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Fake, provocative quote on Kashmir encounter attributed to Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
18th September 2018 / 10:42 pm
जिस फौजी ने बेक़सूर आतंकवादी को घसीटा उसको फांसी दो नहीं तो देश में आग लगा देंगे (The soldier who dragged an innocent terrorist should be hanged, otherwise we will set the country on fire- translated). This statement has been attributed to Priyanka Chaturvedi, national spokesperson of the Congress party, by a Facebook page Yogi Sarkar. Yogi Sarkar has a following of over 480,000. The quotation was posted on September 17 and has been shared over 6200 times so far.
Posted by Yogi Sarkar on Sunday, September 16, 2018
On September 13, three terrorists belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed were killed in an encounter with security forces at Reasi district in J&K. After the encounter ended, the slain terrorists were chained and dragged by security personnel. It is in the context of this photograph that the quote has been attributed to Chaturvedi.
The Congress spokesperson meanwhile has clarified via a tweet that she has not made the statement ascribed to her.
Another day, another fake quote attributed to me, yet again viral on Facebook.
Facebook is becoming a hub of lies and fake stories.
Get well soon wishes to those afflicted by liar-itis and fake-itis virus since 2014. https://t.co/w2e4pZFyou
— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) September 18, 2018
Priyanka Chaturvedi has been a constant target for purveyors of misinformation who have credited false statements to her. Earlier, when the Mandsaur rape case had surfaced, a quotation was ascribed to Chaturvedi according to which she had defended the rapist saying that the Congress party stands with him, and that it is the right of Muslims to rape.
Following the circulation of this fake quote, Chaturvedi and her daughter were threatened on social media.
In another instance, when the Asian Games were on at Jakarta in August 2018, a fake quote ascribed to Chaturvedi was doing the rounds, according to which she had said, “करोड़ों रुपये खर्च करके हम देश के लिए १० ग्राम सोना जीतने जाते हैं, इतने में तो कई किलोग्राम सोना ख़रीदा जा सकता है, किसान भूखा मर रहा है और इन्हें खेल और बुलेट ट्रैन की पड़ी है” (We spent crores to win 10 grams of gold, with this money we can buy many kilograms of gold instead. Farmer is dying hungry and they are concerned about sports and bullet trains- translated).
This too was fake, as was confirmed by Chaturvedi herself in a tweet of August 24.
A fake quote attributed to me about India’s sporting heroes representing us in the Asian Games by a parody handle of ANI has gone viral on Facebook. Wish the imbeciles behind this, engaged on issues rather than fake quotes.
— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) August 24, 2018
Attributing false quotations to public figures is among the most predictable and routinely used tactic on social media, requiring only an image and provocative and/or ludicrous text to be placed together. Despite the obvious nature of these quotations and clarifications to the contrary, there hardly seems to be a let-up.
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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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18th September 2018 / 10:42 pm
|
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-provocative-quote-on-kashmir-encounter-attributed-to-congress-spokesperson-priyanka-chaturvedi/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
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|
1,141 |
Fake quote ascribed to Delhi CM Kejriwal claims he said "India should give up Kashmir" - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
19th September 2018 / 10:05 pm / Last updated: 21st September 2018
A Facebook page that goes by the name योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना (Yogi Adityanath ki Sena) posted an image which looked like a cropped article from a Hindi e-paper clip. The article’s title was a quote ascribed to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal –“India should concede its right on Kashmir as Kashmiris want independence.” The post was shared nearly 5,000 times.
सड़जी आये अपनी औकात पर .
Posted by योगी आदित्यनाथ की सेना on Tuesday, 18 September 2018
A Twitter user @RaviNEGI4BJP who identifies himself as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and is followed by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal’s Office had shared the same newspaper clip in June 2018. He wrote an accompanying caption that said – “If it were to be left to Kejri Ali, even Delhi would be sold.”
प्रधानमंत्री बनने की सोच रखने वाला कंजरी अली का बस चले तो दिल्ली को भी बेच दी pic.twitter.com/wAxIJkm6Ei
— RaviNEGI4BJP (@ravinegi4bjp) June 23, 2018
Another Twitter handle followed by Piyush Goyal’s Office shared the newspaper clip in June 2018. A few other individual users and Facebook pages/groups circulated the same earlier this year.
There are certain observational hints that call the bluff of the fake e-paper clip. First, it does not include a date and second, has some serious grammatical flaws. In the first paragraph, the article addresses CM Kejriwal as “केजरी (Kejri)” which is uncharacteristic of a mainstream newspaper. In the subsequent paragraph, a statement by Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif is not written in the form of a direct quote. As one reads further, similar slights can be identified. However, the most significant indicator of the falseness of the clip is the fact that it says nothing about Kejriwal’s quote; it is only mentioned in the title.
Alt News found the possible origin of the fake clip. In 2014, Rishi Bagree had posted the same clip with a changed title and Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s photograph instead of Kejriwal.
Arvind Kejriwal has got invite to speak on Kashmir issue from Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif
Guess Why no invite 2 Modi ? pic.twitter.com/mUxdgoVEfG
— Rishi Bagree 🇮🇳 (@rishibagree) February 7, 2014
Observing the clips juxtaposed together, the similarity is evident. Not only are the articles exactly the same (with just the title changed), but the report on the right – “पाकिस्तान में जलाए गए भारतीय ध्यज (Indian flags burned in Pakistan)” – is identical as well.
Since there are two versions of the same e-paper clip circulated at different points in time, there could be two possibilities – either the clip is completely manufactured or the original e-paper clip has been morphed more than once. To establish if a similar report exits and might have been photoshopped, Alt News searched for the article on Google using keywords from the report and found a February 5, 2014 article by Dainik Jagran. The earliest instance of the e-paper clip that we found on social media was posted by Rishi Bagree on February 7, 2014.
If one goes through the Jagran report, it is evident that its online e-paper version has been morphed. The article reads exactly the same, apart from its altered title and the word “भारत (Bharat)” replaced with “केजरी (Kejri)” in the body of the report. When this article is juxtaposed with the one viral on social media, the modifications are clearly visible.
It was, therefore, evident that the e-paper clip was fake and used to propagate misinformation. In 2016, websites like mobilenews24.com had written articles on the fake clip but later deleted them.
Another GreatWork #सेक्युलरबाप #AAPtard @TheDeepUpreti कश्मीर पर भारत अपना हक़ छोड़ दे,कश्मीर पाक का:@ArvindKejriwal https://t.co/hvvITsZuXW
— Sunil Joshi(A Rebel) (@suniljoshi002) July 11, 2016
A Twitter user followed by Piyush Goyal’s Office and fake news website Postcard News had also shared the news clip last year.
कश्मीर पर भारत अपना हक छोड दे कश्मीरी लोग आजादी चाहते है : केजरीवल
#ISIKejriNexus pic.twitter.com/8jSR4n1NW9
— जय जगन्नाथ (@jagannathdas801) January 30, 2017
This wasn’t an isolated incident of a morphed e-paper clip being circulated on social media to spread disinformation. In July 2017, BJP MP Pratap Sinha had tweeted a Times of India story with a distorted headline. Earlier in June, a fake quote was ascribed to former President Pranab Mukherjee using a manufactured newspaper clip. That same month, another fake e-paper clip was circulated in the name of former HU student Rohith Vemula.
As consumers of daily news on the internet, we are attuned to believe e-paper clips because they carry within them an inherent genuineness. However, with instances of manufactured or morphed news clips emerging on social media, a self-fact-check is important. To establish the authenticity of such clips, any sentence picked from an article on the paper can be searched on Google. Most media outlets with e-papers have online versions of their reports and these would show up if the news is genuine.
As misinformation is easy to spread, a quick fact-check prevents further circulation of fake news.
[This article has been updated to include Rishi Bagree’s (@rishibagree) tweet, which we found was the earliest instance of the fake e-paper clip shared on social media.]
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…
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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19th September 2018 / 10:05 pm / Last updated: 21st September 2018
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"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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1,142 |
Fake quote ascribed to INC's Priyanka Chaturvedi: Use of solar energy will cool down Sun - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
10th April 2019 / 5:52 pm
A quote attributed to Priyanka Chaturvedi claims that the Congress spokesperson said, “पेट्रोल डीजल महंगा होने की वजह से मोदी सरकार सोलर एनर्जी के इस्तेमाल को बढ़ावा दे रही है। इससे थोड़े दिनों में सूरज ठंडा पड़ जाएगा और हर तरफ अँधेरा छा जाएगा| (Modi government is promoting the use of solar energy as the price of diesel and petrol has increased. Because of this, the Sun will become cold and there will be darkness everywhere.)”
The quote ends with a question – “ये कांग्रेसी जन्मजात ही पागल होते है या कांग्रेस ज्वाइन करने के बाद पागल होते हैं? (Are Congressi mad since birth or after joining Congress?)”
From a Facebook page ‘मिशन 400+ (साथ है तो अभी जुड़े)’, the post has 4,000 shares.
The quote has been circulated on WhatsApp as well.
The graphic was created by a Facebook page ‘The Fearless Indian’ on April 6. It received over 700 shares.
‘The Fearless Indian’ is run by Devang Dave, who describes himself as the national convenor of IT and social media at the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party, BJYM.
The quote ascribed to Priyanka Chaturvedi could not be located in any media reports. Alt News contacted the Congress spokesperson who informed that the quote was fake. “This shows the desperation of BJP pages and BJP-supporting pages to create a false narrative,” she said.
Chaturvedi has often been targetted on social media in a similar fashion. Earlier, a false and provocative quote on Kashmir encounter was attributed to her. The Congress spokesperson and her daughter were, last year, threatened on social media over a fake quote.
Other Congress leaders have also found themselves in the crosshairs of manufactured statements accredited to them. A clipped video of Ashok Gehlot was used to claim that the Rajasthan CM said that generating electricity will remove energy from water. Earlier, a statement made by Rahul Gandhi (‘Aloo ki factory’) had been subjected to similar treatment following which the Congress president was ridiculed incessantly.
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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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10th April 2019 / 5:52 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-quote-ascribed-to-incs-priyanka-chaturvedi-use-of-solar-energy-will-cool-down-sun/",
"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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Fake quote ascribed to Sambit Patra on farmers' agitation circulates on social media - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
4th October 2018 / 4:34 pm / Last updated: 4th October 2018
ये क्या है @sambitswaraj जी! थोड़ी शरम तो बाकी रहने दीजिए (What is this @sambitswaraj ji! Please have a little shame- translated). Dr. Sambit Patra, national spokesperson of the BJP was tagged in a tweet which had a screenshot of a press conference by the BJP which Dr. Patra had addressed.
ये क्या है @sambitswaraj जी! थोड़ी शरम तो बाकी रहने दीजिए। #KisanKrantiYatra pic.twitter.com/tyhyt9vnYv
— Avinash Das (@avinashonly) October 3, 2018
The above tweet is by Avinash Das, who is a filmmaker. The screenshot is purportedly of a broadcast by ABP News, and Dr. Patra is quoted as saying, “दिल्ली में घुसने वाले किसान नहीं ये गद्दार हैं! (Those who entered Delhi are not farmers but traitors- translated). The context here is the recent farmers’ agitation wherein thousands of farmers from several states marched to the capital in order to press their demands. This claim has also been shared widely on Facebook by a number of individual users.
The image circulating on social media is photoshopped. It has been taken from a press conference held in April 2018. The ABP News clip which had broadcast this presser can be accessed here. The exact screen grab which has been shared can be seen at 2:48 minutes in the above video. A screenshot of the same is posted below.
Dr. Sambit Patra has tweeted a clarification, saying no such press conference was held by the BJP where the statement ascribed to him is claimed.
No such Press Conference was ever held by @BJP4India
This is a photoshopped,fake news propagated by a verified Twitter handle to further vested interests & cause disharmony in the country
I sincerely request @TwitterIndia to take stringent action against the verified handle! https://t.co/tU0w2SCrpL
— Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) October 4, 2018
The image showing the broadcast by ABP News is photoshopped. This was tweeted by Vikas Bhadauria who is a reporter with the channel.
ये स्क्रीन शॉट फर्जी है @avinashonly जी https://t.co/SHpTeRoxP9
— Vikas Bhadauria ABP (@vikasbha) October 3, 2018
Disinformation is a tool that is increasingly being adopted by all sides of the political spectrum. A screenshot of a press conference was tampered with in order to portray the BJP spokesperson as irrational and insensitive, and shared subsequently on social media.
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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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4th October 2018 / 4:34 pm / Last updated: 4th October 2018
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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Fake quote attributed to Arun Shourie viral on social media - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
23rd November 2018 / 9:41 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019
“बीजेपी की समस्या कांग्रेस नही है, बीजेपी की समस्या लोगों की बढ़ती”जागरुकता है” बीजेपी को चाहिए अनपढ़, कमजोर, नंगे, भूखे, गरीब और गुलाम चमचे (BJP’s problem is not Congress party but the increasing awareness of the people. BJP wants illiterate, weak, bare bodied, hungry, poor and slave sycophants -translated)” This is quote ascribed to former Union Minister Arun Shourie by Facebook page, Viral In India. It has garnered close to 8600 shares and 4700 likes.
In a conversation with Alt News, Arun Shourie has denied having made any statement to this effect. He added, “Neither do I have a social media account including Facebook and Twitter nor do I own a website”.
Several other social media users have shared the same claim without any attribution which clearly indicates that a random statement has been ascribed to Arun Shourie to garner shares and run a political propaganda in the run up to the election.
In the past as well, fake quotes have been ascribed to politicians and public figures resulting in serious ramifications. Viral In India is owned and managed by Abhishek Mishra, who claims to be a ‘News/Media personality’ and an ‘RTI activist’ in his Twitter bio.
