users who are unaware that these accounts are fake fall prey to subtle and not so subtle propaganda. Such accounts keep spawning time and again to target the gullible and further an agenda. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th February 2018 / 5:42 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-account-anti-hindu-tweets-tripping-right-wing/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
1,067	Fake account impersonates Nita Ambani, tweets in support of PM Modi and Amit Shah - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 25th December 2019 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 25th December 2019 In the wake of nationwide protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the NRC, screenshots of what are claimed to be tweets by Nita Ambani have been shared widely on social media. According to these tweets, the chairperson of the Reliance Foundation has purportedly spoken out in favour of PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, apart from tweets of communal nature. Log JIO SIM kyun PORT karwa rahe hai… Kya kiya NITA AMBANI ne… Log JIO SIM kyun PORT karwa rahe hai… Kya kiya NITA AMBANI ne… VIDEO DEKHIYE aur JAANIYE Posted by Hyderabad News And Updates on Sunday, December 22, 2019 The above post has been shared over 4400 times. As can be seen, the tweets are from an account @NitaAmbaani. Some of these alleged tweets are inflammatory in nature, spewing hatred against the Muslim community. The post contains an audio clip wherein a person calls the Reliance Jio customer care service and asks for portability of the number to another service provide, in light of these alleged tweets by Nita Ambani. The screenshots have been shared with appeals to social media users to boycott Reliance Jio. The same audio clip has been posted on YouTube. It has been viewed over 340,000 times so far. One of the tweets by the account reads, “मित्रों अब वक़्त आ चुका है मोदी और शाह के साथ खड़े होने का क्योंकि आज अगर ये टूट गए तो फिर कोई हिम्मत नहीं करेगा बड़ा निर्णय लेने का (Friends, the time has come to stand with Modi and Shah because if they break today, no one will dare to take a big decision.)” The screenshots have also been posted with a message in Bengali- “বিজেপি সরকারের সংবিধান বিরোধী NRC ও CAB কে সমর্থন করার কারণে Jio কোম্পানিকে বয়কট করার হিড়িক পড়ে গিয়েছে। #আপনিও PORT করে নিন আপনার Jio sim টি। এবং বিজেপির পা চাঁটা jio কোম্পানি তথা মানবতার দুশমনদের দাঁতভাঙ্গা জবাব দিন.!!!!” They have also been shared on Twitter. Nita ambani is Anti Muslims Tweet I am Port My Jio numbar In other Company And i hate Jio I hate Ambani’s I hate Relince And Fuck you All of Relince pic.twitter.com/RnsiZ9a31X — nawazish alam (@nawazishalam8) December 21, 2019 On the basis of these tweets, a boycott of Reliance products has been called for by some sections. Boycott Jio, Boycott Reliance products and boycott everything that belongs to B teams of BJP. RT if you want to save India. Love you. 🙏🏻💐🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/J2ATPOXuvz — ❤️ Mohammed Faiz ❤️ (@Fayezz_Md) December 25, 2019 Alt News found that the tweets in question are not from the official account of Nita Ambani. In fact, Nita Ambani does not have a Twitter account. These tweets are from an impostor account. A screenshot of this fake account is posted below. The account had over 18,000 followers before it was suspended by Twitter after it was reported by several users. It may be noted that had Nita Ambani indeed tweeted to this effect, it would invariably have been reported by the media. However, there are no media reports on this. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th December 2019 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 25th December 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-account-impersonates-nita-ambani-tweets-in-favour-of-pm-modi-amit-shah/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,068	Fake account: Truth behind 'Chinese journalist' thanking Rahul Gandhi on Twitter - Alt News Ketan & Pratik Sinha 20th June 2020 / 8:40 pm / Last updated: 20th June 2020 On June 16, the news of the death of 20 Indian army soldiers along the Galwan Valley in Ladakh shook the nation. The news was widely reported and the Congress party came down heavily upon the PM Modi-led government. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi shared a link of a video where he paid homage to the martyred soldiers. In another tweet, he questioned Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the soldiers’ deaths. He also questioned the Prime Minister and wrote, “Why is the PM silent? Why is he hiding? Enough is enough. We need to know what has happened. How dare China kill our soldiers? How dare they take our land?” Why is the PM silent? Why is he hiding? Enough is enough. We need to know what has happened. How dare China kill our soldiers? How dare they take our land? — Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 17, 2020 A supposedly Chinese user quote-tweeted Gandhi on June 17 and thanked him for asking “genuine questions”. He further wrote, “Till the moment you are there we don’t have to worry about anything.” The user Li Jie (@Lijeng_) identified as a journalist with China-based Global News. Thanks @RahulGandhi for your genuine questions.. till the moment you are there we don’t have to worry about anything. https://t.co/JYwHqKtYIX — 李杰 Li Jie (@Lijeng_) June 17, 2020 The tweet expectedly raised eyebrows. A purported Chinese national’s commendation for Rahul Gandhi in the current atmosphere was deemed significant. It was a reminder of the time when Hafiz Saeed had praised journalist Barkha Dutt. Vikas Pandey retweeted the tweet thus giving it further traction. Pandey has over 1 lakh followers on Twitter and he runs the misinformation and pro-BJP propaganda page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’ on Facebook. The page has more than 16 lakh followers. The first hint that pointed toward the ingenuity of the account was the fact that it was created in June 2020. In fact, we found no tweets posted by the account before June 17, the day he quote-tweeted Rahul Gandhi. All the retweets were also of tweets posted in June except one tweet from April. Furthermore, a brand new account of a journalist associated with Global Times also raised suspicion. The video below shows the account’s timeline until June 17, 2020, 9:10 PM. The followers of the account also raised doubts. It is strange that a person who claims to be a Chinese national has no Chinese followers but mostly Indian followers. Furthermore, a ‘Global Times’ journalist has no one from Global Times following him. The profile picture of the account features Huang Yibo, a Chinese child prodigy. The earliest instance of this photo was found in a May 2011 article in UK-based The Independent. Who is behind the account? We searched for the earliest tweets made by @Lijeng_ to check which prominent handle retweeted its tweets. Since it has already been established that the account started tweeting on June 17, Alt News used Epoch Time converter to search for all tweets posted by the account on that day till 6:56:18 PM. This revealed that the account ‘@SmokingSkills_’ had retweeted its first tweet. One can find out which handle has retweeted a certain tweet by going through the replies on the tweet. The account which has retweeted the tweet would be tagged in the replies if a user comments on the retweeted tweet. In the screenshot below, user Vijay (@vijaymishrakh) had commented at 6:53 PM which means that @SmokingSkills_ had retweeted @Lijeng_’s tweet within three minutes of when it was shared. @SmokingSkills_ is a known troll account which hasn’t revealed its identity, The account has over 66,000 followers and the fact that it retweeted the first tweet by a new account in less than three minutes raises a lot of questions. This either suggests that @SmokingSkills_ has created @Lijeng_ or is behind making it gain popularity. The account which was created in June 2020 identifies as a Global News journalist yet has no one following him either from China or from Global News. @Lijeng_ is quite evidently a fake account. Since the India-China border dispute, several fake accounts impersonating prominent individuals have also cropped up. National in-charge of social media, BJP Mahila Morcha, Priti Gandhi retweeted a fake account impersonating US President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump. The fake account had tweeted, “I stand with India” to which Gandhi retweeted, “India appreciates”. Ivanka Trump’s official account is @IvankaTrump while the fake account is @IvankaaTrump. Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale, who ironically identifies as the in-charge BJP’s Foreign Affairs Department, had retweeted a fake account of Donald Trump which also said, “Stand with India”. Journalist Nidhi Razdan had pointed out the faux pas to Dr Chauthaiwale. The genuine Twitter username of the US President is @realDonaldTrump while the username of the fake account is @RealDonldTump_. A fake account of Chinese President Xi Jinping has also cropped up. I stand with India 🇮🇳 China 🇨🇳 stands with India — Xi Jinping (@logicalgandu) June 17, 2020 Another fake account of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, received a lot of traction. After falling for parody account of @realDonaldTrump , many in India, including journalists, now falling for parody account of @netanyahu . Is there no end to our stupidity? pic.twitter.com/40IWT4P4Vd — Maneesh Chhibber (@maneeshchhibber) June 18, 2020 Cabinet minister of UP Suresh Kumar Khanna and National Vice President of BJP Prabhat Jha retweeted a tweet by the fake Netanyahu account. Cabinet minister of UP & National Vice President of BJP RTing Netanyahu’s parody account supporting India !! 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/gRA7foXwLH — IIIIIIIIII (@_NairFYI) June 18, 2020 Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	20th June 2020 / 8:40 pm / Last updated: 20th June 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-accounts-india-china-support-rahul-gandhi-ivanka-trump-donald-trump-benjamin-netanyahu/", "author": "Ketan & Pratik Sinha" }
1,069	Fake Al Jazeera tweet, misleading portrayal of NDTV's report on Taliban shared online - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 18th August 2021 / 9:43 pm Pro-BJP propaganda pages on Facebook have compared two tweets – one by NDTV and the other purportedly made by Al Jazeera. Below is a post by India272+ which said, “तालिबान प्रेमी NDTV.” (Taliban lover NDTV) India272+ was a mobile application launched by Narendra Modi ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The number ‘272’ represents the mandate required in the Lok Sabha to form the government. The Hindi text on the graphic suggests NDTV broadcast a reporting stating the Taliban is not as violent as it used to be. The alleged Al Jazeera tweet shows the Taliban is abducting minor girls and killing the ones who aren’t cooperating. The infographic was also shared by Social Tamasha, @Being_Humor and Modi Bharosa. [Hindi text: तालिबान अब पहले की तरह खूंखार नहीं है: NDTV; तालिबान लड़कियों को अगवा कर रहे हैं और मार रहे हैं: AlJajeera] The collage is widespread on Facebook. A screenshot of just the alleged Al Jazeera tweet was shared by advocate Subhendu. Al Jazeera Let us first discuss the alleged Al Jazeera tweet. If one carefully notices, the media outlet’s name is misspelt as ‘Al Jajeera’ on Twitter while the username says @AJENews. The username is genuine. This is the username of Al Jazeera Breaking News. However, the logo used in the viral collage corresponds to Al Jazeera English. This proves that the tweet is fake. As far as the claim on the tweet is concerned, a report by Daily Mail said that the Taliban are going door-to-door and forcibly taking away girls, some as young as 12, to be sex slave ‘wives’ for their fighters. The Taliban has denied the accusation. However, there have been other reports of such abductions. NDTV The tweet by NDTV used in the infographic talks about the Taliban’s claim that it is no longer the “dreaded near-medieval terror outfit”. The channel hasn’t itself claimed that the Taliban has gone ‘moderate’. The viral collage makes an erroneous interpretation of NDTV’s story. Anchor Sreenivasan Jain says that the Taliban has “attempted to suggest” that it is no longer as violent. The show ‘Reality Check’ aired the Taliban’s claims that women will be allowed to hold government positions and continue their education and working jobs. The show was essentially about whether the Taliban’s claims are propaganda or genuine. .@OnReality_Check \| 48 hours since the Taliban has seized power by the barrel of the gun in Afghanistan, it has attempted to suggest it is no longer the dreaded near-medieval terror outfit of old. pic.twitter.com/Bn8AekSROE — NDTV (@ndtv) August 18, 2021 Jain questions one of the guests on the show, Azmat Khan, The New York Times Magazine contributing writer, about her views on the Taliban’s claim. She opined that while the future cannot be predicted, the Taliban is known to have broken promises in the past. She further says that it may be possible that the Taliban is portraying a ‘moderate’ image due to the massive international focus on the terror group. It may be aiming to gain legitimacy but the second that the close media attention goes away, the group may go back to its old ways. In sum, a fake Al Jazeera tweet was created for unknown reasons and shared on social media. Similar reports of girls and women being abducted by the Taliban are available yet a morphed tweet was manufactured. This was shared with a screenshot of an NDTV report and a misleading interpretation of the same. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	18th August 2021 / 9:43 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-al-jazeera-tweet-misleading-portrayal-of-ndtvs-report-on-taliban-shared-online/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,070	Fake audio advising against COVID tests viral in the name of Maharashtra MLA Geeta Jain - Alt News Archit 24th July 2020 / 7:41 pm / Last updated: 24th July 2020 A two-minute audio clip where a woman narrates that the Central government is giving Rs 1.5 lakh per coronavirus positive patient to urban local bodies is viral on WhatsApp. As a result, the woman suggests, urban local bodies, private doctors and laboratory testing centres are trying to report as many positive cases as possible. She advises against COVID-19 tests, claiming that people have recovered through home quarantine, consuming khada and malaria medicine. The viral audio is circulating with a screenshot of the Wikipedia profile of Geeta Jain, an independent member of Maharashtra legislative assembly from Thane, Mumbai. As per social media claims, Jain is the narrator. Alt News has received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+917600011160) and on our official Android application. Alt News visited Jain’s Facebook profile where she has posted a video debunking the WhatsApp audio on July 11. She stated that the audio went viral on July 10 and clarified that it was not shared by her. Mumbai Mirror also reported on the fake audio on July 13. Thus the WhatsApp audio was not recorded Mumbai-based MLA Geeta Jain. Alt News has reported on multiple such fake audio clips in the past circulating in the name of prominent individuals to give the false message credibility. 🙏 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	24th July 2020 / 7:41 pm / Last updated: 24th July 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-audio-advising-against-covid-test-viral-in-the-name-of-maharashtra-mla-geeta-jain/", "author": "Archit" }
1,071	Fake audio claiming to be Lakshmi Mittal's commentary on Indian politics viral on WhatsApp - Alt News Alt News Desk 23rd September 2019 / 3:46 pm / Last updated: 5th April 2020 An audio file is circulating on WhatsApp in the name of United Kingdom-based steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. India-born Mittal is Chairman of ArcelorMittal, world’s largest integrated steel and mining company. The speaker in the audio file can be heard airing his views on topics like PM Modi, secularism, Hindu identity of India, and Ram Janambhumi. The file has been circulated with the message – “This speech was given by Mr Laxmi Mittal (second biggest steel manufacturer of India.)” Here are a few statements from the audio clip: “It was Nehru’s fault to have declared India as a secular country. Today 99% of the politicians are bending backwards to appease the minorities.” “Who the f*** cares if we are a secular state or not.” “He is the one PM we have had who thinks of India first and we are accusing him because he is a Hindu.” “Ram Janambhumi has been hanging fire for 350 years. Can you imagine the same thing happening in Rome?” “Hindus are one community that has been subjugated, humiliated, massacred.” “India was left behind because British ruled us at a time when industrial revolution was happening the world over.” “When they have found a messiah in Modi, why is everyone up in arms?” The full audio clip can be heard here: A number of readers have forwarded the clip to Alt News to verify if the comments were indeed made by Lakshmi Mittal. There are a number of clues in the clip that give away the fact that Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman of the ArcelorMittal group, is not making these statements. To begin with, the voice and the accent in the audio do not match with the available samples of Lakshmi Mittal’s voice. There are other clues that point out that the speaker is not Lakshmi Mittal. The person in the audio narrates: “My grandfather was one of the second largest steel manufacturers in the country after Tatas. And we were so heavily restricted by the British government, not to allow, not to manufacture more. We were not even allowed to manufacture screws and nails which used to be imported from Sheffield and Manchester and Bristol.” He further says, “I have friends in UK and Germany. I worked for 3 1/2 years in Munich.” The family’s steel business was established by Lakshmi Mittal’s father, Mohanlal Mittal post-independence and there are no records of his grandfather running India’s second-largest steel company during British rule. According to the listing of the Mittal family in Forbes richest families list, Mittal’s father Mohan Lal started the family’s steelmaking business in the 1950s. Facing constraints at home, he sent Lakshmi to Indonesia in 1976 where he set up a plant. Moreover, an official handle of ArcelorMittal has itself has clarified that the speaker in the audio file is not Lakshmi Mittal. An audio file is circulating online claiming to be remarks on Indian politics and religion by our Chairman and CEO. We do not know who the speaker is, but it is not Mr Lakshmi Mittal. — ArcelorMittal (@ArcelorMittal) September 19, 2019 It is clear that the audio clip is being circulated with a false narrative in an attempt to give it credibility by portraying it as views of one of the most successful businessmen in the world. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd September 2019 / 3:46 pm / Last updated: 5th April 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-audio-claiming-to-be-lakshmi-mittals-commentary-on-indian-politics-viral-on-whatsapp/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
1,072	Fake audio clip attributed to Dr Devi Shetty advises against getting tested for coronavirus - Alt News Archit 19th March 2020 / 3:56 pm On March 16, Dr Devi Shetty, chairman and founder of Narayana Health, wrote an article titled ‘Save lives with Social Distancing: How to protect your family from coronavirus, primed to hit India like a bomb’ for the Times of India. Around March 18, a four-minute audio clip attributed to Dr Shetty has gone viral. The person in the viral clip says, “everybody who has the coronavirus or is suspected of it should not go to get tested.” There are also multiple videos of the viral audio clip available online. They show a still image of Dr Shetty while the audio plays over. Karnataka Medical Association, a verified Facebook page with close 30,000 followers posted (archive link) the viral audio clip. Since then it has been shared over 3,000 times. The video had a logo of Daijiworld Television. Fight against corona Very good message Kindly circulate Posted by Karnataka Medical Association on Wednesday, 18 March 2020 On March 18, Twitter user @BoldMonk22 posted (archive link) the viral audio clip by Daijiworld Television. It got over 2,000 retweets. This is by far the best video pic.twitter.com/dXS09dDrxb — Bold_Monk (@BoldMonk22) March 18, 2020 While the audio message is particularly viral on WhatsApp, it has also been shared on Twitter and YouTube. You can read the full transcript of the audio message below. “Hi guys, This message is specific for India. You see, in India we have a peculiar problem, everybody who has the corona virus or is suspected of it should not go to get tested. India has 1.4 billion people and the kits we have is less than 150,000 at this point of time, a very important point. So just giving you the gist of our discussion, so the coronavirus infection will be asymptomatic, or will be mild only like a respiratory virus and fever for 85% of the population. So anybody who has a flu or a cold, the first thing you do is isolate yourself and follow your symptoms. First you will have the contact with the virus. On day zero, you will just feel a little fatigued. On day three, you might have a mild fever with cough, and an itchy throat. Day four, a mild, headache, on and off. Day five, you might have some gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhea or cramps, along with headache and your fever might be normal, or it might increase. Day six-seven, you will feel civil more body pain, headaches will reduce diarrhea might increase or might reduce and, but you will still have an upset stomach like loss of appetite like symptoms. Now here is what is very important now. Day eight and nine, most of your symptoms will reduce that is where you have to keep watching your symptoms will reduce to lower fever lower body pain, your energy will come. Only your coughs will persist with your runny nose, which means that you are somebody who has resisted the corona and have already formed resistance to it and your body is improving. Now you even you do not have to get tested for the covid virus because your antibodies have already formed. If somebody on day eight and day nine, instead of starting to feel better, see all of you have been sick with the flu so you know. You have to remember how it was. You know how it is, when you know that you’re improving from the flu. It is extremely important that you decide. You know if your flu is getting worse, even in a common flu. Like from a flu if it goes into a pneumonia you know what to do. So what you do is if you feel like it is going to worsen then improve, then you call the covered 19 helpline and go get it tested, because, because India has only 150,000 tests at this point of time we might be able to get a maximum of 1.5 million only. So we can not afford to test, everybody who is having just flu at three days or two days, it will become a disaster. So from the rotaries point of view, as educated informed citizens, I would advocate, all of you to wait follow the symptomatology which I gave you and if it is worsening only go to get yourself tested. Please do this. Testing should not be done as soon as you’re afraid. We do not have enough tests like now my hospital is struggling to get N95 masks. I have been telling for the last four months, India please don’t wear masks. Masks are scars now. Health workers do not have it so please do not waste the blood tests, also it will become a disaster for India. Thank you. Thanks for listening, hope it was informative guys. Please do the needful.” Narayana Health’s official Facebook page commented on Karnataka Medical Association’s post and pointed out, “Please note this audio clip is not of Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman and Founder, Narayana Health. It has been incorrectly attributed to him.” However, on March 13 when NDTV anchor Sara Jacob asked Shetty, “Is there a concern that we may be under-reporting the cases given the fact there are only 52 controlled testing centres in India?” He responded, “See, doing the tests extensively will not make much difference to the outcome. The strategy we have adopted is if you suspect that some particular person is positive then you assume he is positive and treat him that way. Rather than doing all the test… ok you have done the test it is proven that he is positive. What are you going to do? If it is a mild symptom, then we’ll ask him to go home and rest. Because 85% of the positive patients do not need hospitalization, so I’m not unduly worried about not doing the test in large number what is required, unlike other tests. No, but I’m very very happy with the way the government is responding in restricting the social interaction, and that everything depends on that.” You can watch the four-minute NDTV interview below, the above-mentioned exchange starts from 2:40 mark in the video. On March 19, The News Minute (TNM) filed a fact-check report debunking this claim. Dhanya Rajendran, editor-in-chief at TNM, had pointed out that this audio was viral on WhatsApp. Dr Devi Shetty office, in case you have heard that viral audio that tells people no need to test. “Somebody is circulating this message on WhatsApp in the name of Dr. Shetty and people are believing and forwarding without even thinking”. Stop fwding crap. — Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) March 19, 2020 Similarly, several other Twitter users pointed out that the claim is false. To conclude, the viral audio clip leverages the goodwill of Dr Devi Shetty to spread misinformation about COVID-19. Narayana Health debunked the claim that the audio wasn’t recorded by Dr Shetty. The viral clip undermines the importance of getting tested for coronavirus. 🙏 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	19th March 2020 / 3:56 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-audio-clip-attributed-to-dr-devi-shetty-advises-against-getting-tested-for-coronavirus/", "author": "Archit" }
1,073	Viral audio falsely claims 59 positive coronavirus cases in Nagpur - Alt News Archit 27th March 2020 / 1:14 pm / Last updated: 27th March 2020 A five-minute audio clip of a phone conversation between two men is circulating on WhatsApp. In the audio, one man shares various claims related to coronavirus in Nagpur while the other reacts to the information. Alt News has received several requests to fact-check the viral audio on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160). Some of the claims made in the audio file are – “59 people have been tested positive and identified over 200 Covid-19 cases in Nagpur.” The man who made the claim also added that he was informed of these numbers by ‘Nitin’. Another claim that was made in the viral audio was that three doctors were tested positive and “Dr Kamlesh” is currently on a ventilator due to coronavirus. “His test had to be sent to Mumbai because labs in Nagpur don’t have the capacity to conduct Covid-19 tests nor the staff knows how to conduct it.” The viral audio also suggests that the Maharasthra Medical Association has recruited six doctors from Sweden and are seeking approval from the PM. “They will visit for 12 days and test the samples,” the man claimed, adding that news numbers of coronavirus cases were informed to the CM but the information hasn’t been made public yet. The full audio can be heard below Alt News spoke with Anil Gadekar, district information officer, Nagpur. He said, “The audio file that claims 59 people have been tested positive for Covid-19 and a team from Sweden is coming for 12 days to conduct coronavirus test is totally fabricated. A complaint has been registered with the police. Even the cyber cell in looking into the matter.” Gadekar shared the district government’s official data on coronavirus patients. According to the data, as of now five people have been tested positive for coronavirus in Nagpur. The translation of the information mentioned above can be found below. As per the information, the doctor who was tested positive in Nagpur is Civil Surgeon Dr VD Paturkar. He is also the first patient to be discharged in the city. On March 27 Times of India reported that after interrogating 35 people, the cyber cell zero-downed on three suspects. Jay Gupta (37), Amit Pardhi (38) and Divyanshu Mishra (33) have been arrested for circulating the misleading audio file. Prior to this, Nagpur police clarified via Twitter that a fake audio clip is being circulated on social media. The tweet said, “Extremely irresponsible as well as misleading audio and video clips are going viral in the context of corona, serious action is being taken against those sending false information or sending false messages. Posting rumours is a serious crime. (कोरोना संदर्भात व्होटसअँप वर अत्यंत बेजबाबदार तसेच दिशाभूल करणाऱ्या आडिओ व व्हिडीओ क्लिप व्हायरल होत आहेत, अशा चुकीची माहिती अथवा चुकीचा संदेश पाठविणे , पोस्टकरणे अफवा पसरविणे हा गंभीर गुन्हा आहे, याविरुद्ध कठोर कारवाई करण्यात येत आहे #FakeNews #COVID2019).” कोरोना संदर्भात व्होटसअँप वर अत्यंत बेजबाबदार तसेच दिशाभूल करणाऱ्या आडिओ व व्हिडीओ क्लिप व्हायरल होत आहेत, अशा चुकीची माहिती अथवा चुकीचा संदेश पाठविणे , पोस्टकरणे अफवा पसरविणे हा गंभीर गुन्हा आहे, याविरुद्ध कठोर कारवाई करण्यात येत आहे#FakeNews #COVID2019 — Nagpur City Police (@NagpurPolice) March 24, 2020 On March 26, the Press Information Bureau’s fact-check wing also tweeted about the viral audio message. An audio clip is circulating on social media claiming that Nagpur has tested 59 positive coronavirus cases including 3 doctors The assertion made in the audio is #FAKE. Please DO NOT forward such fake audio clips. pic.twitter.com/u29ROXWaf0 — PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) March 26, 2020 Thus, the claims made via the audion viral on WhatsApp are baseless and misleading. It must be noted that the official figure of COVID-19 positive cases is solely based on the number of tests that have been done, and should not be confused with the actual number of people who may be COVID-19 positive. Among major countries, India has one of the lowest rates for coronavirus. Note: The number of positive cases of the novel coronavirus in India is close to 700. This has caused the government to impose a complete restriction on movement apart from essential services. Globally, more than 4 lakh confirmed cases and close to 22,000 deaths have been reported. There is a growing sense of panic among citizens, causing them to fall for a variety of online misinformation – misleading images and videos rousing fear or medical misinformation promoting pseudoscience and invalid treatments. While your intentions may be pure, misinformation, spread especially during a global pandemic, can take lives. We request our readers to practice caution and not forward unverified messages on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. 🙏 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	27th March 2020 / 1:14 pm / Last updated: 27th March 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-audio-clip-claims-59-people-test-positive-for-coronavirus-in-nagpur/", "author": "Archit" }
1,074	Image of morphed cheque viral as Nirav Modi gave Rs 98 crore to Congress - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 18th March 2021 / 5:22 pm / Last updated: 14th June 2021 Social media users have been circulating a photo of a cheque claiming that Nirav Modi gave Rs 98 crore to Congress. Several people shared a screenshot of a post with the caption, “In the year 2011, a booty of Rs 98 crore was issued by Nirav Modi to the Congress party. You can guess in which account.[sic]” The post also carries a Hindi caption that reads, “I did not consume everything alone, I gave people their shares. Everyone should pay back together: Nirav Modi.” Alt News has received multiple requests on its mobile application to fact-check the image. The same was circulating in March. Facebook user Brijesh Jain wrote, “A 98 crore donation or bribe to Congress from Nirav Modi.” Others shared the viral photo with a variety of different captions. The text below the photo reads, “After his arrest in London, Nirav Modi admits Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sent him abroad for fear of exposing their lies. BREAKING: Congress charged Rs. 456 crore commission and flew me abroad: Nirav Modi…” Diamond merchant Nirav Modi is accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 14,000 crore. He has since been declared a fugitive. Till February 2019, he took refuge in the British Embassy. The following month, he was arrested and moved to a London jail. India has made preparations for him extradition. On February 25, the UK court ruled in favour of the Indian authorities to allow for him to be extradited. Several other Facebook users also shared the picture of the cheque. The claim made its way to Twitter as well. For ur kind information have u checked the 98 crore cheque of Nirav Modi in the name of INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS hope u know who owns this money ?? — Indira Sharma (@ruchindira) March 10, 2021 Alt News had published a similar fact-check in January 2021 when a fake Axis Bank cheque was being circulated with the claim that Vijay Mallya had given money to the BJP. Our report had found that the same fake cheque was used by BJP leader Kapil Mishra to target the Aam Aadmi Party. Several pictures of the cheque currently viral have been circulating since 2018. Below are several clues that hint the cheque is fake – 1. The word ‘Ninety’ is spelt incorrectly as ‘Ninenty’. 2. The name underneath the signature has been scratched out and erased. 3. It does not contain ‘Account Payee’ with two parallel lines on the top left which means that Rs 98 crore is to be withdrawn in cash. It is improbable that such a huge amount is withdrawn in cash. More information on this can be found on the Axis Bank Facebook page. 4. The cheque is dated 25-09-2011 with the account number 914010006904607. Alt News tried to collect more information about when this account was opened. According to PaisaBazaar, the first digit is 9 in new bank accounts, followed by two digits that indicate the year the account was opened. In this case, 14 means that this account was opened in 2014. Former Manager of Axis Bank Vinay Nair explained that the account number of accounts opened after 2010 starts with 9. If this account was opened in 2014, a cheque could not have been possibly issued in 2011. 5. ‘NORTH LAKHIMPUR’ is also visible on the cheque. North Lakhimpur is in Assam, whereas Nirav Modi lived in Mumbai. The cheque and accompanying claim have been viral for several years now. It was fact-checked by SM Hoaxslayer in 2018 and Fact Crescendo in 2019. 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	18th March 2021 / 5:22 pm / Last updated: 14th June 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-axis-bank-cheque-again-viral-claiming-diamond-merchant-and-fugitive-nirav-modi-paid-98-crores-to-congress-party/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