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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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23rd November 2018 / 9:41 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-quote-attributed-to-arun-shourie-viral-on-social-media/",
"author": "Jignesh Patel"
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Fake quote claims Kapil Sibal said he will die if Ram Mandir is inaugurated - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
11th November 2019 / 9:02 pm / Last updated: 21st July 2020
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 by suicide when Ram Mandir is inaugurated? (कपिल सिब्बल ने एकबार कहा था राम मंदिर निर्माण शुरू होने पर वो आत्महत्या कर लेंगे?)” Below is a tweet by a fake account created in the name of journalist Pushpendra Kulshreshtha.
A 40 kg silver brick may be laid as the foundation stone for Ram Mandir on August 5 in a ceremony to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
That Sibal said he will take his own life when Ram Mandir is inaugurated is viral on social media, also shared by a parody account of Republic TV anchor Arnab Goswami.
Another version of this claim was widely circulating last year. It said. “I will not let Ram Mandir be constructed till I’m alive – Kapil Sibal. (जब तक जिंदा हूँ, राम मंदिर नहीं बनने दूँगा – कपिल सिब्बल.)”
Among those who shared it was Gaurav Pradhan, who is followed by PM Modi on Twitter. His tweet where he wrote, “@KapilSibalभाई ज़िंदा हो की मर गए (@KapilSibal brother are you dead or alive?)“, garnered over 3,000 retweets.
Several other users on both Twitter and Facebook shared the same screenshot as Pradhan. The alleged quote has also been circulated sans the graphic.
Multiple persons have shared a blog post by yogisena.wordpress.com alleging the same. The post, however, is from 2018.
#AYODHYAVERDICT #राम_मंदिर
अभी ये जिंदा है….
जब तक जिंदा हूँ, नही बनने दूंगा राम मंदिर : कपिल सिब्बल, काँग्रेस pic.twitter.com/IpAReRAyEx
— Mritunjay Shukla (@prof_mshukla) November 10, 2019
From the Facebook page of the organisation (Yogi Adityanath ki Sena or YogiSenaGkp), the article had received close to 2,000 shares at the time, March 15, 2018.
The earliest version of the similar claim was discovered on Twitter — “Kapil Sibal: If triple talaq is deemed removed, I will not let Ram Mandir be constructed. (कपिल सिब्बल: अगर तीन तलाक ख़त्म हुआ तो राम मंदिर नहीं बनने दूंगा।)” This tweet was made on May 17, 2017.
The exact quote was also shared on Facebook that same day.
A quick Google search throws up no news reports crediting the quote to Kapil Sibal either recently or in the past. It is improbable that the media would not report such a controversial statement, had it been made by a prominent opposition leader.
Moreover, the screenshot shared by several users redirects to a shady website digitalindiatv.com which had attributed the quote to Sibal on March 15, 2018.
It is noteworthy that the Congress leader’s association with the Ayodhya case has been full of controversies. On December 5, 2017, Sibal’s request to defer the case till after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was turned down by the Supreme Court. It was claimed that the politician, who is also an advocate, was representing the Sunni Warf Board on the case — an allegation Sibal had denied. The MP’s statements on the issue have been reported in the media in the past where he cannot be heard making the controversial quote attributed to him.
Speaking with Alt News last year, Sibal termed the quote, “Mischievous, motivated, false and defamatory,” and further added, “I gave several statements after the verdict saying that we respect the verdict and the nation has to move forward, address the concerns of ordinary people.”
Thus a false quote attributed to Congress MP Kapil Sibal on Ram Mandir has been circulating online since the past few years. The quote was revived after the SC pronounced the verdict on the Ayodhya case on November 9, 2019 and now, ahead of the temple’s inauguration.
[This article was updated on July 21, 2020 with a fresh version of the false quote claiming Sibal said that he will die by suicide when Ram Mandir is inaugurated.]
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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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11th November 2019 / 9:02 pm / Last updated: 21st July 2020
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"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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Fake quote from parody account ascribed to journalist Rana Ayyub viral on social media - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
23rd April 2018 / 8:32 pm / Last updated: 10th June 2019
“Minor child rapists are also human, do they have no human rights. This Hindutva Government is bringing ordinance for death to child rapists just to hang muslims in larger numbers. Muslims aren’t safe in India anymore”. This quote has been ascribed to journalist Rana Ayyub. A tweet with this quote was posted by an account @repubIicTv. The tweet was later deleted, and so was the account.
Among those who shared this alleged quote included filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, who later deleted it.
This quote had gone viral on social media in 2018 itself. On Facebook, the quote was shared thousands of times by users. For instance, the page Yogi Adityanath ki Sena (@YogiGKP) which has over 425,000 followers and is a popular page with the right-wing posted this quote translated in Hindi on April 22. Since then, it has been shared more than 10,500 times. It has also been posted on the public group WE SUPPORT REPUBLIC.
On Twitter, Ayyub was slammed for her ‘views’, particularly by right-wing users.
अरे बेशर्म @RanaAyyub
60 साल तक बलात्कार पर कोइ कड़ा कानून नही बना लेकिन तब इन बामपंथी पत्रकारों के मुह से एक शब्द भी नही फूटा,आज जब मोदी सरकार ने बलात्कार के खिलाफ एक कठोर कानून बना दिया ह तो इनको ये बर्दाश्त नही हो रहा और तो और बोल रहे है इस कानून मुसलमान के खिलाफ ह #थू💦 pic.twitter.com/VmFObIRNdc
— Rajinikanth (@rajinikanthoff) April 23, 2018
The tweet was from the parody account of Republic TV, whose original Twitter handle is @Republic. Original accounts are distinguished by a blue tick. This quote was picked up and widely circulated in an organised manner across various social media platforms. Ayyub herself in a Facebook post clarified that she had not made any such statement and that it was from a spoof account of the news channel.
The enormity of the fake news problem in India. This tweet has gone viral on whats app/ facebook/ twitter. My phone is…
Posted by Rana Ayyub on Sunday, April 22, 2018
While it is argued that such quotes are only for fun as they are posted from parody accounts and need not be taken seriously, the fact that a large majority of social media users consider them to be true and end up perpetuating them makes a compelling case for social media platforms like Twitter to devise mechanisms wherein there is clear visual indication so as to not confuse users and help them distinguish real accounts from fake ones.
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…
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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23rd April 2018 / 8:32 pm / Last updated: 10th June 2019
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,147 |
Fake quote from parody account ascribed to rape-accused Kerala Bishop resurfaces - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
4th November 2019 / 8:27 pm
A screenshot of a supposed broadcast which attributes a quote to rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal is getting shared on social media – “Whatever happened between me and nun, it is not rape. It is the Holi Ritual of enlightenment to feel the Magical Existence of Holi Jesus at the end of the act.” While posting the screenshot, one Facebook user Rajesh Anubhav commented, “भाई तर्क तो लाजवाब है कोर्ट ने भी मान लिया क्या? (Brother’s logic is amazing. Did the court also agree? -translated)”. Franco Mulakkal, a bishop with a Jalandhar diocese, accused of raping a nun at a convent, will be reportedly facing trial at a Kerala court this November.
भाई तर्क तो लाजवाब है कोर्ट ने भी मान लिया क्या?
Posted by Rajesh Anubhav on Sunday, 3 November 2019
A few more users on Facebook shared the image with an identical narrative.
Alt News had earlier debunked this fake quote ascribed to Mulakkal in September 2018. Parody handle Unpaid Times was the first to tweet the screenshot that carried the quote attributed to the Bishop. The Twitter biography of Unpaid Times clearly states that it is an “Indian Satirical News Website”. However, as it happens ever so often, many people fall for such satire and circulate the information believing it to be true.
‘Whatever happened between me and nun, it is not rape. It is the Holi Ritual of enlightenment to feel the Magical Existence of Holi Jesus at the end of the act’: Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of Rape. pic.twitter.com/F6E7hVMK3q
— The UnPaid Times (@UnPaidTimes) September 12, 2018
In 2018, Madhu Kishwar had also tweeted the screenshot. The tweet has still not been deleted.
Awesome! May more & more skeletons come pouring out of the safe vaults of Christianity so people are disabused of their naive notions about the Church pic.twitter.com/PQqHmrnEsL
— MadhuPurnima Kishwar (@madhukishwar) September 17, 2018
In conclusion, a screenshot attributing a fake quote to rape-accused Franco Mulakkal that was first shared by a parody handle is again circulating 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…
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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4th November 2019 / 8:27 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-quote-from-parody-account-ascribed-to-rape-accused-kerala-bishop-resurfaces/",
"author": "Jignesh Patel"
}
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1,148 |
Fake quote on Hindus and Muslims attributed to actor Prakash Raj - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
31st January 2018 / 6:00 pm
“Hindus have been wiped out from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kashmir. They never sought revenge from Muslims. They silently embraced death. All Hindus should learn secularism & tolerance from those Hindus”. This is what is being attributed to actor Prakash Raj. According to this quote which is being shared widely on social media, the actor apparently made this inflammatory statement, asking the Hindu community to silently embrace death when faced with Muslim aggression.
Prakash Raj has been a vocal dissenter and critic of the ruling party and Government, as a result of which he has often come under attack from those sympathetic and supportive of the regime.
@prakashraaj hindus have been silent for 1000years but the time has come to wake up. No longer tolerance will accepted as massacre of the hindus happen daily in Kashmir Pakistan Bangladesh. @[email protected]/rZiqIuXqrA
— MAX (@suren1964) January 31, 2018
பொட்ட @prakashraaj கம்னாடி @superstarrajini @ikamalhaasan @HRajaBJP @Narayanan3 கூத்தாடி நாய்க்கு ஏன்டா ஹிந்து நையாண்டி? உன்னெல்லாம் தமிழ் சினிமாவுல உள்ளவிட்டது எங்க தப்பு! @srsekharbjp @SVESHEKHER @sgurumurthy @itz_katti @vechusenjing @MVR19711 @KasthuriShankar @chiyanviki pic.twitter.com/6je14e4wUD
— S. Muralidharan (@EelaTamilanMS) January 28, 2018
The Hindi version of the said quote too has been circulating on social media.
शर्मनाक! #वामपंथी (अभि)नेता प्रकाश राज ने कहा की हिन्दुओं ने #कश्मीरी पंडितों की तरह चुपचाप मौत को गले लगा लेना चाहिए! इस मुद्दे पर आपकी क्या राय हैं?
प्रकाश राज 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/vdbgqQ3lDm
— Mitali शाह मिताली (@mitalishah121) January 27, 2018
Prakash Raj tweeted on the issue, clarifying he had never made any such statement and that lies are being spread in his name.
By spreading such lies…instead of debating my views…you are proving to the world…how frustrated..desperate..and the cheap levels you can stoop down ..Dear citizens please like and retweet this to show such cowards …that we stand for a fearless Society which questions pic.twitter.com/2Bxi6aQUbV
— Prakash Raj (@prakashraaj) January 29, 2018
By the time a clarification is issued by these celebrities, the fake quote has already travelled far and wide on multiple social media platforms. These fake quotes which are frequently attributed to celebrities by suspicious twitter handles and Facebook pages seem to be following an established pattern. The format in which these quotes are presented is broadly similar, and the theme is usually communal. Actors who have professed a certain point of view which is not popular with certain sections are usually targeted. Prakash Raj is now the latest victim, along with actors Farhan Akhtar and Swara Bhasker.
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…
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31st January 2018 / 6:00 pm
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
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1,149 |
Fake quote menace goes too far; Hardik Pandya booked for tweet from parody account - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
23rd March 2018 / 9:05 pm / Last updated: 6th August 2018
A special SC/ST court in Jodhpur, Rajasthan directed the police to file an FIR against cricketer Hardik Pandya after a complaint was filed against him alleging that he had made derogatory remarks about B R Ambedkar. The complainant had alleged that Pandya had made a casteist remark and had hurt the sentiments of a community, for which he must be prosecuted. The tweet which landed the cricketer in a soup is posted below.
This tweet, on the basis of which the FIR has been filed is a parody account. The handle for this account is @sirhardik3777 whereas the cricketer’s official Twitter account is @hardikpandya7. This detail was not mentioned by some media houses when they initially reported the story. The reports were however updated later.
On his part, the cricketer has issued a statement through Twitter in which he categorically denies having made derogatory remarks about Ambedkar and clarifies that the statement was not made from his account but from a fake account operating in his name.
My statement. pic.twitter.com/P67YZLJqsl
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) March 22, 2018
Alt News had earlier reported how there is a factory of fake quotes that works round the clock, attributing outrageous and provocative statements to public figures from sports persons to politicians to movie stars. In fact, the parody account of Hardik Pandya @sirhardik3777 that has come under the scanner in this recent controversy had been chronicled by Alt News for attributing a blatantly communal remark to the cricketer. It was earlier named @sirPK3777. The account has now been deleted.
Fake quotes have become a daily affair. Today, the following fake quotes are circulating on social media, attributing words to singer Sonu Nigam and Aaj Tak anchor Sweta Singh.
Posted by ग्रेट नरेन्द्र मोदी on Friday, March 23, 2018
अप इस बात से सहमत हैं तो इस पोस्ट को ज्यादा से ज्यादा शेयर एवं इस पेज को लाइक करें
Posted by सौगंध राम की खाते है हम मंदिर वही बनाएंगे on Friday, March 23, 2018
On March 22, Alt News reported about a fake quote attributed to Aaj Tak journalist Sweta Singh. The quote was through a parody account on Twitter and was being shared on Facebook. Today i.e. March 23, the same quote is circulating in the form of a meme on Facebook. Memes use pictures of celebrities along with text for greater impact and more often than not, social media users believe them to be true.
It is not easy for social media users to distinguish a real account from a fake account. This problem is exacerbated by the use of screenshots and images of fake accounts that may be taken from one social media platform and shared on another. For example, Facebook users may not be familiar with spoof accounts on Twitter and might end up sharing fake messages. Typically, the blue tick feature of Twitter is used to indicate authenticity of accounts of many individuals and especially celebrities. However, tweets from parody accounts are often mistaken to be those of actual persons since there are no visual markers to suggest that a particular tweet has been posted from a parody account. The menace of fake quotes has reached epic proportions, and the Hardik Pandya episode may not be the last.
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.
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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…
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23rd March 2018 / 9:05 pm / Last updated: 6th August 2018
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,150 |
Fake quote against Muslims attributed to APJ Abdul Kalam - Alt News
Priyanka Jha
10th September 2021 / 1:33 pm / Last updated: 19th October 2021
An alleged statement by former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam has been circulating on social media along with his image. The statement reads, “Muslims are not born terrorists. They are taught the Quran in madrasas, based on which they selectively kill Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Jews, and people of other non-Islamic faiths. It is imperative to ban the thousands of madrassas running in India in order to control terrorism.”
Alt News received dozens of requests on our WhatsApp number and mobile app to verify this claim.
Numerous handles also tagged Alt News on Twitter, asking us to investigate the alleged statement.
Please fact check .@zoo_bear @AltNews @free_thinker ये कलाम साहब के विचार नही हो सकते नाहीं मुस्लिम धर्म की ये सोच हो सकती है । किसी असामाजिक तत्व की कलाम साहब को बदनाम करने की साज़िश है pic.twitter.com/SuSLNQjj9W
— Vinod Tatiwal Official (@vinod_tatiwal) September 8, 2021
We noticed that this forward has been circulating online for many years with a picture of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Two years ago, it was shared widely on ShareChat but with a different picture of Kalam. Alt News found the earliest instance of the quote in a 2014 blog post. This blog is run by one Sanjay Tiwari who describes himself as the founder of Ujala News Network. A quick look through his Twitter handle confirms that he is a BJP supporter and has used abusive language towards leaders like Arvind Kejriwal.
We could not find any news reports corroborating the statement. It is impossible that such a controversial statement would not have garnered widespread media coverage.
Kalam’s family clarifies the statement is fake
Alt News got in touch with APJMJ Sheik Saleem to ask about the veracity of this picture. Saleem is the nephew of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and the Managing Trustee of the Abdul Kalam International Foundation (AKIF). “APJ Abdul Kalam did not make any such statement. He never made any comments about any religion,” he said.
A fake statement against the Muslim community attributed to APJ Abdul Kalam, a Muslim leader himself, has been circulating on social media for years.
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.
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10th September 2021 / 1:33 pm / Last updated: 19th October 2021
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"author": "Priyanka Jha"
}
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Fake quote of Army chief General Bipin Rawat circulates on social media - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
18th September 2018 / 5:21 pm / Last updated: 18th September 2018
A fake quote attributed to Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat was shared by a Facebook page I Support Doval which has a massive follower base of over 1.7 million. The text inscribed along with an image of Rawat stated, “आर्मी चीफ बिपिन रावत जी ने कहा अगर नेता बनना है तो 5 साल पहले देश की सेवा के लिए आर्मी में होना अनिवार्य कर दिया जाए ! यकीन मानिए देश का 80% कचरा अपने आप ही साफ़ हो जायेगा. इनके बातो से कितने लोग सहमत है जो सहमत हैं शेयर करे” (Army chief Bipin Rawat said that to become a leader, it should be made mandatory to serve the country in the army for 5 years. Believe it or not, 80 % of India’s garbage will be cleared automatically. How many people agree with his statement. Share this, if you do -translated) It has been shared more than 2900 times and ‘liked’ more than 5400 times.
Posted by I Support Doval on Sunday, 16 September 2018
The above image had been shared in the past as well and in response to this, Indian army had clarified through their social media channels on September 11, 2018, that the statement being circulated was false. The clarification was published on the official Facebook page and the Twitter handle of the Indian Army. It was stated that some anti-social elements had circulated a false statement ascribed to General Bipin Rawat. This fake quote was once again shared on social media on September 16, 2018, despite the earlier clarification.
Social Media per Sena Adhyaksh Gen Bipin Rawat dwara jaari kiya hua ek jhoontha bayan kuch asamajik tatvon ne failane ka…
Posted by ADGPI – Indian Army on Tuesday, 11 September 2018
It has been observed repeatedly that fake quotes ascribed to public figures are routinely circulated by Facebook pages as part of political propaganda. Users are advised to be circumspect and verify any statement/claim that they may come across 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.
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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18th September 2018 / 5:21 pm / Last updated: 18th September 2018
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-quote-of-army-chief-general-bipin-rawat-circulates-on-social-media/",
"author": "Jignesh Patel"
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Fake quote of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy praising PM Modi viral on social media - Alt News
Pratik Sinha
18th May 2018 / 7:53 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018
Impersonation of celebrities or world leaders via fake quotes is an oft-used strategy by supporters of PM Modi to prop-up his image. On Alt News, we have written multiple articles exposing such fake quotes that are circulated on social media. Yet another quote is being shared on social media and this time it is attributed to Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy. The quote that is circulating has the following text:
“Shri N.R. Narayana Murthy — I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time i watched PM’s speech other than that on 15th august I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its th-e first time i know my country is safe I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time 20k indians gathered in for a politicians speech on a foreign land I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time every NRI is proud I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time 80 countries are listening to indian pm I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time when pakistan is totaly screwd up and china is scared I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time USA knows it not the sole power I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time Obama realised, he is not the most famous politician I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time INDIA seems a superpower I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time The World Knows WHY WE ARE THE WORLDS LARGEST DEMOCRACY I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time I know I AM A PROUD INDIAN !!!”
The above text is currently being shared multiple times on Facebook and WhatsApp.
Alt News got in touch with Mr Narayana Murthy through his secretary AG Panduranga to ascertain the veracity of the quote. In his response, Mr Murthy stated, “While I have tremendous respect for our PM, I must say that these are not my words.”
A quote which screams fake has been shared thousands of times on social media and continues to be shared for over 3 years. A post by a Facebook user Ashish Kumar Sharma posted on 5 December, 2015, has been shared close to 50,000 times.
Shri N.R. Narayana Murthy —
I don’t say Modi is the best pm, but its the first time i watched PM’s speech other than…
Posted by Ashish Kumar Sharma on Friday, 4 December 2015
Alt News tried to ascertain the origins of this message. What we found is that identical messages were circulated on social media after PM Modi’s speech at Madison Square Garden in New York on September 28, 2014. Back then, the messages were not attributed to Mr Murthy but posted by individuals in support of the PM.
Sometime in November 2015, the messages that were circulated after PM’s Madison Square Garden extravaganza were circulated again, but this time attributing it to Mr Murthy. One of the Twitter users Manisha who shared these messages while attributed them to Mr Murthy is followed by the PM himself on Twitter.
Ever since then, every few months, this fake quote is recirculated on social media. The following tweet in November 2016 is by a Twitter user Renuka Jain who is also followed by the PM on Twitter.
I don’t say @narendramodi is the best PM. But some facts contradict my own thoughts. I can’t fight with facts. Can you ? @narayanmurthy10 pic.twitter.com/zrHhS82R69
— #RenukaJain, FCA 🇮🇳 (@RenukaJain6) November 26, 2016
The menace of fake quotes is never-ending. Social media users are strongly advised to verify any quote attributed to a celebrity that they make come across. Statements and speeches by celebrities and world leaders are always reported by at least a section of the media and verifying whether a person indeed stated something that is being claimed is just a Google Search away. Be a good netizen!
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
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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18th May 2018 / 7:53 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018
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"author": "Pratik Sinha"
}
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Fake quote of Obama endorsing Rahul Gandhi for Prime Ministership shared by FB fan page - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
31st May 2018 / 8:55 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018
सोचिये नहीं, दबा के शेयर कीजिये (Do not think, share widely- translated). These words accompany a message along with a photograph of Congress President Rahul Gandhi with former US President Barack Obama. According to a post that has been shared widely on Facebook, Obama has said, “भारत में जिस तरह से परिवर्तन हो रहा है उससे निश्चित तौर पर आने वाले वक़्त में जनता राहुल गाँधी को पसंद करेगी, मैं राहुल को भारत का PM देखना चाहता हूं “(The manner in which change is taking place in India, it is clear that in future people will choose Rahul Gandhi, I wish to see Rahul as PM of India- translated)
विश्व भर के नेता अब राहुल गाँधी की ताकत मान रहे हैं
Posted by Rahul Gandhi For PM on Tuesday, May 29, 2018
The message is accompanied by a photograph of Rahul Gandhi with Barack Obama. It was posted by Rahul Gandhi for PM, a fan page of the Congress President on May 29, 2018. It has been shared close to 10,000 times already. विश्व भर के नेता अब राहुल गाँधी की ताकत मान रहे हैं (World leaders are now acknowledging Rahul Gandhi’s strength- translated), says the post.
Alt News usually tries to contact the concerned persons whenever a dubious quotation is brought to our notice. However in cases where it is not possible to do so, we use digital tools to establish the veracity of the quotes.
Alt News ran a Google search with the key words ‘Obama’ and ‘Rahul’, along with the operators ‘intitle’ and ‘AND’. The operator ‘intitle’ is basically used to search within the title of the stories. Further, the operator ‘AND’ is used to ensure that Google returns results of only those articles in which BOTH ‘Obama’ and ‘Rahul’ have been mentioned in the title. Using the date filter, we searched for news related to Barack Obama and Rahul Gandhi together for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018.
For 2018, we came across only one search result. This confirms that no such statement has been made by Obama this year.
For 2017, we came across a number of articles about the two leaders which spoke about the meeting between Congress President and the former US President in December, 2017. However, there was no reference to Obama endorsing Rahul Gandhi as claimed in the Facebook post.
For the year 2016, the search results showed that Rahul Gandhi had made a statement targeting PM Narendra Modi for taking a selfie with Barack Obama. Againt, there was no reference to this alleged quote by Obama on Rahul Gandhi. From 2016 to 2018, we could not find any evidence of Obama having endorsed Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress President had tweeted about this meeting with the former US President on December 1, 2017. He had also posted a photograph which has been used in this post with the fake quotation of Obama.
Had a fruitful chat with President @BarackObama Great to meet him again. pic.twitter.com/LCJKGBg0Qr
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) December 1, 2017
Barack Obama has in the past made statements with regard to both former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and PM Narendra Modi, where he has spoken positively about the two leaders. However, we could not find a single reference to Obama having made this statement about Rahul Gandhi, which would have been reported by mainstream media had such a statement indeed been made.
This fake quote ascribed to Obama is eerily similar to fake quotes which have been routinely shared by pages, groups and individual users supportive of PM Modi and BJP. The post asks readers not to think but to share as much as possible (सोचिये नहीं, दबा के शेयर कीजिये ), a tendency which helps share fake posts widely on social media platforms and more importantly, helps cultivate a culture of forwarding such posts without basic verification.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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31st May 2018 / 8:55 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
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1,154 |
Fake quote of Ravish Kumar over Murshidabad triple murder shared on social media - Alt News
Kinjal
21st October 2019 / 8:06 pm
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 –#रविश कुमार #Ndtv” (Those killed in Bengal are Hindus, so it makes no difference to me- translation). The comments on the post make it evident that a section of social media users believe such a statement has been made by Kumar.
We found that several users have shared it on Facebook with the narrative that this statement has been made by Ravish Kumar.
The alleged quote has been shared in Facebook groups, attracting several likes and shares.
The statement attributed to Ravish Kumar regarding the Murshidabad triple murder case is fake. In a conversation with Alt News, Kumar rubbished the statement. He said, “I have not said this, but it has been shared in my name. Ever since the brutal murder of the teacher and his family in Murshidabad, even before the police investigates, I have been made a target. All kinds of memes were circulated in UP and Bihar. I can never be a supporter of violence.” (translation).
Had Ravish Kumar indeed made such a controversial statement, it would invariably have been covered by mainstream media. However, we found no news report to the effect.
On October 8, in Murshidabad, West Bengal, a family of three – Bandhu Pal, his pregnant wife and 8-year-old son – was brutally murdered. Following the incident, the BJP claimed that Pal was an RSS worker. Some media organizations reported this claim as true. An attempt to communalize the incident was observed on social media. However, police investigation revealed that the accused in the case was one Utpal Behera, and the murder was the result of a monetary dispute.
It may be reiterated that the statement ascribed to Ravish Kumar and shared on social media is fake. In the past, several such fake quotations ascribed to Kumar have been circulated.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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21st October 2019 / 8:06 pm
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1,155 |
Fake quote on mohalla clinics attributed to BJP MP Manoj Tiwari; Aaj Tak logo misused - Alt News
Kinjal
26th October 2019 / 7:40 pm / Last updated: 26th October 2019
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 the Aaj Tak report is, “हर कॉलोनी में मोहल्ला क्लिनिक खोलकर नर्सिंग होम और प्राइवेट अस्पतालों को बर्बाद करना चाहते है केजरीवाल: मनोज तिवारी।” (Translation: Kejriwal wants to destroy nursing homes and private hospitals by opening a mohalla clinic in every colony: Manoj Tiwari). Among those who have shared this screenshot includes writer and film director Avinash Das. Das has shared it with the caption, कितना मूर्ख आदमी है!” (What a foolish man!) His tweet has been ‘liked’ over 3600 times and has garnered over 1000 retweets (archive).
कितना मूर्ख आदमी है! pic.twitter.com/GxTuBN9IbC
— Avinash Das (@avinashonly) October 21, 2019
Some Facebook users have shared this screenshot with an identical message.