1,075	Fake BBC Hindi tweet shared to claim NDTV OB van torched in Lucknow anti-CAA protest - Alt News Jignesh Patel 21st December 2019 / 10:45 pm / Last updated: 24th December 2019 On December 21, 2019, Ashok Shrivastav, a senior journalist with DD News, posted a purported screenshot of a BBC Hindi tweet which said, “लखनऊ : ड्राइवर समझाता रहा कि भैया ये NDTV का वैन है, लेकिन उपद्रवी नही माने और वैन को फूंक दिया! Lucknow: Driver kept explaining that the van was NDTV’s but the hooligan did not listen and set the van on fire.“ Posting the alleged screenshot, Shrivastav opined, “दंगाई को हीरो बनाओगे तो एक दिन जलेगा तुम्हारा घर भी ये दंगाई है, किसी एक बाप का थोड़ी ही है -परेशान इंदौरी जी ने @ndtv के लिए शेर भेजा है। (You make a rioter a hero and someday your own will also burn. These are rioters, they are not someone’s father.)” Multiple social media users on Twitter and Facebook shared the same claim. A search for such a tweet from the official Twitter handle of BBC Hindi bore no results. Editor Mukesh Sharma from BBC Hindi took to Twitter and dubbed the screenshot “fake”. He said, “It’s a fake tweet. @BBCHindi hasn’t tweeted any such thing.” It’s a fake tweet. @BBCHindi hasn’t tweeted any such thing. pic.twitter.com/DIq3ZyYt2e — Mukesh Sharma (@BBCMukeshS) December 21, 2019 Moreover, we contacted NDTV journalist Alok Pandey, who is based out of Uttar Pradesh, to inquire about the veracity of the claim. In a conversation with Alt News, Pandey rubbished the claim that an NDTV van was torched. He said, “No they did not torch our van but it did get damaged. Three other OB vans were set on fire by a mob at the same location in Parivartan Chowk, Central Lucknow. As soon as the mob broke loose, Subhash (OB van technician) jumped into the van despite taking stones to his body and drove off the OB van as it was.” He further informed us that all the window panes of their van were shattered in the attack, however, it wasn’t burnt. Pandey added that an FIR has been filed against unidentified people for vandalizing the vehicle. Protests against the Citizenship Act 2019 turned violent on December 19, 2019, in several parts of Lucknow including Parvivartan Chowk. On December 20, The Hindu reported, “More than two dozen vehicles, including a State bus, TV media OB vans and police vehicles, were torched at different locations as parts of old Lucknow witnessed chaotic scenes.” In conclusion, a fake screenshot of BBC Hindi was shared by social media users including DD News anchor Ashok Shrivastav to claim that an NDTV van was torched by anti-CAA protesters in Lucknow. Several media OB vans were reportedly torched by a mob in Lucknow but NDTV’s van had managed to escape, though all its windows were shattered. 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	21st December 2019 / 10:45 pm / Last updated: 24th December 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-bbc-hindi-tweet-shared-to-claim-ndtv-ob-van-torched-in-lucknow-anti-caa-protest/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
1,076	Fake BBC opinion poll predicting a BJP win in Rajasthan circulates on social media - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 30th November 2018 / 7:03 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019 A purported opinion poll for Rajasthan elections attributed to British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is currently viral on social media. Many have shared (1, 2, 3) the home page of BBC along with the prediction of the election results. The alleged poll, which forecasted 160+ seats for the Congress and 30 seats for the BJP in June, predicts a win for the BJP with 135 seats forecasted on November 28, 2018. The similar post (with numbers changed after October 2018) has also been shared by Twitter user Rishi Bagree, drawing over 6,000 likes and more than 2,000 retweets. However, Bagree did not attribute the pre-election survey to BBC. Rajasthan opinion poll June — Congress 160+, BJP 30 July — Congress 150 , BJP 40 Aug –. Congress 135 , BJP 50 Oct — Congress 125 , BJP 65 Nov — Congress 110, BJP 85 Today–Congress 105, BJP 90 If this will continue On 11 Dec we might see Congress 85, BJP 110 — Rishi Bagree 🇮🇳 (@rishibagree) November 29, 2018 Twitter and Facebook alike, individual users have widely circulated the purported poll that forecasts a win for the BJP against the Congress in the December Rajasthan elections. The identical text across multiple Facebook accounts hints that the alleged survey is viral on WhatsApp as well. @free_thinker is this true? pic.twitter.com/0iuGWVUlIa — atal goel (@atalgoel) November 30, 2018 Alt News spoke to a BBC spokesperson who informed that no such opinion poll has been published by the news organisation. Moreover, BBC does not commission pre-election surveys in India. “This fake survey on the Rajasthan polls has been circulating on WhatsApp and social media, with some messages claiming it to be from BBC News. We’d like to make absolutely clear that it is fake and does not come from the BBC. The BBC does not commission pre-election surveys in India,” said the spokesperson. In so far as the exit polls are concerned, three opinion surveys have been conducted with regard to the Rajasthan Assembly Elections – ABP News-CVoter, C fore and Times Now in association with CNX – and all of them predict a win for the Congress. Fake news often piggybacks on credible media outlets to give misinformation an appearance of genuineness. In May 2018, before the commencement of Karnataka Assembly elections, another purported opinion poll ‘Janta Ki Baat’ was viral as a BBC survey. However, Alt News had found that the poll was fake and attempted to imitate ‘Jan Ki Baat’ survey. An imposter BBC website was also viral in September this year, propagating a ‘list’ of the world’s most corrupt political parties, placing the Congress second. The same website also propagated a ‘list’ of most corrupt leaders, placing Narendra Modi at seventh. The Indian Prime Minister was also declared the second most corrupt leader in the world by an imposter Fox News website. 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	30th November 2018 / 7:03 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-bbc-opinion-poll-predicting-a-bjp-win-in-rajasthan-circulates-on-social-media/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,077	Fake cashews manufactured? No, these are cashew-shaped snacks made out of flour - Alt News Archit 21st August 2020 / 4:33 pm / Last updated: 18th September 2020 A short video is being circulated on social media with the claim that fake cashews being manufactured and sold in Kerala. The same clip was earlier viral with a different message, Twitter user @ProfMKay wrote, “A friend of mine sent this video to have it posted. Now we have one more added problem, please check the cashews before buying. Lesson: nothing to be taken for granted.” This video has been viewed over 3,000 times. (archived link) A friend of mine sent this video to have it posted. Now we have one more added problem, please check the cashews before buying. Lesson: nothing to be taken for granted. pic.twitter.com/3F9i7McA4t — ProfMKay🇮🇳 (@ProfMKay) August 20, 2020 A Facebook Gurvinder Singh Sarpanch Saab also posted the viral video and wrote in Hindi, “Fake cashew nuts are made out of tamarind seeds. All hotels keep these for snacks as they can be procured very cheaply. There’s a huge consumption of these fake cashews. Pay the right price for the right goods.” This video has been viewed over 2,500 times. (archived link) (Translated from कटनी में इमली के बीजों से बनाए जाते हैं नक़ली काजू और सभी होटल में यही चलते हैं खाने में । बहुत सस्ते में मिलते हैं होटल वालों को , भारी मात्रा में खपत है इन नक़ली काजू की ।सही दाम देकर सही माल खरीदे ।) Alt News received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+917600011160) and on our official Android application. Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube and found several similar videos a machine is producing cashew-shaped objects. One Tushar Pandya also uploaded the same on his YouTube channel. Alt News had a telephonic conversation with Pandya who manufactures machines that help in the mass production of Indian snacks. He is based out of Mumbai. There are plenty of other videos on his channel that show a machine making other such snacks. Pandya said, “I am aware a misleading video has gone viral on social media. Several people have called me the past few days. The claim that the machine is making fake cashew is false. This machine in the video is making flour-based cashew shaped biscuits. These are roasted before they are ready to eat.” In a reply to @ProfMKay, a Twitter user wrote, “These aren’t fake cashews. These are biscuits shaped like cashews. That’s a sheet of rolled dough passing through the stencil which cuts it into cashews. Looks like a small scale, local business. You can’t replicate the colour, feel, texture and taste of cashew so easily.” These aren’t fake cashews. These are biscuits shaped like cashews. That’s a sheet of rolled dough passing through the stencil which cuts the it into cashews. Looks like a small scale, local business. You can’t replicate the colour, feel, texture and taste of cashew so easily 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/DJfr5GvYwM — Armoured Assault (@AssaultArmoured) August 20, 2020 There are also videos on YouTube that teach how to make cashew-shaped snacks at home. The social media claim that the video shows fake cashews is false. 🙏 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	21st August 2020 / 4:33 pm / Last updated: 18th September 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-cashews-manufactured-no-these-are-cashew-shaped-snacks-made-out-of-flour/", "author": "Archit" }
1,078	Fake chart shows COVID-19 variant "timeline" predicting release dates - Alt News Archit 9th December 2021 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 9th December 2021 Several social media users have shared an image that shows two columns — ‘Cepa/variante’ (Spanish for strain/variant) and ‘lanzamiento’ (Spanish for launching). The first column lists 22 Greek alphabets starting from the fourth alphabet ‘Delta’ while the other column lists the date (month/year) from June 2021 onwards. On the right side, we can see the logos of Johns Hopkins University, the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organisation. As per this image, the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 was due in May 2022. Netizens across the world have circulated this image and insinuated that the pandemic is a pre-planned conspiracy. (Facebook and Twitter) Conservative Christian Melissa Tate had shared this image in July. It gained over 1,500 retweets. Looks like all they have all the variants planned out for the next 2 yrs SMH pic.twitter.com/YYxzCNi42f — Melissa Tate (@TheRightMelissa) July 29, 2021 Recently, a fictional movie poster titled ‘The Omicron Variant’ was created by morphing actual posters from the movies ‘Phase IV’ and ‘Omicron’. The morphed posters were believed to be true. Some Twitter users shared the viral image in question. Wierd I seen this well over a year ago. Nu and omicron on the list…. when sigma,phi,omega,epsilon,lambda,chi ? Maybe fake but it came true….ahead of schedule too lol pic.twitter.com/9ZOkflPgeE — 👑Lord Brass👑 (@brass_27) December 3, 2021 Alt News has received several requests to fact-check this claim on our WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160). The image has been shared on WhatsApp with the text, “Everything is pre-planned. The only mistake is that this variant comes six months before, actually it’s planned in may 2022 [sic]”. In May, WHO assigned Greek alphabets for key variants of SARS-CoV-2 for ease of communication. A few weeks later, the viral image started circulating online. This graphic lists all Greek alphabets from ‘Delta’ to ‘Omega’ under the variants column. Each ‘variant’ is assigned a month starting from June 2021 to February 2023. As per the graphic, the Delta variant was due to launch in June 2021. However, the Delta variant was first identified in India in October 2020. As per WHO, Delta was designated as a variant of concern in April 2021 and as of today, there are five variants of concern — Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omicron. In order to understand the mutation better, Alt News spoke with Gyaneshwer Chaubey, a Banaras Hindu University professor at Cytogenetics Lab, Department of Zoology. He said, “SARS-CoV-2 replicates after entering into the human body. However, the mutation is a random process. Therefore, theoretically, there are many variants. However, only a few are identified as a variant of concern. The idea that someone can predict the arrival of next variant along with time is impossible.” Alt News Science editor Sumaiya Shaikh also explained, “Variants are formed out of mutations that occur randomly due to replication of the virus. The higher the number of times the virus replicates in a body, the greater the chances of mutations. But these are random events. Sometimes the virus creates a better version of itself and then that becomes the dominant version. Like the Delta variant. But there is no way to predict what variants will be produced or what mutations will occur. This chart is unscientific because it is predicting the future of random events which may create a mutation beneficial to the virus. No one can predict that. Our cells also divide and sometimes during that replication, we create a random mutation, similar to a spelling mistake, which survives the replication process and increases its numbers. That’s how tumours are created. Sometimes such tumours can be highly carcinogenic (cancerous) and replicated elsewhere because the mutation is fast replicating and malignant. Some of these can be also induced by the environmental impact.” The claim was earlier debunked by Reuters. WEF, the WHO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — all confirmed this document is unrelated to their organisations. John Hopkins University did not immediately respond to Reuters for comment. Peter Vanham, Head of Communications at the Chairman’s Office of the World Economic Forum, told Reuters via email, “This is a fake document and has nothing to do with the World Economic Forum.” To sum it up, the viral image was misattributed to the WHO, WEF, and Johns Hopkins University. It is a work of fiction that has merely listed all Greek alphabets along with months from June 2021 to February 2023. It falsely alleged the “released dates” of COVID-19 variants. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. 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… 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… A video of a group of panellists claiming that the world is not facing a…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th December 2021 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 9th December 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-chart-shows-covid-19-variant-timeline-predicting-release-dates/", "author": "Archit" }
1,079	Fake Claim: Rahul Gandhi's speech on Lok Sabha TV was seen by 48 lakh viewers - Alt News Jignesh Patel 26th July 2018 / 8:55 am “लोकसभा टीवी के अनुसार राहुल गांधी के भाषण 48 लाख लोगो ने लाइव सुना जो रिकॉर्ड है.” (According to Lok Sabha TV, 48 lakh people have heard the speech of Rahul Gandhi live which is a record -translated) An image inscribed with the above text has been doing the rounds on social media. At the time of writing, it had been ‘liked’ more than 11000 times and shared more than 13000 times from a Facebook page, Rahul Gandhi For PM. The image claims that Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Lok Sabha on July 20, 2018 was seen by 48 lakh people live on Lok Sabha TV. शानदार, जबरदस्त, जिन्दाबाद Posted by Rahul Gandhi For PM on Friday, 20 July 2018 It has been shared by many accounts on Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, a parody account of journalist Abhisar Sharma, निष्पक्ष आवाज़(@SirAbhisar) has also tweeted the same claim. The tweet had accumulated more than 3500 ‘likes’ and 970 retweets at the time of writing. Jayrajsinh Parmar, spokesperson of Gujarat Congress had also retweeted the claim from this account. It may be reiterated that this is a parody account and not the original Twitter handle of journalist Abhisar Sharma. Rahul Gandhi as next PM of INDIA, a Facebook page has also shared an image with the claim that 60 lakh viewers had watched Rahul Gandhi’s speech live on Lok Sabha TV. The historical speech of Rahul ji on #NoConfidenceMotion. 😊 #Must_Share 👍 👍 👍 👍 Posted by Rahul Gandhi as next PM of INDIA on Saturday, 21 July 2018 Alt News contacted Lok Sabha TV to ascertain the veracity of the claim. Aashish Joshi, Editor-in-chief of Lok Sabha TV refuted the claim saying, “Lok Sabha TV doesn’t produce any data concerning the viewership of the channel.” This is yet another instance when social media has been used to eulogise a political leader and their credentials embellished in order to create a popular perception. 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	26th July 2018 / 8:55 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-claim-rahul-gandhis-speech-on-lok-sabha-tv-was-seen-by-48-lakh-viewers/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
1,080	Mumbai lab technician's arrest in fake COVID test reports case given false communal spin - Alt News Kinjal 18th March 2021 / 3:48 pm Social media users have been sharing a picture of a man claiming that he is a lab technician from Mumbai named Abdul Khan. The claim suggests that he is informing Hindu customers with negative COVID-19 test reports that they tested positive. One Anil Kumar Mishra tweeted the photo crediting the news to Hindustan Times, “Mumbai lab technician Abdul Khan falsely telling COVID-19 negative Hindus that they tested positive for the virus, arrested – Hindustan Times. And some people will choose to ignore this.” It was retweeted by over 1,400 handles at the time of writing. (Archive link) मुंबई का लैब तकनीशियन अब्दुल खान कोरोना निगेटिव हिंदुओं का पॉजिटिव रिपोर्ट बना रहा था, गिरफ्तार-हिंदुस्तान टाइम्स और कुछ लोग इसे गंगा जमुनी तहज़ीब बता के चादर ओड के सो जाएँगे 🙄😏🧐 pic.twitter.com/DlbjJxkyKv — Anil Kumar Mishra (@archi_anil) March 13, 2021 Several users have posted the picture with a communal claim. (Archive link) मुंबई का लैब तकनीशियन अब्दुल खान कोरोना निगेटिव हिंदुओं का पॉजिटिव रिपोर्ट बना रहा था, गिरफ्तार-हिंदुस्तान टाइम्स और कुछ लोग इसे गंगा जमुनी तहज़ीब बता के चादर ओड के सो जाएँगे 🙄😏🧐 pic.twitter.com/0F3slPsrXF — Amar Nath Tiwari (@AmarNath119) March 14, 2021 The photo is viral on Facebook and Twitter. The viral claim has taken two separate incidents and given them a false communal spin. Viral image A reverse image search was enough to establish that this picture is from an incident in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao. An assistant lab technician was arrested from the district hospital on charges of generating fake COVID-19 test reports. According to a News18 Hindi report dated December 16, 2020, Amar Bahadur Chaudhary was accused of issuing fake COVID-19 reports in exchange for money. He was subsequently arrested. The article reads, “According to sources, the individual caught on charges of producing fake COVID-19 reports used to send a different sample of a COVID-19 positive person for investigation, which led to the report being negative. He was reportedly receiving Rs 1,500 for each doctored report.” Alt News reached out to Gaurav Kumar Tripathi, DSP of Unnao city, who informed, “One individual was arrested for issuing fake COVID-19 test reports. However, there is no communal angle to this case. Unlike suggested in the viral claim, this person was a Hindu.” What is the case involving Abdul Khan? Several news articles reported the arrest of a lab technician named Abdul Khan in Mumbai for issuing fake COVID-19 test reports. According to a Hindustan Times report dated March 8, 2021, Khan had issued a negative report for a 71-year-old man who had the virus. He used to run a pathology lab in the Shivaji Nagar area of Govandi, which collected samples of people with symptoms of the coronavirus. These samples were sent to another facility for investigation. The incident came to light in October when Khan generated false negative reports for a senior citizen. The patient got tested in another lab where the result turned out to be positive. Police said that Khan had duped at least seven to eight people by giving them false reports without even conducting the test. Shivaji Nagar’s senior inspector Kishore Vishwanath told Alt News that the investigation is ongoing and Khan was arrested on charges of faking COVID-19 test reports. “He used to declare patients negative without testing them however there is no communal angle to incident,” he said. The arrest of a lab technician named Abdul Khan in Mumbai for issuing fake COVID-19 test reports was given a false communal spin. Another technician Amar Bahadur Chaudhary was misidentified as Khan. Chaudhary was arrested in Unnao in December 2020 for a similar offense. 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	18th March 2021 / 3:48 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-corona-test-result-lab-technician-arrested-unnao-false-communal-angle-mumbai/", "author": "Kinjal" }
1,081	Fake Facebook profile of NCC cadet interviewed by ANI viral on social media - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 26th March 2018 / 3:37 pm / Last updated: 26th March 2018 “Surprised he doesn’t have details of NCC. It isnt ‘other stuff’. Its 2nd line of defence. Hope Rahul Gandhi learns about it. Its important for leader to know about it”. These are the words of NCC cadet Sanjana Singh on the Congress President’s statement that he does not know the details of training under the National Cadet Corps (NCC). Surprised he doesn’t have details of NCC. It isn’t “other stuff”. It’s 2nd line of defence. Hope Rahul Gandhi learns about it. It’s important for leader to know about it: Sanjana Singh,NCC Cadet on Rahul Gandhi’s statement ‘I don’t know details of NCC training&that type of stuff’ pic.twitter.com/CJsYSd9eLW — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 24, 2018 Gandhi was responding to a question by a student at an interaction at a college in Mysuru, Karnataka. Asked about the benefits he would like extended to NCC cadets who have cleared the ‘C’ certificate examination, he said, “I don’t know the details of NCC training and that type of stuff, so I won’t be able to answer that question…. But, as a young Indian person I’d like to give you an opportunity where you can have opportunities, a successful education and a future where you can thrive in this country”. The NCC cadet’s response to the Congress President became a talking point on social media, and it was a trending issue all day with many views and counter-views on her statement. Before lecturing RG about the benefits C certificate holder of NCC should get, this kid should know that NCC is not our second line of defence. And I see how the uniform is misused while making a political statement to a TV camera. Not fit to be in NCC or any disciplined force. https://t.co/4O6zn4OvA3 — Sushant Singh (@SushantSin) March 24, 2018 Soon enough, information started circulating on social media that this Sanjana Singh is a member of the ABVP, the student organisation of the sangh parivar. The Twitter account History of India with the handle @RealHistoryPic has over 137,000 followers on Twitter and mostly deals with political and historical satire. On March 25, it uploaded an image of a Facebook profile, claiming that it belongs to Sanjana Singh whom ANI interviewed. The tweet was later deleted. @RealHistoryPic later deleted the tweet and issued an apology. The unverified tweet appeared on TL but unlike Bhakts We apologise for it. Spreading lies is not our forte. https://t.co/5lj58hbbY9 — History of India (@RealHistoryPic) March 26, 2018 @RoflRepublic is a Twitter account with more than 10,000 followers. It too shared this information which was retweeted over 250 times. NCC cadet Sanjana Singh is Unit President of #ABVP Now it is amply clear that the entire NCC cadet drama was sponsored by @RSSorg and @BJP4India to demean Rahul Gandhi.#NeechPolitics pic.twitter.com/eqkKI9MtJ2 — Rofl Republic (@i_theindian) March 25, 2018 The information was shared on Facebook as well. Fakendra Modi page which has over 450,000 followers posted it. Hahahaha She is NCC Cadet but she Herself Don’t know about NCC and Criticising Rahul Gandhi, NCC is “NOT” 2nd Line of… Posted by Fakendra Modi on Sunday, March 25, 2018 Beef Janata Party with over 220,000 followers posted it before deleting and acknowledging the error. The previous post we had shared on NCC cadet Sanjana Singh being an ABVP member has been deleted. That was fake news. We… Posted by Beef Janata Party on Sunday, March 25, 2018 Journalist Saikat Datta too fell for it. However, he deleted his tweet and apologised for the error when it was brought to his notice. Based on what @free_thinker has tweeted, deleting tweet the claims that FB profile of “Sanjana Singh” is NOT the same as the cadet interviewed by ANI. Will tweet more information if I find any. Apologies. — Saikat Datta (@saikatd) March 26, 2018 Alt News found the Facebook profile of the individual whose screenshot was being circulated as that of NCC cadet Sanjana Singh. We compared the photograph of the NCC cadet interviewed by ANI and the pictures of the person in that profile. Alt News usually provides conclusive, verifiable evidence for every issue that is scrutinised for factual correctness. In this case, we respect the privacy of the individual concerned and will not share the link to her profile or her photographs. However, a detailed comparison has revealed that the profile claimed to belong to the NCC cadet interviewed by ANI is actually the profile of some other person by the same name. This sameness in name was enough for rumour mongers to spread mischievous information on the NCC cadet. 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	26th March 2018 / 3:37 pm / Last updated: 26th March 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-facebook-profile-of-ncc-cadet-interviewed-by-ani-viral-on-social-media/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,082	Morphed, satirical hoarding created after Dainik Bhaskar raid believed to be true - Alt News Priyanka Jha 26th July 2021 / 3:01 pm / Last updated: 26th July 2021 On July 22, the Income Tax Department conducted raids on several offices of Dainik Bhaskar, one of the country’s leading Hindi newspapers. In a report published on its website, the daily wrote, “During the second wave of COVID-19, the government raided the offices of the Dainik Bhaskar Group for laying out its flaws in front of the entire country.” Following this, a photo of a hoarding purportedly issued by Dainik Bhaskar began circulating on social media. A rough translation of what the hoarding says is as follows – “Neither the monk from math nor the fake saint. Only truth will prevail. The news will neither be pressurised to be killed in UP nor will it be stopped.” The tagline makes a sarcastic reference to UP CM Yogi Adityanath and PM Modi. It suggests that Dainik Bhaskar will continue reporting the news despite the obstacles the outlet might have to face from the government. The image was shared by Samajwadi Party MLA Ambrish Singh Pushkar on Facebook. The accompanying caption stated, “The ‘oppressive government’ tried to suppress the voice of ‘Dainik Bhaskar’. What Dainik Bhaskar did in response is in front of you.” We noticed that the image was widespread on Facebook. A page called ‘Rofl Gandhi‘ shared a screenshot of a Twitter handle. The account belongs to a parody account of Dainik Bhaskar, which had uploaded the viral image originally. Twitter user @ErDiwakarDas also posted the image, where it amassed over 1,500 likes before being deleted. A closer look at the image reveals it has a watermark, ‘@YogiJhoothaHai’. The page ‘Yogi Jhootha Hai’ had uploaded this image on July 22. ‘Yogi Jhootha Hai’ remarked this is what Dainik Bhaskar ought to have done. ‘दमनकारी सरकार’ ने ‘दैनिक भाष्कर’ की आवाज़ दबाने की कोशिश की, फिर जो दैनिक भाष्कर करना चाहेगा वह आपके सामने है🤣🤣 Posted by Yogi Jhootha Hai on Thursday, July 22, 2021 Alt News cropped the photo in question and performed a reverse image search. This led us to the original image in a News Nation story from January 2020. The original slogan read, ‘The country wants Narendra Modi, Delhi wants Kejriwal’. Deepak Madan, who himself identifies as an RSS supporter and BJP worker, had issued this message in Delhi. The phrase ‘neither the monk from math nor the fake saint’ was first tweeted by @RoflGandhi_ questioning whether Dainik Bhaskar will come up with such a statement after the raid. This was in response to an old hoarding put up by the outlet in support of the Yogi government. ना मठ का महंत, ना फेंकू संत। क्या कल लखनऊ में ऐसे होर्डिंग लगवा सकता है 2017 के जैसे @DainikBhaskar । pic.twitter.com/7RuJSYHOk7 — Rofl Gandhi 2.0 🏹🚜 (@RoflGandhi_) July 22, 2021 This line was then picked by the ‘Yogi Jhootha Hai’ handle. Apart from this, the screenshot of the Dainik Bhaskar parody account has since been deleted. However, an archived version can be accessed here. This handle is no longer active either. It had earlier changed its username from Diwakar to Dainik Bhaskar. The old username @ErDiwakarDas can be seen below. To sum it up, a photo of a hoarding was edited and posted as a joke. However, users mistakenly assumed it was real and began circulating it. Dainik Bhaskar has not issued any such message. At the same time, the Hindi daily did put up a hoarding in 2017 which read, ‘Neither Maya’s trap nor Akhilesh’s discord.” 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	26th July 2021 / 3:01 pm / Last updated: 26th July 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-hording-of-dainik-bhaskar-claims-na-math-ka-mahant-na-feku-sant-shared-as-real/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
1,083	Fact-check: Did Manmohan Singh touch Sonia Gandhi's feet? - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 29th June 2018 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 Facebook page फिर एक बार मोदी सरकार (Phir ek bar Modi Sarkar) shared an image of a turbaned man touching Sonia’s Gandhi’s feet, claiming it to be former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The photograph with the text – “India’s greatest economist Dr. Manmohan Singh”, has nearly 2,000 likes and more than 8,500 shares. चाटो चाटो चाटो यही तुम्हारी औकात है कांग्रेसी चमचो Posted by फिर एक बार मोदी सरकार on Thursday, 28 June 2018 The image has been subsequently shared by numerous right-wing pages. BJP All India’s post drew nearly 4,000 likes and 3,000 shares. Posted by Bjp All India on Thursday, 28 June 2018 The image was also shared by We Support Amit Shah Modi Mission 2019 and Vote 4 BJP, among others. In May, a user on social media tweeted the same image with an identical claim. It drew more than 200 likes. pic.twitter.com/uYwTgRLC2i — ಶಕುಂತಲ ರಾಜ್ (@Rajshakunthala) March 14, 2018 The photograph in question has been circulating across social media channels in recent years, either purported as an image of the former PM or Congress MLA Navjot Singh Siddhu touching Sonia Gandhi’s feet. Hoaxslayer reported last year on the two different contexts used to circulate the image. @sherryontopp we knw u sold ur soul bt plz don’t disrespect #Sherry n #GuruGovind. True Sikh will never bent infront of anyone. pic.twitter.com/AuHboIM9VS — Anti- Conversion (@anti_conversion) January 17, 2017 A simple reverse Google image search reveals that the photograph is of 2011 and the man touching Gandhi’s feet is a Congress representative. Getty images posted the photograph with the caption – “A representative touches the feet of Sonia Gandhi as Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi looks on during the Indian Youth Congress’ national level convention of Elected Office Bearers in New Delhi on Tuesday – November 29, 2011.” Getty Images is an American stock photo agency that supplies licensed images to businesses, creative professionals and the media. Owing to its credibility, most media outlets across the world are subscribed to its database. Old images often recirculate with false narratives for political propaganda. Former PM Manmohan Singh has often been in the crosshairs of rumour-mongers who have sought his continuous portrayal as Sonia Gandhi’s lackey. 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	29th June 2018 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-image-manmohan-singh-touching-sonia-gandh-feet/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,084	Fake images of Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi viral on social media - Alt News Alt News Desk 1st November 2017 / 4:03 pm Two fake images of PM Modi and Rajnath Singh are viral on social media. The fake image featuring Rajnath Singh has him photo-shopped in a still from a film scene where in a police inspector is at a politician’s feet and the politician from the film has been replaced with a photoshopped image of Rajnath Singh. The fake image featuring PM Modi shows him shaking hands with Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed who has been chargesheeted for masterminding the 26/11 Mumbai attack carnage and is on NIA’s most wanted list. The original image was that of PM Modi shaking former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif’s hand. The two images were posted on Twitter by volunteers/members associated with the Congress party. While Alamgir Rizvi has been listed as a social media volunteer in the NRI team on the Friends of Congress website, Arshad Chisti’s Twitter biography states that he is a IT Cell member with Congress. Even though Alamgir Rizvi was informed multiple times about the image being fake, he failed to delete it for a long time. Eventually, Congress Spokesperson Sanjay Jha retweeted the image while stating, “If this is a true picture, it is just too much. Stunned beyond comprehension.” At the time of writing, the above two tweets stand deleted. Sanjay Jha also apologised and retracted his retweet upon being informed that the image he had shared was photoshopped. Noted. I will delete my RT. @alamgirizvi you should delete this forthwith. It is inappropriate and wrong, and therefore misleading. https://t.co/vvaNqUmfzg — Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) November 1, 2017 The original images using which the above two photoshopped images were created can be seen below. The fake Rajnath Singh image has been doing the rounds for a while now and was first debunked by SMHoaxSlayer. Photoshopped. Actual photo is a scene from a movie "Kya Ye Sach Hai" released in 2011. Debunked on 13th Oct. Check Proofs/Source in reply https://t.co/FjlWEYdQJW — SM Hoax Slayer (@SMHoaxSlayer) November 1, 2017 The fake Modi-Hafiz Saeed image has been circulating on social media for over one and a half years and has been reported even by main stream media. Many of those who repeatedly circulate these fake images have been on social media for a long time and are aware of the number of fake images that are circulated for political one-upmanship and still refuse to pre-verify such doubtful images. If a police officer had really bowed down at the feet of Rajnath Singh, it would have made national news. There is no way that someone as senior as Sanjay Jha wouldn’t have heard of this issue had this really happened. Yet, the “If this is true” narrative was used to share the image. Similarly, if PM Modi had met Hafiz Saeed, it’d be on the front page of not just national dailies but even international newspapers. It doesn’t even need an iota of common sense to figure this out. Yet people keep sharing these fake images without putting in any thought. It the past, Alt News has put out a tutorial explaining how to reverse search images using Google Image Search. Kindly watch the short video to learn how to reverse search and find out original images. Also, use common sense. Just a few seconds of critical thought and analysis can save you from the embarrassment of being caught sharing fake images/videos/forwards. 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	1st November 2017 / 4:03 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-images-rajnath-singh-narendra-modi-viral-social-media/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