The screenshot of the Aaj Tak shared on social media is photoshopped. To verify this ‘news’, Alt News searched for this report on the website of the channel, but we found no such report. Apart from this, no media organisation has reported such a statement having been made by Manoj Tiwari.
In a conversation with Alt News, Kamlesh Kishore, managing editor of the digital division of Aaj Tak, said, “This is yet another screenshot which has been circulated by misusing the name of Aaj Tak. We have seen how fake news purveyors, in order to lend credibility, often use the logo of prominent news channels. Somebody used our name and logo to make this image and share it.”
Recently, Manoj Tiwari had taken potshots at the Delhi government over mohalla clinics. He had said that the state of mohalla clinics has worsened and the present government is unable to maintain them.
In this manner, using the logo of Aaj Tak, an attempt was made to present a fake quote attributed to Manoj Tiwari as reported by the channel.
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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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26th October 2019 / 7:40 pm / Last updated: 26th October 2019
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"author": "Kinjal"
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Fake quote: Wg Cmdr Abhinandan Varthaman said, "Pulwama attack, a BJP conspiracy" - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
21st May 2019 / 2:52 pm / Last updated: 21st May 2019
“पुलवामा हमला बीजेपी की सोची समझी साजिश थी -विंग कमांडर अभिनंदन (Pulwama attack was a well-planned conspiracy of the BJP -Wing Commander Abhinandan -translated)”, reads a message posted along with a newspaper clipping, which is being circulated on social media. The clipping has attributed a quote to IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman. It said, “पुलवामा हमला बीजेपी की सोची समझी साजिश थी और पाकिस्तान पर नकली हमला करवाया, मोदी को चुनाव जीतने के लिए इमरान खान मदद कर रहा है। बालाकोट पर बमबारी इमरान खान की सहमति से हुई है (Pulwama attack was a well-planned conspiracy of the BJP whereas the attack on Pakistan was a sham. Imran Khan is helping Modi win the elections. Balakot airstrikes were conducted with Imran Khan’s permission -translated)”. The newspaper clip attributing the said quote to an IAF pilot, who was directly involved in the Balakot airstrike, comes across as a statement injecting credibility in the narrative of the attack being a BJP conspiracy.
Many other individuals on Facebook and Twitter have shared the clipping with the identical narrative.
The statement credited to Varthaman is atypical of a serving officer of the armed forces, wherein he is directly raising allegation against the ruling party, let alone any political party. Had Abhinandan Varthaman issued such a statement levelling allegations of sabotage against the ruling party, it would have been reported extensively and would have led to a huge political furore, to say the least.
On searching for credible media reports on Google News, we found no reports that have attributed the said statement.
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman hasn’t been much in the public eye since the time he was captured by the Pakistan army and later released and handed over to India on March 1, 2019. However, he was recently in the news after a video of him interacting and taking selfies with fellow colleagues went viral on social media and was reported by the media.
First video since he was discharged from hospital, here’s Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman taking pictures with men. This is likely sometime last month. Video from some Air Force groups. He looks well! 👊🏽 pic.twitter.com/Os5Pu6aJI1
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) May 4, 2019
Alt News found that the newspaper cutting, which is currently being circulated on social media, was clipped from a fact-check article published by Dainik Jagran regarding the statement ascribed to Varthaman. The fact-check by Dainik Jagran also arrived at the same conclusion- the quote is fake.
In conclusion, a newspaper clipping of a fact-check article, which had determined that a quote attributed to IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman is fake, was in-turn circulated on social media to inject credibility to the same quote.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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21st May 2019 / 2:52 pm / Last updated: 21st May 2019
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"author": "Jignesh Patel"
}
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Fake quotes attributed to Digvijaya Singh viral on social media - Alt News
Smit Bhatt
23rd June 2018 / 9:38 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018
“पत्थरबाजों को आतंकवादी नहीं कहना चाहिये : दिग्विजय सिंह” (Stone-pelters should not be called terrorists – Digvijaya Singh – translated). This quote has been ascribed to senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and has been making the rounds on Facebook and WhatsApp.
Multiple Twitter users have also tweeted the same quote attributed to Singh. A Twitter user Akshay, who is followed by BJP MP Udit Raj and has more than 47,000 followers too tweeted a quote, alleging these are the words of Digvijaya Singh. The attempt here is to portray him as a terror sympathiser.
#पत्थरबाजों को #आतंकवादी नही कहना चाहिए : दिग्विजय सिंह
तुम उन्हे #दामाद कहना चाहो तो कहो हमें क्या… हम तो आतंकवादी ही कहेंगे।
— Akshay (@akshaykumaa) June 8, 2018
Another Twitter user, Avinash Bhardwaj, who is followed by the official account of cabinet minister Piyush Goyal and Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga, has also tweeted a fake quote. The same quote was also tweeted by the parody account of singer Sapna Chaudhary.
Another fake quote in the name of Digvijaya Singh is being circulated, which reads “फौजियों ने अगर पत्थरबाजो के हाथ भी लगाया तो आग लगा देंगे पूरे देश मे : दिग्विजय सिंह (We will set whole country on fire, if Indian army dares to touch the stone-pelters – Digvijaya Singh)”.This quote has been shared by many Facebook users and is being shared on WhatsApp as well. Among those who have shared it is a Facebook page called “भाजपा आहोर विधानसभा क्षेत्र “.
फौजियों ने अगर पत्थरबाजो के हाथ भी लगाया तो आग लगा देंगे पूरे देश मे,,आपका अपना
कांग्रेसी नेता
##दिग्विजय सिंह
Posted by भाजपा आहोर विधानसभा क्षेत्र on Friday, June 22, 2018
A Twitter user, who claim to be followed by the official account of Piyush Goyal has also tweeted this image.
फौजियों ने पत्थरबाजो को हाथ भी लगाया तो आग लगा देंगे पूरे देश में
– दिग्विजय सिंह कांग्रेस😈😈 मित्रों पहले इसे सुधारो… देश को कांग्रेस मुक्त बनाओ pic.twitter.com/hmL2bANMGe rt
— Naresh Choudhary (@naresh_nimbau) June 23, 2018.
Alt News contacted Digvijaya Singh to ascertain the veracity of the quotes. In his response, he clarified, “The words attributed to me are absolutely false. I will take legal advice on how to proceed in this matter.”
Impersonation of public figures via fake quotes is an oft-used strategy by fake news purveyors. There have been multiple instances of fake quotes circulated on social media in the past which have been chronicled by Alt News. If and when public figures do make any controversial statements, they are always reported by at least a section of the media. Social media users are therefore strongly advised to verify any quote attributed to a public figure that they may come across by searching the quoted statements via search engines such as Google.
Fact-checker, Interning with Alt News
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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23rd June 2018 / 9:38 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018
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"author": "Smit Bhatt"
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1,158 |
Fake quotes by global leaders praising PM Modi circulate on social media - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
17th May 2018 / 4:46 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018
One of the key ingredients that has contributed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s success is his ability to manage popular perception. In fact, portrayal of PM Modi as a karmayogi (a doer) and as a doyen with regard to administration and governance was instrumental in catapulting him and his party to majority in the Lok Sabha in the general election of 2014.
This assertion that PM Modi is an administrative genius was sought to be legitimised by reiterating that some of the leading public figures in the world in the fields of management, academia and business have endorsed Modi’s competence. The supposed views of these leading public figures were shared widely by supporters, sympathisers and enthusiasts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Consider these examples.
It is claimed that Philip Kotler, an American marketing consultant, author and academic had said the following words about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Alt News contacted Professor Philip Kotler who is currently teaching at the Kellogg School of Management, Illinois. In an email conversation, Prof. Kotler said,
“Thanks for bringing this quotation to my attention. The first part is correct that I have taught marketing theory to many people. I have also separately praised Narendra Modi for his leadership in some miscellaneous writing. But I never said: “but I cant teach marketing skills to Narendra Modi, he knows everything.” I would never say that there is anyone in the world who knows everything.”
Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor at Oxford University, U.K is another well-known figure who was supposedly in awe of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s management skills. It has been claimed that Professor Richardson in a speech to her students had said, “if there’s anybody who can teach you better management skills than us, it’s the Indian PM; you should listen to his speeches often.”
Alt News sent an email to Professor Richardson soliciting a response as to whether she had indeed said such a thing. Responding to our email, Executive Officer to the Vice-Chancellor Dr. Bethan Williams confirmed that Prof. Richardson had not said these words.
“I am all praise for the Indian PM, the steps he has taken, will bolster the economy and growth rate”. These are the words ascribed to Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank.
Alt News contacted World Bank in order to ascertain the veracity of the quotation. World Bank Press Secretary David Theis in an email conversation said,
“I have looked into the alleged quote from the World Bank, and can find no credible evidence of its veracity. It appears to be extrapolating from something said in 2016, which you’ll find in this video:”
Dr. Kim says in the video: “We’re extremely pleased with the progress being made in the six priority areas. Prime Minister Modi and his government have set difficult targets, and I have been pleasantly surprised by how much progress has been made…India’s success over the last two years is one of the true bright spots…in the global economy.” Hope this answers your question.
Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, according to the quote ascribed to him had said “I have seen many Leaders fail to perform under pressure, but PM Narendra Modi is perhaps the only leader I’ve come across who’s unaffected under pressure.”
Alt News contacted Bill Gates and also the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to verify if such a statement had indeed been made by Bill Gates. We also individually contacted representatives of the Foundation. Alt News will update the story after it has elicited a response from Gates or her/his representative. It may however be noted that the source of this quotation is the same as that of the other fake quotes listed above. Moreover, a statement of this nature from a public figure like Bill Gates would have been reportedly widely by the media, but no such record is to be found.
Actor and BJP MP Paresh Rawal (1,2,3) was among those who had shared these quotes on his Twitter timeline.
Desi Mojito, a Twitter handle also tweeted these quotes on April 26, 2018. This post has been retweeted almost 1800 times.
This is enough for us to re-elect Modi ji in 2019 pic.twitter.com/H3hYL015zW
— Desi Mojito (@desimojito) April 26, 2018
These quotations carry the logo of The Fearless Indian which has a popular presence across social media platforms. However, these images can no longer be found on its pages and have likely been deleted. The above quotes have also been posted on websites such as www.indianceo.in and www.lolbaba.com. It may be noted that these quotes were shared widely after the demonetisation move announced by the Government in November 2016.
Social media has become a significant battleground for political parties. Various platforms are used by supporters to bolster the image of political parties and leaders. Political propaganda often blurs the line between fiction and fact. In the pursuit of representing PM Narendra Modi as a supremely capable leader, fake quotations were ascribed to leading celebrities and 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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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17th May 2018 / 4:46 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
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Unearthing fake quotes on Mandsaur rape ascribed to Congress leaders - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
4th July 2018 / 11:27 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018
The aftermath of Mandsaur rape saw a flood of fake news on social media. Newest to the addition of lies are fake quotes attributed to Congress leaders in an attempt to portray them as sympathetic to the alleged rapist.
Several posts on social media claim that Congress Madhya Pradesh MP Jyotiraditya Scindia called for a CBI enquiry in the rape of the 8-year-old girl from Mandsaur, citing the possibility of the rapist Irfan being innocent. Serial purveyor of fake news, Indiaflare.com, published an article on the fake quote. This is the same website that had earlier circulated a morphed image of Muslims demanding the release of Mandaur rapist, when in fact the rally was taken out in protest of the brutal crime.
It has been shared more than 2,000 times from the Facebook page BJP All India.
Posted by Bjp All India on Sunday, 1 July 2018
The fake quote has more than 2,800 shares on Yogi Adityanath Ki Sena. Several other right-wing pages – Modi Sena, Vote 4 BJP, We Support Yogi Adityanath, among others – have also shared the fake quote.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala clarified to Alt News that Scindia has been misquoted. “He never made this statement but called for a CBI enquiry to punish all those involved in the crime.”
Jyotiraditya Scindia demands CBI probe Mandsaur rape case #ITVideo
For more videos: https://t.co/NounxnP7mg pic.twitter.com/huHgZOTmaS
— India Today (@IndiaToday) June 30, 2018
Another post by Facebook page Jay Modiraj alleges that while BJP supports capital punishment of the rapist, Congress is demanding a CBI enquiry.
Indiaflare.com has also attributed a manufactured quote to Randeep Singh Surjewala, claiming that the Congress spokesperson said, “Mohammed Irfan cannot be considered a rapist because Islam permits the rape of women from another religion. He should be released.” This was the same narrative pushed by the fake news website in its article on ‘Muslims demanding the release of Mandsaur rapist.’ The fake quote attributed to Surjewala has been shared on Join and Support PM Modi (2019) by one Anurag Tiwari, whose account seems fake as there is no activity on the profile. It has more than 500 shares.
“This is another instance of fake news by BJP trolls. I have never made such a statement. A rapist is a rapist and needs to be punished in accordance with the law. A rapist cannot be adjudged on the basis of caste or religion,” Surjewala told Alt News.
3. Rahul Gandhi: “Muslims can’t rape”
A fake quote ascribed to Congress President Rahul Gandhi claims that he too supported the rapist. “Muslims cannot rape. This is a scheme by BJP to malign the reputation of our Muslim brothers,” is the false statement being peddled on social media. It was posted by a Facebook page BJP Khargone Barwani and has attracted more than 8,700 shares.
भाईयो क्या के रहा है ये पप्पू । इसके बारे मे दो सब्द कहे
Posted by BJP Khargone Barwani on Monday, 2 July 2018
The fake quote has also been shared by BJP All India, attracting more than 2,700 shares.
“Rahul Gandhi never made this comment. Such obnoxious trolling and manufacturing of lies will not deter us from speaking the truth to those in power,” said Surjewala.
Earlier, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi was targeted on social media with a fake quote claiming that she said it is the “right of Muslims to rape”. The manufactured statement attracted rape threats to Chaturvedi and her daughter. This isn’t new, but an identical trend was recognised in June in the run-up to Pranab Mukherjee’s address to RSS cadres in Nagpur. Among the number of false statements ascribed to him, right-wing pages on social media claimed that the former President termed Manmohan Singh as Congress’ “slave” and said that “Sonia Gandhi hates Hindus”.
Manufacturing fake quotes is a common trend in the current state of affairs. It is a tactic to malign a certain section of the society and/or individuals belonging to a different political sphere to play on people’s fears. Social media users are advised to verify with credible media sources and/or visit social media handles of public personalities to check if they have made the comments attributed to them or not.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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4th July 2018 / 11:27 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018
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"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
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Fake quotes industry targets Congress Party by ascribing false statements to Pranab Mukherjee - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
6th June 2018 / 4:47 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018
Former President Pranab Mukherjee will be addressing RSS cadres at an event in Nagpur on June 7. Mukherjee’s acceptance of the invitation has taken many by surprise. While there are those who are alarmed by Mukherjee’s nod to the RSS, others contend that dialogue is an intrinsic part of democracy and there is nothing inherently objectionable about the move. In this context, it has been observed that a number of quotations attributed to Mukherjee have been circulating on social media in the last few months and particularly in the last few days. This trend had started not long after Mukherjee released his autobiography The Coalition Years in October 2017.
Alt News discovered at least three dubious quotations ascribed to Mukherjee which have circulated widely on social media. Let us take a look at these quotes.
1. “I am not a slave like Manmohan Singh”
मैं मनमोहन की तरह गुलाम नहीं हूं मुझे जो ठीक लग रहा है मैं वह कर रहा हूं आज भारत को RSS जैसे संगठन की आवश्यकता है (I am not a slave like Manmohan Singh. I am doing what I consider to be right. Today, India needs an organisation like the RSS- translated). These are the words of former President Pranab Mukherjee, if an image circulating on social media is to believed. This image carries a picture of Mukherjee along with the aforementioned words.
The image posted above shows the logo of ‘Poster Maker’ which is a picture-based application. It has been uploaded and shared by many individual users on Facebook identically, mentioning the quote in their posts, thus indicating that the image may have been shared on WhatsApp and subsequently uploaded on social media platforms. Many Facebook pages too have shared this quote, such as India Against Congress from which it has been shared more than 2000 times already.
Apart from this quote, another claim that is circulating widely on social media is that the former President has claimed that Sonia Gandhi, President of the Congress party, hates Hindus. “सोनिया गांधी करती हैं हिंदुओं से नफरत” (Sonia Gandhi hates Hindus-translated) is the quote circulating widely.
This claim has appeared on some dubious Hindi online publications. A website named Channel Hindustan published an article on February 5, 2018 which claims that Mukherjee has revealed in his book The Coalition Years that Congress President Sonia Gandhi took numerous anti-Hindu decisions when she was at the helm of affairs during UPA-I and UPA-II.
Another website, www.performindia.com has also published an article with the same claim on October 30, 2017. It may be noted that The Coalition Years was released in October 2017. Another article with the identical claim has been uploaded on June 4, 2018 by a website www.hindi.indiasamvad.co.in. Regardless of the fact that this claim has been in the online domain for a few months now, it is being shared widely on Facebook. In one post uploaded by a user in March 2018, it has been shared in the form of what appears to be a newspaper excerpt. However, Alt News could not trace the origin of this image which has been shared more than 8800 times so far.
हिन्दुओ से नफरत करती है सोनिया गांधी प्रणब मुखर्जी की किताब द कोएलिशन इयर्स में हुआ ख़ुलास
क्या अब भी आप कांग्रेस को वोट देंगे???
Posted by Akshay Bansal Janalia on Saturday, March 10, 2018
An article published by PostCard News also reported about this quote by Pranab Mukherjee.
Yet another statement credited to the former President which has circulated widely in the last few months is “कांग्रेस की छवि अब देशद्रोही संगठन की, कांग्रेस का 2019 में सर्वनाश तय” (Congress’ image is of an anti-national organisation, Congress’ decimation is 2019 is certain- translated). Among the Faceook pages which shared it is Dainik Bharat which has over 540,000 followers.
भ्रष्टाचारी छवि के कारण 2014 में हारी कांग्रेस, अब कांग्रेस की छवि देशद्रोही संगठन की, 2019 में सर्वनाश तय : प्रणब मुखर्जी
Posted by Dainik Bharat on Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Interestingly, Alt News found that this same quotation had been shared by not less than four pages on Facebook on the same day- January 24, 2018. The pages which posted it apart from Dainik Bharat are Yogi Raj- 2017, Bharatiya Yuva Shakti and Chitkar: Meri Awaaz Suno. BJP Another page named posted the quote among its more than 200,000 followers on January 29.
Alt News contacted the office of former President Pranab Mukherjee. They denied the statement vis-a-vis Dr. Manmohan Singh that was attributed to Mr Mukherjee and also the statement about Congress being perceived as an anti-national organisation. Further, regarding the statement according to which Mr Mukherjee claimed that Sonia Gandhi hates Hindus, in his book The Coalition Years, they stated that the book is in the public domain and that it does not have any such references.
The quotation on Sonia Gandhi ascribed to Mukherjee- finds inspiration and imagination from this excerpt of The Coalition Years, found on Page 209 of the book. Mukherjee’s memoir with regard to the arrest of Jayendra Saraswati, erstwhile Shankaracharya of Kanchi in a murder case, finds reference on this page. It may be noted that Saraswati had been arrested by the state government in Tamil Nadu which was ruled by the Jayalalithaa led AIADMK. The union government had no role in the arrest.
Mukherjee recalls how he was in thorough disagreement over the arrest of the Shankaracharya at a time when Diwali festivities are on, and was “extremely critical of the timing of the arrest and questioned if the basic tenets of secularism of the Indian state were confined to only Hindu monks and seers? Would the state machinery dare to arrest a Muslim cleric during Eid festivities?”
This recollection by Mukherjee and his objection over the Shankaracharya’s arrest has in all likelihood been used by pro-BJP pages to allege that the Congress President is anti-Hindu. It may be reiterated that the Shankaracharya had been arrested by the Tamil Nadu government in 2004 and not by the Central government.
Pranab Mukherjee’s nod to the RSS to attend the Nagpur event has evoked keen interest among political observers and lay citizens alike. Mukherjee on his part has maintained a stoic silence, asserting that he will say whatever he has to on June 7. The organised manner in which fake quotes ascribed to him have circulated online in the last few months strongly indicates that an attempt is being made to project Pranab Mukherjee as disgruntled with the Congress party leadership.
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.
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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6th June 2018 / 4:47 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
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A person unrelated to Ravish Kumar is claimed to be his sister who's been suspended due to corruption charges - Alt News
Pratik Sinha
3rd April 2017 / 8:14 pm / Last updated: 2nd October 2017
These days, the very name of Ravish Kumar causes much distress to BJP supporters. Ravish’s journalism which constantly questions the establishment, their policies and their actions has resulted in BJP supporters harbouring an immense amount of resentment against him. However, things were not always such. Before 2014, when Ravish used to target the UPA Govt, he was quite a favourite among many Modi supporters. Here’s a sample of their tweets pre-2014 when they used to be effusive in praise for Ravish’s journalism. Each one of the Twitter handles below is followed by PM Modi on Twitter.
Post 2014, if one scrolls through the Twitter accounts of these very Modi supporters, it would seem as if Ravish Kumar is their arch-enemy. They have indulged in many online campaigns against him which are essentially attempts of character assassination. The constant trolling led to Ravish Kumar quitting Twitter in August 2015.
Meanwhile, Ravish kept enthralling his audience via some scintillating episodes that he anchored on NDTV India. This included the episode where he delivered a powerful statement via a black screen post the JNU Controversy and the questionable conduct by various TV news channels. He told his viewers ‘Yeh andhera hi aaj ki TV ki tasveer hai (this darkness is the picture of television today).’
The other episode that made waves was when he did a show with two mime artists, one of which represented a troll and the other represented a person in the establishment This was a unique protest against the 1 day ban that was handed over by the I&B ministry against NDTV India. Eventually, the I&B ministry did not enforce the ban.
Fast forward to 2017, now there’s a full-scale character assassination campaign going on by the Indian right-wing against Ravish Kumar. The latest is an allegation that Ravish Kumar’s sister has been charged with corruption charges and has been suspended from duty. The rumour was started by a person called Kundan Kumar via his Facebook profile in which he claims that one Shrimati Nita Kumari Pandey has been suspended from a Government school in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, due to corruption charges. Kundan Kumar also states that Nita Kumari Pandey is Ravish Kumar’s sister.
Soon after, various right wing websites picked up this rumour and published it on their websites. This included DainikBharat, Newsloose and many more. This rumour was further amplified by BJP supporters via their social media accounts. Here are a few tweets from people whom PM Modi follows on Twitter.
And some more tweets which caused the rumour to go viral yesterday included those by bhaiyyajispeaks and Prashant Patel Umrao.
It turns out that the person concerned against whom allegations have been made is not related to Ravish Kumar in any way. Ms. Nita Kumari Pandey’s brother has himself come forward and made this clarification on social media. In a post on social media, he clarified that Nita Kumari Pandey is not Ravish Kumar’s sister and in the comments section of the same post, he further clarified that Ms. Pandey is actually his elder sister.
We contacted Mr Madhukar Pandey over the phone and he confirmed the contents of his Facebook post and reiterated that Nita Kumari Pandey is not related to Ravish Kumar in any way and is actually his elder sister. Thus lies demolished yet another lie propagated by the right-wing ecosystem in India.
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
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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3rd April 2017 / 8:14 pm / Last updated: 2nd October 2017
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"author": "Pratik Sinha"
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Fake Rs 2000 notes seized from RSS supporter Ketan Dave in Gujarat? False claim viral - Alt News
Archit
17th January 2020 / 3:08 pm / Last updated: 17th January 2020
Several social media users have posted images that show stacks Rs 2,000 currency notes seized by the police. The accompanying claim suggests that the cash was recovered from the car of Ketan Dave, an RSS worker.
On January 14, Twitter-user @HabibHasan_ posted the viral images and tweeted in Hindi, “Consignment of fake notes found in the car of honest RSS supporter Ketan Dave in Gujarat… RBI should be closed and the task of printing currency notes should be given to him.” This tweet has been retweeted over 400 times.
[Translated from: गुजरात से नकली नोटों का भंडार पकड़ा गया और ईमानदार संघ समर्थक श्री केतन दवे की कार से मिला ये नकली नोटों का जखीरा… RBI को बन्द करके Currency छापने और संचालन का काम भी इनको ही दे देना चाहिये ]”
गुजरात से नकली नोटों का भंडार पकड़ा गया
और ईमानदार संघ समर्थक श्री केतन दवे की कार से मिला ये नकली नोटों का जखीरा…
RBI को बन्द करके Currency छापने और संचालन का काम भी इनको ही दे देना चाहिये | pic.twitter.com/yl2lyytjds
— 🔥जलता हिंदुस्तान,जलता सविंधान🔥 (@HabibHasan_) January 13, 2020
An India TV broadcast which reports Rs 4.5 crores worth fake Rs 2000 notes seized in Gujarat was shared by Facebook page ‘बीआरसीएस ईनटरनेशनल (BRCS International)’ with the same message. It is noteworthy that the channel also reported that the cash was recovered from Ketan Dave’s car however did not mention his alleged association with RSS, as claimed on social media. The video drew over 1.3 lakh views.
गुजरात से
देशभक्ति और ईमानदारी से भरपूर संघ समर्थक श्री केतन दवे की कार से मिला ये नकली नोटों का भण्डार…
Posted by बीआरसीएस ईनटरनेशनल on Monday, 13 January 2020
Similarly, several users on Facebook and Twitter shared the viral claim.
It is noteworthy that the photographs are circulating in the backdrop of the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data which said that Rs 2,000 banknotes comprised 56% of all counterfeit currency seized in India after demonetisation, i.e. in 2017 and 2018.
Alt News performed a Google reverse image search of one the viral images and found a November 2, 2019 report by Telangana Today. As per the report, Telangana police arrested four members of a family and some others while seizing 350 bundles of fake Rs 2000 currency notes from Khammam. Shaik Madar was identified as the main accused.
In the report, Commissioner of Police (CP) Tafseer Iqubal said that the racket was being operated with Sathupalli town as its centre.
The incident was also reported by Financial Express and ANI.
Telangana: Khammam police today arrested five persons for cheating public in guise of exchanging Rs. 2,000 denomination currency notes and offering 20% commission.
320 bundles of Rs. 2000 denomination fake notes (around Rs 6.4 crores) seized. pic.twitter.com/ptulXGi1Qb
— ANI (@ANI) November 2, 2019
The viral claim that the incident took place in Gujarat is false. As per reports, the cash was seized in Khammam, Telangana in November 2019.
Alt News performed a keyword search on Google and found that the viral clip was picked up from a three-minute broadcast uploaded by India TV in March 2017.
The broadcast talked about counterfeit currency seized in Rajkot, Gujarat from a Rajot-based financer Ketan Dave. A report by Financial Express also identified Dave as a Rajkot-based financier. We were unable to find any reports which suggest that he is associated with or supports the RSS.
A video of the incident was also tweeted in November 2019 by journalist Aneri Shah.
#Telangana Khammam police arrested five persons for cheating public in exchanging Rs. 2,000 denomination currency notes and offering 20% commission.