1,085	Fake Inshorts graphic viral as Kerala couple refuses ambulance with Hanuman sticker - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 14th May 2021 / 1:12 pm / Last updated: 14th May 2021 A screenshot of an alleged news piece uploaded by news summary mobile application Inshorts is massively viral on social media. It claims that a Kerala couple passed away after refusing an ambulance with a saffron Hanuman sticker. Indu Makkal Katchi, a Hindu nationalist party in Tamil Nadu, shared the image writing, “Unbelievable if true, someone please verify”. (Archived link) It was also shared by M Seenivasulu Reddy, who identifies as a ‘hardcore supporter’ of PM Modi and home minister Amit Shah, on Twitter. (Archived link) The graphic is massively widespread on Facebook. The viral screenshot is fake and there are several red flags that give this away. 1. The news has been credited to Hindustan Times but no such report was found on its website. In fact, Hindustan Times had published a report where the same image of an ambulance with a Hanuman sticker has been used. However, the report is not about any ‘Kerala couple’. It’s an article on COVID-19 highlights. The news was also not reported by any other media organisation. 2. The image is from Bangalore. The description of the image reads, “Family members and undertakers carry the body of a victim who died of the Covid-19 coronavirus at an open-air crematorium set up for the coronavirus victims inside a defunct granite quarry on the outskirts of Bangalore on May 8, 2021…” It is evident that the ambulance was used to transport a victim of COVID to a crematorium. The image has been credited to Manjunath Kiran from AFP. Furthermore, the ambulance reads Prasanna Ambulance Services which is in Bangalore. 3. No such news was found on Inshorts. Furthermore, the format of the viral graphic does not match Inshorts graphic. Alt News has compared the viral graphic with a genuine Inshorts graphic. The shade of the text in the body of the summary is much darker than the one in the genuine graphic. There is also no information about where and when the incident took place in the viral graphic. A representative from Inshorts told Alt News, “This news piece hasn’t been published by us on Inshorts. This is a doctored image.” A fake graphic was created to falsely claim that a Kerala couple passed away after refusing an ambulance with a Hanuman sticker. This false news was manufactured against a pregnant Muslim woman alleging that she was denied admission to Janana Hospital in Rajasthan last month owing to her religion. The woman delivered her baby in an ambulance and the infant had died. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	14th May 2021 / 1:12 pm / Last updated: 14th May 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-inshorts-graphic-viral-as-kerala-couple-refuses-ambulance-with-hanuman-sticker/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,086	How a Fake ISIS threat was used to market pseudoscience - Alt News Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh 30th April 2017 / 3:48 pm Dr. Mukesh Harilal Shukla, who claims to have studied B.Com (HA College of Commerce, Ahmedabad), and later an MD and PhD in Alternative Medicines (see the prerequisite for these courses here) is a bio-herbal research scientist based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. On the 22nd of April 2017, he claimed that he received death threats from the Islamic State (ISIS/Da’ish) in an Arabic letter seeking the formula of his alleged ‘patented’ drug against HIV infections, and was subsequently attacked by pepper spray and robbed off Rs 24,000 cash. Since then the police has been giving him protection. A week later, on the 29 of April 2017, the police said he fabricated this story of attack for publicity of his research. Police investigations have found that he created the threat letter in Arabic using Google translator. ‘Given his age, police said they are yet to decide about arresting him, and are considering various options’, said the Hindustan Times while no other arrests have been made. Research Publications Shukla claims that he has developed drugs for treatment of AIDS, malaria and heart diseases using plant extracts. A scientist, in particular, a medical scientist can claim original research on the basis of an established lab, their team, at least one peer review publication – which is an original research paper with a hypothesis, methods and results of the breakthrough – that may or may not result in a patent. However, the only original research Shukla has published on HIV (as an academic of the Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India) are the following two: Shukla M, Agarwal M, Singh JV, Tripathi AK, Srivastava AK, Singh VK. Shukla M, Agarwal M, Singh JV, Tripathi AK, Srivastava AK, Singh VK. In the 1st paper, Shukla and his colleagues interviewed 322 HIV-positive patients about their sexual behaviours during last 3 months using a pre-tested questionnaire that resulted in the following conclusion: ‘Specific intervention addressing alcohol consumption and encouragement of spouse and family support should be integrated in the routine HIV/AIDS care and treatment apart from HIV transmission and prevention knowledge.’ In the 2 paper, in a similar manner, they interviewed 322 HIV-positive patients (perhaps the same patients interviewed in the 1 paper) that were already undergoing an established and trialled Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) used since decades to combat HIV symptoms and slowing down of the infection process. No such treatment is created that can result in complete elimination of HIV in humans. In Shukla’s 2 paper, they studied the adherence of these 322 patients to ART, and reported that ‘A total of 10.9% of patients were found to be non-adherent to ART. Principal causes cited were being busy with other work (40.0%), felt sick or ill (28.5%), not having money (14.2%), and being away from home (11.4)’ which was the principle aim of this study – To observe what makes these patients skip treatments instead of finding a cure. The above stated conclusion of the 1 research article and the result of the 2 paper doesn’t need a scientific eye to determine that that is no plant based or other treatment ‘developed’ in his lab that the ISIS may want to acquire. Patents Generally, a patent, is backed up by many trials and clinical findings that are reported in established medical journals such as Nature, Lancet, Science and others, that allow to verify and question the authenticity of the work by other scientists in the same field before its publication. In Shukla’s case, his patent has been filed under the following title: Bioactive composition for the treatment of the HIV/AIDS, method for manufacturing and using the same – US 8431153 B2 The claim is for developing a mixture of specific quantities of the following compounds Curcumin (10%-30% w/w), cyperone (15%-45% w/w), ursolic acid (15%-35% w/w), vinfluine (5% w/w); and berberin sulfate (no detail) Highlighting the specific details of this patent is: Our research suggested this patent was linked to the drug called OJAK was sold with other herbal medicines under the company AYUSHI BIOTECH whose sole proprietor is Mukesh Shukla. Mainstream news as core evidence for scientific legitimacy In 2013, in an attempt for promotion of research, India MedicalTimes and DNAIndia published two news stories on Dr. Shukla’s medical breakthroughs. A blog post or a mainstream news report, where peer-review is an unlikely process, scientific claims for medical treatments are deemed as quackery in evidence based practise. Although such interviews to news channels are a legitimate method of research promotion for scientists in India and abroad, having no other legitimate scientific publications poses serious threats to the integrity of the scientific community and doctors and their body of work, on the basis of which traditional and western medications are prescribed. More importantly, questions are raised where doctors or scientists endorse such products that directly benefit them as a part of a proprietorship. A thorough analysis of these research articles, patents and the company profile suggests Dr. Shukla’s ongoing interest in the field of bioactive ingredient for HIV treatment – Which hasn’t resulted in a scientifically legitimised treatment, unless the cause of this promotion in the form of a cooked up ISIS attack story is the need to market drugs like OJAK. As a medical scientist, I am uncertain whether studying Dr. Shukla’s other claims in the area of malaria, liver dysfunction or leukaemia disorders is worth a shot – something that is a part of a scientist’s job in the peer review process – to carefully study, validate and give credits to each other’s work. This is to maintain integrity, legitimacy and an almost unselfish desire to do good to humans in the process of relieving them of pathological misery in exchange for satisfaction, esteem and a decent salary that pays the bills. However, I hope, capitalistic gains in businesses or even worse, using religion and hate for self-promotion is never a part of a scientist’s profile. 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	30th April 2017 / 3:48 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-isis-threat-used-market-pseudoscience/", "author": "Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh" }
1,087	Fake 'Janta Ki Baat' opinion poll with BBC News logo predicts BJP win in Karnataka - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 7th May 2018 / 5:29 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018 With elections to the Karnataka assembly just around the corner, numerous pre-poll surveys have crawled out of the woodwork. One such survey is circulating on social media with the logo of BBC News attached to it. According to this opinion poll by Janta Ki Baat, the BJP is set to win Karnataka with a simple majority. The poll predicts 135 seats for the BJP, 45 for JD(S) and 35 for the Congress party in the 225 member house. Social media users have pointed out that this ‘survey’ is circulating on WhatsApp. This is a fake survey on Karnataka polls doing the rounds on @WhatsApp using the @BBCNews @BBCWorld credentials. WhatsApp’s secret chambers are turning out to be the most dangerous. @boomlive_in @soutikBBC @siddaramaiah @INCKarnataka @BJP4Karnataka pic.twitter.com/bF6IlDVeTa — Sugata Srinivasaraju (@sugataraju) May 6, 2018 This forward is from my engineering batch’s Whatsapp group. There’s no such survey. Obviously the numbers are bunkum. It’s not on BBC (the link goes to its home page, I suspect to add credibility via its logo). Amazing how fake news is evolving. pic.twitter.com/D1tzLl1zAq — Rohin Dharmakumar (@r0h1n) May 7, 2018 Alt News fact checked this claim and found it to be untrue. There is no such survey that has been released, nor could we trace an organisation called Janta Ki Baat which has conducted such a survey. There is no reference whatsoever to this opinion poll on the BBC website, and the logo has probably been added to lend credibility to the numbers. That the BBC has not conducted any such survey was confirmed on Twitter by Trushar Barot, who is a Digital Launch Editor with the organisation. There’s another fake BBC Survey image doing the round on WhatsApp in India. To confirm, the BBC has conducted no such survey for the #Karnataka election pic.twitter.com/0pHlzM21rM — Trushar Barot (@Trushar) May 7, 2018 Also, the number of seats predicted for each political party present a discrepancy. There are 224 elected seats in the assembly but the numbers in this survey add up to 234 (135+45+35+19). In all likelihood, this ‘survey’ seeks to pass off as a survey by Jan Ki Baat which was conducted some days back. Opinion polls are seen as a useful tool by political parties to try and sway voter opinion days before the state goes to the polls. Earlier too, such attempts have been observed by political parties who look to subtly influence voters and project a wave of support in favour of a party or leader. Insofar as the Karnataka assembly election is concerned, three opinion polls- Times Now-VMR, ABP-CSDS and India Today-Karvy have predicted a hung assembly whereas according to a poll by C Fore, Congress will retain Karnataka with 118-128 seats. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th May 2018 / 5:29 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-janta-ki-baat-opinion-poll-with-bbc-news-logo-predicts-bjp-win-in-karnataka/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,088	Did Manoj Tiwari ask Modi-Shah to not campaign in Delhi ahead of polls? Fake letter viral - Alt News Ketan 12th February 2020 / 4:09 pm / Last updated: 12th February 2020 Ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, an alleged letter with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) letterhead went viral. The letter carries the alleged signature of BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari who addresses Jagat Prakash Nadda, the newly-elected national president of the BJP. Tiwari is seen advising Nadda that prominent leaders such as Narendra Modi and Amit Shah should not campaign in Delhi as the party’s top leadership will be questioned if they were to lose. Several users shared this image on Twitter. On December 26, Tiwari had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi where he suggested that instead of Sikh guru Govind Singh’s death anniversary should be observed as Children’s Day instead of Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday. On December 27, BJP-MLA Manjinder S Sirsa tweeted (archive) this letter (attached below). Alt News investigated the viral letter with the letter which was shared by Sira and noticed following inconsistencies. The ‘Children’s Day’ letter was shared three months ago. Thus, it is unlikely that the design of the letterhead would be amended a few months ahead of elections. The same header can be seen in the letter tweeted by BJP’s official account in July. @ManojTiwariMP wrote a letter to CM @ArvindKejriwal regarding exempting women in Delhi from registration fee on purchase of properties in unauthorised colonies. #DelhiWantsBJP pic.twitter.com/wNHvve3IvA — BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) July 27, 2019 Alt News compared the ‘from address’ in both the letters. The letter from December 26 states the address as Pandit Pant Marg. However, in the viral letter, the address mentioned is Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg which is the address of BJP headquarters, as per BJP’s official website. The orange and green stripe on the letterhead on both letters is visibly different. On a closer look, Alt News noticed the following differences Alt News noticed the viral image is not a photo of an actual letter but a digital copy. As a result, Tiwari’s signature on the letter is also a digital one. So far, no political leader has shared a picture of an official letter from their party along with a digital signature. Thus, the viral letter by Manoj Tiwari is fabricated and false. Ketan is Senior Editor at Alt News Hindi. 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 February 2020 / 4:09 pm / Last updated: 12th February 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-letter-being-circulated-in-the-name-of-manoj-tiwari-saying-that-he-asked-amit-shah-and-narendra-modi-not-to-come-to-delhi-for-election-campaign/", "author": "Ketan" }
1,089	Congress leaders share fake letter with BJP letterhead calling for a stop of farmers' protest - Alt News Priyanka Jha 20th January 2021 / 8:44 pm / Last updated: 25th January 2021 On January 18, Congress media panellist Surendra Rajput shared a letter allegedly written by a BJP leader. The letter quotes Rajesh Bhatia of BJP Delhi talking about dispersing protesting farmers and putting a stop to the farmers’ Tractor Rally to be held on Republic Day. Although the tweet has now been deleted, an archived version can be found here. Congress leader Alka Lamba also shared the image, questioning whether the letter suggesting BJP’s intent of violence against protesting farmers is genuine. किसान आंदोलन को हिंसा के रास्ते कुचलने की साज़िश के तहत जारी किए गए इस पत्र की सच्चाई क्या है यह जानना और समय रहते उसे रोकने की सख़्त ज़रूरत है- कहीं #दिल्ली दंगो की तरह इस बार भी देरी ना हो जाए।@DelhiPolice 🇮🇳🙏#FarmersProtest @INCIndia pic.twitter.com/iyUM2Jje2J — Alka Lamba – अल्का लाम्बा 🇮🇳🙏 (@LambaAlka) January 17, 2021 Several people compared the letter to Kapil Mishra’s incendiary speech before the Delhi riots. इसे दिल्ली दंगो से पहले #शाहीनबाग जैसे शांतिपूर्ण लोकतांत्रिक प्रदर्शन को दबाने के लिए कपिल मिश्रा के नफ़रत भरे भाषण के तरह #किसान_आंदोलन को दबाने के लिए आगे होने वाली कोई घटना की धमकी समझा जाए या कुछ और? pic.twitter.com/krJ6yyxnE4 — Naved Sheikh (@navedns1) January 17, 2021 A reverse-image search also took us to a report by The Ocean News Point published in September 2018 which carries the news o Ashok Goyal given the post of the chief of the media department of BJP Delhi. The report includes a scanned copy of BJP Delhi letterhead with the signature of Rajesh Bhatia, then general secretary of BJP state unit. This signature matches the one on the viral letter. His designation is also the same in both even though Bhatia is no longer BJP Delhi general secretary. The similarities have been highlighted below. A closer further reveals that the letter has been edited. The text on the original letter is quite clear whereas the same appears blurred in the edited letter. BJP Delhi leader Rajesh Bhatia clarified that the viral letter is fake. He said that some miscreants took a BJP letterhead and forged his signature on a letter with objectionable language toward the protesting farmers. He condemned the disinformation and wrote that he respects his farmer brothers and sisters. खंडन कुछ देशद्रोहीयों ने @BJP4Delhi के लेटर हेड पर मेरे फर्जी हस्ताक्षर कर किसानों के प्रति आपत्तिजनक भाषा लिखी है,मैं इसकी कड़ी निंदा करता हूँ,मैं किसान भाई बहनों प्रति सम्मान रखता हूँ।@narendramodi @JPNadda @blsanthosh @PandaJay @adeshguptabjp @siddharthanbjp @TajinderBagga pic.twitter.com/HBtO7W69Sw — Rajesh Bhatia (@rajeshbhatiabjp) January 17, 2021 In the above complaint, Bhatia has described himself as former BJP general secretary and in-charge of the Delhi unit. He also tweeted a news report about the fake letter. pic.twitter.com/Q9yU4hFzBt — Rajesh Bhatia (@rajeshbhatiabjp) January 18, 2021 A fake letter was therefore posted online calling for forceful disbanding of the farmer protests. It was falsely attributed to BJP leader Rajesh Bhatia. 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 January 2021 / 8:44 pm / Last updated: 25th January 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-letter-bjp-rajesh-bhatiya-against-farmer-protest/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
1,090	Fake letter claims Ajit Doval lauded Uttarakhand chief secy. for Kumbh Mela - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st April 2021 / 7:22 pm A letter doing the rounds in the name of national security advisor Ajit Doval suggests that he congratulated Uttarakhand chief secretary for successfully organising Kumbh Mela while coordinating with the police and the RSS. “I am confident that your efforts would ensure religious atmosphere, help to maintain order and promote Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideology in future as well,” reads the letter. Advocate Prashant Bhushan was among those who tweeted the letter but later took it down. An archive can be accessed here. Several other handles have tweeted the letter. (1, 2, 3, 4) It is also circulating on Facebook. NSA Ajit Doval asks Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand to promote RSS ideology Posted by N D Sharma on Tuesday, 20 April 2021 The letter has grammatical errors which was the first hint that it may be fake. “I also appreciating that you use your past experience of Kumbh Mela officer…” is one of the sentences that should read, “I also appreciate that you used your past experience of working as Kumbh Mela officer…” The first sentence of the second paragraph is also grammatically incorrect. ANI published a report stating that government officials have deemed the letter fake. A letter is doing rounds suggesting that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval has appreciated Uttarakhand government officials for successfully organising the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. The letter is fake and the NSA has not written any such letter: Government officials — ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2021 Alt News found that PIB had debunked a similar letter circulated in Ajit Doval’s name last year. Claim: Letter allegedly written by National Security Advisor congratulating Commissioner Secretary, Ladakh for role in handling of border situation is circulating on twitter #PIBFactCheck: no such letter has been written by the NSA, the letter is fake pic.twitter.com/XwkQeimRBL — PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 29, 2020 There are multiple similarities in both these letters as highlighted below. We found that the language used in both letters seems to be the format used by Ajit Doval. Below is a letter uploaded by several news outlets where Doval is complimenting UP chief secretary’s handling of the situation in the state post the Ayodhya verdict. Alt News cannot vouch for the authenticity of this letter. A fake letter is circulating in the name of national security advisor Ajit Doval that shows him lauding Uttarakhand chief secretary’s efforts in managing Kumbh Mela while coordinating with the RSS. 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	21st April 2021 / 7:22 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-letter-claims-ajit-doval-lauded-uttarakhand-chief-secy-for-kumbh-mela/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,091	Fake letter portraying Amit Shah praising Nupur Sharma viral - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 16th June 2022 / 4:51 pm / Last updated: 16th June 2022 Amidst the ongoing diplomatic crisis over the alleged derogatory remarks made on live TV news by now-suspended BJP spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, a purported letter by Home Minister Amit Shah directed to Uttarkhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is viral on social media. In the letter, Shah has been portrayed as praising Nupur Sharma by calling her an “icon” to promote the RSS ideology and urging the CM to provide security to her and her ancestral home on an “urgent basis”. The viral letter reads, “…I admire your efforts to maintain Law & Order in the state and your keen interest to provide Z security to Shri Ajay Gupta is also commendable. In current scenario, I recommend you to critically evaluate emerging threats to the family house of Smt Nupur Sharma in Dehradun and provide Z security on urgent basis. I am confident that you will manage well and efficiently execute this task. Both Shri Ajay Gupta and Smt Nupur Sharma are icons to promote Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideology that will ultimately lead us to accomplish Hindu Rashtra goal. I hope, you will understand the sensitive nature of this task and give your prime importance. My best wishes to you and your team.[sic]” This letter has been shared on Twitter by Abdulla Madumoole and Congress leader Nagma Morarji, who later deleted her tweet. Prime Minister suspends Nupur Sharma, Home Minister praises her as icon of Hindu Rashtra. We are definitely doomed. Not only minorities, everybody is in danger. pic.twitter.com/JA4LW80YHI — ABDULLA MADUMOOLE ಅಬ್ದುಲ್ಲ ಮಾದುಮೂಲೆ (@AMadumool) June 14, 2022 Alt News has also received multiple requests on its mobile app as well on the WhatsApp helpline number (+91 7600011160) to verify the authenticity of this letter. We performed a keyword search and came across a tweet by PIB Fact Check posted in June of 2021, debunking a viral letter attributed to HM Amit Shah. This letter has eerie similarities to the now-viral letter where Shah is allegedly praising Nupur Sharma. A letter allegedly written by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh is in circulation on social media.#PIBFactCheck This letter is #Fake. No such letter has been written by the Union Home Minister @AmitShah. pic.twitter.com/JbbCjmlu0e — PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) June 7, 2021 When we compared the two letters, we noticed a few anomalies such as: There are also various grammatical errors in the letter shared in 2022, which is unusual for official communications. Moreover, the previous letter, which was viral in June 2021 also turned out to be fake and was debunked by PIB, the nodal agency of the Government of India. A Special Task Force (STF) unit of Uttarakhand lodged an FIR in the matter against unidentified person(s) under multiple sections of the IPC and the IT Act. To sum it up, a morphed letter attributed to Home Minister Amit Shah is viral on social media claiming that he has praised now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th June 2022 / 4:51 pm / Last updated: 16th June 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-letter-portraying-amit-shah-praising-nupur-sharma-viral/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
1,092	Fake letter portrays PM Modi thanking Yogi Adityanath for his efforts in building Hindu nation - Alt News Kinjal 12th March 2021 / 7:25 pm Amidst the preparations for the Ram Temple, the centre greenlit the construction of the Ayodhya International Airport in February 2021. Now, a letter attributed to Prime Minister Modi is viral on social media. The alleged letter shows him thanking Yogi Adityanath for his efforts towards building a Hindu nation. Apart from this, he grants the constructions of an international airport in Ayodhya for which he approves a sum of Rs 1,000 crore. The second paragraph reads, “Hindus will always be grateful to you and your team for your honest and steady hard work towards the milestone of saffronisation, which is a major pillar of Hindu Rashtra. I wish you and your team the very best for your future elections in 2022 and once again congratulate you for this remarkable achievement.” It is dated March 5, 2021. Twitter user Zakir Hussain Ansari shared this letter, claiming that it reveals the truth of the Modi administration. (Archive link) The hidden truth of Modi government is exposed, BJP is engaged in making the country a Hindu nation.#INDvENG #RishabhPant #SwedenIndiaforInnovation #WandaVisionFinale #MessiMagicInIndia #TaxChor #RheaChakraborty #FarmersProtest100Days #INDvsENG #fridaymorning #XiaoZhan #Pant pic.twitter.com/rJcrBCJFho — Zakir Hussain Ansari (@zakir50403) March 5, 2021 Several handles tagged Alt News inquiring about the veracity of this letter. क्या ये लेटर सही है? अगर सही है तो बहुत ही शर्मनाक है..@AltNews पुष्टि कर सकते है..@ajitanjum @LambaAlka pic.twitter.com/V5nlIOGoOX — kundan singh (@KundanSNawada) March 6, 2021 Twitter user @nandtara was among them. Please tell me this is fake, because if it’s true then Narendra Modi has shattered our last vestige of being a SECULAR DEMOCRATIC nation. Surely @LiveLawIndia this is actionable in Courts, if true???@AltNews @zoo_bear please clarify pic.twitter.com/DOBzWoQZsJ — Be the Change👊🏻 (@nandtara) March 6, 2021 Alt News did not find any media reports covering this alleged letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Apart from this, Yogi Adityanath has been addressed as ‘प्रिय’ (Dear) by Prime Minister Modi. However, the Prime Minister usually uses ‘Sh.’ (Shri) or ‘Smt.’ (Shrimati) in his official communications. In contrast to official correspondence, the name and address of the recipient are not mentioned in the bottom left corner. In 2020, the prime minister wrote a letter of condolence to the Uttar Pradesh CM after his father passed away. A copy of this is given below. The fact-checking arm of the Uttar Pradesh government also tweeted that this correspondence is fake. A purported letter written by the Hon. Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji to #UPCM Shri @myogiadityanath Ji for the development of Ayodhya International Airport is doing rounds on social media.#InfoUPFactCheck: This letter is #Fake! pic.twitter.com/jEYKbjVi2q — Info Uttar Pradesh Fact Check (@InfoUPFactCheck) March 6, 2021 The letter makes a few claims about the international airport to be built in Ayodhya. According to a Livemint report dated March 3, 2021, once the Centre approved the construction of an international airport in Ayodhya, the airline is likely to start by the beginning of next year (2022). It also states that recently, the central government gave Rs 250 crore and the state government set aside Rs 1,000 crore for the airport’s construction. The UP government sanctioned a total of Rs 1001 crore and 77 lakh to purchase 555.66 acres of land for the project. Another purported letter from rime minister Modi to Yogi Adityanath went viral earlier where he is seen thanking the latter for supporting Hindu Rashtra. It also stated that Prime Minister Modi has allocated Rs 50 crore for the Ram Temple’s construction. On August 8, 2020, PIB Fact-check tweeted that the letter is fake. Claim: A Facebook user, has posted a letter, allegedly written by PM @narendramodi to Chief Minister of #UttarPradesh @myogiadityanath#PIBFactCheck: This letter is #Fake pic.twitter.com/9dHdcEEMu4 — PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) August 9, 2020 Several other media outlets concluded the same in their fact-check reports. There are several similarities in both viral letters – the Prime Minister thanking Yogi Adityanath, appreciating his hard work toward building a Hindu nation and wishing them success in the upcoming election. 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 March 2021 / 7:25 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-letter-yogi-adityanath-pm-modi-hindu-rashtra/", "author": "Kinjal" }
1,093	Fake list of 56 Chinese soldiers who 'died' in Galwan Valley created using Wikipedia page - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 20th June 2020 / 7:02 pm / Last updated: 22nd June 2020 The India-China dispute that led to the death of at least 20 Indian army soldiers has given rise to social media speculations on the number of Chinese casualties. Beijing is yet to release any figure yet the rumours that started with five, now put the number of Chinese deaths at 56. ⁦@ChinaJingXi⁩ ⁦@HuXijin_GT⁩ ⁦@globaltimesnews⁩ . Here is the list of dead soldiers of coward PLA . pic.twitter.com/57C69vpS3B — Baali🇮🇳 (@baali9) June 22, 2020 Several Twitter accounts have shared the alleged list of Chinese soldiers who died in the Galwan Valley. No soldier fighting for his/her country should face this humiliation.. Urns of PLA soldiers dead in Galwan Valley clash with India are brought back secretly. No funeral. No national mourning. We are proud to be Indians, where the true tribute to the martyrs was paid.#indian pic.twitter.com/xNrXN8w8hA — Never Give Up (@NeverGi39669989) June 22, 2020 Twitter account New Line IFE also shared the ‘list’ and later took down the tweet. News Line IFE has emerged as a prominent handle spreading misinformation around the number of Chinese casualties. The handle first came into notice after several Indian journalists claimed that five Chinese soldiers were killed based on a tweet by a reporter associated with China-based Global Times. The reporter, whose source was News Line IFE, later retracted her tweet and Global Times put out a statement claiming that the channel never released any figure on Chinese casualties. News Line IFE had also promoted false claims that 30 and subsequently, 43 Chinese soldiers died fighting Indian troops. A Google search of some of the names out of the 56 currently viral, takes one to the Wikipedia page ‘List of generals of the People’s Republic of China’. The names have been lifted from the page in the exact order. This was earlier fact-checked by Boomlive. A list of Chinese soldiers who ‘died’ in Galwan Valley was therefore created by lifting names of the generals of the PLA from a Wikipedia page. 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	20th June 2020 / 7:02 pm / Last updated: 22nd June 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-list-of-56-chinese-soldiers-who-died-in-galwan-valley-created-using-wikipedia-page/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,094	Fake matrimonial ad seeking vaccinated groom viral on social media - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 9th June 2021 / 1:47 pm / Last updated: 9th June 2021 A photo of an alleged matrimonial ad that says that a fully vaccinated Roman Catholic woman is looking for a groom who has taken “both doses” of Covishield was shared by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. Vaccinated bride seeks vaccinated groom! No doubt the preferred marriage gift will be a booster shot!? Is this going to be our New Normal? pic.twitter.com/AJXFaSAbYs — Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) June 8, 2021 Tharoor’s tweet made it to the Hindustan Times newsletter. Read this and more in today’s #HTCovidDispatch: an informed pandemic-related newsletter with updates and opinions Click here: https://t.co/XEfoyQ40uO pic.twitter.com/fKaeNNJEKx — Hindustan Times (@htTweets) June 9, 2021 The purported matrimonial ad is viral on Twitter. Kya baat! The wonder that is Bharat! 😊 pic.twitter.com/jIjbHdsNz5 — Malavika Avinash (@MalavikaBJP) June 8, 2021 New matrimonial ads, meanwhile! 😂💉👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/3qoAcrbTug — Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) June 8, 2021 Dekho, @angryyoungman55 pic.twitter.com/LnuU78nDxx — Kaveri 🇮🇳 (@ikaveri) June 7, 2021 It is widespread on Facebook as well The viral matrimonial ad was created on a newspaper clipping generating website called fodey.com. The website gives users the option to write a story, give it a headline, name the newspaper and change the date. We have juxtaposed the viral clipping (left) with a clipping manufactured by Alt News (right). If one notices carefully, the third column of the report has the same words. This is the part that is uneditable and confirms that the clipping is not genuine. According to The Indian Express, the ad was created by Savio Figueiredo from Aldona, Goa to encourage people to get vaccinated. He had also shared the number of the vaccination centre in Aldona and informed about the revised gaps to take the second dose of Covishield. THE FUTURE OF MATRIMONIALS FOR YOUR SAKE AND THAT OF YOUR CHILDREN PLEASE TAKE THE COVISHIELD VACCINE The… Posted by Savio Figueiredo on Thursday, 3 June 2021 Talking to The Indian Express, the 58-year-old said: “I created the ad with the intention of encouraging people to take the vaccine and posted it on my Facebook page. Someone got the bull by the tail, thought it was real, and now it has gone viral.” A spoof matrimonial ad created on a website was thus believed to be true. Unlike Figueriredo’s good intentions, the same website has also been used to target opposition leaders Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th June 2021 / 1:47 pm / Last updated: 9th June 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-matrimonial-ad-seeking-vaccinated-groom-viral-on-social-media/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