Nearly, 320 bundles of Rs. 2000 denomination fake notes around Rs 7 crores were seized. #FakeCurrency #khammam pic.twitter.com/NWD6Ba8HkC
— Aneri Shah (@tweet_aneri) November 2, 2019
A clipped version of India TV’s broadcast was shared with a false message on social media.
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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17th January 2020 / 3:08 pm / Last updated: 17th January 2020
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Fake ABP News graphic plate claims Sambit Patra's daughter eloped with Muslim man - Alt News
Kinjal
27th November 2020 / 4:48 pm / Last updated: 28th November 2020
A widely circulating graphic plate reads, “Sambit Patra’s daughter eloped with a Muslim man. (संबित पात्रा की बेटी मुस्लिम युवक संग फरार).” A ticker at the bottom also says, “Sambit’s daughter indulged in Jihad. (संबित की बेटी ने रचाया जिहाद).”
Gobar patra ki beti love jihad ki aaropi
Posted by Sabir Ali on Thursday, 26 November 2020
The alleged graphic plate is quite viral on Facebook.
A cursory look itself reveals that the viral graphic plate has been manufactured. For starters, the ABP News logo is in the middle of the screen on the right whereas it should have been on the top right corner.
In the past as well, several morphed graphic plates have circulated as part of genuine ABP News broadcast. They’ve been created using a meme generator website breakyourownnews.com. A few adjustments have been made on the website template — its watermark on the top right corner has been replaced with a line of stars, Hindi tickers carrying the false news have been added at the bottom and ABP News logo has been superimposed on the middle-right.
Below is a genuine graphic plate from an ABP News broadcast.
Furthermore, no media reports say that Sambit Patra’s daughter eloped with a Muslim man. A morphed ABP News graphic plate was shared to promote the misinformation.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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27th November 2020 / 4:48 pm / Last updated: 28th November 2020
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"author": "Kinjal"
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Fake tweets with offensive, racist language viral in Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal's name - Alt News
Kinjal
3rd December 2021 / 7:23 pm / Last updated: 3rd December 2021
On November 29, Jack Dorsey stepped down from his role as the CEO of Twitter and was replaced by Indian-origin Parag Agrawal.
Twitter handle @TruAmericanGal1 shared a screenshot of a tweet purportedly posted by the new Twitter CEO. The screenshot contains a photo of a man with an offensive caption.
In addition, another Twitter user amplified the image with the same claim, sharing a second photo as well. The user wrote that these were some old tweets posted by Agrawal wherein he has used racist and offensive language. @SinhaleseSavage’s tweet was liked by over 13,000 handles.
Agarwal did not post any such tweets. If he had done so, they would have been the subject of widespread media scrutiny. But there are no reports to corroborate them. Furthermore, taking a closer look at the viral screenshots, we noticed that the date has been cropped out.
Replying to @TruAmericanGal1’s tweet, another user shared the original tweet which was morphed to create one of the fake tweets. The original tweet was posted by a handle called ‘@sandeep_bah’, as shown in the side-by-side comparison given below.
Moreover, Parag Agrawal is not the person featured in either of the two images.
Both the tweets also cannot be located on Agrawal’s Twitter timeline.
Therefore, fake tweets manufactured and shared in Parag Agrawal’s name were believed to be true.
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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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3rd December 2021 / 7:23 pm / Last updated: 3rd December 2021
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Fake social media profiles with Muslim identities to bolster BJP: Case Study 1 (Gini Khan - @giniromet) - Alt News
Pratik Sinha
1st May 2017 / 1:49 am / Last updated: 22nd June 2017
A Muslim name. That too a woman. Celebrates the recent success of Yogi Adityanath and constantly appreciates the ‘greatness’ of PM Modi. Very critical of Muslims. Repeatedly brands the entire Muslim community as extremist. Blind nationalism. Wouldn’t that be a dream come true for the entire right-wing? Enter Gini Khan. Claims to be an atheist who lives in Canberra, Australia. Ticks all the boxes, the number of retweets she gets shows how popular she is in the right-wing ecosystem.
Gini Khan indeed says all the things that a person from the BJP camp would love to hear. A modern woman with a Muslim name who claims to have shunned religion and is saying these things, no wonder the right-wingers can’t help but press the retweet button. However, does this person who is known by her handle @giniromet in the Twitter world also exist in the real world? We’re about to find out.
Gini Khan claims that the woman in the pictures above is herself. We did a little bit of reverse google image searching and this is what we found. The picture on the left is from a photo shoot of an actress called Sana Khan who had also been a ‘Big Boss’ contestant. The picture that Gini Khan has put up on her Twitter account has been taken from Sana Khan’s Instagram account.
The picture on the right is also in fact Sana Khan and has been picked up from a website called All Cine Gallery.
In fact, she has stolen pictures of not just Sana Khan but other unsuspecting women as well. One Priya Menon found to her horror that her pictures are being passed of as those of Gini Khan.
Okay, so Gini Khan hasn’t been truthful about her real appearance. But there are so many on social media who do not use their real pictures. That doesn’t mean that Gini Khan is not a real person. After all, we live in the world of Instagram filters.
Let us look at her next claim which is that she lives in Canberra, Australia. To give credence to this, she regularly tweets about Australia. But a little bit of deep Twitter searching would reveal that the multiple times when she tweets about Australia, she’s actually been plagiarizing other people’s tweets.
In fact, if you look up Facebook’s database of publicly searchable profiles, only four people with the first name Gini come up and none of them is a Khan.
There’s no Gini Khan to be found on LinkedIn either. For someone who’s moved from India to Australia, it is strange that the person doesn’t have either a personal profile on Facebook or a professional profile on LinkedIn. Further more, to show that she lives in Australia, she’s even lied brazenly while passing off pictures from other countries as those of Australia.
It is a strange Australian airport where you see only Indians. If you zoom into the image, this is what you see:
Circled above are gates for Air Vistara and Jet Airways seen in backdrop of the praying man and Air Vistara doesn’t have any International operations as yet. Gini Khan to prove that she lives in Australia passed off an Indian airport as an Australian airport. According to some comments on the Twitter thread, that airport is probably Lucknow airport. Whoever this person is routinely lies about many other issues as well.
We all know that JNU Student Najeeb Ahmed has still not been found till date.
In the course of this post, we have seen that Gini Khan steals pictures for profile images, plagiarizes and lies to prove how she’s from Australia. However, is she even a ‘she’? To make it appear that she’s a woman, this person posts personal pictures of various body parts. However, forgets that the complexion of the skin needs to match from one picture to another.
This person is not Gini Khan, is not from Australia, is not a woman. This person is actually a sicko who steals pictures of women from their personal accounts on Facebook/Instagaram/Pinterst etc and pretends to be a Muslim woman who fully supports the politics of BJP.
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
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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1st May 2017 / 1:49 am / Last updated: 22nd June 2017
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-social-media-profiles-muslim-identities-bolster-bjp-caste-study-1-gini-khan-giniromet/",
"author": "Pratik Sinha"
}
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1,166 |
Did Kapil Dev say Jay Shah pressured cricketers to post identical tweets? Fake quote - Alt News
Anuradha Prasad
11th February 2021 / 4:44 pm
Social media users were up in arms after R&B artist Rihanna and environmental activist Greta Thunberg tweeted about the raging farmer protests in India. While one group appreciated their support, the other felt they were ‘interfering” in India’s internal matters. Responding to the tweets by Rihanna, Greta, and some other prominent international celebrities, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement instructing foreigners not to comment on the farmers’ movement. This was followed by a string of Bollywood actors and cricketers posting nearly identical tweets about India’s unity and integrity. All of these contained the hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda coined earlier by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Social media is now buzzing with an alleged statement by former cricketer Kapil Dev. Users began sharing a photo of the former cricketer claiming he stated that Indian players were tweeting against farmers due to pressure from Amit Shah’s son, BCCI secretary Jay Shah. One such tweet by user Hami Khan garnered more than 1,100 retweets at the time of writing. This claim has gone viral on Twitter.
#कपिलदेव का बड़ा बयान: अमित शाह के बेटे के दबाव में किसानों के खिलाफ ट्वीट कर रहे हैं भारतीय खिलाड़ी… pic.twitter.com/Eylk3uuSiT
— Hami Khan (@hamikhan01) February 7, 2021
The viral claim has also made its way to Facebook. The post below was shared by more than 600 users at the time of writing.
The screenshot below indicates the widespread traction it has been gathering online.
Alt News combed through recent news reports about Kapil Dev. Most of these reports mention one particular tweet. In a February 4 tweet, he wrote, “I simply love India, I wish the tiff between Farmers and Govt gets resolved ASAP. Let the experts take a call. One thing for sure India is supreme. Also, I wish my Indian cricket team a grand success in the upcoming series against England. Jai Hind.” We checked Dev’s Twitter timeline and noticed that this was his latest tweet. He had not posted any other tweets at the time of writing.
I simply love India , I wish the tiff between Farmers and Govt gets resolved ASAP.
Let the experts take a call.
One thing for sure 🇮🇳is supreme
ALSO I WISH MY INDIAN CRICKET TEAM A GRAND SUCCESS IN THE UPCOMING SERIES AGAINST ENGLAND
Jai Hind
— Kapil Dev (@therealkapildev) February 4, 2021
There is no mention of Amit Shah’s son Jay in this tweet. Neither has he mentioned farmers in any of his previous tweets. According to the viral claim, Kapil Dev allegedly revealed that Home Minister Amit Shah’s son and BCCI secretary Jay Shah pressured cricketers to tweet against farmers. This claim is completely false. The former sportsperson has never issued such a statement.
A journalist and a dilettante person who always strives to learn new skills and meeting new people. Either sketching or working.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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11th February 2021 / 4:44 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-statement-of-kapil-dev-criticizing-jay-shah-to-suppress-cricketers-voice-viral-on-social-media/",
"author": "Anuradha Prasad"
}
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1,167 |
Fake story alleging farmers tried to run over journalist with tractor widely copy-pasted - Alt News
Archit
30th January 2021 / 7:42 pm
A purported incident that went down during farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi on January 26 was surprising experienced by several Twitter and Facebook users. “I have never seen such chaos by farmers in my journalistic career. They tried running a tractor over me and attacked with swords. They also behaved indecently. Tried to snatch the mic and break it. Is this farmers’ protest or something else?” – reads the exact story shared by multiple people.
(Translated from Hindi text: आज रिपोर्टिंग करते समय इन तथाकथित किसानों का जो तांडव देखा वो अपने पत्रकारिता करियर में कभी नहीं देखा। आज इन्होंने ने मुझपर भी ट्रैक्टर चढ़ाने और तलवार से हमले की कोशिश की। अश्लील हरकतें और बदसलूकी की गयी । माईक को छीनकर तोङने कि कोशिश की। ये किसान संगठन है या कोई और संगठन ??)
Among those who shared the alleged story was @NehakiNews who identifies as a former employee of ABP News and Zee News in her bio. Similarly, @Pujapandey_ tweeted the identical text. Her bio also states that she is a journalist. Both their tweets gained close to 5,000 retweets each.
Using advanced search on Twitter, Alt News found that @NehakiNews was the first handle to tweet the story. Prior to 8:11:42 PM, no one else had shared the account. Readers should note that timestamps mentioned in this report are based on the Indian Standard Time (IST) whereas the time that appears on archived links may be based on different time zones.
Alt News found an archived link of @NehakiNews’s from January 28 around 8 PM where the profile picture is not the same as the current one and the username is @News4India_.
A reverse image search on the older profile picture shows the woman whose image is used is Pakistan-based journalist Qurat Ul Ain Iqrar. Iqrar had clarified on Twitter that the account is fake.
Fake ID Alert !! This is how fake accounts being used against protesting farmers… https://t.co/OcYotr4RPf
— qurat ul ain iqrar (@ain_iqrar) January 28, 2021
Alt News rummaged @NehakiNews’s profile and based on replies to old tweets, found that the imposter account has previously held the following handles – @IASUrmila, @News4India_, and @Nehajoshinews. (1, 2, 3)
The next tweet that copy-pasted the viral story was Twitter user @Pujapande at 8:50:24 PM. Subsequent tweets weren’t made until 11:59 AM on January 27. The story then went viral.
An imposter account @NehakiNews tweeted a fake story that farmers tried to run her over with a tractor. This was then picked up by multiple handles that attempted to pass off the story as their own.
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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30th January 2021 / 7:42 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-story-alleging-farmers-tried-to-run-over-journalist-with-tractor-widely-copy-pasted/",
"author": "Archit"
}
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1,168 |
Fake story claims Aaj Tak's Navjyot Randhawa harassed by Muslim man in farmers' protest - Alt News
Archit
3rd February 2021 / 8:45 pm / Last updated: 9th February 2021
After the January 26 clashes during farmer’s tractor rally, there has been an organised effort to build a false narrative about the events that transpired. Several Facebook and Twitter users have now claimed that Aaj Tak anchor Navjyot Randhawa was attacked by a Muslim man pretending to be a Sikh during the Republic Day protest. As per the claim, Aaj Tak suppressed this news because the accused was from the minority religion.
Twitter users @Im_Ricky_in and @SomaliBhattach5 posted this claim, garnering 200 retweets each.