1,095	Fake message about DCP Amit Sharma's death during Delhi riots goes viral - Alt News Archit 26th February 2020 / 4:56 pm In the deadliest communal clashes witnessed in Delhi in decades, at least 21 people have lost their lives including police constable Ratan Lal. A viral social media message now claims that DCP Amit Sharma was also killed in the violence. On February 25, shared the claim in Hindi along with a picture of Sharma. He wrote, “Sad news after constable Rattan Lal, DCP Amit Sharma is also no more. Muslim riots Delhi.” [Translated from “दुखद खबर” कांस्टेबल रतनलाल के बाद डीसीपी अमित शर्मा भी नहीं रहे. मुस्लिम दंगा दिल्ली] ”दुखद खबर” हेड कांस्टेबल रतनलाल के बाद डीसीपी अमित शर्मा भी नहीं रहे..😢 pic.twitter.com/6bUWSafXc5 — Yogi Shukla (@ShuAbhishek) February 25, 2020 Similarly, several social media users on Facebook and Twitter made the claim that DCP Amit Sharma passed away. As per reports of February 24, DCP Amit Sharma was among the personnel injured in north-east Delhi. On February 25, Indian Police Service (Central) Association tweeted, “Amit Sharma, IPS, DCP Shahdara displayed exemplary grit, determination and led from the front. We pray that he recovers from his injuries successfully and quickly.” Subsequent reports informed that the officer gained consciousness and is in stable condition. Shahdara DCP Amit Sharma who was injured during clashes between two groups in Delhi’s Gokulpuri yesterday, is now conscious at a hospital. He underwent a surgery last night and his CT Scan was done this morning. He is safe and out of danger. https://t.co/jBFir6BrXi — ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2020 Zee News journalist Jitendra Sharama tweeted an image from the hospital and said, “Amit Sharma, @DCP_Shd after successful surgery. @CPDelhi also met him in the hospital.” Amit Sharma, @DCP_Shd after successful surgery. @CPDelhi also met him in the hospital. pic.twitter.com/sKB4M1R21g — Jitender Sharma (@capt_ivane) February 25, 2020 Anil Mittal, Delhi Police PRO Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) told Boomlive that “DCP Sharma has been successfully operated and is out of danger. His condition is now stated to be stable.” Therefore, social media claim that DCP Amit Sharma passed away in Delhi riots 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	26th February 2020 / 4:56 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-message-about-dcp-amit-sharmas-death-during-delhi-riots-goes-viral/", "author": "Archit" }
1,096	Fake message about Royal Enfield bike catching fire in Bangalore viral on social media - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 10th April 2018 / 7:27 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018 “Royal Enfield Motorcycle Petrol Tank blast. Man burnt alive near electronic City Begur junction Due to petrol tank filled full! Don’t fill full tank in summer!” This message has gone viral on social media along with a video of a man charred to death, claiming that he was burnt alive after the tank of the motorcycle burst, since it had been filled to the brim. Royal Enfield motorcycle Petrol tank blast. Man burnt alive near electronic City Begur junction (Karnataka) Due to petrol tank filled full! Don’t fill full tank in summer !⬇#BulletLovers🙄pic.twitter.com/JO0TFih9EL — Ajay Tarak™ \| KXIP \| YUVI (@TArockFreak) April 9, 2018 Apart from Twitter, the message has circulated widely on Facebook as well in the last 24 hours. Interestingly, a few days prior to this, the same message was circulating on social media but it was then claimed that the incident had occurred in the Malakpet area of Hyderabad. Royal enfield petrol tank blast at malkapet https://t.co/Oa2tqmhrmapic.twitter.com/nFyid5Tfy3 — Modified Bullets (@ModifiedBullets) April 5, 2018 The message probably first appeared on WhatsApp after which it started spreading on Facebook and Twitter. This was mentioned by a Twitter user who also tagged Hyderabad police for verifying its authenticity. There is a message circulating in whatsapp saying “Royal Enfield bike caught in fire, after petrol tank blasted due to heat and rider dead in Malakpet with fallowing video”. @hydcitypolice is it true or fake. pic.twitter.com/6un21zNODM — Suren Pantulu (@iamsurenpantulu) April 4, 2018 These messages that are circulating on social media are fake. No fuel tank has burst due to the petrol tank being filled and no Royal Enfield bike has caught fire. The video that is doing the rounds along with this message is a video of an accident that took place in New Delhi in January 2016. The bike had rammed into a tempo, after which it skid for a few metres before catching fire in which the rider was charred to death. The accident took place in Southwest Delhi’s Shankar Vihar area, and was reported by the Hindustan Times. Social media users are advised to be circumspect with regard to such information being shared on various platforms, as often such information turns out to be fake. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	10th April 2018 / 7:27 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-message-about-royal-enfield-bike-catching-fire-in-bangalore-viral-on-social-media/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,097	Fake message ascribed to New York Times author praising PM Narendra Modi - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 15th December 2018 / 10:01 am / Last updated: 15th March 2019 After the results of the assembly elections in five states were announced on December 11, a message began circulating on multiple social media platforms and WhatsApp. It was claimed to be the observation of an ‘author’ of The New York Times, the popular American newspaper. The message was presented as an analysis of the recently concluded assembly election by this ‘author’. The complete message is as follows: New York Times news……. …Few lessons from Indians voting pattern are clear – Indian public does not understand Fiscal deficit & are not bothered whether it is 2.4% or 3.4%. They do not understand that subsidies & Freebees mean borrowing & borrowing have to be paid one day by someone. Indian public also not bothered about GDP rate it increasesed from 3.8 to 7.4 from last four years which is more then USA, UK , japan….. – Indian public will always complain. If it is not about price of Onions or Thur Dal, it will be about Petrol or Diesel. They must get everything cheap but at the same time Farmers must get good price – Don’t ask Indian public to change old habits. It is Govt’s job to change everything – Indian public is not bothered about fixing long term issues. They want it today. Not even today. NOW. – Indian public has short memory & narrow vision. They forget & forgive pasts. -they intextualy vote as per cast pattern…. Castisum is major enemy for Indian politics which divides indian youth from growth… And PaK and chine pramote castisum in India with help of there own native peoples because both directly depends on India for open market..GDP….. Indian defence system are more stronger as compared to last five years and PaK and gulf countrys are not able to ruled on India…thier for they fundings in billion to destroy Indian system and only Modi is fight against them……but Indian don’t know this.. If Mr. Modi continues fixing long term problems for remaining 5 months, he will loose 2019. A dead soldier can not do anything for country. He must live to comeback for next 5 years. Now he must become a politician for remaining 5 months. If Public wants cheap Petrol & Diesel give to them. If farmers want loan waiver, give it to them, They don’t know about sabka sath sabaka vikas We advise to Mr. Modi will be to apply for 5 month’s leave from being statesman & become politician. After 2019 victory back to being statesman because India can only grow under statesman Modi & not Politician Modi. —-By New York Times author The message seeks to build a wave of sympathy for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. It denigrates Indian citizens for having a “short memory and narrow vision”, for failing to recognize the need to “fix long term issues” which PM Modi is successfully doing. Renuka Jain, who is followed on Twitter by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, posted this message on her Facebook page on December 14. Several individual users too have posted this message on their timelines. The identical nature of the text in all these messages suggest that it has been uploaded from WhatsApp where it has been shared heavily. The write-up attributed to a New York Times author, not only doesn’t specify the name of the author, but is also replete with spelling and grammatical errors. For example, the word ‘increased‘ has been spelled as ‘increasesed‘, ‘their‘ is spelled as ‘thier‘, ‘promote‘ as ‘pramote‘, and so on. This was the initial indicator that this was possibly a fake message that was being circulated. Alt News found that there is no such article on The New York Times listing out the contents of the viral message. A search on the website of the newspaper with the key words ‘Narendra Modi’ revealed that the most recent article about PM Modi is of December 11, when the result of the assembly elections was declared. Titled ‘Modi’s Party Is Trounced in India’s ‘Semifinal’ Elections’, the factors listed out in the article for the BJP’s recent defeat do not even remotely match the contents of the viral message. Instead, the article talks of farmer distress, inflation and cow vigilantism as the causes of the defeat, among others. Such messages extolling the virtues of PM Modi are not a new phenomenon. Earlier, Alt News had busted the myth about a bureaucrat claiming that PM Modi works 18-20 hours in single day. In another instance, Alt News had revealed how an emotional post praising PM Modi was falsely attributed to Arnab Goswami. Messages like these seek to inject credibility to false and motivated claims by appropriating the name of a globally renowned publication like The New York Times. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th December 2018 / 10:01 am / Last updated: 15th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-message-ascribed-to-new-york-times-author-praising-pm-narendra-modi/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,098	Fake message attributed to ICMR lists 21 dos and don'ts post lockdown - Alt News Archit 13th May 2020 / 1:21 pm / Last updated: 1st March 2021 After new coronavirus strains and fresh cases were reported in the country, a WhatsApp text was forwarded on social media. It lists 21 dos and don’ts on how to resume life after the lockdown and has been ascribed to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi. On popular demand, full text of my mother’s ICMR Whatsapp forward below. Note points 9, 10, 13, 17. 🔴ICMR New Delhi🔴 … Posted by Ramiah Ariya on Thursday, 25 February 2021 It has been circulating since the pandemic began. The viral message reads, “ICMR New Delhi* Please read carefully Some very important points.. 1. Postpone travel abroad for 2 years.. 2. Do not eat outside food for 1 year.. 3. Do not go to unnecessary marriage or other similar ceremony.. 4. Do not take unnecessary travel trips.. 5. Do not go to a crowded place for at least 1 year.. 6. Completely follow social distancing norms.. 7. Stay away from a person who has cough.. 8. Keep the face mask on.. 9. Be very careful in the current one week.. 10. Do not let the any mess around you.. 11. Prefer vegetarian food.. 12. Do not go to the Cinema, Mall, Crowded Market for 6 Months now. If possible, Park, Party, etc. should also be avoided.. 13. Increase immunity.. 14. be very carefull while at Barber shop or at beauty Salon parlour.. 15. Avoid Unnecessary Meetings, Always keep in mind Social Distancing.. _16. The threat of CORONA is not going to end soon. 17. Dont wear belt, rings, wrist watch, when you go out. Watch is not required. Your mobile has got time. 18. No hand kerchief. Take sanitiser & tissue if required. 19. Don’t bring the shoes into your house. Leave them outside. 20. Clean your hands & legs when you come home from outside. 21.when you feel you have come nearer to a suspected patient take a thorough bath. Lockdown or no lockdown next 6 months to 12 months follow these precautions. Share this with all your family & friends.” Alt News has received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+91 7600011160) and on our official Android application. Alt News spoke Dr Rajani Kant, director, ICMR Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur and head of Research Management, Policy Planning & Coordination at ICMR headquarters, New Delhi. He said, “The WhatsApp message is fake news. All updates by ICMR are communicated in the form of a press release on our website under the media section.” The last update on ICMR website’s media page was ‘National community-based serosurvey for COVID-19’ on May 12. Readers are also requested to note inconsistencies in the WhatsApp text — spelling mistakes or grammatical errors (red) and formatting issues (green). Some of them have been highlighted in the screenshot below. Thus the viral WhatsApp text hasn’t been drafted by ICMR. 🙏 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	13th May 2020 / 1:21 pm / Last updated: 1st March 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-message-attributed-to-icmr-lists-21-dos-and-donts-post-lockdown/", "author": "Archit" }
1,099	Fake message circulated in the name of non-existent ex-employee to malign Gujarat Samachar - Alt News Jignesh Patel 19th June 2018 / 4:37 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 An apology letter has been circulating in WhatsApp groups in Gujarat, which is allegedly written by a journalist named Sudhir Vora. Vora claims to have worked with the Gujarat Samachar, a leading Gujarati daily. The message spews venom on the late editor and chairman of Gujarat Samachar Shantilal Shah and his son Shreyans Shah, who is the current editor and publisher. It alleges that the owners of the newspaper are close to the Gandhi family and are staunchly anti-Modi and anti-BJP/RSS. The text of the ‘letter’ is as follows. ગુજરાત સમાચાર ના એક ભુતપુર્વ પત્રકાર સુધીર વોરા નો ખુલાસો શાંતિલાલ શાહ તથા તેમના પુત્ર શ્રેયાંશ શાહ બંન્ને ચુસ્ત કોગ્રેસી છે. શ્રેયાંશ શાહ આજથી અમુક વર્ષ પુર્વે જ્યારે કોગ્રેસ ની ટિકિટ ઉપર રાજ્યસભામાં જવાના હતા ત્યારે નરેન્દ્રમોદી એ તેમને રોક્યા હતા. શું તમે જાણો છો આ શાંહ પરિવાર ની ગાંધી પરિવાર સાથે ઘનિષ્ઠ સબંધ છે. વિદેશો મા જે પણ મીલ્કતો છે તેમા ગાંધી પરિવાર ની ભુમિકા છે. શ્રેયાશ શાહ પહેલેથીજ RSS અને મોદીના ઘોર વિરોધી છે. તેમણે પોતાના અખબાર ( ગુજરાત સમાચાર ) ના માધ્યમ થી ભાજપ સરકાર તથા નરેન્દ્ર મોદી ને ઉખાડી ફેંકવાના ઘણા પ્રયાસો કર્યા . હું જ્યારે હવે નિવ્રુત્ત છું ત્યારે જનતાની માફી માગતા કહુ છુ કે મે પણ ગુજરાત સમાચાર મા મોદી સાહેબ ની જુઠ્ઠી બદનામી કરવામા કોઈજ કસર નથી છોડી. હું સોશીયલ મિડીયા ના માધ્યમ થી જનતા ને ગુમરાહ કરવા બદલ દિલગીર છું . આવુ હુ કોઈ અખબાર કે ચેનલો ના માધ્યમ થી નહી કહી શંકુ કારણ કે દરેક ન્યુઝ પેપરો તથા TV ચેનલો એકબીજા થી સંકળાયેલા હોઈ બધી હકીકત નહી બતાવે એ હુ જાણું છુ. તમે રોજ નેતા , પોલીસ કે સરકારી બાબુઓ ના ભ્રષ્ટાચાર તો ન્યૂઝ પેપર મા જોશો પરંતુ ક્યારેય જોયુ કે અખબાર વાળા એ પત્રકાર કે સંપાદકો ના ભ્રષ્ટાચાર, બ્લેકમની કે અવૈધ સંપતિ નો ખુલાસો કર્યો હોય? જ્યારે હકીકત તો એ છે કે સૈથી વધારે ભ્રષ્ટાચાર ફક્ત મિડીયા વાળા જ કરે છે. દોસ્તો નરેન્દ્રમોદી ગુજરાત અને ભારત નો સૌથી કર્મઠ અને ઈમાનદાર નેતા છે હાલ ના સંજોગો મા મોદી સાહેબ ની તુલનામાં કોઈજ નથી . અમે જ્યારે ગુજરાત ના મુખ્યમંત્રી હતા ત્યાર થી જ મોદીજી ને બદનામ કરવામા બહુજ કોશિશ કરી પરંતુ તેમની લોકપ્રિયતા ના ઘટી . ઘણા ખોટા આરોપો લગાવતા લેખ છાપ્યા . આડકતરી રીતે લોકો મા મોદીજી વીશે ધ્વેસ પેદા કરવાની ભરપૂર કોશિશ ગુજરાત સમાચાર ના લેખના માધ્યમથી કરી પરંતુ અસફળ રહ્યા . અમે 15 , 15 વર્ષમા ક્યારેય મોદી સરકાર ના સારા કામો ની પ્રસંશા નથી કરી ફક્ત લોકો મા ઝેરજ ઘોળ્યુ હતુ હાલમા પણ ચાલુ જ છે .પરંતુ હવે હુ આમા ઈન્વોલ નથી .હુ હવે રીટાયર્ડ છું . ટુંકમાં શ્રેયાંશ શાંતિલાલ શાહ ક્યારેય મોદીજી માટે સારું નહીંજ લખે જ્યા સુધી કોગ્રેસ ની સરકાર ના આવ ે. બસ મારો આ માફીનામુ લોકો સુધી પહોચાડો જેથી મારો બોજ હળવો થાય સુધીર વોરા. Translation: Sudhir Vora, formerly a journalist at Gujarat Samachar exposes Shantilal Shah and his son Shreyans Shah to be staunch Congress supporters. A few years ago when Shreyans was about to enter Rajya Sabha on a Congress ticket, Modi had stopped him. Do you know this Shah family has close relations with the Gandhi family. In every foreign property, Gandhi family plays a role. From the beginning, Shreyans has been an opponent of the RSS and BJP. Through his Gujarat Samachar, He has constantly been trying to remove the BJP government and Narendra Modi. Now when I am retiring, I want to apologize to the public because I did let go any chance to tarnish the image of Modi Saheb. I am sorry for misleading the public through the medium of social media. I cannot say this on TV and Newspaper because every news channel and newspaper are interlinked with each other and as I know they won’t show you all the facts. In newspapers, you will see news of corrupt politicians, police and government officials on a regular basis but have you ever seen, the newspapers disclosing corruption, black money or illegal assets of journalists or editors? The fact is that most of the corruption is done only by media. Friends Narendra Modi is the most active and honest leader of Gujarat and India. Presently, he is incomparable. From the time, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, we have tried very hard to defame Modi but his popularity hasn’t declined. Many false allegations have been published in the article. Indirectly, the people did not do so through the writings of Gujarat Samachar but they weren’t successful. In 15 years, we have never praised the good works of the Modi government and only tried to spread poison among the people, which is still being carried out. But now I ‘m not involved. I’ m retired now. In short, Shreyas Shantilal Shah will never write good words for Modiji till the Congress government doesn’t come to power. Just make sure my apology letter reaches to the people so that my burden will be lessened.) The content of the ‘letter’ is replete with remorse; the journalist laments the ‘poison’ that has been spread against BJP and Narendra Modi by the newspaper through numerous negative and malicious reports over the years, and goes on to praise the latter as the ‘most active and honest leader of Gujarat and India’. The message has also been shared by many Facebook users, touted as an actual account of a senior journalist. Alt News did a google a search with keywords “સુધીર વોરા” (Sudhir Vora) using a site syntax (gujaratsamachar.com), in which no result related to this appeared. It may however be noted that the website doesn’t have a long history compared to the years of existence of the print edition of the newspaper. Gujarat Samachar was first published in 1932. Alt News contacted the Gujarat Samachar office to find out the truth. In a conversation with Alt News, Bhaven Kachi, a renowned columnist with Gujarat Samachar confirmed that there was no such employee in their records. He said, “I haven’t come across anybody named Sudhir Vora in my association with Gujarat Samachar from last 26 years.”. Since this is a WhatsApp message which masquerades as the personal account of a senior journalist associated with a popular daily publication, it comes across as believable. It is thus not surprising that it has been shared widely on multiple social media platforms. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	19th June 2018 / 4:37 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-message-circulated-in-the-name-of-ex-employee-to-malign-gujarat-samachar/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
1,101	Fake message claims Dadar police register case against 52 people for misinformation on coronavirus - Alt News Archit 2nd April 2020 / 5:07 pm / Last updated: 8th April 2020 A WhatsApp message has gone viral. It claims that 52 cases have been registered by Dadar cybercrime police against WhatsApp group administrators for sharing misleading forwards. The message credits the information to “Ravi Nayak, principal secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs.” The viral text reads, “Beware of the following reason. 52 group admins are now at dadar cyber crime police station. For having misleading fowards in the group. My old building group admins are seating there A case is being registered against every admin. U will get bail at police station but have to fight in criminal court with a jail term from 1 to 5 years. No explanation accepted as Admin I did not see it or did not knew the authenticity, or did not knew it was forwarded. So kindly bear it. information All honorable members of the group are informed that right now any post related to Corona virus has been declared a punishable offense by the Central Government, only a government agency can post on Corona. In case of wrong post or message, action will be taken against the members of the entire group including the group administrator by registering a lawsuit under the IT Act, so keep in mind be safe! Ravi Nayak, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India” Alt News has received several requests to fact-check these messages on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160) and on our official Android application. The website of the Ministry of Home Affairs does not list an official by the name ‘Ravi Nayak’. Moreover, the designation mentioned in the viral text, ‘Principal Secretary’, is not listed either. The Home Ministry has a ‘Home Secretary’ who is the administrative head of the department. Alt News spoke to a police officer at Dadar police station, Mumbai, who said that no one has been arrested for circulating misleading forwards on WhatsApp groups. However, on March 30 Mumbai Mirror reported that JJ Marg police arrested a 24-year-old man from the Pathanwadi area in Mohammad Ali Road who had circulated a fake message on WhatsApp claiming that the army has been called in to enforce the lockdown in certain areas of South Mumbai. Times of India and Hindustan Times also covered this incident. We were unable to find any other reports of arrests or any arrests made in Dadar. Therefore the viral WhatsApp forward promotes false claims. Earlier, an audio clip falsely claimed that 59 confirmed coronavirus cases were reported in Nagpur. In this case, Nagpur police arrested three individuals for circulating the misleading audiotape. Note: The number of positive cases of the novel coronavirus in India exceeds 5,000 and more than 150 deaths have so far been reported. The government has imposed a complete restriction on movement apart from essential services to tackle the pandemic. Globally, more than 14 lakh confirmed cases and over 80,000 deaths have been reported. There is a sense of panic among citizens, causing them to fall for a variety of online misinformation – misleading images and videos rousing fear or medical misinformation promoting pseudoscience and invalid treatments. While your intentions may be pure, misinformation, spread especially during a pandemic, can take lives. We request our readers to practice caution and not forward unverified messages on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. 🙏 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	2nd April 2020 / 5:07 pm / Last updated: 8th April 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-message-claims-dadar-police-register-case-against-52-people-for-misinformation-on-coronavirus/", "author": "Archit" }
1,102	Fake messages claiming Himalaya founder funds terrorists viral on social media - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 16th March 2020 / 8:50 pm / Last updated: 23rd February 2021 A photograph of a man has been shared on social media with the claim that he is “the owner of Himalaya Ayurvedic products, Mohammed Menal”. The man is being accused of donating 10% of his income to “jihadists”. बायकाट करो सनातनियो, pic.twitter.com/BB3QlFYmJO — पुष्पेंद्र, कुलश्रेष्ठ (@REAL___HINDUVT) February 23, 2021 The tweet below by @REAL___HINDUVT garnered over 2,600 likes and close to 1,300 retweets. बायकाट करो सनातनियो, pic.twitter.com/BB3QlFYmJO — पुष्पेंद्र, कुलश्रेष्ठ (@REAL___HINDUVT) February 23, 2021 It is also massively circulating on Facebook. Twitter user Bharat Sanghvi, who is followed by prime minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, had tweeted the photo with the accompanying claim in March 2020. Twitter user Akash RSS also shared the post. A handle @Read_Bannaji wrote that Himalaya Drug Company should be avoided by all Hindus since its founder Mohammed Menal is a Muslim and Muslims donate 10% of their income to “terrorists”. [Hindi tweet – “सभी हिंदुओ से निवेदन है देशहित में हिमालयन कंपनी का बहिष्कार कीजिये क्यूँकि मित्रों इसका मालिक मोहम्मद मेनाल (मुस्लिम) है…और मुस्लिम अपनी कुल आय का 10% जेहाद करने वालों को दान करता है॥”] A reverse-image search of the man’s photograph reveals that he is not the founder of Himalaya Drug Company. A 2016 article in The Economic Times identified him as Philipe Haydon, the CEO of the company. The founder of Himalaya Drug Company is not Mohammed Menal but Mohammad ‘Manal’. The company website states that ‘M Manal’ found the company in 1930 in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun. Manal passed away in 1986. Therefore, the claim that he has been giving away 10% of his income to “jihadists” does not hold water. Moreover, Himalaya Drug Company called out the misinformation on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/s47SNxBFyn — Himalaya India (@HimalayaIndia) March 13, 2020 A photograph of the CEO of Himalaya Drug Company has been used to falsely claim that he is the founder, Mohammed Manal, who donates a part of his income to fund terrorism. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th March 2020 / 8:50 pm / Last updated: 23rd February 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-messages-claiming-himalaya-founder-funds-terrorists-viral-on-social-media/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,103	Fake Ministry of Health 'advisory' about Coronavirus viral on social media - Alt News Nibedita Sen 29th January 2020 / 5:33 pm / Last updated: 29th January 2020 A WhatsApp forward claiming India’s health ministry has issued an emergency notification to the public on the prevention of the Coronavirus in viral. The message reads: “Most Urgent,Very Serious, Important information Ministry of health’s emergency notification to the public that the Coronavirus influenza outbreak this time is very very serious & fatal. There’s no cure once you are infected. Its spreading from China to various countries Prevention method is to keep your throat moist, do not let your throat dry up. Thus do not hold your thirst because once your membrane in your throat is dried, the virus will invade into your body within 10 mins. Drink 50-80cc warm water, 30-50cc for kids, according to age. Everytime u feel your throat is dry, do not wait, keep water in hand. Do not drink plenty at one time as it doesn’t help, instead continue to keep throat moist. Till end of March 2020, do not go to crowded places, wear mask as needed especially in train or public transportation Avoid fried or spicy food and load up vitamin C. The symptoms/ description are 1.repeated high fever 2.prolonged coughing after fever 3.Children are prone 4.Adults usually feel uneasy,*headache and mainly respiratory related 5: highly contagious” The message advises people to always keep their throat moist and avoid public places until March 2020. It was also shared by Facebook page ‘ Whats Up in Cayo?’ on January 28, 2020. Several users are sharing the message as a notification of public emergency by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Delhi Public School Biratnagar shared the message on its Facebook page and wrote, “This is to bring to the kind notice of each and every Parents \| Students \| Teachers \| Staff & Everyone, that the Ministry of Health have issued a public notice with respect to “CORONAVIRUS INFLUENZA” Do have a look at this and share with your friends and family. Stay aware \| stay Safe \| Stay healthy” Alt News has received several messages to verify if the WhatsApp claims are true. Another message in the name of one ‘Dr Sharad Kasarle’ claims that India has 11 reported cases of Coronavirus. After tallying all the information available, Alt News verified the viral WhatsApp message is not an advisory from India’s health ministry. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has so far only issued an advisory for people travelling to and from China, the epicentre of the 2019-novel Coronavirus. This travel advisory was issued on January 17, 2020 and updated on January 25, 2020. The advisory mentions that the mode of transmission of the virus is unclear but available evidence points human-to-human transmission occurring between close contacts through the respiratory route. The public health measures provided for those travelling to China has been stated as: Travelers to China should follow simple public health measures at all times as under: o Observe good personal hygiene. o Practice frequent hand washing with soap. o Follow respiratory etiquettes – cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing. o Avoid close contact with people who are unwell or showing symptoms of illness, such as cough, runny nose etc. o Avoid contact with live animals and consumption of raw/undercooked meats. o Avoid travel to farms, live animal markets or where animals are slaughtered. o Wear a mask if you have respiratory symptoms such as cough or runny nose. Along with this advisory, the ministry has issued a 264-page document for healthcare providers to address any cases and carry out effective management of the healthcare services. The ministry also started an additional helpline number (011-23978046) for Indian citizens who showed any signs or symptoms such as fever, runny nose, and continuous cough and cold. Some preventive measures against Novel #coronavirus :#ncov2020#HealthForAll@PMOIndia @drharshvardhan @AshwiniKChoubey @PIB_India @DDNewslive @airnewsalerts pic.twitter.com/4TvVOB3P12 — Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) January 28, 2020 The viral message is therefore not a public health notice by the health ministry. Furthermore, the claim that 11 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the country is also misleading. As per reports, three people in Delhi with a travel history to China have been kept under observation. Six people have also been kept under observation in Pune and Mumbai. There has also been a suspected case in Bihar. It is important to note here that none of these patients have yet been diagnosed. However, a Thai woman with ‘Coronavirus’ like symptoms has reportedly passed away in Kolkata. Defence Correspondent turned fact-checker. Two times award winning journalist by Govt. of Goa. 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	29th January 2020 / 5:33 pm / Last updated: 29th January 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-ministry-of-health-advisory-about-coronavirus-viral-on-social-media/", "author": "Nibedita Sen" }
1,104	Fake news about ABVP member involved in Surat rape case circulated on social media - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 17th April 2018 / 2:03 am / Last updated: 11th July 2018 An 11-year old girl was found dead with more than 80 injury marks on her body in Surat. According to reports, she was raped and tortured before she was strangulated. This news came close on the heels of the public outrage over the Kathua and Unnao rape cases. It is now being claimed by some sections on social media that an ABVP activist is behind the rape and murder of this child. ABVP is the student organisation affiliated to the Sangh parivar. A website called www.dailygraph.in was one of the first to post this information on April 14. This article mentioned one Harish Thakur as responsible for the rape and murder. The article was later edited and this detail was removed. The message below has been posted on the Facebook page by the name of AIMIM which has more than 268,000 followers. It is a fan page and not the official page of AIMIM. This message which was posted on April 14 claims that Harish Thakur, an ABVP activist is responsible for the rape and murder of the 11-year old girl in Surat. At the time of writing, this post was shared more than 500 times. #JusticeForGudiya #GujaratModel आक थू हिन्दू राष्ट्र! एबीवीपी का नेता है हरीश ठाकुर 11 वर्ष की बच्ची को अगवा करके… Posted by Aimim on Saturday, April 14, 2018 On Twitter, this message was retweeted by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal which was pointed out by a Twitter user Gujju_er. The original tweet by the Twitter user @YUVAMARWADI that was retweeted by the Delhi CM was later deleted. Apart from Kejriwal, this message was also retweeted by AAP leaders Alka Lamba and Dilip Pandey, and RJD leader Misa Bharti. It was also posted on Facebook by the page Aam Aadmi Party- Deoria on April 14, and has been shared more than 5000 times. This claim that the rape and murder was the handiwork of an ABVP activist named Harish Thakur is false. This was confirmed by Surat police in a reply to a tweet by a user named Irfan Anjum who was among those who made this claim. Anjum has also been booked along with two others under Section 505(1) of the IPC for spreading rumours on social media. Moreover, Surat police in a tweet has solicited information from the public on the case. The tweet mentions that the body of the girl was found near the cricket ground in Surat on April 6, 2018. The police has sought information on the family of the girl and the perpetrator of the crime. दिनाक ०६/०४/२०१८ को सुरत शहेर मे क्रीकेट ग्राउन्ड के करीब एक लडकी की लाश मिली हे ,इस लडकी के परीवार के बारे मे या अपराधी के बारे मे कोइ भी जानकारी मीले तो सूरत शहर अपराध शाखा के नंबर 02612436024 पर या पांडेसरा थाना के नंबर 02612890200 पर संपर्क करे. इनाम प्रदान कीया जायेगा. pic.twitter.com/gjZGvemamx — Surat City Police (@CP_SuratCity) April 15, 2018 Alt News tried to establish the source of claims vis-a-vis Harish Thakur and stumbled upon an article by Amar Ujala dated March 19, 2018. This article had mentioned one Harish Thakur who is allegedly an ABVP worker as the accused in the rape and murder of a minor in Agra, which is probably the source of this misinformation. The incidents of Kathua and Unnao have resulted in an outpouring of anger against the ruling dispensation for the perceived laxity and lack of sensitivity in handling these cases. However, this does not justify spreading rumours on social media, as the police is still investigating the case and there is no information so far on the involvement of an ABVP activist in this horrific case from Surat. 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	17th April 2018 / 2:03 am / Last updated: 11th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-about-abvp-member-involved-in-surat-rape-case-circulated-on-social-media/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,105	Fake news about Amritsar train driver's suicide circulates on social media - Alt News Jignesh Patel 22nd October 2018 / 5:26 pm / Last updated: 22nd March 2019 A photo and video of a man who seems to have committed suicide by hanging himself from a bridge is viral on social media with a caption, “Amritsar Accident k train driver ne suicide kar lia #RIP”. The claim suggests that that the man in the viral photo is the train driver involved in the Amritsar tragedy. Many social media users on Facebook and Twitter are sharing pictures and videos of the same incident with identical claims. Alt News spoke to SHO Gurwinder Singh of Chattiwind police station, where a case of suicide near Tarn Tarn area has been reported. Singh said, “This suicide is no way related to the train tragedy. This man was in depression from last four months.” An article published by Dainik Jagran on October 22, 2018, stated, “In fact, the body hanging from a trap near Bohdu village was of a resident from Bhikhwind, Tarn Tarn named Paramjeet. It is said that Paramjeet was mentally ill and possibly for this reason he has committed suicide. Police is investigating the case.” It may be noted that an earlier report from Dainik Jagran has referred the same person as Harpal Sah. While we still lack clarity on the name of the person whose photos are circulating on social media, based on our conversation with the police and media reports, it can be stated with certainty that the said person is NOT the driver of the ill-fated train involved in the Amritsar tragedy. Moreover, the letter which is being shared along with the claim that DMU driver (Arvind Kumar) has committed suicide is the statement given by him to the police and NOT a suicide note. Saw a crowd of ppl around track. Immediately applied emergency brakes while continuously blowing horn. Still some ppl came under it.Train was about to stop when people started pelting stones & so I started the train for passengers’ safety:DMU train’s driver.#AmritsarTrainAccident pic.twitter.com/2dihtcO9Ri — ANI (@ANI) October 21, 2018 In all cases of recent tragedies, misinformation on social media has been a constant issue. Recently, during Kerala floods, Alt News exposed multiple cases of mis/disinformation. Earlier, Alt News exposed how attempts were made to communalise the Amritsar train tragedy by claiming that the name of the train driver was Imtiaz Ali. Now, a suicide unrelated to the Amritsar train tragedy is being passed off as the suicide by the driver of the ill-fated train. We wish to emphasise yet again – in times of emotional upheaval in the society, such as the one due to a natural disaster or a tragedy, be extremely circumspect about sharing provocative information on social media. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd October 2018 / 5:26 pm / Last updated: 22nd March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-about-amritsar-train-drivers-suicide-circulates-on-social-media/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