The complete message in Hindi reads, “ये नवज्योत रंधावा हैं, आजतक चैनल में एंकर हैं। आप शायद इन्हें पहचानते भी होंगे। 26 जनवरी पर किसानों की ट्रैक्टर रैली को कवर करने के लिए सिंघु बॉर्डर गई थीं। वहाँ पर एक सिख युवक इनके पीछे पड़ गया। सिंघु बॉर्डर से वो लालक़िले आ गईं तो पीछे-पीछे वह युवक भी लालक़िले आ गया। यहाँ पर आकर उसने छेड़खानी शुरू कर दी। नवज्योत रंधावा सिख हैं। उन्होंने अपने साथ छेड़खानी की शिकायत लालक़िले पर प्रदर्शन में शामिल कुछ सिख युवकों से कर दी। उन्होंने छेड़खानी करने वाले युवक को पहले समझाने की कोशिश की, लेकिन बात बढ़ गई और मारपीट शुरू हो गई। इतने में ही छेड़खानी करने वाले इतने में ही छेड़खानी करने वाले की पगड़ी खुल गई और पता चला कि वह सरदार नहीं है। जब पकड़कर पूछताछ की तो पता चला कि वो कोई अब्दुल मियाँ थे, जो सरदार बनकर अपनी मज़हबी खेती करने के चक्कर में थे। चैनल ने अपनी एंकर के साथ हुई छेड़खानी की ख़बर दबा दी, क्योंकि आरोपी मज़हब विशेष से था”.
Multiple Facebook users posted the claim with an image of the anchor including Facebook page ‘स्वयंसेवक‘ (Svayamsevak) that has over lakh followers. It was also shared by Facebook user Dilip Pandey. Both posts gained over 900 interactions each.
The woman in the photograph is indeed Aaj Tak anchor Navjyot Randhawa. However, the story widespread in her name is false.
Alt News reached out to Randhawa who said, “The social media claim is baseless and false. Nothing mentioned in the viral text happened on January 26 with me.”
Thus a false story was cooked up that journalist Navjyot Randhawa was assaulted by a Muslim man during January 26 farmers’ rally. Recently, a copy-paste campaign was generated for discrediting the ongoing movement. An imposter account @NehakiNews tweeted a fake story where she identified as a journalist and claimed that she was attacked and harassed by protestors. This was copied and shared by multiple accounts as their own experience.
In the past, Alt News has debunked multiple instances of false claims suggesting that the Muslim community has infiltrated the farmers’ protest.
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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3rd February 2021 / 8:45 pm / Last updated: 9th February 2021
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"author": "Archit"
}
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1,169 |
Fact check: Did Robert Clive say Indians celebrated British victory in 'first colonial war'? - Alt News
Alt News Desk
14th June 2018 / 8:31 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018
Titled “रॉबर्ट क्लाइव द्वारा लिखी गई बात” (Words written by Robert Clive) is a post shared by the Facebook page Doval Fan Club on June 4, that claims that these are the words written by the Commander-in-Chief of British India, Robert Clive in his autobiography.
The page has nearly 40 lakh followers and the share count for this post is massive. When last checked, close to 70,000 Facebook users had shared it. It says: “When we won the first battle to colonise India and took out celebratory processions, Indians clapped in our honour. They rejoiced at the loss of their own kings. If every Indian had at the time picked up a stone and thrown at us, India would’ve gained her freedom in the year 1700 as we (Britishers) were only 3,000 in number” (translated). The post ends with the comment: “Even today India has not improved. Our condition prevails.”
Posted by Doval Fan Club on Monday, June 4, 2018
The image of the text has also been shared by individual users across social media platforms.
The post has some blatant slights that betray its falseness. The extract from the autobiography mentions neither date nor source, but it does mention a year when an apparent war took place and Indians celebrated a British victory. To understand the text and context, we need to go back in time during the advent of the British East India Company and the role Robert Clive played in the politics of the subcontinent.
Firstly, the post claims Clive wrote that Indians were busy celebrating a British victory and that “had they thrown stones at Britishers instead of rejoicing their own loss, India would have gained freedom in the year 1700”. However, Clive was born in 1725. It is thus impossible for him to have written his autobiography chronicling the late 17th century.
Secondly, it talks about the “first battle to colonise India”. Let us take a look at the history of the East India Company and its attempt to gain a foothold in India in the 18th century when the subcontinent was parceled out into numerous kingdoms.
The British East India Company (EIC) was founded in 1600 as a private joint stock company to trade with East Indies (present-day maritime Southeast Asia), mainly for spices. The establishment of the company kick started an era that culminated in British hegemony. Its interests shifted to building an empire in India after the East Indies came under the control of the Dutch. With the Mughal empire only a shadow of its former glory after the death of Aurangzeb, the EIC fought with the French East India Company which was locked in a contest with the British for supremacy over the subcontinent, and later with Mysore, Hyderabad and the Marathas, ultimately emerging victorious. It was however the conquest of Bengal which laid the foundation for British rule in India.
The Battle of Plassey, fought in 1757 between the East India Company army and Siraj-ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal ended in a crushing defeat for the latter and marked the first serious territorial conquest for the company. It was in this battle that the British contingent led by Robert Clive had a troop strength of 3,000 (of which only 650 were English soldiers), suggesting that the Doval Fan Club post might be referring to the Battle of Plassey. However, the battle was fought in 1757 unlike the war mentioned in the post, dated 1700.
Thirdly, all information given in the post is attributed to an autobiography. Alt News searched and found that no autobiography had been written by Robert Clive.
Clive died a rich man in 1774, owing to his success as a military general and civil administrator. He was twice appointed governor of Bengal, first in 1757 and later in 1765. His crowning glory is arguably the Treaty of Allahabad, signed in 1765 which granted the company the right to collect ‘Diwani’ or revenue on behalf of the empire in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha and opened the flood gates for British domination. The treaty was the outcome of the victory of the British over the combined might of the Nawab of Bengal, Nawab of Awadh and Mughal emperor Shah Alam II in the Battle of Buxar in 1764. The treaty enabled the company’s employees to exact revenue from these provinces which were plundered mercilessly. They were also permitted to engage in private trade. Clive made a fortune during his stint as the governor of Bengal which he then repatriated to England.
History has always been a contested battle ground for ideological face-offs, and the use of history to further favourable narratives has been a tried and tested strategy. However, for fake news peddlers, history is more convenient than contested. It is easy to manipulate history by making false claims which lay readers may rarely ever be inclined to verify. This plays into the hands of purveyors of misinformation who are encouraged by the fact that readers are likely to believe what is presented.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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14th June 2018 / 8:31 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018
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{
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-suicide-note-robert-clive/",
"author": "Alt News Desk"
}
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1,170 |
Fake Times of India tweet claims HUL faced Rs 10 crore loss after controversial Surf Excel ad - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
11th March 2019 / 9:21 pm
An alleged Times of India tweet is doing rounds on social media which reads – “As a result of massive boycott by the hurt Hindu community because of a Hindu shaming derogatory ad by Surf Excel, the company has already faced loss amounting close to Rs 10 crores which is expected to rise further.” Among those who circulated the tweet was a Facebook page ‘The Right Direction.’
A similar claim viral on social media adds that Flipkart has removed Surf Excel from its e-commerce website. An individual named Spreeha Roy Chowdhury posted the claim on a Facebook group called ‘We Support Republic’.
If one looks up the alleged TOI tweet on Twitter, no results are thrown up. However, there still remains a chance of the tweet being removed by the media organisation.
To figure out the authenticity of the tweet, we checked it for any abnormalities. In the collage below, the tweet on the left is picked up from the official Twitter handle of Times of India. The tweet on the right is the one viral on social media. If you notice the sentence alignment and the placement of the TOI logo on the left tweet, they all fall in a straight line. Contrastingly, the alignment in the image on the right is botched-up.
It is, thus, clear that the viral tweet ascribed to Times of India was manufactured. Furthermore, as far as Flipkart is concerned, neither has the company put up any statement declaring the removal of Surf Excel from the site nor have any media organisation reported the same.
Since HUL’s advertisement portraying Hindu-Muslim communal harmony, several people on social media called for boycotting the company’s products. However, there are no media reports stating that HUL faced heavy loses due to the backlash.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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11th March 2019 / 9:21 pm
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"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-times-of-india-tweet-claims-hul-faced-rs-10-crore-loss-after-controversial-surf-excel-ad/",
"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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1,171 |
Fake tweet depicts Sambit Patra comparing PM Modi with Turkish warrior Ertugrul - Alt News
Archit
17th July 2020 / 6:30 pm / Last updated: 17th July 2020
A screenshot of BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra’s alleged tweet is being circulated on social media. As per the screenshot, Patra tweeted on May 16, “I am watching Ertugrul nowadays & I see narendra modi has similar leadership qualities as Ertugrul .His Strong belief in God, his Courage to not give up, His conviction to Stand on his principles even when everyone is against him. @narendramodi”.
Several Pakistan-based Twitter users shared the alleged screenshot of Patra’s tweet including @Nomii394 (archive link) and an anonymous account Pakistan Strategic Forum (archive link).
Ertuğrul was a 13th-century Turkish warrior. Historical fiction series ‘Diriliş: Ertuğrul’ is based on Ertuğrul’s life who is considered the father of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire. The show, which glorifies Muslim heroes, depicts Ertuğrul as a champion for the cause of Islam. He is shown fighting off external enemies such as the Mongols, Christian Byzantines and Templars. The series has been banned by the governments of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt alleging that Turkey wishes to influence the regions via soft power. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan however has praised the show.
The screenshot was also tweeted by two Jammu & Kashmir National Conference members — Sajjad Shaheen (archive link) and Shafqat Watali (archive link).
Alt News received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+917600011160) and on our official Android application.
In order to check the authenticity of the viral screenshot, Alt News performed a keyword search on Twitter restricting results between May 15-17, to check if Sambit Patra made such a tweet. We were unable to find any results, suggesting that the tweet with either never posted or it has been deleted.
Taking a closer look at the screenshot, Alt News noticed several visual clues that indicate the screenshot isn’t authentic.
1) ‘Following’ button is incorrectly placed
The ‘following’ button appears on the right-hand-side of a genuine tweet, just beside the user’s bio as seen below.
However, the ‘following’ button appears on top of the tweet in the manufactured screenshot.
2) Issues with date and time stamp
The date and time stamp are separated by a hyphen in the viral screenshot.
However, Twitter places a ‘dot’ before and after the date stamp. Another point worthy of mention is that the fake tweet does not carry information about the device used to post the tweet, unlike in the case of genuine tweets.
3) Only one version of the screenshot All screenshots circulating online have the same number of likes and retweets. If Patra had indeed made such a tweet more screenshots would have been available.
Hence, the tweet where BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra is depicted comparing PM Modi with Ertuğrul is manufactured.
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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17th July 2020 / 6:30 pm / Last updated: 17th July 2020
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{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-tweet-depicts-sambit-patra-comparing-pm-modi-with-turkish-warrior-ertugrul/",
"author": "Archit"
}
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1,172 |
Fake tweet portrays President requesting Kangana Ranaut's Padma Shri be withdrawn - Alt News
Kinjal
23rd November 2021 / 3:50 pm
An image of an alleged tweet by President Ram Nath Kovind is viral. The Hindi tweet reads, “Kangana Ranaut’s remarks have hurt the sentiments of the entire nation. I myself feel ashamed to have given her the Padma award! My government requests @narendramodi to allow me to withdraw the award.”
The alleged tweet has gone viral against the backdrop of Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut’s controversial statements on India’s independence at a Times Now event. She claimed that India’s independence in 1947 was a handout and the country got true freedom only in 2014. Her remarks sparked a wave of public outcry, with some individuals also filing complaints against the actress.
A Facebook page named ‘Now Mahfooz Khan’ shared the image with the same claim. It had amassed over 700 shares at the time of writing. (Archive link)
मेरे खयाल से prasident ऑफ़ इंडिया को किसी की अनुमती की आवश्कता नही हो चाहिये?
पद्म पुरस्कार वापस लेना चाहिए 🤔🤔
Posted by Now Mahfooz Khan on Monday, November 15, 2021
The photo is widespread on Facebook.
We also received a few requests to verify the screengrab on the Alt News WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160) and mobile app.
President Kovind’s official Twitter handle is not ‘@rashtrptibhvn’ as in the viral image, but ‘@rashtrapatibhvn’. The display name is also misspelt as ‘Prasident of India’ instead of ‘President of India’.
In addition, Alt News could not find any such tweet on the President’s Twitter timeline. Had he actually posted such a tweet, it would have received widespread media coverage.
Upon further researching the handle ‘@rashtrptibhvn’, we discovered it currently remains suspended.
An archived version of the tweet that appears in the screenshot can be accessed here. This link also shows the user’s bio which states that it was a fan account of the President of India.
Apart from this, several Twitter users replied to old tweets posted by this account and clarified that it was fake. One user shared a screenshot of the handle’s profile and tagged the Home Minister’s office, the PMO, and Delhi police while demanding that strict action be taken against the user posing as the President.
देश के महामहिम के आधिकारिक ट्विटर हैंडल के अतिरिक्त एक फेक ट्विटर हैंडल अफवाह फैला रहा है असली ट्विटर हैंडल @rashtrapatibhvn
फेक ट्विटर हैंडल @rashtrptibhvn कृपया प्रशासनिक कार्यवाही करें।@HMOIndia @PMOIndia @DelhiPolice pic.twitter.com/5BBtYk2eqU
— अॅड. श्रीकांत मिश्र || Adv. Shrikant Mishra (@ShrikantRMishra) November 15, 2021
The tweet is, therefore, fake.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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23rd November 2021 / 3:50 pm
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"author": "Kinjal"
}
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1,173 |
Fake tweet shows Akhilesh Yadav promising Babri Masjid construction if SP comes to power - Alt News
Kinjal
21st July 2021 / 7:06 pm / Last updated: 29th November 2021
The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be conducted in early 2022 and political misinformation ahead of the polls has begun making the rounds. A screenshot of an alleged tweet by Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has been shared online. “If our government comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, we promise our Muslim brothers that we will reconstruct the Babri Masjid at the same place the Ram Mandir is being built today,” the purported tweet reads. Below are verification requests that Alt News received on its app and WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160).