1,106	Fake news about 'Khalid and Irfan' charged in Lucknow gangrape case circulates on social media - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 3rd July 2018 / 11:43 pm / Last updated: 12th July 2018 A minor girl was reportedly gangraped and the incident filmed by the perpetrators in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. According to a report by News 18 Hindi, the alleged perpetrators were apprehended by the public and handed over to the police when they were trying to escape after the victim called out for help. On social media, the buzz is that the two accused in the incident are named Khalid and Irfan, and that they have been arrested. मंदसौर के बाद लखनऊ में नाबालिग बच्ची से दुष्कर्म… आरोपी खालिद और इरफान गिरफ्तार… वीडियो भी बनाई (After Mandsaur, minor girl raped in Lucknow. Accused Khalid and Irfan arrested… they also made a video- translation), says the message which is accompanied by a photograph of the alleged perpetrator and victim. The reference is indirect but unmistakable- the attempt is to portray this crime as perpetrated by men of the minority community. Mandsaur is also mentioned in this message, alluding to the ghastly crime against a 7-year old in June 2018 by accused Irfan and Asif. The post is lengthy, and searching the text took us to a website News Yojana, which claims to be a news website. It is from here that the entire text was lifted and posted on Facebook where it is now spreading as individual users are posting it. The ‘news report’ by News Yojana is a complete fabrication. There is not a shred of truth in the claims floating on social media. The claim that the two accused in the case are Khalid and Irfan is a lie. One India has quoted SSP Lucknow, Deepak Kumar who stated that the two accused in the case are Bhola Chandrakar and Kushmesh Kanaujiya. He added that the perpetrators will be booked under the POCSO act and the victim has been sent for medical examination. According to reports, the accused Chandrakar hails from Chhattisgarh while Kanaujiya is from Sitapur district in UP. The duo was caught while trying to escape after the victim raised an alarm. The photographs circulating along with this message show an elderly man and a young girl who is seen covering her face with her hands. Alt News reverse searched these images on Google and found that neither of the photographs is recent. The photograph of the man is of November 2017. The Indian Express had reported on November 24, 2017 that a “Muslim cleric and two of his relatives were allegedly assaulted by some unidentified persons on board a Delhi-Shamli passenger train, in Baghpat district” of Uttar Pradesh. The photograph is of one of the victims of the alleged assault. The other photograph of the girl which has been circulated too is an old image, dating back to 2015. The girl is a rape victim who along with her family chose to break their silence about the incident. The girl’s name was changed and her face was hidden to protect her identity. This photograph, along with others are posted on the website of Getty Images. Recently, we saw how the Mandsaur rape case was sought to be communalised in the vilest manner when a website published a false report which claimed that Muslims had rallied in support of the perpetrator, calling for his release, subsequently shared on various platforms. This instance is similar- a dubious website publishes a ‘news’ report with communal overtones which then goes on to infect the social media ecosystem. Such messages seek to pit one community against another and keep the pot simmering by regularly posting provocative misinformation. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd July 2018 / 11:43 pm / Last updated: 12th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-about-khalid-and-irfan-charged-in-lucknow-gangrape-case-circulates-on-social-media/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,107	Fake news about Modi govt to print currency notes featuring former PM late Atal Bihari Vajpayee shared on social media - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st January 2019 / 8:26 pm An article recently viral on social media suggests that the PM Modi-led government has taken a “historic step” of printing Indian currency notes featuring former prime minister late Atul Bihari Vajpayee. “मोदी सरकार का ऐतिहासिक फैसला, भारतीय मुद्रा पर होगी पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री अटलजी की तस्वीर (Modi government’s historic decision, Indian currency will feature the image of former prime minister Atalji),” reads the title of the report by a website called apnikhabare.com, which showcases a Rs 200 note with the photograph of the ex-PM. From a Facebook page Hindutva.info, the article received nearly 3,000 likes and over 500 shares. Other Facebook pages like हिंदुस्तानी सेना and We Support Ram Rajya have also circulated the article, drawing a combined share count of over 500. The apnikhabar report has also been tweeted by multiple users. What’s interesting about the report is that while its title and the adjoining image of the Rs 200 note gives the impression that the government will issue currency notes of that amount, the article has no mention of the same. In fact, it claims, “…अब मोदी सरकार की तरफ से 100 रुपए का नया सिक्का लॉन्च किया जाएगा जिसपर पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री और भारत रत्न अटलजी की तस्वीर छपी होगी। Now Modi government will launch new Rs 100 coin that will feature former PM and Bharat Ratna awardee Atal ji’s photo.” However, the image attached in the report is of a Rs 1,000 coin. The government has not made any announcement regarding the issuance of Indian currency notes or coins featuring former prime minister of Indian late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In fact, PM Modi had only released a commemorative Rs 100 coin a month ago in the memory of the late prime minister. The event was organised on December 24, 2018, where senior BJP leaders, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, BJP chief Amit Shah, Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and senior leader Lal Krishna Advani were present. The coin was released day ahead of late Vajpayee’s birthday, and the event of reported across mainstream media channels. Misinformation claiming the launch of new currency notes featuring late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been circulating since December last year, even before the government released the Rs 100 commemorative coin. The apnikhabre article itself was published on December 13, 2018. Another shoddy website livebavaal had also published an article on the identical topic that same day. This wasn’t the first time that the Indian government released a coin in the memory of a former prime minister. The first commemorative coin was issued in 1964 in the honour of the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1985, commemorative coins were released in remembrance of former PM late Indira Gandhi. Other veteran leaders like Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi have also been honoured in a similar manner. 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	21st January 2019 / 8:26 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-about-modi-govt-to-print-currency-notes-featuring-former-pm-late-atal-bihari-vajpayee-shared-on-social-media/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,108	Fake news about Shehla Rashid booked for tweet on Nitin Gadkari circulates on social media - Alt News Jignesh Patel 11th June 2018 / 10:31 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 Shehla Rashid, student leader from JNU, has often being at the receiving end of right-wing trolls on social media. Now, it has been claimed that Rashid has been booked under sections of the IPC for her controversial tweet on Nitin Gadkari and RSS plotting the murder of PM Narendra Modi, a tweet which she subsequently defended as ‘sarcasm’. Right-wing accounts on social media have claimed that union minister Nitin Gadkari has filed a case against Shehla Rashid, and that she has been booked under sections of the IPC that pertain to inciting religious sentiments. Among the earliest to tweet this was TheGiniKhan (@giniormet), whose tweet has been retweeted over 3500 times and ‘liked’ over 7300 times. @giniormet is a popular right-wing handle that masquerades as a Muslim woman who is supportive of the BJP. Section 153A deals with ‘promoting enmity between different groups’, whereas section 295 pertains to defiling places of worship, and 295A of the IPC addresses ‘deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage feelings’. Shehla Rashid booked under sections of 153A, 295 and 295A of IPC by Nitin Gadkari….. — TheGiniKhan (@giniromet) June 10, 2018 “Shehla Rashid @Shehla_Rashid Has Been Booked Under Sections of 153A, 295 and 295A of IPC by Shri Nitin Gadkari @nitin_gadkari Thank You Nitin Ji Much Appreciated Now JNU Needs to Take Action & Remove her & Stop Spending Tax Payers Money On Such Crooks @Swamy39 @ShefVaidya”, tweeted Sanatan Dharma, which has more than 7500 followers. The tweet has been retweeted more than 370 times and has accumulated more than 580 likes. An account named after Swati Raina, anchor with Zee Business, has also tweeted this claim which has been retweeted widely. It may be noted that this is not the official account of the journalist. Shehla Rashid @Shehla_Rashid Has Been Booked Under Sections of 153A, 295 and 295A of IPC by Shri Nitin Gadkari @nitin_gadkari Thank You 🙏Nitin Ji Much Appreciated Now JNU Needs to Take Action & Remove her & Stop Spending Tax Payers Money On Such Crooks@Swamy39 @ShefVaidya pic.twitter.com/3FjvHikmIO — Sanatan Dharma (@HinduDharma1) June 11, 2018 Alt News contacted Parliament Street Police Station where it is claimed that the FIR has been lodged, to verify the status of the complaint. The police confirmed that no FIR has been lodged against Rashid, although a complaint has been received and investigation is underway. Moreover, Business Standard reported, The BJP’s youth wing today filed a complaint with the police against Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Shehla Rashid for making “unpleasant remarks” against Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, the organisation said in a statement. On June 9, as reports emerged of a possible assassination plot on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rashid had tweeted, “Looks like RSS/Gadkari is planning to assassinate Modi, and then blame it upon Muslims/Communists and then lynch Muslims #RajivGandhiStyle“. Looks like RSS/Gadkari is planning to assassinate Modi, and then blame it upon Muslims/Communists and then lynch Muslims #RajivGandhiStyle — Shehla Rashid (@Shehla_Rashid) June 9, 2018 The tweet invited a great deal of controversy, following which Rashid claimed that the tweet is ‘sarcastic’. Nitin Gadkari, however, was unimpressed and threatened legal action against ‘anti-social elements’, refraining from naming anyone in his tweet. I would be taking legal action on anti-social elements who have made bizzare comments; attributing personal motives to me, regarding the assassination threat to PM @narendramodi — Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) June 9, 2018 While her unsubstantiated allegation on Nitin Gadkari and the RSS have understandably caused controversy, it is no justification for misinformation of this nature that has been circulated in her name. 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 June 2018 / 10:31 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-about-shehla-rashid-booked-for-tweet-on-nitin-gadkari-circulates-on-social-media/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
1,109	Fake news: Alok Verma called PM Modi "most corrupt Prime Minister in independent India" in his resignation letter - Alt News Jignesh Patel 12th January 2019 / 8:14 pm / Last updated: 12th January 2019 On January 11, former CBI director Alok Verma resigned from service a day after a high-powered committee led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to remove him from his post and transfer him to the post of DG, Fire Services. A day after this, a claim about the former CBI chief calling PM Modi, the most corrupt Prime Minister in his resignation letter went viral on social media. “पूर्व सीबीआई निदेशक अलोक वर्मा ने दिया इस्तीफा पत्र लिखकर नरेंद्र मोदी को बताया आज़ाद भारत का सबसे भ्रष्ट प्रधानमंत्री “(Former CBI Director Alok Verma resigns. He wrote a letter calling Narendra Modi, the most corrupt Prime Minister of independent India -translated), reads a post by a Facebook page, I Support Ravish Kumar. It has been shared more than 15,000 times. Alok Verma had addressed his resignation letter to the Secretary of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). A picture of the letter was tweeted by journalist Nidhi Razdan. And Alok Verma has resigned from the IPS pic.twitter.com/2fdblLkq8i — Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) January 11, 2019 The text of the letter was also reported by several media organizations. An article published by Hindustan Times on January 11 also reproduced the letter, a copy of which is posted below. As can be seen in the letter below, at no point in the letter did Alok Verma refer to the Prime Minister. 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	12th January 2019 / 8:14 pm / Last updated: 12th January 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-alok-verma-called-pm-modi-most-corrupt-prime-minister-in-independent-india-in-his-resignation-letter/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
1,110	How fake news branded News Laundry's Madhu Trehan as a leftist for her non-existent comments on Baahubali - Alt News Pratik Sinha 2nd May 2017 / 2:31 pm / Last updated: 2nd May 2017 A rumour that started on Whatsapp travelled to Facebook. From Facebook, it travelled to a right-wing fake news website. The right-wing fake news website created a nice infographic of the original rumour. They also put a picture next to it. Once you have a piece of text and a picture together, it becomes the ultimate form of truth irrespective of the facts of the case. The infographic and the website started going viral independently. Another fake news website picked up the ‘news’. One of the chosen 1700 odd people whom PM Modi follows on Twitter tagged the person who was the target of the rumour and repeated the contents of the rumour. And that is how News Laundry’s Madhu Trehan found out that she’s not only a leftist but she also has an issue with Baahubali film now having any Muslim characters. The image above is that of a Twitter handle called YesIAmSaffron, who is followed by PM Modi, and is spreading the rumour about Madhu Trehan. We had recently exposed how this same Twitter handle misuses pictures of women for political propaganda. Madhu Trehan in her tweet clarified that the words that were being attributed to her were not hers. She also questioned YesIamSaffron as to how could he use her picture and circulate a rumour. However, the picture bit was not the handiwork of YesIAmSaffron. That infographic was originally created by a website called DainikBharat and is now being spread with much enthusiasm by many right-wingers on different forms of social media. We have previously written about Dainik Bharat spreading fake news on at least two occasions (go.altnews.in/2qsyoG2 and go.altnews.in/2qt2w4s). At the time of writing, this Dainik Bharat post regarding Madhu Trehan has been liked/shared 22,449 times on Facebook and that figure is increasing fast. Another fake news site that regurgitated the same rumour is IndianKhabar.in. At the time of writing, IndianKhabar.in’s post has been liked/shared 3000 times. However, neither of the two aforementioned websites were the originators of the rumour. Dainik Bharat’s post is timestamped as 2:17 pm., May 1st. The rumour was already viral on social media on April 30th. The nature of these posts with unrelated people on Facebook having identical status updates suggests that all of them picked it from WhatSapp where the rumour must have been originally circulated. The first public post on Facebook regarding this was by one Vishwakarma Gyan. वामपंथी लेखक मधु त्रेहन बोल रहे है कि बाहुबली में कोई मुस्लिम कैरेक्टर काहे नहीं है !!! ये वही लोग है , जो अपने मम्मी पापा की शादी का एल्बम देखकर पूछते है कि इसमें मैं क्यों नहीं हूँ !!! English translation: Leftist writer Madhu Trehan has raised an issue that Baahubal has no Muslim characters. These are the same people who ask their parents as to why they aren’t present in their parent’s wedding albums. If we continue to ignore these websites that are running an organised racket of fake news, this cancer will only grow. Their express purpose is of defemation, personal vilification, spreading rumours with the intention of causing communal discord and more. People need to start taking legal action against these websites or the list of victims will keep growing. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd May 2017 / 2:31 pm / Last updated: 2nd May 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-branded-news-laundrys-madhu-trehan-leftist-non-existent-comments-baahubali/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
1,111	Fake News Bulletin 1: Fake video of caste violence from Gujarat and more - Alt News Alt News Desk 2nd August 2017 / 10:02 pm A video of a couple who were stripped, thrashed and paraded around naked is being currently circulated as a video of caste violence in Gujarat. This same video is also being circulated as a video of caste violence in Uttar Pradesh. In reality, the video is neither from Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh. Other than various social media accounts, a website called Skeptic Indians also spread this fake video. A Tamil website, tamilarasial.com, also spread the rumour that it was caste based violence. As reported by Hindustan times, the incident took place in Shambhupura village in Banswara district of Rajasthan in April 2017. After a Khap like diktat was issue, Kachru (20) and his cousin with whom he was allegedly in a relationship were thrashed and paraded naked inside the village. Both the victims belonged to the Bhil tribal community of Rajasthan. Here’s the video report of the same incident: A Facebook page called “Yogi Ji Best CM” circulated a video claiming that a member of Durga Vahini, RSS’s women’s wing, defeated a Pakistani woman wrestler. This video was shared over 27,000 times, liked over 53,000 times and viewed 1.2 million times at the time of writing. In reality, as reported by Deccan Chronicle, the fight was between a woman, who’s a former Haryana police officer and power-lifting and mixed martial arts champion Kavita, and a professional woman wrestler, BB Bull Bull. Continental Wrestling Entertainment. Former #Haryana police officer, and power- lifting and #MMA champion #KAVITA accepted the open challenge of BB Bull Bull. Watch as the crowd erupts while chaos takes place before the General Manager #Heymant Singh issues next week's MIXED TAG-TEAM MATCH! #CWE #Jalandhar #TheGreatKhali Posted by CWE – Dalip Singh on Monday, June 13, 2016 The admin of “Yogi Ji Best CM” not only circulated the above video with a fake message, the person also seems to be ignorant that Durga Vahini is the women’s wing of VHP and not RSS. Another picture of a man putting his foot on a Hindu idol and posted by a page called Krishna has been shared over 57000 times. Some Twitter accounts also circulated this picture demanding that the man should be hung to death. In reality, the man has been photo-shopped into the picture and doesn’t exist in the original picture. The original picture can be seen below. This is only a small selection of fake videos/images that were circulated on social media this week. In this day and age, always cross-check everything before sharing it on your personal social media profiles or over WhatsApp. Cross-checking is especially important if a video is violent in nature or if it evokes extreme emotions. Beware of fake news sites such as hindutva.info, postcard.news, dainikbharat.org etc. These websites spread fake news as a business model and mint tons of money via such fake news. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd August 2017 / 10:02 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-bulletin-1-fake-video-caste-violence-gujarat/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
1,112	Fake news claims Narendra Modi is second most corrupt Prime Minister in the world - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 15th March 2018 / 6:11 pm Prime Minister Narendra Modi ranks second among the most corrupt Prime Ministers in the world, if one were to go by a list that is circulating on social media. According to this list of most corrupt Prime Ministers in the world, PM Modi is second, behind Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan. Vladimir Putin ranks third. This list which is purportedly by an organisation with a name similar to Fox News is being circulated on Facebook. Public Voice, a Facebook page has shared this list and also makes the allegation that PM Modi’s net worth is about 250,000 US dollars. The post also refers to PM Modi’s alleged ties with the Sahara group. This post dated March 13, 2018 has been shared more than 1500 times. 2: Narendra Modi (India) 66 years old Narendra Modi is most corrupt Prime Minister in the world he is current 14th… Posted by Public Voice on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 Alt News looked up www.foxnewspoint.com and discovered that it has nothing to do with American news channel Fox News. This website has also released another list of ten most corrupt politicians in the world in March 2017, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi ranks seventh. In yet another list from September 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s family ranks second among the ten most corrupt families in the world. Again, Nawaz Sharif’s family tops the list. Narendra Modi is spelled as ‘Narindar Modi’. Earlier in 2017, social media was flooded with similar posts. A list had circulated on social media which claimed that the Congress party ranks fourth among the most corrupt political parties in the world. This list was from a website called bbcnewspoint. However, clicking on the link now redirects to foxnewspoint which indicates that both these websites are being run by the same entity. It was shared by many right-wing accounts on Facebook and Twitter. #सुनो_गौर_से_दुनिया_वालो Indian National Congress Is The 4th Most Corrupt Political Party In The World. Brings Shame To India. RT & Spread! pic.twitter.com/Xh4PvxfvEA — Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) March 20, 2017 Another version of the list stated that BBC had declared Congress as the fourth most corrupt party in the world. BBC declares Congress as the most corrupt party in the world @sush091979@INCIndia@[email protected]/o2SuB2PHzG — Abhishek Dutt (@chicku0410) October 9, 2017 Interestingly, according to some others, the same BBC had declared the BJP as the most corrupt political party in the world! BJP termed the most corrupt political party in the world :- sources BBC news. #Modihataodeshbachao#Killermodi#Modigobackpic.twitter.com/JiYua5u1KT — SUNA MIANDAD (@Sunamiandad) September 3, 2017 As it turns out, there was no such survey conducted by BBC, but this detail was oblivious to those on all sides of the ideological divide who zestfully spread this fake news on social media. These fake lists are basically used as propaganda tools by supporters and sympathisers of various political parties. SMHoaxSlayer had published an article rubbishing these lists as false. Social media users need to be circumspect with regard to such claims passing around on social media, as media organisations do not conduct surveys on such topics. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th March 2018 / 6:11 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-claims-narendra-modi-is-second-most-corrupt-prime-minister-in-the-world/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,113	Fake news claims Raghuram Rajan appointed Governor of Bank of England - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 6th May 2018 / 12:14 am / Last updated: 11th July 2018 According to ‘news’ that is viral on social media, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has been appointed the Governor of the Bank of England. Rajan, who moved back to Chicago after his stint at the RBI to teach at the Booth School of Business. It is being claimed that he will now take over the reins of the Bank of England. Congratulating Mr. Raghuram Rajan, elected as Governor for Bank of England. And, as usual, whatever we Indians have with us, the value of those things is recognised by foriegners and they take it away. Posted by Satprakash Sharma on Friday, April 27, 2018 The above post was uploaded on April 28 on Facebook by an individual user. It has been shared more than 7000 times till now. The post says, “Congratulating Mr. Raghuram Rajan, elected as Governor for Bank of England. And, as usual, whatever we Indians have with us, the value of those things is recognised by foriegners and they take it away.” Messages congratulating Dr. Rajan have flooded Facebook with many users sharing the ‘news’ of Dr. Rajan’s appointment. This ‘news’ has also been shared on Twitter. Majority of the posts on both Twitter and Facebook are by individual users with almost identical text, which suggests that this rumour is circulating on WhatsApp. This was also published on Siasat.com. Among prominent people, Mr Shashi Tharoor tweeted the article by Siasat. Remarkable: India’s RaghuramRajan has been appointed Governor of the Bank of England! https://t.co/xdIop5Ltuv With an Indian (NasserHusain) having captained the England cricket team already, all that’s left to complete a reverse colonization is for an Indian to be Prime Minister. — Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) May 5, 2018 Not appointed Contrary to these rumours, it may be stated that Dr. Raghuram Rajan has NOT been appointed Governor of Bank of England. Alt News contacted Raghuram Rajan regarding the social media rumours. In his response, he stated, “Sorry, but this is fake news. I am happy with my current job and have not searched for, nor got, any other.” It has been widely reported that Dr. Rajan is one of the contenders for the top job at the Bank of England. An article by the London based financial daily The Financial Times states, “Attracting Raghuram Rajan, the highly respected Chicago-based economist and former Reserve Bank of India governor, would be a coup, as would securing Agustín Carstens, Mexico’s central bank chief and the new general manager of the Bank of International Settlements”. The article goes on to say that Philip Hammond, UK chancellor, is initiating the process to select the next governor of Bank of England to replace Mark Carney next year. According to the article, the chancellor has said he has already begun looking for candidates. The Financial Times had also published a cartoon on April 29 to this effect. Dr. Rajan had earlier too been at the receiving end of fake news on social media. In a post that had gone viral in March 2018, it was claimed that Dr. Rajan had warned former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Congress President Rahul Gandhi about the PNB scam but no action was taken. This time round, it seems that overzealous fans of Dr. Rajan have jumped the gun and appointed him the Governor rather prematurely. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	6th May 2018 / 12:14 am / Last updated: 11th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-claims-raghuram-rajan-appointed-governor-of-bank-of-england/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,114	Fake news: Former Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya killed in a car accident in Canada - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 27th May 2019 / 3:54 pm ‘Man knocked down by vehicle in Toronto identified as former Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya’, said the headline of an article on a website, CBTV. According to the report, the former swashbuckling opener succumbed to his injuries a few hours after he was knocked down by a Honda Civic, adding that the Sri Lankan embassy in Canada had confirmed the identity of the cricketer. The ‘news’ of Sanath Jayasuriya’s untimely demise soon flooded social media, with some celebrities too tweeting about it. While actor Arshad Warsi called the news ‘shocking and sad’, cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin tweeted to ask if the news was true. Warsi tweeted the link to the CBTV article on Jayasuriya. This news is so shocking & sad…https://t.co/NvinJ227k2 — Arshad Warsi (@ArshadWarsi) May 27, 2019 Is the news on Sanath Jayasuriya true?? I got a news update on what’s app but see nothing here on Twitter!! — Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) May 27, 2019 Sanath Jayasuriya is alive and well. The report by CBTV is fake news. This was confirmed by none other than Jayasuriya himself who tweeted saying that he has not visited Canada recently, and that he is very much in Sri Lanka. Please disregard fake news by malicious websites regarding my health and well being. I am in Srilanka and have not visited Canada recently.Please avoid sharing fake news. — Sanath Jayasuriya (@Sanath07) May 21, 2019 In conclusion, reports suggesting that former Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya has died in a road accident in Canada, are false. 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	27th May 2019 / 3:54 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-former-sri-lankan-cricketer-sanath-jayasuriya-killed-in-a-car-accident-in-canada/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,115	Fake news: Kerala government arrested a Sabarimala child protester - Alt News Jignesh Patel 1st December 2018 / 5:41 pm / Last updated: 18th March 2019 “ఈ #అమ్మాయిని కేరళ గవర్నమెంట్ #అరెస్ట్ చేసింది కారణం ఏంటి అంటే #అయ్యప్ప కోసం పోరాటం చేసింది అని. Rip ra pinarai (Kerala Government has arrested this girl, what’s the reason? reason being she was fighting for Lord Ayappa – translated)” The above photograph has circulated on social media with the narrative that this little girl was arrested by the Kerala goverment. A Facebook page, హిందూ హిందుత్వం – Hindu Hindutvam has shared the photo with the aforementioned text. The message suggested that this young girl was ‘fighting’ against the Supreme court judgement allowing entry of women of menstruating age in the Sabarimala temple. Several other individuals on Facebook and Twitter have shared this image with this narrative. One more Facebook page, Wise Indian Tongue – WIT has also shared the photo with a message, “Baby arrested. RIP PINNIYARI Commie govt.. be safe dear.” Using the Google reverse image search tool, Alt News found the same photo posted on a website, Sharestills.com. According to her profile, Akshara Kishor is a child artist who has worked in several Malayalam television serials and films. The same image which is now being shared on social media was also posted on the official Facebook page of Akshara Kishor on November 9, 2017. Posted by Akshara kishor on Wednesday, 8 November 2017 The child artist can also be seen in a video posted on YouTube wearing the same attire. The get-up was part of a devotional song on Lord Ayyappa. Alt News couldn’t find any media reports of her arrest by the Kerala government. Considering that she’s a popular child artist, any such legal action would have made it to both local and national media. Moreover, her official Facebook page is active, with daily updates. There are no posts about her arrest on this page either as alleged on social media. Thus, the narrative circulated on social media is fake. Of late, Sabarimala has become a focus of misinformation. Alt News has chronicled several instances of misinformation surrounding the Sabarimala issue which was circulated by mainstream media and social media after the Supreme Court verdict. 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 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	1st December 2018 / 5:41 pm / Last updated: 18th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-kerala-government-arrested-a-sabarimala-child-protester/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
1,116	Fake News: Lord Ayyappa devotee commits suicide over entry of women inside Sabarimala temple - Alt News Jignesh Patel 9th January 2019 / 11:39 am The ongoing conflict surrounding the Supreme Court verdict allowing entry of women of all age groups inside temple has led to tension and violence in Kerala. It is now being claimed that a devotee named Jayarajan from Valanchery, Kerala has committed suicide in the wake of the incident where two women activists entering Sabarimala and there by allegedly ‘desecrating’ the temple. Among many social media users, ShankhNaad, who has repeatedly spread divisive misinformation, also tweeted this claim. @Partyvillage017, an individual handle tweeted a photograph of the devotee with the same narrative. It has garnered close to 1300 retweets.Several individuals on Facebook are also circulating the photograph with the identical narrative. Officials have denied the links between the suicide and the controversy around women’s entry in Sabrimala. In a conversation with Alt News, Gopi, brother-in-law of Jayaranjan said, “The suicide is not at all linked to the Sabarimala issue but of course he was a Sabarimala devotee. He was a retired post-master. Neither was he mentally ill nor did he have a financial problem.” Gopi confirmed that Jayarajan committed suicide on January 1, 2019. It must be noted that the two women went inside the Sabarimala temple on January 2. In a statement given to Alt News, Inspector P Pramod said, “His family is denying the fact. They are saying there is no definite reason for suicide and it is not related to Sabarimala. The family has given a complaint that on social media, it is being linked to Sabarimala but it is not. His daughter had approached us with the complaint.” Speaking to Boom Live, Inspector P Pramod said, “His death was reported by his brother-in-law at the police station. We carried out the procedures and are waiting for the post-mortem report.” In conclusion, an incident of suicide which was in no way related to the Sabarimala temple row was falsely linked with the recent development in Sabarimala. The incident of suicide happened on January 1st and the two women entered the holy shrine on January 2nd. Therefore, the suicide cannot be related to the entry of the women in the temple. The Sabarimala issue has been at the centre of a massive misinformation campaign with multiple instances being reported last year as well. 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	9th January 2019 / 11:39 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-lord-ayyappa-devotee-commits-suicide-over-entry-of-women-inside-sabarimala-temple/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
1,117	Fake news of Pakistani flag at Congress rally recirculates widely on social media - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 29th May 2018 / 1:58 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018 कांग्रेसियों की रैली में लहराते हैं पाकिस्तान के झंडे क्या आपका खून नहीं खोलता……क्या अब भी आप कांग्रेस को वोट देंगे??? (Pakistani flags are waved at Congress rallies does your blood not boil…..will you still vote for Congress?- translated). This message has been shared more than 15000 times along with an image of a green coloured flag being waved at a political rally by the Congress party. The Facebook page Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar which has close to 100,000 followers shared this message and photograph on May 27. Since then, it has been shared more than 25,000 times. कांग्रेसियों की रैली में लहराते हैं पाकिस्तान के झंडे क्या आपका खून नहीं खोलता…… क्या अब भी आप कांग्रेस को वोट देंगे???? Posted by फिर एक बार मोदी सरकार on Sunday, May 27, 2018 Another Facebook page BJP All India which has a massive following of over one million uploaded it too, and it has been shared close to 5000 times by users. It has also been posted by the page Narendra Modi WhatsApp Group and shared widely. Alt News had chronicled the rush of fake news in the run up to the Karnataka election, among which was a viral post that claimed the Pakistani flag was waved at a rally in Karnataka by the Congress party. Many pro-BJP Facebook pages had shared the video of the rally. An image from the same rally has now been recirculated by right-wing pages on Facebook only a fortnight after the election ended in the state. It may be reiterated that the green coloured flag seen in the image is NOT the flag of Pakistan. It is in fact 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. The Pakistan flag has a white patch on the left which the flag flown in the Congress rally doesn’t. The confusion caused by the similarities in these banners and the systematic attempt to malign non-BJP political parties using this optical trickery is a recurring phenomenon now. 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	29th May 2018 / 1:58 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-of-pakistani-flag-at-congress-rally-recirculates-widely-on-social-media/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,118	Fake news: Priyanka Gandhi met Pak army chief in Dubai in February before Pulwama attack - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 16th February 2019 / 5:25 pm In the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, a viral message on social media claims that Priyanka Gandhi met Pakistani army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa in Dubai on February 7. The message ends with the statement – “Gaurav Pradhan had warned us.” From a Facebook group Narendra Damodar Modi Supporter, the message received 1,100 shares. It is viral on both Facebook and Twitter with the Hindi text – “पप्पू की साइको बहन प्रियंका ने दुबई में पाक आर्मी चीफ बाजवा से 7 फ़रवरी को मुलाकात की थी। गौरव प्रधान ने सचेत किया था। (Pappu’s psycho sister Priyanka met Pak army chief Bajwa on February 7 in Dubai. Gaurav Pradhan had warned us. )” The messages hint at a February 7 tweet put out by Twitter user @DrGPradhan where he alleged that Pakistan’s Rawalpindi was planning some “misadventure” on the Indian side of the Line of Control. He further suggested that the conspiracy was in close coordination between “bottle” and “Nomi”. High Alert INPUT @PMOIndia Pindi wants to do some misadventure on our side of LOC This is in close coordination with instructions given by bottle to Nomi When she was in Dubai To scale down @narendramodi on URI Some action by BAT or men in uniform Retaliation before #LS2019 — #GauravPradhan 🇮🇳 (@DrGPradhan) February 7, 2019 Pradhan has made earlier references to “Nomi”, who he claims is the right-hand man of the chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. The word “bottle” might be a reference to Priyanka Gandhi as claimed by an article shared by Pradhan himself. The authenticity of Pradhan’s claims remain questionable as there is no mention of any Nomi or that he is connected to Priyanka Gandhi in the media. The viral messages claiming that Priyanka Gandhi met with Pak army chief in Dubai on February 7 do not stand up to the scrutiny of facts. The Congress leader was appointed as AICC general secretary in-charge of the party’s affairs in Uttar Pradesh East on February 6. Gandhi attended her first official meeting in Delhi on February 7 to discuss Lok Sabha poll strategy. The meeting was reported across mainstream media channels. After the Pulwama attack where at least 40 Indian jawans were martyred, misinformation targeting Congress has witnessed a surge. Alt News had earlier reported how a clipped video of Priyanka Gandhi was viral on social media claiming that the Congress leader was laughing after the attack. 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	16th February 2019 / 5:25 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-priyanka-gandhi-met-pak-army-chief-in-dubai-in-february-before-pulwama-attack/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,119	Fake news round-up, December 2017, PM Modi leads the way - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 5th January 2018 / 3:32 pm The final month of the year was no different when it came to proliferation of fake news. Here is a quick wrap of all the fake stories that did the rounds in December. 1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ride on a seaplane from Ahmedabad to Mehsana was touted as the first ever seaplane to have flown in India. This claim was made by PM Modi’s personal website www.narendramodi.in and reiterated by BJP functionaries and mainstream media houses. However, the claim fell flat on its face when it emerged that seaplanes had been first deployed by Jal Hans in the Andaman and Nicobar islands in 2010. 2. Close on the heels of India’s first seaplane came India’s first metro- the Delhi metro, as claimed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech. PM Modi claimed that former PM Vajpayee was a passenger on the nation’s first metro service in 2002. However, the first metro service in India was started in Kolkata in the year 1984. 3. Controversy erupted over Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Somnath temple in Gujarat on the eve of the assembly election when it was claimed that he had signed the register meant for non-Hindus for entry to the temple. Originally published by a journalist from Zee Gujarat, the ‘news’ was the top story for mainstream media. It later emerged that the entry which became the hot topic for discussion was actually made by someone else and was misrepresented to make it seem as if Rahul Gandhi had signed it. The original entry was made in the regular temple register. 4. At the beginning of the month, Times Now carried a story on prime time wherein they showed how cattle were being ‘tortured’. The hashtag for the story was #CowSlaughterCruelty. Not only was there no video of cows being slaughtered, but one of the videos that was passed off as animal cruelty is actually a veterinarian procedure for treating a condition in pregnant cattle known as uterine torsion. 5. Shobha Karandlaje, BJP MP from Udupi-Chickmagalur, alleged that Paresh Mesta who was found dead in a lake in Honnavar town in Uttara Kannada district of the state was brutally tortured and killed by ‘jihadi elements’. This was reiterated by India Today in a tweet. The details of the forensic report released by Karnataka police refuted these claims, saying no torture had taken place. In another instance, Karandlaje claimed that ‘jihadis’ tried to rape and murder a Hindu girl in Honnavar. This too turned out to be fake as the police clarified that no such incident had taken place. Karandlaje was subsequently booked for promoting enmity between groups. Can any civilised society accept the brutality meted out on Paresh Mesta?Worse of all is the stony silence from CM @siddaramaiah.Is it because the victim is a Hindu — Shobha Karandlaje (@ShobhaBJP) December 10, 2017 6. A photograph that was widely circulated on social media showed a man being dragged with his feet tied to a bike. The caption accompanying the photo said, ‘This is what happened to a Hindu man who raised the slogan of Jai Shri Ram in Pakistan. Share this post so much that each Hindu receives it’. However, the image was not from Pakistan but from Palestine and was shot in 2012. 7. Tejashwi Yadav, RJD leader and son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad posted this letter on twitter which was attributed to an Election Commission official. The letter alleged large scale EVM tampering with the help of telecom companies. The letter turned out to be fake as the State Election Commission clarified that it had not received any such letter and there was no EC official by the name mentioned in the letter. Doing rounds on whatsapp.. Authenticity you verify pic.twitter.com/2fjH1Yejou — Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) December 17, 2017 8. BJP MP Kirron Kher posted a photograph on her twitter account of soldiers braving extremely cold weather, saying it was a photo of Indian army soldiers posted in Siachen. The photograph in question which has been viral on social media for a long time is originally of Russian army soldiers. pic.twitter.com/OIy8yH6hM7 — Kirron Kher (@KirronKherBJP) December 17, 2017 9. A video of an injured soldier giving instructions to his unit till his last breath became viral on social media. Among those who shared the video were former Army chief General VK Singh and AAP leader Alka Lamba, although General Singh did not mention the injured soldier as Major Prafulla. Major Prafulla was martyred while preventing infiltration in the Keri sector of J&K earlier in the month. However, the video was not of Major Prafulla but of an Assistant Commandant of CRPF and was shot in 2009. 10. Ratan Sharda, RSS thinker and ideologue and many others tweeted a message which claimed that Judge OP Saini who delivered the verdict on the 2G scam acquitting A Raja and Kanimozhi is the father of Angad Saini, the youngest MLA of Punjab and a member of the Congress party. The information turned out to be false as the two are not related. Sharda subsequently deleted his tweet. 11. A video that was widely circulated on social media claimed that SP leader Kamal Akhtar was roughed up by UP police as he tried to incite communal violence. It turned out that the video in question was of 2011 and the person being beaten up was not Kamal Akhtar. The video was of a protest by SP workers against the then BSP govt in the state. This same clip has been circulating on social media with different captions. 2017 was yet another year which saw the proliferation of fake news that emanated not only from social media but also from mainstream media. With the Gujarat assembly election taking place in December, there were attempts to spread fake news with the intention of polarising the electorate. Also, tall claims were made with regard to developmental projects that were inaugurated in the run up to the polls. December was thus an eventful month for fake news peddlers and fake news busters alike. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	5th January 2018 / 3:32 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-round-december-2017-pm-modi-leads-way/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,120	Fake news round-up, January 2018, Communally divisive rumours dominate fake news - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 5th February 2018 / 5:26 pm January saw an amalgam of fake news, misleading statements, discrepancies, mischievous quotes attributed to public figures and misleading reportage by TV news channels. 1. Muslims attacked school bus at Gurugram After a school bus was attacked in Gurugram over the movie ‘Padmaavat’, following which there was a general public uproar, messages started circulating on social media claiming that five muslim youth had been arrested over the attack. This piece of information was completely false and malicious. The Commissioner of Police, Gurugram in a statement to Alt News clarified that the names of those arrested which are circulating on social media are not the names of those people who have actually been held. Gurugram police also issued a statement on Twitter saying no Muslim boys had been arrested over the incident. This is to clarify that no Muslims boys have been detained in relation to the recent acts of vandalism on a Haryana Roadways bus and a School bus in Gurugram. — Gurugram Police (@gurgaonpolice) January 26, 2018 2. Discrepancy in PM Modi’s Davos speech and MEA version of speech It emerged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the plenary session of the World Economic Forum at Davos was not the speech that was put up as the official text by the Ministry of External Affairs on its website. There were massive discrepancies, and it seems the MEA had put out the text of some other speech altogether. 1997 mein chidiya tweet karti thi, ab manushya karte hain, tab agar aap Amazon internet pe daalte toh nadiyon aur jungle ki tasveer aati: PM Modi #Davos #WorldEconomicForum pic.twitter.com/2Q9GoUp6YJ — ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2018 Incidentally, the PM’s speech was posted verbatim on his personal website but even the mainstream media shied away from reproducing it, sticking to the MEA version of the speech. After the discrepancy was pointed out, the Ministry of External Affairs posted the speech of the Prime Minister verbatim, in place of what it had published originally. 3. India Today uses 2-year old video as ‘ground report’ India Today used a video of Pakistani mortar fire as the basis for its ‘ground report’ after Indian civilian areas came under Pakistani shelling in J&K. Pak Army fires mortar, targets Indian civilian. @ashwini1959 brings you more on this.#IndiaFirst LIVE https://t.co/4fqxBVUizL pic.twitter.com/sYAONVM8SH — India Today (@IndiaToday) January 22, 2018 It turned out that the video in question was around two years old and claimed that it was the Pakistani army engaged in the ‘Zarb-e-Azb’ operation in the North Waziristan region. India Today had broadcast the video as a ‘border ground report’ by its correspondent. The video has not yet been deleted by the channel. 4. Rahul Gandhi posts misleading tweet on wealth distribution in India Congress President Rahul Gandhi, on the day when PM was addressing the WEF meet at Davos, tweeted with an accompanying link the statement that ‘1% of India gets 73% of its wealth’. Dear PM, Welcome to Switzerland! Please tell DAVOS why 1% of India’s population gets 73% of its wealth? I’m attaching a report for your ready reference. https://t.co/lLSNOig5pE — Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 23, 2018 Gandhi was referring to an Oxfam survey that was released, which claimed that 73% of all wealth generated in India in the last year accrued to the wealthiest 1% of the population. The Congress President’s tweet however was not categorical in stating this, and came across as a generalisation of the scenario of wealth distribution in India. You can read the Alt News report on it here. 5. Mail Today Editor posts fake news on Kasganj violence Editor of Mail Today Abhijit Majumder tweeted that besides Chandan Gupta, another youth named Rahul Upadhyay succumbed to injuries he had sustained in the outbreak of communal violence at Kasgang, U.P on Republic Day. Majumder issued a clarificatory statement following the uproar but stopped short of an outright apology, indulging in whataboutery. 6. Congress party sponsored Jignesh Mewani’s presser Republic TV had alleged that youth leader and MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mewani’s press conference in New Delhi on January 5 was sponsored and managed by the Congress party. #CongSponsorsJignesh \| Why was Rahul Gandhi’s right-hand man organising Jignesh’s press meet? pic.twitter.com/ogPwPjTQaP — Republic (@republic) January 5, 2018 However, it emerged that the venue for the presser had been booked by one Raza Haider who is a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker, on behalf of Mewani. Republic TV however carried out a high-decibel campaign against Mewani and the Congress party. 7. Pakistani flags raised at Dalit rally in Maharashtra In the aftermath of the Bhima-Koregaon violence in the beginning of January, a photograph was circulating on social media in which it was alleged that Pakistani flags were raised at a Dalit bike rally in Maharashtra. The photograph showed green flags in the rally with captions like ‘दलित जुलूस में #पाकिस्तानी झंडे क्या कर रहे हैं। ये जातिबाद का जहर घोल के न तो महाराष्ट्र को तोड़ पाओगे और न ही “#भारत_तेरे_टुकड़े_होंगे” का ख्वाब पूरा होगा। (What are Pakistani flags doing in a Dalit rally? By spreading this poison of casteism, neither will Maharashtra break nor will the dream of a divided India be realised) This was a mischievous rumour. In the undated photograph, a closer look at the image revealed that it was not the Pakistani flag that was raised but the banner of Islam. To the lay person, the commonalities in the two banners make it confusing to distinguish one from the other and there could be a tendency to believe what has been forwarded. 8. Roommate of AMU PhD student who joined Hizbul goes missing A day after the news broke out that PhD scholar at Aligarh Muslim University Mannan Bashir Wani had allegedly joined terrorist group Hijbul Mujahideen, Times of India reported that his roommate too has been missing. Quoting Aligarh SSP, the paper claimed that a preliminary enquiry had revealed the roommate who was also from Baramulla is missing since July 2017. The report turned out to be false, as the person who was declared missing by sections of media was not missing but was working as a geologist with a mining firm in Nagpur. 9. Fake quotes factory goes on overdrive A number of mischievous quotes were attributed to celebrities which went viral on social media platforms. From Arundhati Roy who supposedly compared Islamic terrorism to treatement of children by mothers and teachers, to actor Prakash Raj who allegedly asked Hindus to silently tolerate atrocities by Muslims. Actor Farhan Akhtar reportedly said that had Hindus not taken out a tiranga yatra on the day of jumma, they would not have been killed. Actress Swara Bhaskar too was not spared. Her words in the open letter to Sanjay Leela Bhansali were twisted by ShankhNaad to attribute a ludicrous quote to her. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	5th February 2018 / 5:26 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-round-january-2018-communally-divisive-rumours-dominate-fake-news/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,121	Fake News Round-up, November 2017 – BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya is the star - Alt News Sam Jawed 6th December 2017 / 4:58 pm From Pandit Nehru to Nobel Laureate, Richard Thaler, no one was spared by the fake news industry this month to further its agenda. The obsession of right-wing groups with pro-Pakistan slogans was again in the limelight and three incidents which were reported all turned out to be fake. With each passing day, those eager to portray others as anti-national are turning out to be the real anti-national elements as they cause irreparable harm to the social fabric of the country. Here is a round-up of the highlights of the month: The highlight of the month was the collage of images circulated by BJP IT cell head, Amit Malviya to vilify Jawaharlal Nehru. Social media is full of derogatory statements and morphed pictures of Nehru circulated by BJP supporters. By tweeting this set of pictures of Nehru with women, Malviya made insinuations linking Hardik Patel’s alleged sex CD to Nehru’s DNA. Malviya had egg on his face when it turned out that the women showing affection towards Nehru were his sister and niece. Despite widespread outrage, Malviya neither deleted nor apologized for his attempts to malign Nehru. You can read about the story behind the nine pictures in the Alt News article here. Talking of Amit Malviya and his penchant for fake news, yet another misleading news circulated by him about the support of Demonetisation by Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler was busted by Thaler himself. Malviya had earlier cherry-picked one of Thaler’s tweets out of a conversation as evidence of his support for demonetisation. A twitter user emailed Professor Thaler with a direct question about his views on demonetization. The Nobel Laureate didn’t mince his words in his response: “The concept was good as a move to a cashless society to impede corruption but the rollout was deeply flawed and the introduction of the Rs 2000 note makes the motivation for the entire exercise puzzling.” Thaler also retweeted his response but that was not a deterrent for Malviya. Two days after the Alt News article, Malviya was once again found to be using Thaler’s name to support demonetization. Ah well! Let us move on, some people will never learn. This migration towards a more digital and less-cash economy is what Richard Thaler, the Nobel Prize winner for Economics in 2017, pointed to when he endorsed demonetisation and called it the ‘nudge theory’.. https://t.co/X9zsmNOVyz — Amit Malviya (@malviyamit) November 20, 2017 The controversy over the movie Padmavati dominated much of the headlines during the month. BJP spokesperson Sanju Verma saw in this an opportunity to pass off those making violent threats as members of Congress / SP / AAP. Sanju Verma’s claims were busted by an Alt News article that revealed the truth behind the political affiliation of those threatening violence. Verma did not take well to be corrected and went on a rant against those who pointed out the factual errors in her tweet to her. What about this and what about that! .@abhisar_sharma, who was in news a while back for reported #TaxChori claims @AltNews tore into my claims:)@AltNews news founded by Prathik Sinha,son of Mukul Sinha,rabid Modi/BJP hater,was caught faking stories about Gujarat!This Sharma&this Sinha,a case of #ChorChorMausereBhai? https://t.co/4zVMr31iMD — Sanju Verma (@Sanju_Verma_) November 20, 2017 .@AdityaMenon22 You were exposed for stoking communal tension in Kashmir,by using fake pics dating back to 2012 from Syria. You scurried for cover.Stop lecturing me,though an out of work 'journo' who is trying hard to make ends meet,has my sympathies:)Muting you.#DiscreditedHack https://t.co/aGR2b8d4Xx — Sanju Verma (@Sanju_Verma_) November 20, 2017 In November we saw yet another instance of a Government department using pictures from abroad to represent its achievements. This time it was the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways who used a picture of Gardiner expressway from Toronto, Canada on its Parivahan website. Yet another picture on website was actually of Kyle Canyon Road in Nevada, US. The images were deleted soon after the Alt news article on the topic. This is not the first time that something like this has happened. Earlier this year the Spain-Morocco border was passed off as lighting along the India border. With India having so much to showcase, we wonder why time and again Government of India is caught using pictures from another country. Using fake videos to portray the minority community as anti-national has now become a stale trick. It was no surprise therefore that the video circulated as that of Indian Muslims burning National flag and raising Pakistan Zindabad slogans in Punjab turned out to be fake. In reality, neither was the National flag burnt, nor did anyone raise “Haay Haay Bharat” or “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans, nor was the mob comprised of Muslims. The only slogans that could be heard in the video were “Atankwaad Haay Haay”. It turned that the video from June was of Right-wing leader Sudhir Kumar Suri, who burnt effigy of slain militant preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale on 33rd anniversary of Operation Bluestar. You can read more about this story here. Slogans in support of Hafiz Saeed in Uttar Pradesh? This too turned out to be fake news reported by multiple media outlets including Times of India. Alt News contacted SP of Lakhimpur, who stated that the allegations are false. Barely a day after the fake news regarding the Lakhimpur incident, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala and Jansatta ran a story which claimed that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised at an AIMIM rally in Ghaziabad, UP. Alt News spoke to the SHO of the Sahibabad division, Ghaziabad who said no such slogans were raised at the rally. Further investigation revealed that a slogan of ‘Haji Zeeshan Zindabad’ was deliberately misconstrued as ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ by antinational elements. CPM cyber warriors were accused of bombarding former Australian cricketer Tom Moody’s Facebook page with obscenities, confusing him with Moody’s, the international credit rating agency. Many right-wing accounts took the stories in Times of India and The News Minute as a cue to mock Kerala and belittle its literacy ranking. The tables turned when it was discovered by alert social media users that the profiles abusing Tom Moody were actually RSS supporters impersonating CPM cadres. The front page of Times of India Kochi edition carried an article on this issue with an abusive comment of a certain Govind Madhav who they portrayed as a CPM troll. The newspaper clearly failed to do its research. Madhav’s Facebook Timeline was found to be full of pro RSS propaganda including a comment “Commies are abusing Tom Moody mistaking him for the rating agency.” There was no retraction or apology from Times of India for this blatant anti-CPM propaganda. An anlaysis by Boom FactCheck of the first 125 comments to Tom Moody’s post also revealed that there was indeed no organized large scale trolling as claimed in the news articles. An off-beat story about the detention of donkeys in a district jail in Uttar Pradesh caused much hullabaloo for two days. The harmless story that led to quite a few laughs on social media turned sour when multiple media outlets started mocking UP Police for the arrests. In their eagerness to break the story, the point that everyone missed was that UP Police and UP Prisons are two separate departments under Home Ministry and UP police had nothing to do with the incident. UP police had a tough time correcting everyone who tagged them on the story. NDTV who was neither the first one to break the story, nor the first one to be corrected ended up getting blamed for it because of their sharp reaction when UP Police clarified the facts to them. We saw an RTI reply stating that no MoU was signed between India and Japan for the Bullet train project, during the recent visit of Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan in going viral. Many including Lalu Prasad Yadav, Gaurav Pandhi and Shakeel Ahmad alleged that the news of MoU signed was spread to gain the votes from Gujarat election. Is it true ? RTI reply says, no MoU or Agreement with Japan on Bullet Train . PM Modi can do anything to win Gujarat ? pic.twitter.com/Zmm0KxRu6o — Shakeel Ahmad (@Ahmad_Shakeel) November 17, 2017 It is true that India and Japan did not sign an MoU on 14th September, 2017. This was because the MoU was already signed in 2015. SM Hoax Slayer shared a PIB release from 2015 that stated that an MoU was signed on the 12th of December 2015 between India and Japan on cooperation and assistance in the Project. Needless to say, none of those who played an active role in disseminating fake news during the month felt it was their responsibility to own up, retract or apologize for it. With circulation of fake news reaching epic proportions in the run up to the Gujarat elections, social media users need to be more alert than ever before about the possibility that not everything they come across on social media may be true. Nobody's cheerleader, I tweet at @samjawed65 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	6th December 2017 / 4:58 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-round-november-2017-bjp-cell-head-amit-malviya-star/", "author": "Sam Jawed" }
1,122	Fake News Round-up, October 2017 – The usual culprits strike again - Alt News Alt News Desk 31st October 2017 / 5:22 pm / Last updated: 31st October 2017 Welcome to the fake news round-up for October 2017. We saw many repeat offenders this month, confirming the belief that a vast majority of fake news originates from a few known culprits. Those who find themselves sharing fake news inadvertently, apologize and delete it as soon as they are made aware of it. This is however not the case with serial fakers. They not only refuse to acknowledge it but move on to manufacturing new lies. Let us look at a selection of fake news, photoshopped images and doctored videos that did the rounds on social media this month. 1. The month began with a rather shameful incident where a good samaritan who was trying to help a Mumbai stampede victim was branded as a molester in an article by The Hindu. The news spread like wildfire and even made it to international press. Based on the news reports, the police investigated the molestation claim and spoke to the person who is seen standing behind the man accused of molestation in the video. They confirmed that “The witness has said in his statement that the woman’s upper body was protruding through the FOB’s railing and that the man in the video was supporting her with his thigh while trying to pull her out at the same time, and not molesting her. We also studied a longer version of the video, which corresponds with the witness’s statement”. The Hindu apologized and retracted the story. You can read more about the unfortunate 8 sec verdict here. 2. The police had to step in with facts once again when a known peddler of fake news, ShankhNaad circulated the news that a statue of Swami Vivekananda was destroyed by Muslims. Swami #Vivekanandah “beheaded” / destroyed allegedly by Muslims in Bhadohi, UP. Is India Saudi Arabia ? Media silent. BREAKING: Statue of Swami #Vivekananda “beheaded” / destroyed allegedly by #Muslims in Bhadohi, UP. Is India Saudi Arabia ? Media silent. pic.twitter.com/ZnRC8X7q0O — ShankhNaad (@ShankhNaad) October 28, 2017 घटना की सूचना मिलते ही कोतवाली पुलिस की कार्यवाही मुकदमा पंजिकृत करते हुए अभियुक्त की गिरफ्तार की गयी। pic.twitter.com/dRomKYE6ow — BHADOHI POLICE (@bhadohipolice) October 29, 2017 Even after Bhadohi Police confirmed the arrest of a Neeraj Gautam in the case ShankhNaad has not deleted his post. A quick look at his Twitter timeline will reveal that a vast majority of his posts are nothing but attempts to create communal polarization. 3. The shameful attack on the Swiss couple saw an equally shameful attempt to communalize the incident by the known fake news peddlers. Prashant Patel was once again the person behind the fake news suggesting that the culprits belonged to a particular community. Patel, who belongs to the breed of serial online fakers, was performing the “unholy” duty by suggesting that the attackers were performing their “holy” duty. The fake news was busted when local media carried the names and pictures of the accused. You can read more about it in the Alt News article 4. Rohingya refugees were again in the news after ANI carried and subsequently deleted a fake story on a plan to attack Nagaland. The fake story was based on fake news that was circulating on WhatsApp. After Alt News article on the same, Times Now and India Times also deleted their stories. However Twitter handles like Tarek Fatah and Tapan Ghosh who had circulated the fake story did not think they have a responsibility to delete their tweets. At Least 2,000 #Rohingya Muslims join #ISIS with plans to to atack #Nagaland in India's northeast. https://t.co/lFvd8cYBqW — ਤਾਰੇਕ ਫਤਹ (@TarekFatah) October 13, 2017 At Least 2,000 Rohingya Muslims Joins ISIS To Attack Nagaland: Reports – https://t.co/JE3E2oGm3m https://t.co/nDQch7zwEQ — Tapan Ghosh (@hstapanghosh) October 14, 2017 5. We are all familiar with some accounts that fall for fake news repeatedly and Kiran Bedi is one of them. No malicious intent here but the eagerness to please seems to cloud commonsense. Spirit of Deepavali at tender age of 97. She's mother of @narendramodi (Hiraben Modi -1920) celebrating Diwali at her own home👇🏼@SadhguruJV pic.twitter.com/HBXAzNXomC — Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) October 20, 2017 Sure enough it soon emerged that the video was not of PM Modi’s mother. It was not of Diwali celebration either as it was available on internet much before Diwali. The old lady was dancing to a popular Garba song and the video was on the internet right after the nine-day Garba celebration. 6. Continuing with Diwali related fake news, this year a photoshopped image of the Golden Temple took the place of the mandatory NASA image. Once again, from Madhu Kishwar to Amitabh Bachchan, it was the regular suspects who fell for it. Can't one guess the name of this place celebrating Diwali? pic.twitter.com/tewu9pPf3Z — MadhuPurnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) October 21, 2017 this is simply DIVINE … !! https://t.co/R5DiAsMzOp — Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) October 20, 2017 7. Not to be left behind, an actual image of India taken from space finally made it as a Diwali image. Paolo Nespoli, an astronaut on a space mission tweeted Diwali greetings with an image of India. Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, starts today. #HappyDiwali to everyone! #VITAmission pic.twitter.com/Uygnc8tTWx — Paolo Nespoli (@astro_paolo) October 19, 2017 Nespoli had shared a picture of India that was taken in September but such is the anticipation of a Diwali image from space that many including mainstream media believed that it was taken on Diwali night. Twitter users pointed out that the picture was available on Nespoli’s Flickr page indicating it was taken 20 days before Diwali. A spokesperson of the European Space Agency also confirmed this to NDTV in an email. 8. How can any talk of fake news be complete without a NASA story? Last month Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had claimed that “Jasleen Kaur Josan is the first Indian Sikh woman who has been selected by NASA to go to Mars” Jasleen Kaur had to take to Facebook to clarify that the story was false and she was an “aspiring astronaut”, yet to be called officially called an astronaut. Despite her detailed clarification the fake news continued to do rounds on twitter with the offenders not bothering to delete their posts even after it was pointed out to them. Well done Jasleen Josan! She is the first Sikh woman to be a part of the two-way Mars mission by NASA which is set to happen in 2030. pic.twitter.com/SZ2XjPAn5k — Manjinder S Sirsa (@mssirsa) October 6, 2017 Jasleen Kaur Josan from Haryana has been chosen by NASA to go to the first man mission to Mars in 2030. #ProudIndian pic.twitter.com/GGH82SuDiL — Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) October 8, 2017 9. Rishi Bagree, another well-known name in the fake news ecosystem circulated a video he claimed was of Congress in Gujarat. This is the state of Gujarat Congress 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/FjtSBoea7Y — Rishi Bagree 🇮🇳 (@rishibagree) October 25, 2017 Boom Fact check pointed out that the audio had been edited and video was from March, reportedly from Manipur. Only the naïve would hope that Bagree would delete the fake news after being confronted. Photoshop to audio editing. Video from March reportedly from Manipur not Gujarat. No Rahul Gandhi audio on original https://t.co/LEzWjnN4g7 — BOOM FactCheck (@boomlive_in) October 26, 2017 10. This Diwali saw the ban on the sale of firecrackers in Delhi NCR. The fake news industry worked overtime to find a way to blame it on Congress. Sanjeev Goyal asked a seemingly innocent question suggesting a link between Congress and the Supreme Court judge. Justice Sikri, head of the SC bench who imposed #firecrackersban in Delhi👇 Is this true @pbhushan1?😁 pic.twitter.com/6GZW5zDgft — #Intolerant भारतीय (@goyalsanjeev) October 18, 2017 The attempt fell flat as the picture was confirmed as not one of Justice Sikri but of a Congress leader. This photo is from 2012, earlier it was used to defame Journalist Vinod Dua, now being used for SC Judge. He is KP Singh Deo, Congress https://t.co/v13hHieLZX — SM Hoax Slayer (@SMHoaxSlayer) October 18, 2017 11. MM Mani, the Electricity minister of Kerala circulated a picture of a South Korean solar plant as that of Kerala.. The picture was used in a an article by Logical Indian. It is not clear whether Logical Indian stated that the image is a representative image at the start, however the current version of the article states clearly that it is a representative image. The minister seems to have missed the fine print. He deleted his tweet after he was trolled for not knowing what his solar plant looked like. 12. Finally we leave you with some fake news that was outright hilarious. Yogi Devnath circulated a picture of Ursula Andress with Sean Connery from the James Bond movie, Dr No and claimed it was Sonia Gandhi. पप्पू दो दिन पहले RSS मे महिला के आधी ड्रैस के बारे मे बात कर रहा था शहजादे RSS को छोड ये बता कि इस फोटो में तेरी इटली बाई कैसी दिख रही है pic.twitter.com/NItFncw1rn — yogi Devnath (@TheYogiDevnath) October 11, 2017 Funny aspect aside, Yogi Devnath gave us a glimpse of his mindset using words like “Italy Bai”. He was reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s comment about no women in RSS Shakhas. Like a true proud RSS and BJP supporter, the Yogi has not bothered to delete his tweet. One comforting trend Alt News has seen on Twitter is that many users are pitching in to bust fake news. We hope this takes the form of a movement which makes the fake news peddlers think twice before posting fake news. 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	31st October 2017 / 5:22 pm / Last updated: 31st October 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-round-october-2017-usual-culprits-strike/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
1,123	Fake News Round-Up – September 2017 - From Prashant P Umrao to Ashoke Pandit - Alt News Alt News Desk 1st October 2017 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 1st October 2017 Welcome to the Fake News Round-up for September. This tracker has highlights of fake news, photoshopped images and doctored videos that did the rounds during the previous month. Given the volume of fake news that is circulating at any point of time, it may not be possible to capture it all here. While selecting the stories we will pick the ones that made the most impact, either due to the profile of the person sharing it or the number of times the item got shared. September was another busy month for fake news peddlers and fact checkers. Here are some highlights. 1. The fake claim made by Arnab Goswami, stole the show and dominated the fake news headlines of the month. In a video that surfaced on the internet, Goswami was seen spinning an elaborate tale about his car coming under attack by a mob during Gujarat riots outside the Chief Minister’s residence. The story was true except for the fact that the incident happened with Rajdeep Sardesai and not him. Despite being called out by several witnesses to the incident Goswami maintained silence on the issue. Did Arnab Goswami bluff about his car being attacked during 2002 riots?https://t.co/RJs00IVGRJ — Alt News (@AltNews) September 20, 2017 2. BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya tried to malign Ravish Kumar by sharing a mischievously edited video clip. The same clipped video quoting Ravish Kumar out of context was also shared by Tajinder Bagga, BJP Delhi spokesperson. Even after the truth was exposed by Alt News with the full video, extracting a retraction or an apology from the two is next to impossible. कौन सी पार्टी ? कांग्रेस या आप pic.twitter.com/B4byjdu0AO — Tajinder Bagga (@TajinderBagga) September 10, 2017 3. The visit of Prime Minister Modi to Gujarat was also a target of fake news with ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt claiming that believers were prevented from offering prayers at the 16th century Sidi Saiyyed Mosque due to security arrangements for Prime Minister’s visit. The claim was busted by Alt News as false after verifying with multiple sources. Sanjiv Bhatt was also guilty of passing off a picture from Patna claiming it to be that of police atrocities in BHU. The lathicharge in BHU is a reality and there are many real images of injured students. Passing misleading images only dilutes the issue. Repeat offender. Claim is that the picture is representative of events in BHU. This unacceptable conduct of police is actually from Patna. pic.twitter.com/8mUYQVIWEw — Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) September 30, 2017 4. The official handle of Press Information Bureau, the nodal agency for communicating to media on behalf of Government of India spread misinformation about the Grievance Redressal System. An article shared by PIB claimed that the web based Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) that was launched nine years ago was brought in by Modi government. There was no clarification from PIB after the error was pointed out to them. 5. It was rather hilarious to see Sonam Mahajan and Anshul Saxena talk about the “love jihad rate card.” The fake seven-year-old image was shared in June by Times Now as a recent find. The photoshopped image uses Hezbollah logo and appears to be created specifically for the purpose of propaganda. The same image was also debunked in 2014 by ABP news but the peddlers of fake news never learn. 6. The video of a molester getting thrashed by the crowd was shared by some as that of Hindu priest being beaten up in West Bengal by Muslims. Since it is Durga Pooja season, to add to the fakery it was added that he was beaten because Muslims got disturbed by his “pooja bell.” Ashoke Pandit went a step further and added that it was Rohingya Muslims beating up a Hindu priest. Pandit quietly deleted his tweet without a word of apology. Kolkata Police has already initiated legal action against those inciting communal hatred by sharing the fake video. vide no P3 Case no 206dated 31.08. 17 u/s 34/323/341IPC.Legal action is being initiated against all the people spreading communal hatred.3 — Kolkata Police (@KolkataPolice) September 23, 2017 7. While on the topic of Rohingyas, several right wing handles were competing with each other in rumor-mongering. A Twitter user Ravinder Sangwan (@shanknaad) took a screenshot of a BBC documentary on Rohingyas and peddled it as a pic of a 14 year-old Rohingya girl with two kids and a 56 year old husband who has 6 wives & 18 children. On his claims being busted by Boom factcheck he wanted to know how can they be sure she doesn’t have a two kids and 56 year old husband. .@Shanknaad Bluffmaster steals a grab from a video and invents a 56 year old husband, 6 wives & 18 children. https://t.co/1oWWFLq1Pw pic.twitter.com/LkKm4EfZ4Q — BOOM FactCheck (@boomlive_in) September 24, 2017 8. Prashant Umrao, a Supreme Court lawyer shared a picture is of a Brazilian child with a liver disease as that of a nine year old pregnant girl from Myanmar who is about to deliver. His efforts of scouting the internet to source a picture and fake a story around it, were in vain as his fakery was caught almost immediately. Umrao, who is no stranger on fact checking websites due to the sheer number of fake claims made by him. A lawyer tried to pass off the image of a sick child in Brazil as pregnant Rohingya refugee girl. https://t.co/dDCXO9G3kD — BOOM FactCheck (@boomlive_in) September 25, 2017 9. In another recent incident, many twitter users outraging about the lathicharge by the police on BHU students shared an unrelated image of an injured girl. After it was pointed out by Alt News many of those who had shared the image retracted and apologised. Strangely, we also saw many mocking those who admitted the error. Maybe we are so accustomed to fake news being shared unabashedly that an apology is a target of ridicule. Strange times indeed! इन भाई साहब से तो शर्म भी शर्म से पानी पानी हो जाए।👇 pic.twitter.com/I09rg6cyeR — Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) September 24, 2017 While fake news continues to be the backbone of political propaganda in the country, for the first time, a member of the ruling Government acknowledged the issue. While speaking at the launch of the intelligence wing of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in New Delhi, Rajnath Singh asked people to refrain from forwarding messages without verifying them first. Facebook also brought out full page ads in print media drawing people’s attention to the rising issue of fake news while providing tips to recognise fake news. However, neither Rajnath Singh’s statement or Facebook’s awareness campaign are going to slowdown fake news in India. Fake news in India is almost always motivated and people continue to fall for it. Leaving the responsibility to the citizenry to figure out whether a piece of news is fake or not is an attempt to relinquish their own responsibilities. India has a huge number of first time Internet users whose only window to the world of Internet is their WhatsApp inbox. A certain percentage of this population may not be even aware of what Google is, so to expect them to fact-check/research is absolutely ridiculous. It is high time that the Government and platforms such as Facebook get their act together. 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	1st October 2017 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 1st October 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-round-september-2017-prashant-p-umrao-ashoke-pandit/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
1,124	How do fake news sites like Postcard News flourish? Who provides a helping hand? - Alt News Sam Jawed 18th September 2017 / 9:25 pm Fake news sites do not exist in a vacuum. They need an ecosystem around them that encourages and actively promotes them. Postcard News is one such site that has been in the forefront in spreading fake news. The website has been caught spreading fake videos to create communal discord. An Alt News article titled “Postcard news: Mass producing fake news” shared a partial list of nine such fake stories. One would think that after being called out repeatedly for unverified posts, people would exercise caution before they share stories from the portal. On the contrary we see that Postcard News articles are widely shared in the right-wing circles by many including BJP supporters, spokespersons and ministers. Let us look at some instances… BJP leaders and supporters have repeatedly shared fake news published by Postcard news. In many instances these posts are not deleted even after they are called out as fake. “70 lakh Indian Army cannot defeat Azadi gang in Kashmir: Arundhati Roy’s statement to Pakistani newspaper!70 lakh Indian army cannot defeat Azadi gang in Kashmir: Arundhati Roy’s statement to Pakistani newspaper” claimed the headline of Postcard News even though Roy had made no such statement. This was a classic example of how a false story spread by such sites made it to national television before being debunked as fake. The fake news led to vicious attacks on Roy led by BJP MP Paresh Rawal. 70 lakh Indian army can't defeat azadi gang of Kashmir – Arundhati Roy .Her birth certi in fact is a regret letter from maternity ward . — Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) May 17, 2017 The fake story has is still available on Postcard News website.It was shared by many BJP supporters including Priti Gandhi, National Executive member, BJP Mahila Morcha. 70 lakh Indian Army cannot defeat Azadi gang in Kashmir: Arundhati Roy's statement to Pakistani newspaper! https://t.co/kEpgFoFSIb — Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi) May 17, 2017 Fake news about a Gujarati businessman surrendering 6000 crores after demonetisation was shared by Vivek Agnihotri, with a comment “It is working”. The news was deleted by Postcard news after it was debunked and was a target of widespread ridicule. It's working an How. https://t.co/B0bUPvTBOX — Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) November 15, 2016 Fake news about shameful ranking of Indian media by World Economic Forum was shared by many including Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs It's not media alone, the degradation is found in politicians & all sections of the society too. https://t.co/gvNpPuMwB2 via @postcard_news — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) March 4, 2017 In what seems to be a case of confirmation bias, even spokesperson of AAP, Ashutosh and Pallavi Ghosh of CNN News18, fell for this fake news. The recent fake news about unpaid electricity bills of Jama Masjid that was debunked by Alt news was shared by Sanjay Dixit, an IAS officer who is a staunch supporter of BJP. Huge Jolt for Imam Bukhari!! BSES cuts Power Supply for Jama Masjid due to huge pending electricity bill https://t.co/mGKb2E4L07 — Sanjay Dixit संजय (@Sanjay_Dixit) August 29, 2017 Twitter users have noticed that Dixit regularly shares stories from this website often deleting a day later. So this guy keeps quoting Postcard News. And then deleting his tweets a day later. pic.twitter.com/zlb9C6puhn — Prasanto K Roy (@prasanto) August 12, 2017 Postcard News articles are regularly shared by BJP leaders. On several occasions even ministers have shared these articles. Shripad Naik, Union Minister of state for AYUSH shared an article titled “Sadguru shuts up journalists like never before for making stupid comment on Yoga.” The article talks of a “moron journalist” from Kerala who was “dumbstruck and looked like an idiot in front of Sadhguru”. Sadhguru shuts up journalists like never before for making stupid comment on Yoga! https://t.co/YPLID8tkDR — Shripad Y. Naik (@shripadynaik) June 20, 2017 The minister has shared several other articles as well. (1 & 2) Others who have shared Postcard news articles include Piyush Goyal, Prakash Javadekar, Rajeev Chandrashekhar From villages to houses: Power Ministry to launch GARV-II app for tracking household electrification tomorrow https://t.co/8ZUUj3e1f4 — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) December 19, 2016 Pathbreaking :Forget mobiles, cards and internet, entire bank will be in your thumb after 2 weeks https://t.co/q1eTfDlHqj via @postcard_news — Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) December 31, 2016 https://t.co/ovYAHO8UHc — Rajeev Chandrasekhar (@rajeev_mp) February 9, 2017 Om Prakash Mathur, Rajya Sabha MP and National Vice President of BJP, H Raja, National Secretary of BJP and Tajinder Bagga, Spokesperson for BJP Delhi have all shared Postcard News @RSSorg enlightens the youth about the culture & heritage of Bharat! arousing the long lost pride https://t.co/6eayJXVd4w via @postcard_news — Om Prakash Mathur (@OmMathur_bjp) April 22, 2017 https://t.co/agbfqURtTO Modi Sarkar has got spine and vision to defend and develop India — H Raja (@HRajaBJP) July 12, 2017 What Congress could not do in 5 months, BJP did in just 5 days after forming government in Manipur https://t.co/MMCCAduAEd @postcard_news — Tajinder Bagga (@TajinderBagga) March 21, 2017 An article that claimed to be a “A mindblowing analysis” on ancient India was shared by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) https://t.co/3KTFdOyeP8 — Ministry of MSME (@minmsme) July 26, 2017 Grameen Vidyutikaran, an official Government of India handle hanlding rural electrification also shared an article from the website. The joy of celebrating Diwali in electrified villages, here's a glimpse of cheerful villagers from #UrjaUtsav. https://t.co/rceEwwiLlY — Grameen Vidyutikaran (@grameenvidyut) November 4, 2016 Support for Postcard news goes beyond BJP leaders sharing its stories. Mahesh Hegde, who is one of the founders of Postcard news is followed by PM Modi on Twitter. Vivek Shetty and Ankita Rajvardhan, the other two founders are followed by other Union Ministers such as Piyush Goyal on Twitter. With such a strong support system, it is not surprising therefore that fake news continues to flourish on social media. 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	18th September 2017 / 9:25 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-sites-like-postcard-news-flourish-provides-helping-hand/", "author": "Sam Jawed" }
1,125	Fake news: Supreme Court orders case to be registered against PM Modi over Rafale deal - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 10th January 2019 / 6:42 pm / Last updated: 10th January 2019 BREAKING NEWS: सुप्रीम कोर्ट का बड़ा फैसला , राफेल घोटाले में नरेंद्र मोदी पर केस दर्ज करने का आदेश (Big verdict by Supreme Court, orders registration of case against Narendra Modi on Rafale scam- translation). This message has been shared on social media in the form of a news flash by the Hindi news channel ABP News. http://www.truereport.in/सुप्रीम-कोर्ट-का-बड़ा-फैस/ Posted by Bhakto Ka Baap Ravish Kumar on Wednesday, January 9, 2019 The above post is from the Facebook page Bhakto Ka Baap Ravish Kumar which has a following of over 200,000. It has been shared close to 800 times so far. The post has shared a link to an article on a website called True Report. The article was published on January 9. Interestingly, while the screenshot of ABP News has been prominently displayed, the write-up itself makes no reference to what has been claimed- that the apex court has ordered that a case be filed against PM Modi over the Rafale agreement. Instead, the article says, “Now the Rafale deal has reached the Supreme Court. The hearing was to begin on Tuesday, which was deferred as the petitioner in the case fell ill. The important thing is that the case is being heard by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. Apart from this, the petitioner has made Prime Minister Narendra Modi a party in this case.” (translation) This particular claim about the apex court ordering the registration of a case against PM Modi over the Rafale agreement has circulated on social media since November 2018. Among others, it had been posted on a Facebook group Samajwadi Digital Force: Mission 2019. The screenshot of ABP News used by True Report in its article is fake. This was confirmed to Alt News by Pankaj Jha, Editor of ABP News. Earlier too, fake screenshots of ABP News were widely shared on social media. Congress President Rahul Gandhi was targeted with a fake screenshot according to which Gandhi had promised a Rs.5000 crore loan to Pakistan. In another instance, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra was targeted when a fake quote ascribed to him was presented as a screenshot of ABP News. Alt News found that numerous articles with fake content had been posted on this ironically named website, True Report. These articles were later deleted. Moreover, articles from this website were primarily shared by one particular Facebook page: Bhakto Ka Baap Ravish Kumar. It has been observed that this page also promotes posts which contain the Viral In India watermark. Viral In India has been a constant source of misinformation on social media and is known to post anti-BJP content. 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	10th January 2019 / 6:42 pm / Last updated: 10th January 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-supreme-court-orders-case-to-be-registered-against-pm-modi-over-rafale-deal/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,126	Old video from 'Howdy Modi' shared as clip from PM's recent US visit - Alt News Kinjal 29th September 2021 / 4:01 pm / Last updated: 29th September 2021 A video of Prime Minister Modi greeting political leaders onstage at an event has been circulating widely. The video has been shot by an audience member. It portrays abuses in Punjabi being hurled at the Indian Prime Minister. Below is a tweet by @Naushad947 that received over 47,000 views as of this writing. The video has been censored and attached below. Twitter user ‘@FellowcitizenEs’ also shared the footage criticising the incident. The video is widespread on Facebook. The clip is also being circulated with different audio, which contains no abusive language. Facebook user BJP Zindabad had shared it with the claim that Prime Minister Modi received a warm welcome in the United States. Pro-India chants can be heard in the video. A few other users had also posted this video. (Link 1, Link 2) 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 भारत के होनहार यशस्वी पीएम मोदी जी का US में जोरदार स्वागत देखिए 🇮🇳भारत माता की जय के जयकारो से अमेरिका गुंज रहा है Posted by बीजेपी जिंदाबाद on Friday, September 24, 2021 Alt News noticed that no one in the video is wearing masks, a mandatory requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suspected that this footage might have been filmed before the pandemic. Based on this information, we performed a keyword search on YouTube and found a video of PM Modi’s 2019 visit to the US when the ‘Howdy Modi’ event was held. It had been uploaded by the official channel of the Prime Minister’s Office. Scenes resembling the viral clip appear at the 1:43:30 mark. Therefore, it is evident that the footage was taken during the Prime Minister’s 2019 visit to the US. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LllpO6hTzw] The similarities between the YouTube video and the clip in question can be seen below. In addition, a banner that reads ‘Texas India Forum’ is visible in both videos. Texas India Forum organised the ‘Howdy Modi’ event in 2019. Alt News was not able to verify the audio of the video. It is noteworthy that one version of the video portrays people hurling abuses at PM Modi while in the other, the audience can be heard raising pro-India slogans. But the video is not recent. It is from the ‘Howdy Modi’ event held two years ago. 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 September 2021 / 4:01 pm / Last updated: 29th September 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news-video-of-abuses-hurled-at-pm-modi-during-us-visit-2021/", "author": "Kinjal" }
1,127	Fake News18 screenshot shared to claim 57 COVID deaths after COMEDK exam in Karnataka - Alt News Archit 27th August 2020 / 9:36 pm / Last updated: 27th August 2020 Lakhs of students appear for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) every year. Both these exams have been postponed a number of times this year due to COVID-19. On August 25, however, the National Testing Agency (NTA) confirmed that JEE (Main) and NEET (UG) exams will be held as scheduled from September 1 to 6 and September 13 respectively. This started a nationwide debate and social media campaign to postpone the exams in view of rising COVID-19 cases in the country. Hashtags like #ProtestAgainstExamsInCovid and #AntiStudentModiGovt were trended to demand postponement of the entrance tests. On August 21, National Vice President of All India Students’ Association (AISA) Ashutosh Kumar tweeted two screenshots of alleged news articles by News18 and NDTV. AISA is the student wing affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. As per the News18 screenshot, 57 parents and grandparents of students who appeared for an exam in Karanataka passed away after over 5,000 students tested positive for COVID. Kumar wrote, “This is what happened when only 80,000 candidates appeared for exams all over India just think when 28 Lac students will be appearing what will be the condition! Still they say student cannot decide their welfare. #ProtestAgainstExamsInCOVID.” This tweet was retweeted over 3,000 times. (archived link) The News18 screenshot has been shared by several other users. Sir please look at this. 57 deaths and 5371 students affected. Is this the way of learning lessons and playing with our and our parents life? Answer sir please answer. Support the future of nation. You are the fourth pilar of democracy. We have faith on our media. pic.twitter.com/s5ib9kA0JO — BhaskarM@7064 (@BhaskarM70641) August 22, 2020 Alt News received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp helpline (+917600011160) and on our official Android application. Alt News analysed the text in the screenshots and found Kumar’s claims to be ingenuine. The headline in the News18 screenshot reads, “COMDEK UGET 2020: 57 deaths With 5371 students tested +ve for Covid 19, 8456 students qurantined” followed by the subheading that reads, “Students appeared for the COMDEK many been tested positive for covid 19 with 57 grandparents and parents deaths students onfire.” As per the screenshot the article was published on August 20. A keyword search does not lead to either this ‘story’ by News18 or any reports by other media organisations. Furthermore, the screenshot has grammatical errors that a leading media outlet is unlikely to make. The abbreviation of Consortium of Medical, Engineering and Dental Colleges of Karnataka Under Graduate Entrance Test is COMEDK UGET not ‘COMDEK’ UGET. The word ‘quarantined’ is misspelt as ‘qurantined’. COVID-19 is written without a hyphen and the use of capital letters in the middle of a sentence are other indicators that the screenshot is fake. Similarly, the headline of the NDTV article reads, “60 СOVID-19 Positive Among 1.47 Lakh Students Who Appeared For CET in Karnataka”, followed by the text, “Sixty COVID-19 positive students were among the 1.47 lakh who appeared for the Karnataka Common Entrance Test for engineering and other courses which began on Thursday.” Alt News performed another keyword search on Google and found that this article was published by NDTV on July 31 and is about the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (CET) held last months. The COMEDK examinations were conducted on August 19. As per NDTV’s report, out of 1.47 lakh students who appeared for CET, 60 were COVID-19 positive. Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan was quoted in the report saying, “Separate sitting arrangements have been made for the COVID-19 students and they faced the examination courageously.” Thus, AISA National Vice-President Ashutosh Kumar shared a doctored News18 screenshot that falsely claimed that 57 parents and grandparents of students who sat for COMEDK exams in Karnataka died due to COVID-19. He also shared an old NDTV report which spoke about CET exams held in the state last month. [Note: This article does not intend to condone the Education Ministry’s decision to hold NEET and JEE entrance tests during COVID-19. Alt News has only reported on the misinformation circulating in the view of the examinations.] 🙏 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	27th August 2020 / 9:36 pm / Last updated: 27th August 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-news18-screenshot-shared-to-claim-57-covid-positive-cases-after-comedk-exam-in-karnataka/", "author": "Archit" }
1,128	False statement of killing Muslims and farmers ascribed to PM Modi - Alt News Kinjal 19th January 2021 / 3:49 pm An image of a purported page from a newspaper has two headlines that read, “Ram Temple will never be built: Amit Shah” and “To win the trust of Hindus, it was necessary to kill Muslim farmers: Narendra Modi”. The rest of the stories on the page have been blurred. A Facebook page ‘Mulayam Putra Akhilesh’ shared the post writing, “If this is true, it is a grave sin.” (Archive link) अगर ये सच है, तो घोर पाप है। Posted by मुलायम पुत्र अखिलेश on Thursday, December 24, 2020 A Facebook user named Syed Yusuf Iqbal also shared the picture asking whether it was real or fake. Several others have shared this clipping on Twitter and Facebook. Alt News also received a few requests to verify the image on our official WhatsApp number (+917600011160). We performed a reverse image search and came across a BBC Hindi fact-check report dated November 28, 2018. The report carries the image of the viral newspaper clipping which has been termed fake, along with an image of another newspaper. Both resemble each other, except for a slight change in the headlines. There are spelling mistakes in the headlines of both pages. Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi have been quoted in the viral newspaper. However, in the second newspaper, the statements have been attributed to SP leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav. ‘Amar Ujala Bureau’ also appears in both images. Apart from this, the viral image is the bigger of the two. In the side-by-side comparison below, their similarities and differences have been marked in blue and red respectively. We found a few news articles after doing a keyword search of the statements attributed to Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav. 1. “Mulayam: To win the trust of Muslims, it was necessary to fire at Hindus” Our keyword search first led us to an Amar Ujala report dated February 7, 2014. The headline reads, “If bullets weren’t fired, Muslims would have lost their trust”. There is a lot of similarity between the headline in the viral image and this one. According to the report, “He said that in 1990, he opened fire in Ayodhya and 16 people were killed. If he had not done so, the Muslims of the country would have lost faith in the SP. Mulayam Singh Yadav said that the BJP would always remember him because several BJP workers were beaten up amid the commotion during the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement.” 2. “Ram Temple will never be built: Akhilesh Yadav” Alt News did not find any news reports stating that Akhilesh Yadav ever issued such a statement. A sub-heading printed below the above headline reads, “Administration on alert for the Ayodhya Yatra” We did find a few reports related to this claim. According to an Amar Ujala story dated August 26, 2013, “The district administration remained on high alert throughout the day on the Chaurasi Kos Yatra in Ayodhya. Police conducted searches throughout the night on Saturday at railway and bus stations. Police personnel also entered buses to conduct searches. If found suspicious, passengers were also questioned. The station officers were alerted.” This line also appears in a Jagran report dated August 23, 2013. According to this report, Mulayam Singh Yadav had banned Chaurasi Kosi Parikrama at the time. Opposing to this, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad said that if the government tried to stop the yatra, it would have to face a 1992-like situation.” Apart from this, another headline, “BJP making pawns out of holy men: SP”, is also visible in Jagran’s aforementioned story. It states, “The SP said that on the one hand, BJP is making pawns out of saints, and on the other, Congress is supporting the ban.” Therefore, an old clipping of a newspaper was edited, attributing false statements to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. 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	19th January 2021 / 3:49 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-newspaper-clip-modi-farmer-muslim-amit-shah-fake-quotes/", "author": "Kinjal" }
1,129	Fake newspaper clip: No, Rahul Gandhi did not call baniyas 'thieves' - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 3rd April 2019 / 1:14 pm An image of what appears to be a newspaper clip is being shared on social media and messaging platforms, according to which Congress President Rahul Gandhi had called the baniya (trader) community ‘thieves’ who indulge in racketeering for profit. According to this clipping, Gandhi had made this statement during campaigning ahead of the assembly election in Rajasthan in 2018. बनियों वोट देने से पहले याद रखे..👆🙏🤔😖😡 वैश्य समाज के सभी लोगो से मेरी एक अपिल है ऐसे गद्दारो से सावधान रहे आज कांग्रेस… Posted by Agra Duniya on Monday, April 1, 2019 The image has been shared mostly by individual users on Facebook along with a message which reads, “Look my vaishya brothers, how Pappu (Rahul Gandhi) called all baniyas thieves by repeatedly calling Modi ji a chor. He himself has built a fortune through loot and thinks all people are thieves. Now see how the baniyas of the country show him his place” (translated from Hindi). It is also circulating on WhatsApp. Several Alt News followers sent us the image, asking whether it is true. The purported newspaper clip carrying Rahul Gandhi’s supposed statement on the baniya community is an outright fake. Had the Congress President indeed made such a statement, it would have been reported extensively by the media. Alt News searched the newspaper clip with different keywords, but found no result. A version of the same clipping also went viral on social media ahead of the Rajasthan assembly elections in December 2018. Back then, it was BJP President Amit Shah who had supposedly abused the baniya community. Among those who had shared this fake clipping was former Union Minister and Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal. Alt News found that apart from the identical headlines, the introductory paragraphs of the articles are almost identical except for the name of two different leaders and parties. “राजस्थान विधानसभा चुनाव प्रचार के दौरान भाजपा के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष अमित शाह ने विवादास्पद बयान देते हुवे देश के बनिया समाज और व्यापारियों की तुलना चोरों से कर डाली। राजस्थान के बूंदी में आयोजित भाजपा की चुनावी रैली में भाजपा अध्यक्ष ने कहा की चोरी करना तो देश के बनिया और व्यापारियों की आदत है, टैक्स तो चोरी करते ही हैं साथ ही किसानो की बर्बादी का भी मुख्य कारण ये बनिया और व्यापारी वर्ग ही है जो सारा मुनाफा अपनी जेब में डाल जाते हैं।”, reads the introduction in the earlier version of the fake newspaper clip whereas in the version now shared on social media, “Amit Shah” and “BJP” has been replaced with “Rahul Gandhi” and “Congress”. “राजस्थान विधानसभा चुनाव प्रचार के दौरान कांग्रेस के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष राहुल गाँधी ने विवादास्पद बयान देते हुवे देश के बनिया समाज और व्यापारियों की तुलना चोरों से कर डाली। राजस्थान के बूंदी में आयोजित कांग्रेस की चुनावी रैली में कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष ने कहा की चोरी करना तो देश के बनिया और व्यापारियों की आदत है, टैक्स तो चोरी करते ही हैं साथ ही किसानो की बर्बादी का भी मुख्य कारण ये बनिया और व्यापारी वर्ग ही है जो सारा मुनाफा अपनी जेब में डाल जाते हैं।” It may be reiterated that this newspaper clipping is fake. Neither Rahul Gandhi nor Amit Shah has made any such remark in the past about the baniya community. 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	3rd April 2019 / 1:14 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-newspaper-clip-no-rahul-gandhi-did-not-call-baniyas-thieves/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,130	Fake newspaper clipping claims PM Modi's family blames him for his father's death - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 7th May 2019 / 8:55 pm / Last updated: 8th May 2019 A clipping that has been floating on social media the last few years has resurfaced this election season. It talks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged incidents from his childhood. “मोदी के भाई बहन नरेंद्र मोदी को ही अपने पिताजी के मौत का जिम्मेदार मानते है (Modi’s brothers and sister blame Narendra Modi for their father’s death),” the clipping is headlined. It says that PM Modi’s father, Damodardas Mulchand Modi, used to make ends meet by pickpocketing and stealing coal and iron from the railway station where he worked as a tea seller. He traded the stolen items for gold, which, in turn, were stolen by Narendra Modi when he was a young boy. His father, unable to cope with his son’s actions, suffered a cardiac arrest. The family could not get back the stolen gold despite lodging an FIR and Damodardas Mulchand Modi subsequently died because his family could afford the medical expenses. The story ends by claiming that former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee suppressed the case and the FIR against Narendra Modi in 1996. The elaborate tale is being shared by multiple users on social media. स्टेशन पर c ने पकड़ा 6 महीने की सजा हुई थी। रेल्वे का लोहा और कोयला भी चुराता था इस खबर की पुष्टि हो जाए तो आप भी कहना चौकीदार चोर है । दुसरो को भृष्टाचारी कहने वाला खुद चोर है । pic.twitter.com/Z49IFH05Ob — #NYAYforIndia – Luv Datta ™#INC 🇮🇳 (@Luv_Datta) May 6, 2019 It has been shared on Facebook by quite a few users. स्टेशन पर चाय बेचने वाले ने चुराए थे 300 रुपये बड़नगर पुलिस ने पकड़ा 6 महीने की सजा हुई थी। रेल्वे का लोहा और कोयला भी… Posted by Sujit kumar on Sunday, 5 May 2019 The claim has been floating on WhatsApp as well. The oldest instance of the story that Alt News found was a 2017 post by one Velaram M Patel whose Facebook bio says that he is a member of Congress. सब के मन में यह सवाल बार बार उठता होगा नरेंद्र मोदी अपने पिता का नाम क्यों नहीं लेते… रेल्वे स्टेशन पर चाय बेचते समय… Posted by Velaram M. Patel on Thursday, 8 June 2017 Alt News contacted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brothers for comments. His elder brother Soma Modi said, “My father had bone cancer and died in 1989.” He added that Narendra Modi was at Kailash Mansarovar Yatra at the time. “Narendra came back home and gave father prasad from Mansarovar. Father passed away the next day,” he continued. This information was reiterated by PM Modi’s younger brother Prahlad Modi in a separate conversation with Alt News. “This is completely false,” he asserted. “Our father died in 1989 of bone cancer. Narendra was an RSS pracharak at the time and was home for father’s funeral.” We also contacted the Prime Minister’s biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay who gave us information similar to the statements of PM Modi’s family. “To the best of my knowledge and the conversations I’ve had Mr Modi during the time I was researching for my book, he’d said that his father died in 1989-90.” Posted below are screenshots of excerpts from Mukhopadhyay’s biography of PM Modi – ‘Narendra Modi: The Man, the Times.’ According to the book, Narendra Modi left his village and broke away from his family in 1967. He came home for a few hours in 1989 when his father passed away. At another point, the book also says that Narendra Modi had just returned from his pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar when his father was on his death bed. “I gave him sacred water from Mansarovar,” the book quotes PM Modi. It adds that in 1989, when Damodardas Mulchand passed away, Narendra Modi was General Secretary, Organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The approximate date of Damodardas Mulchand’s demise was also stated by the Prime Minister in a 2018 speech when he said that his father died “30 years ago”. PM Modi’s statements and those given by his family members to Alt News are sufficient to debunk the viral clipping. Firstly, the cutout claims that PM Modi’s brothers and sister blame him for their father’s demise, alleging that he died of a heart attack unable to cope with the shock that Narendra Modi stole his gold. This is false as the family members stated that their father died of bone cancer and not cardiac arrest. Secondly, the cutout claims that Damodardas Mulchand passed away when PM Modi was in his childhood. As per his family members, their father died in 1989 therefore, PM Modi could not have been a teenager at the time. The Prime Minister was born in 1950 and would’ve been nearly 40 years of age at the time of his father’s demise. There are several clues hidden in the clipping itself which suggest its ingenuity. 1. At first glance, the clipping appears to be a newspaper cutout. But it isn’t. While the story has been aligned similar to articles published in newspapers, the report is not dated. Furthermore, the story gives out information that is not backed by factual data like dates, time and place. It says Narendra Modi stole his father’s gold, however, fails to mention his age or the year of the alleged incident. All that it does is give readers a photograph of PM Modi as a young boy. This could be interpreted as visual manipulation. While the story itself does not reveal his age, the picture causes the reader to infer that the Prime Minister must have been a teenager when the incident took place. Furthermore, the clipping says that his father died of a heart attack. But it does not give away the year of the death. 2. If one tries to look up the alleged incident on Google, the search engine does not throw up any results. 3. There are several spelling errors in the article. For instance, ‘पुलिस’ is written as ‘पोलिस’ in multiple places. The word ‘पकड़ा’ is spelt as ‘पकडा’. Many sentences in the article do not end with a purn viraam (full-stop) but ellipsis (series of dots). The elaborate story of PM Modi’s father being a petty thief and the Prime Minister stealing his gold, causing his father to die of a heart attack, is baseless. There is no evidence to support these claims. 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	7th May 2019 / 8:55 pm / Last updated: 8th May 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-newspaper-clipping-claims-pm-modis-family-blames-him-for-his-fathers-death/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,131	Fake newspaper clipping shared to claim Delhi CM Kejriwal accused of rape in 1987 - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 29th January 2020 / 5:14 pm / Last updated: 6th February 2020 An alleged newspaper clipping from June 8, 1987, has been shared by several social media users. The purported report by ‘The Telegraph’ says that Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was accused of rape by a local girl when he was 19 years of age and a student at IIT Kharagpur. One @AshokGo46043024 has shared the alleged newspaper clipping on Twitter. It was also shared by another user @sanataniameric1. The same is circulating on Facebook. It is also viral with a Hindi text alleging the same: “बहुत बड़ी खबर 08/06/1987 की जिसमे आई आई टी खड्गपुर के एक विद्यार्थी एक लोकल लड़की के साथ रेप के इल्जाम में पकड़ा गया था आपको जानकर आश्चर्य होगा कि उस विद्यार्थी का नाम अरविंद केजरीवाल है सबूत के तौर पर उस समय के अखबार दी टेलीग्राफ की कटिंग भी साथ है।” आज बहुत बड़ा सबुत हाथ लगा बहुतबड़ी खबर 08/06/1987 की जिसमे आई आई टी खड्गपुर के एक विद्यार्थी एक लोकल लड़की के साथ रेप के इल्जाम में पकड़ा गया था आपको जानकर आश्चर्य होगा कि उस विद्यार्थी का नाम अरविंद केजरीवाल है सबूत के तौर पर उस समय के अखबार दी टेलीग्राफ की कटिंग भी साथ है। pic.twitter.com/Q0J4vmgmBR — NSB.प्रिया हिन्दूस्थानी (@NSB_Priya_HINDU) February 2, 2020 A keyword search of the alleged news does not redirect to any reports that claim Kejriwal was accused of rape in 1987. In fact, the clipping itself gives clues that it is not genuine and has been manufactured. 1. The spacing between some words and paragraphs is unusually large. 2. The language of the report is immature. 3. The report starts with ‘Kharagpur’ and has neither a date nor a reporter’s name. The clipping has been created on the website fodey.com that gives one an option to write a story, give it a headline, name the newspaper and change the date. We have juxtaposed the viral clipping with a clipping manufactured by Alt News. If one notices carefully, the third column of the report has the same words, thus confirming that the viral clipping was created on fodey.com. Earlier, a fake newspaper clipping created on the same website was used to target Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Former BJP MP Paresh Rawal and RBI director S Gurumurthy were among those who tweeted the fake clipping. 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	29th January 2020 / 5:14 pm / Last updated: 6th February 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-newspaper-clipping-shared-to-claim-delhi-cm-kejriwal-accused-of-rape-in-1987/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,132	Fake Nostradamus passages invented by Francois Gautier and published in TOI, Zee News for Modi publicity - Alt News Pratik Sinha 29th March 2017 / 11:07 am / Last updated: 1st June 2021 NOTE: The Times of India first deleted the blog from its website after Alt News’s report and later restored the blog with a disclaimer. Here’s the original text of the TOI blog => http://archive.is/Xge6M. A blog titled ‘Nostradamus and India‘ was published on The Times of India website on March 28, 2017. Francois Gautier, the author of this blog, claims to have chanced upon some hidden manuscripts according to which Nostradamus predicted that a supreme leader will be born in the state of Gujarat and his first name would be Narendrus (Narendra). Francois Gautier claims that these manuscripts were discovered in 2012. He writes: So, in 2012, some Nostradamus specialist discovered an old trunk that had these magical pronouncements. The only problem with this claim is that in the 51st volume of RSS weekly magazine Organiser published in 1999, it has been claimed that “an old trunk” was discovered just last month by “hopeless hinduphile Francois Gautier” and according to the manuscripts, it was Nostradamus who had founded RSS 400 years ago. In fact, the “old trunk” has been found at least two times in the books that Francois Gautier has himself authored according to a search on Google Books. The “old trunk” was found in the “last month” in his 2001 book titled ‘A Western Journalist on India’ and the 2003 book titled ‘Rewriting Indian history.’ In fact, Francois Gautier has discovered the “old trunk” so many times over that it is difficult to keep track. He discovered it in his 2009 blog titled ‘Nostradamus and Saffron’, then again in his 2014 blog titled ‘Nostradamus and 2014’ elections. And the latest discovery of the “old trunk” happened on March 28, 2017 on the TOI blog. In fact, every time Gautier discovers this “old trunk”, the contents inside the trunk seem to change magically. The Nostradamus predictions coming out of this same “old trunk” vary from Nostradamus actually having founded RSS to Narendra Modi, the supreme leader of India, being born in Gujarat. Be that as it may, let us also look at some of the passages that Gautier has posted in the TOI article. One of the passages according to Gautier relates to a possibility of an Indo-Pakistan nuclear war. The following is the passage quoted in the TOI article. “One of them relates to a possible Indo-Pakistani nuclear war: XXIX : Le Griffon Indes se peut aprester Pour à l’ennemy résister, Et renforcer bien son armée, Autrement l’Elephant viendra Qui d’un abord le surprendra, Six cens et huict, mer enflammée. “The eagle India should get ready and reinforce its army, Otherwise the Elephant (Pakistan) will surprise her By putting to flame its people and the sea” As it turns out, a quick Google search is all that was needed to establish that this passage posted in TOI is a modified version and not original. The word “Indes” signifying India is not in the original passage and was a creation of Gautier’s mind. Let’s look at the next passage posted by Gautier in the TOI blog. Yet another quick Google search tells us that even this passage has been modified from its original version. The original passage has the word “Hesperies” instead of “Hindoos”. One can see how Gautier’s writings are purely a figment of his imagination and has got nothing to do with reality. He takes content from one place, changes a couple of words and proclaims a new prophecy by Nostradamus, one which has been found in that same “old trunk” that he has discovered multiple times in the last 18 years. Let’s look at the next passage. Now a Google search would reveal that an equivalent of this passage is not available on the internet, not documented anywhere, even in parts. But Gautier being Gautier always leaves a few gaping holes. In a 2014 blog on his own website, he claims: In 2014, Nostradamus used to like to call Narendra Modi as “Narendrum Modum” and in 2017 he likes to call PM Modi as “narendrus”. It doesn’t end there. In 2014, he claimed that Vajpayee, Advani and Modi will be the pillars. In a 2009 blog on his own website, he had claimed that AB Vajpayee, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi will be the three pillars. He had written and I quote: So, from Murli Manohar Joshi as the pillar in 2009 to Narendra Modi as the pillar in 2014 to Narendra Modi as the supreme leader of India in 2017, Gautier has been conveniently changing the prophecies that come out of that “old trunk” based on the prevailing political climate. Yet, such blatant lies are given space in Indian media outlets without any verification. After the TOI blog, Zee News dutifully published this bit of ‘news’. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th March 2017 / 11:07 am / Last updated: 1st June 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-nostradamus-passages-invented-francois-gautier-published-toi-zee-news-modi-publicity/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
1,133	Fake notice attributed to Delhi police claims Rs 11,000 fine for breaking 'Junta curfew' on March 22 - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st March 2020 / 10:02 pm / Last updated: 21st March 2020 A notice that warns people of Rs 11,000 fine for roaming on the streets or opening shops on March 22 is circulating on social media in the name of Delhi police. It is noteworthy that the purported circular is being shared in the view of the ‘Junta curfew’ announced by prime minister Narendra Modi on March 22 between 7 am and 9 pm in the view of the coronavirus outbreak. Posted by Pooja Chan on Saturday, 21 March 2020 Alt News has received multiple fact-check requests for the same on its official mobile application. The circular reads, “दिल्ली पुलिस की तरफ से दी गई लोगो के लिए सुचना 22-03-2020 को कोई भी व्यक्ति दिल्ली में बिना किसी बड़ी वजह के घूमता हुआ, दुकान खोलता हुआ, दिल्ली से बाहर जाता हुआ पाया गया तो ऐसे व्यक्तियों पर जुर्माना लगाया जायेगा 11000 रू० का क्योकि ऐसे बाहर घूमते हुए 1 व्यक्ति से लोगो को इन्फेक्शन होने का खतरा रहता है \|” Lack of media reports on the purported notice hints that it is fake. Alt News was also unable to locate it on Delhi police website. DCP South Delhi tweeted that the notice is fake and hasn’t been issued by them. 🛑 WARNING We have spotted this fake notice being circulated purportedly issued by Delhi Police. We have NOT issued any such advisory on imposition of a fine on March 22. Please tell your family and friends that this is FALSE & FAKE. Let’s make #JanataCurfewMarch22 a success. pic.twitter.com/M5aEEbE4Cd — DCP South Delhi (@DCPSouthDelhi) March 21, 2020 “We have NOT issued any such advisory on imposition of a fine on March 22. Please tell your family and friends that this is FALSE & FAKE,” reads the tweet. Earlier, a restricted movement order issued by the Malaysian government was getting circulated as a press release by PMO India. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st March 2020 / 10:02 pm / Last updated: 21st March 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-notice-attributed-to-delhi-police-claims-rs-11000-fine-for-breaking-junta-curfew-on-march-22/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
1,134	Fake photos of assault on cop during Bharat bandh protests viral on social media - Alt News Priyanka Jha 4th April 2018 / 3:44 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018 “Sub-inspector Mahendra Chaudhary of Jodhpur district mercilessly beaten to death by this Dalit. Is this what Bharat bandh is about? Share this widely” (translated). Along with this message have been posted three photographs, claiming that a sub-inspector was brutally beaten to death by a Dalit protester during Bharat bandh of April 2. These photographs have been posted by the Facebook page Kattar Hindu Bhagwa Raj which has a large following of more than 35 lakh. At the time of writing, this post has been shared almost 70,000 times by Facebook users. जोधपुर जिले में सब -इंस्पेक्टर महेन्द्र चौधरी जी को इस दलित ने बेरहमी से पिट पिट कर मौत के घाट उतार दिया! यह था भारत बंद ??इसे ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर करें ।। Posted by कट्टर हिन्दू भगवा राज on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 This post has also been shared by another Facebook page Bharat Ki Awaaz which has a whopping 3.9 million followers. जोधपुर जिले में सब -इंस्पेक्टर महेन्द्र चौधरी जी को इस दलित ने बेरहमी से पिट पिट कर मौत के घाट उतार दिया! यह था भारत बंद ??इसे ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर करें ।। Posted by भारत की आवाज़. on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 Another page Ek Naam Hindustan with a following of over 66 lakh too has shared these photographs with the provocative message. जोधपुर जिले में सब -इंस्पेक्टर महेन्द्र चौधरी जी को इस दलित ने बेरहमी से पिट पिट कर मौत के घाट उतार दिया! यह था भारत बंद ??इसे ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर करें ।। Posted by एक नाम हिन्दुस्तान. on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 We discovered that these images are being shared on social media by the minute, not just by Facebook pages with lakhs of members but even by individual users. Alt News found out that these pictures are of June 2017 and they were taken in Uttar Pradesh. According to a report by Daily Mail, a teenage school girl was raped during treatment at the Jagruti hospital in Kanpur, U.P. The crowd that had gathered to protest turned violent, indulging in destruction of property and even assaulted the police officer on duty at the hospital. The picture below has been taken from the Daily Mail article. Recently according to a report by News18, sub-inspector Mahendra Chaudhray was on duty during Bharat bandh on April 3 when he had a heart attack. He was being treated at a hospital in Jodhpur but with no improvement in his condition, he was referred to a hospital in Ahmedabad. He succumbed on the way to Ahmedabdad. On the other hand, Navbharat Times reported that Mahendra Chaudhary who was injured during Bharat bandh protests had succumbed to his injuries. The above screenshot is of the Google search on Mahendra Chaudhary. It reveals that while he had indeed passed away, but the photographs circulating on social media along with the message are fake. 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	4th April 2018 / 3:44 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-photo-of-attack-on-police-sub-inspector-viral-on-social-media/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
1,135	Fake: Photo of Rahul Gandhi checking out images of scantily clad women on his phone - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 31st July 2018 / 6:43 pm / Last updated: 1st August 2018 फोटो कभी झूट नहीं बोलती… देख लो राहुल गाँधी क्या कर रहा है (Photographs never lie…look at what Rahul Gandhi is doing- translated). With these words, a photograph of Congress President Rahul Gandhi checking out an images of a bikini clad woman on his mobile phone has been circulating on social media. A Facebook page, Yogi Sarkar which has more than 400,000 followers posted this photograph on July 30, 2018. It has been shared more than 7000 times since then. It has also been shared in the Facebook group Modi Mission 2019 which has over 130,000 members. फ़ोटो कभी झूट नहीं बोलती… देख लो राहुल गांधी क्या कर रहा है। Posted by Yogi Sarkar on Monday, July 30, 2018 Many Facebook users too have shared this image on their timelines and it has found its way on to Twitter as well. Among those who shared it on Twitter was Manish Pandey who describes himself as co-convenor of the BJP IT cell in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Pandey is followed on Twitter by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the official accounts of Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman. A simple reverse image search on Google helps reveal the original photograph, in which no mobile phone can be seen in Rahul Gandhi’s hand. The photograph was taken in November 2016 when the Congress President had arrived at a bank in New Delhi to exchange his old currency in the aftermath of the announcement of demonetisation on November 8, 2016. The original photograph has been posted on the website of Getty Images and shows Rahul Gandhi holding currency notes in his hand. Rahul Gandhi has been and continues to be targeted incessantly on social media by pages, groups, handles and accounts supportive of the BJP who in this instance sought to portray the Congress President in poor light by photoshopping an image. 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	31st July 2018 / 6:43 pm / Last updated: 1st August 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-photo-of-rahul-gandhi-checking-out-images-of-scantily-clad-women-on-his-phone/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,136	Fake picture of juvenile accused in Nirbhaya case circulates on social media and WhatsApp - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 13th March 2018 / 6:47 pm / Last updated: 13th March 2018 The Nirbhaya gang rape case that took place in Delhi in 2012 shook the conscience of the nation. The brutal rape and murder of 23-year old ‘Nirbhaya’ saw an outpouring of anger. Six people were arrested in the case and five of them were convicted. One out of those six was a juvenile, and much controversy had erupted over the verdict of the case wherein he was sent to a correctional home for a three-year term on account of being a minor. Now, social media is replete with news of this juvenile having ‘vanished from Delhi’. The message that is circulating on WhatsApp says, “Mohammed Afroz the 5th accused in the infamous Nirbhaya rape and murder case, and the most cruel and perverted one (the one who inserted a steel rod into the victim), who escaped death sentence being a juvenile then. Now he is out of juvenile home stay and now he is reported to have vanished from Delhi to south India. He may be working in some hotels or anywhere and nobody may recognise him. So kindly keep sharing this message and photo. Let him never be able to work or stay anywhere and may such heinous acts not be repeated.” According to the message, the juvenile whose name is supposedly Mohammed Afroz has ‘vanished from Delhi’ and has apparently fled to South India, where he may be working at some hotel. The message is being shared along with what is claimed to be a photograph of the said juvenile convict. Apart from WhatsApp, the message is also circulating on Twitter at least since June 2017. Pl RT. Recollect this cruel boy Mohammed Afroz of Nirbhaya case who inserted steal rod into victim ? Now out of juvenile home and is not traceable. Likely working in some hotels in south India. Kindly watch out for him pic.twitter.com/T7JIPjdNxd — Col NR Kurup (@colnrkurup) March 8, 2018 Facebook too has been flooded with this message about the juvenile convict. A number of pages and individuals have shared it widely. Alt News fact checked the claim and found that this photograph which is circulating, claiming to be of the juvenile conflict has been taken from a Twitter account @anehabeti. This account was created in 2010. There are only two tweets from this account so far. The last tweet was on September 6, 2013. The accused in the case were arrested immediately after the crime in December 2012. The juvenile accused was sentenced for 3 years to a reform facility in August 2013 and was released in December 2015. It is thus impossible that the accused would have tweeted in September 2013 from a correctional facility. Hence it can be concluded that neither the Twitter account @anehabheti nor the profile image in the @anehabheti Twitter account represents the accused. Therefore, the photograph that is floating on social media and WhatsApp is not that of the juvenile convict. Moreover, the name of the juvenile has not been officially revealed in a public forum and has been kept confidential since the the law necessitates that a juvenile’s identity is not to be disclosed. The name thus floating on social media is mere speculation. In fact, this message which is circulating on social media has been brought to the attention of the police. @DelhiPolice@MumbaiPolice this message is circulating on twitter and whatsapp, is this news correct, @anehabeti account is active on twitter. @rsprasadpic.twitter.com/agQWoPcZpo — प्राजक्त (Prajakt) (@PrajaktThale) March 6, 2018 The speculation over the juvenile supposedly disappearing from Delhi and working in South India in some hotel may be traced to reports that emerged in May 2017 about how the juvenile convict in the Nirbhaya case was living incognito, possibly in southern India and working at a roadside eatery. He is being looked after by an NGO. This report was carried by leading publications like Indian Express, India Today and Deccan Chronicle. Thus, the information that he possibly works in South India is not new and has already been in the public domain. Social media users are advised to be circumspect about forwards received across various platforms, as often the information contained in them is either motivated or plain dubious, as can be seen in this instance. 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	13th March 2018 / 6:47 pm / Last updated: 13th March 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-picture-of-juvenile-accused-in-nirbhaya-case-circulates-on-social-media-and-whatsapp/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
1,137	Fake poster claims Akhilesh Yadav said SP will build 2000 mosques in UP - Alt News Archit 14th January 2022 / 10:35 pm A poster claimed to have been made by the Samajwadi Party (SP) is widely shared on social media. The poster attributes the following quote to SP president Akhilesh Yadav — “In western UP and Purvanchal, 2000 new mosques will be built. In Ayodhya, 1000 crore rupees will be given for Babri Masjid. Ayodhya’s name will be changed. Reservation for Dalits and other backwards classes will be reduced while for Muslims it will be increased to 30%. Love Jihad law will be repealed. This is a promise to Muslims.” The poster is viral ahead of upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh. [Translated from पश्चिमी यूपी और पूर्वांचल में 2000 नई मस्जिद बनाई जायेगी अयोध्या में बाबरी मस्जिद के लिए 1000 करोड़ रुपये दिए जायेंगे अयोध्या का नाम परिवर्तन किया जायेगा, दलितों और पिछड़ों का आरक्षण कम कर के मुसलमानों को 30% आरक्षण दिया जायेगा, लव जेहाद कानून को खत्म किया जायेगा, यह वादा है मेरा मुसलमानों से, अखिलेश यादव.] This screenshot has been widely shared on Facebook. It was also posted on Facebook pages I Support Modi Ji and BJP [over 6 lakh followers]; हिन्दू सनातन संघ [over 22K followers]; and NaMo Always [over 35k followers]. The quote attributed to Yadav is so controversial that if he had indeed made such comments it would be breaking news. But no news channel has reported on the alleged statement. Abdul Hafiz Gandhi, National Spokesperson of Samajwadi Party, told Alt News, “The graphic is completely fabricated. It is neither made by our team nor Akhilesh Yadav has ever said this. It is a coordinated attempt to mislead a specific section of voters. Furthermore, the party is yet to disclose our manifesto.” Alt News rummaged Samajwadi Party’s Twitter accounts and found a graphic similar to the viral image. To view other posters by SP visit these links — Facebook, Twitter. The photo of Yadav in the viral image is his latest Twitter profile. A morphed poster attributes a false quote to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. It portrays that he said his party will build mosques and allocate money for the construction of Babri Masjid. A similar claim was earlier viral where a fake tweet portrayed Yadav promising the construction of Babri Masjid on the land allocated for the Ram Mandir if SP is voted to power. 🙏 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 January 2022 / 10:35 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-poster-claims-akhilesh-yadav-said-sp-will-build-2000-mosques-in-up/", "author": "Archit" }
1,138	Morphed images show Sourav Ganguly posing in front of banners of different parties - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 10th March 2021 / 7:05 pm Recently, a few posters of BCCI president and former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly were shared on Facebook and Twitter. Each poster correlates to a different political party’s colours and symbols. In one of these, he is seen wearing a saffron kurta with the BJP logo in the background. In the second, he is pictured in a green kurta with the Trinamool Congress symbol behind him. The final one shows him in a red kurta standing in front of the CPI(M) banner. All three feature the same Bengali text that reads, ‘স্বাগতম দাদা’ (Welcome Dada). The images, which are viral on Facebook, are posted below. Several users are sharing the collage. A few Twitter users are also circulating the posters. স্বাগতম দাদা।।।।। এবার বাংলায় দাদাকে চাই।।।।। বাংলায় নতুন পরিবর্তন চাই।। খেলা হবে।।।। জমিয়ে খেলা হবে।।।।।।। 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎 pic.twitter.com/Y78PxHli9F — Rinku Modak…🇮🇳🚩 (@jai_Bhagwa) March 2, 2021 Alt News performed a reverse image search and located the original photo on Pinterest which says that this is a promotional photo used for an incense stick advertisement. Sourav Ganguly is endorsing the Cycle Rhythm Agarbathi (incense sticks). The original picture given below features the company colors and imagery in the background instead of any party symbol. The ex-cricketer himself tweeted a similar picture of the advertisement in which he is wearing the same saffron kurta with the brand’s logo in the background. The sweet smell of cycle rhythm agarbatti pic.twitter.com/YCa8X8Nmrv — Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) September 4, 2016 The full-length advertisement, uploaded on October 5, 2016, can be viewed on the company’s YouTube channel. It is more than four years old. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs3oraonUJQ] The posters are being circulated now since West Bengal is set to go to polls for the upcoming assembly election. It is common for new entrants to join parties and change their affiliations ahead of polls. There has been constant speculation about the former sportsman entering politics and contesting in the Bengal elections. There were rumours that he would join Prime Minister Modi at his recent rally in Kolkata. Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh had cleared the air, stating that while no such discussions took place with the ex-cricket captain, he would be welcomed if he ever decided to join. Aaj Tak spoke to Sourav Ganguly on March 8. He has not issued any concrete statement yet on joining a particular party or entering politics. We found that most users shared all three posters together while taking a dig at the BCCI president’s political affiliations. Photoshopped posters of former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly have gone viral, each featuring the colours and imagery of a different political party. The images were all created from the same photo lifted from an advertisement. Each of them reads ‘স্বাগতম দাদা’ (‘Welcome Dada’ in English). The edited photos are making rounds on social media amid intense speculation about Ganguly joining a political party ahead of West Bengal elections. 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	10th March 2021 / 7:05 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-posters-of-saurav-ganguly-joining-politics-viral-the-poster-seems-to-be-made-in-sarcastic-way/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
1,139	Fake: Pre-poll survey by BBC predicts thumping win for BJP in Lok Sabha 2019 - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 9th April 2019 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 9th April 2019 According to a message which is being shared widely on Facebook and WhatsApp, a pre-election survey conducted by the British global news broadcaster BBC has concluded that the ruling BJP is all set to better its 2014 performance and storm back to power. @SMHoaxSlayer @boomlive_in @QuintFactCheck @AltNews kindly check this viral msg…. looks suspect. pic.twitter.com/egdmZKEBRp — Ashes to ashes (@ashes24_7) April 9, 2019 According to this message which lists out the possible outcome in all the states and UTs, the worst-case scenario for BJP is 323 seats, and the best case scenario is 380 seats out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats up for contest. The link to the homepage of the BBC is attached to the message, which has been reproduced below. BJP will gain seats and win 2019 Lok Sabha polls says CIA & ISI Survey…* CIA American Spy Agency ISI Pakistan Spy Agency BJP-Worst Performance = 323 Seats. BJP-Best Performance =380 Seats State. Range Min/Max ◆Andhrapradesh(25) = 3 to 4 ◆Arunachalpradesh(2) = 2 to 2 ◆ Assam (14)= 8 to 10. ◆ Bihar(40). = 30 to 35 ◆ Chhatisgarh(11) = 6 to 8 ◆ Goa (2) = 2/2 ◆ Gujarat (26) = 24 to 25 ◆ Haryana(10) = 6 to 8 ◆ Himachal Pradesh(4) =4 to 4 ◆ Jammu&Kashmir(6) = 3 to 3 ◆ Jharkhand(14) = 8 to 10 ◆ Karnataka(28) = 24 to 25 ◆ Kerala(20) = 2 to 3 ◆ Madhya Pradesh (29) = 24 to 25 ◆ Maharashtra (48) = 36 to 38 ◆ Meghalaya(2) = 1 to 1 ◆ Mizoram (1) =1 ◆ Manipur (2) = 1 ◆ Nagaland (1) =1 ◆ Orissa (21) = 8 to 10 ◆ Punjab (13)= 5 to 6 ◆ Rajasthan (25) = 20 to 24 ◆ Sikkim (1) = 1 ◆ Tamilnadu(39) = 28 to 30 ◆ Telangana (17) = 1 to 2 ◆ Tripura(2) = 2 ◆ Utar Pradesh (80) = 45 to 70 ◆ Uttarakhand (5) = 5 ◆ West Bengal (42) = 10 to 12 ◆ Andaman Nicobar(1) = 1 ◆ Chandigarh (1) =1 ◆ Dadra NagarHaveli(1) =1 ◆ Daman & Diu (1) = 1 ◆ Lakhshdweep (1) = 1 ◆ Delhi (7) = 6 to 7 ◆ Pundicherry(1) =1 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is by far the most popular leader in the country today Interestingly, the message says that the survey has been conducted by the CIA and the ISI, external intelligence agencies of the USA and Pakistan, respectively. Another version of the same message begins with the words, “#BBC ब्रिटिश चैनल ने अपने सर्वे में दी चौकाने वाली जानकारी ।” (Shocking information by BBC channel in its survey- translation). It may be noted that the link to the BBC homepage has been attached with the message, in order to make it seem as if this ‘survey’ was commissioned by the BBC. Several individuals have copy-pasted this message on their timelines on Facebook. It has also found its way to Twitter, although the tweet count is minimal at this stage. The message is a total fabrication. No such pre-election survey has been conducted by the BBC. In fact, the broadcaster does not conduct pre-election surveys at all for India. In a statement to Alt News, BBC spokesperson said, “This fake survey on the Lok Sabha polls has been circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook, with messages claiming it to be from BBC News. We’d like to make it absolutely clear that it is fake and does not come from the BBC. The BBC does not support pre-election surveys in India”. In the past as well, prior to the Karnataka assembly election and the Rajasthan assembly poll of 2018, the name and logo of BBC was misused to circulate a fake pre-poll survey showing the ruling party ahead in both states. With the Lok Sabha election about to commence, such fake pre-election surveys are likely to be circulated widely. 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	9th April 2019 / 4:49 pm / Last updated: 9th April 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-pre-poll-survey-by-bbc-predicts-thumping-win-for-bjp-in-lok-sabha-2019/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }

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