A page BJP For New India drew over 400 shares for the purported tweet. It was also posted on a group called
We Support Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati Ji.
Twitter user @khayal_a_vakt shared the image earlier in July.
😡😠 ऐसे लोगों को वोट देना सनातन धर्म का अपमान है।
देख लो क्या विचार हैं अखिलेशुद्दीन के👇#नहीं_चाहिए_सपा
।।जय श्री राम।। pic.twitter.com/KdCyD17QcH
— भारतीय🇮🇳 #3ह ( 12.7K ) (@khayal_a_vakt) July 20, 2021
The screenshot was circulating widely on Facebook.
Alt News performed a keyword search using the text in the alleged tweet. However, we could not find any such post on Akhilesh Yadav’s Twitter timeline. It is possible that the tweet has been deleted so we took to archive websites (archive.is, webarchive.org) to locate an archived version. But this too did not render results.
Upon further examination of the text in the post, we discovered that the tweet is misaligned. We have compared the viral tweet with a genuine tweet below to highlight the difference. Since the viral screenshot appears to have been taken on a mobile phone, we have compared it with a screenshot of a genuine tweet on a mobile phone. Readers are requested to zoom in on the comparison and carefully notice that the comment icon on the genuine tweet does not touch the line of alignment.
It must be pointed that had Akhilesh Yadav made such a controversial statement on Ram Mandir, it would have garnered widespread media coverage. A lack of reports further points that the tweet is fake. Over the past few years, Yadav has not criticised the Supreme Court’s verdict. In 2019, he had tweeted that decisions that bring people closer, make us better human beings and last year he said that he will visit the temple with his family once the construction is completed.
Therefore, a fake tweet was made viral to show Akhilesh Yadav promising the Muslim community that Babri Masjid will be reconstructed on the land where it used to exist and where the Ram Mandir is now being developed.
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…
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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21st July 2021 / 7:06 pm / Last updated: 29th November 2021
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"author": "Kinjal"
}
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1,174 |
Morphed tweet claims BJP announced alliance with AIMIM for West Bengal elections - Alt News
Anuradha Prasad
25th November 2020 / 3:24 pm / Last updated: 25th November 2020
Twitter user Deepak Shukla recently shared an alleged tweet by the BJP announcing an alliance with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) for next year’s West Bengal assembly elections. In the recently concluded Bihar assembly elections, Asaduddin Owaisi-led party won five seats. The user posted a screenshot of the alleged tweet and wrote, “Ittehad-e-Bharatiya Janata Muslimeen.” (Archive link)
इत्तेहाद-ऐ-भारतीय जनता मुसलमीन।
😌😌😌 pic.twitter.com/ejTLJWRjDk
— Deepak Shukla (@Deep4IND) November 22, 2020
It was also shared by a Facebook user.
An alliance between the BJP and AIMIM is a massive political development which would’ve been covered by the media had it been true. However, neither did we find any media reports nor the tweet in question. We also looked through BJP’s deleted tweets on Politwoops, a repository of deleted tweets by prominent handles. No such tweet was found on the website.
There are also other discrepancies in the screenshot.
– The username of BJP’s Twitter handle is written as ‘@ BJP4india’, while the official Twitter handle has ‘BJP4India’, i.e, ‘I’ is not small.
– The time in the viral tweet is mentioned as ‘P.M.’ whereas the Twitter format is ‘PM’.
– Below the viral tweet, the words ‘Twitter for Web’ is also visible. However, a quick look through the BJP’s Twitter account establishes that it usually tweets from Twitter Wed App or Twitter Media Studio.
– A closer look reveals that the ‘comment’ option looks slightly different, it is more rounded than the one in the official Twitter app.
– The text of the viral tweet and the profile picture of the account are not aligned in a straight line.
We compared the morphed tweet with a genuine tweet from BJP’s official handle.
A few days ago, similar false claims of a nexus between the BJP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi went viral on social media. Photos of Home Minister Amit Shah with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were shared to claim the duo is planning a conspiracy before the state elections. Prior to this, a 2016 video of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal went viral with claims about a ‘secret deal’ between Owaisi and BJP for Bihar elections.
A journalist and a dilettante person who always strives to learn new skills and meeting new people. Either sketching or working.
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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25th November 2020 / 3:24 pm / Last updated: 25th November 2020
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"author": "Anuradha Prasad"
}
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1,175 |
Tweet by parody account in the name of ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi believed to be true - Alt News
Kinjal
21st June 2021 / 7:05 pm
A screenshot of a tweet posted by the handle @RanjanGogoii is being shared widely on social media. Users allege that the account belongs to former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi. The tweet reads, “Community leaders determine how Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians celebrate their respective festivals. But when it comes to Hindus and their festivals, the courts will decide. Articles 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 of the Indian Constitution are discriminatory and should be amended.”
Facebook user Aryan Singh posted the screenshot in question.
Jai Shree Ram 🙏 🙏
Posted by Aryan Singh on Saturday, June 12, 2021
The image is also widespread on the social networking platform.
We came across various Twitter handles posing as the official handle of the former CJI. But none of these were verified, which brought their authenticity into question. Furthermore, we could not find any account with the username ‘@RanjanGogoii’ which meant that the account was either deleted or the username altered.
Alt News rummaged through web archive links to find out more information about this account. We found several old tweets posted by this handle. It used to describe itself as a parody account in its bio.
We combed through the archives and located the archived version of the tweet in circulation, originally posted on March 26, 2020. Please note that the date and time in this tweet are not as per the IST.
Next, we performed a Google search using the URL of the archived version of the post, which led us to the Twitter handle @PuspendraTweet. Simply put, both these usernames belong to the same account. @RanjanGogoii has now been changed to @PuspendraTweet.
We found the original tweet on the timeline of @PuspendraTweet. It was posted on March 26, 2020 at 3:45 PM.
The account is followed by a number of verified handles, including BJP members Kapil Mishra, Major Surendra Poonia and Gajendra Chauhan.
A tweet posted by a parody account was falsely attributed to former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and shared online. Earlier too, tweets issued by fake handles posing as Nita Ambani, Dr. Kafeel Khan and farmer leader Rakesh Tikait were believed to be genuine.
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…
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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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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21st June 2021 / 7:05 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-tweet-of-cji-ranjan-gogoi-about-hindu-muslim-bauddh-christian-festival-indian-constitution-amendment-is-viral/",
"author": "Kinjal"
}
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1,176 |
Media, journalists fall for fake account in Arshad Nadeem's name thanking Neeraj Chopra - Alt News
Abhishek Kumar
13th August 2021 / 4:12 pm
A name that began dominating news headlines following Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra’s historic gold medal win in javelin throw at Tokyo Olympics was Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem who finished 5th in the event. A photo of Nadeem and Chopra from the 2018 Asian Games went viral earlier, in which the latter won gold and the former won the bronze medal. After the javelin throw competition at the Tokyo Olympics, tweets from accounts claiming to be Arshad Nadeem started popping up on social media. In one of the tweets, there was a newspaper clipping where Neeraj Chopra was quoted as saying, “It would have been nice if Arshad Nadeem was also on the podium, it would have been a great day for Asia.” The clip was shared by a Twitter account named Arshad Nadeem with the caption, “Thank you Neeraj Chopra for these words.” This tweet has garnered more than 59,000 likes and has been retweeted more than 3,800 times.
The Lallantop wrote an article based on this tweet with the headline, “What did Neeraj do that Arshad Nadeem tweeted and said thank you?.” This tweet was also featured by the outlet in one of their videos. “Arshad has thanked Neeraj Chopra for this. While tweeting a newspaper clipping of this news, he wrote, ‘Thank you, Neeraj Chopra, for these words.'”
Hindi daily Amar Ujala uploaded a video on its YouTube channel and wrote, “Tweet by Pakistani javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem for Neeraj.” Journalist Brajesh Rajput of ABP News retweeted the post, writing, “A top sportsman is also the one who has a big heart. Kudos!” Journalist and RSS supporter Rajagopal and Krittivas Mukherjee, Airbus India’s Head of Public Affairs and Communication also retweeted the post.
NDTV’s Mumbai Bureau Chief Saurabh Gupta wrote, “Notable hatemongers on social media are tongue-tied at least on two issues as they can’t even troll given the people involved”. Chinese outlet CGTN journalist Abhishek Bhaya quote-tweeted Gupta’s post and added, “This bonhomie between these two athletes from India and Pakistan must be cherished.” Rama Suganthan, Vice-President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, retweeted, “What will be the reaction of those who spread hatred on this?”
In addition, several prominent personalities and government officials showered praise and congratulations in response to the tweet posted by the handle in Arshad Nadeem’s name. The handle was mentioned in tweets by Pakistan’s Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Germany Dr Mohammad Faisal, the official handle of Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Pakistani journalist Mehreen Zahra Malik, Arab News Pakistan, Pakistani cricketer Faisal Iqbal, the Pakistani Embassy in Turkey, Waqt News, Daily Nawa-e-Waqt, Pakistani MP Hina Parvez among others.
Upon further research into the tweets posted by this account, we came across an old post that read, “Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra and I have qualified for the final round of the men’s javelin throw competition.” However, the Indian athlete pictured with Arshad Nadeem is Shivpal Singh. The fact that Nadeem would snub a fellow athlete with whom he shared the podium in 2018 via this image does not make sense. In response to this tweet, Abdul Ghaffar, head of the Sports section of Pakistani news channel Dawn News, said that the account was fake.
When Alt News examined Ghaffar’s Twitter profile for more information, we found an earlier tweet where he had shared Arshad Nadeem’s official Twitter handle (@Arshadnadeem76). According to this post, Nadeem himself confirmed that he operated this handle. The screenshot accompanying the tweet shows the Edit Profile option, which means that this screenshot was sent by the person who runs the account.
Original Twitter handle of #ArshadNadeem
Its @Arshadnadeem76
He confirmed me.@ShirazHassan pic.twitter.com/lbSZnaI3mJ
— Abdul Ghaffar (Replay, Dawn News) (@GhaffarDawnNews) August 7, 2021
When we went to this account, we came across a video of Arshad directing users to his official Instagram (@arshadnadeem29) and Twitter handles (@Arshadnadeem26).
However, in the video, Arshad had said ’26’ instead of ’76’, after which he deleted that video and posted a new video with the correct username, @Arshadnadeem76.
The Pakistani athlete also tweeted the same video from his official handle.
Thanks all pic.twitter.com/4xLYJ6WNLu
— Arshad Nadeem (@Arshadnadeem76) August 11, 2021
After the first video was released, the account which had posted the viral tweet (@ArshadNaadeem) changed its Twitter username to @ArshadNadeem26. That’s why links of old tweets posted by this user now redirect to the new handle. This account was claiming to be the real Arshad Nadeem based on the video in which the sportsman mistakenly said 26 instead of 76 while informing followers of his username.
To sum it up, a tweet posted by a fake account posing as Arshad Nadeem was mistakenly circulated as authentic, with several big names falling for the ruse. In reality, Nadeem’s real Twitter handle is @Arshadnadeem76.
Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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13th August 2021 / 4:12 pm
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"author": "Abhishek Kumar"
}
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1,177 |
Fake, satirical tweet on Neeraj Chopra's podium position viral in Rahul Gandhi's name - Alt News
Kinjal
13th August 2021 / 4:45 pm
Indian sportspersons performed splendidly in the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, bringing home a total of seven medals. On August 7, athlete Neeraj Chopra made history by winning a gold medal in javelin throw. Following this, a screenshot of an alleged tweet attributed to Rahul Gandhi began circulating widely. The tweet reads, “Is it right to stand at number two even after coming first? Please answer, Modi ji”. The tweet contains a photo of Neeraj Chopra with two players who clinched second and third positions from the Czech Republic. Chopra is standing in the middle on the podium. Users are sharing the image while mocking the Congress leader.
Twitter user ‘Narendra Modi Fan’ has tweeted the screenshot. The post amassed 258 retweets at the time of writing. (Archive link)
Via @RahulGandhi जवाब दो मोदी जी 😭😂🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/6tKK5HOG9m
— Narendra Modi fan (@narendramodi177) August 8, 2021
A cursory look at replies to the tweet shows that people believe Rahul Gandhi genuinely posted the tweet in question.
A Twitter user named Sonia Chaudhury also shared the screenshot.
फस्ट आकर भी दूसरे नम्बर पे खड़े होना क्या सही है ?
जवाब दो मोदी जी..
नहीं तो सत्ता छोड़ दो… pic.twitter.com/mvPDTZpzPH
— Soniya Chaudhary (@advocatesoniya) August 9, 2021
The image is viral on Facebook.
The tweet in the alleged screenshot is dated August 5. Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in javelin throw two days later, on August 7. This itself establishes that the tweet is fake.
On August 5, Rahul Gandhi had posted three tweets, including one that was posted at 4:51 PM. This has the same timestamp as the one in the viral screenshot. This tweet reads, “Great going, Ravi Dahiya! Congratulations on wrestling your way to the Silver.”
The text and the image in the viral tweet are not aligned. If one compares this tweet with a genuine tweet by Rahul Gandhi, one would notice that the tweet text and image perfectly align.
A morphed tweet created for satire to mock Rahul Gandhi was believed to be true.
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.
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news-altnews
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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13th August 2021 / 4:45 pm
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"author": "Kinjal"
}
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1,178 |
Journalist Rana Ayyub targeted with fake tweet in her name on Pranab Mukherjee's death - Alt News
Priyanka Jha
3rd September 2020 / 5:21 pm / Last updated: 3rd September 2020
A screenshot of a supposed tweet by Journalist Rana Ayyub is viral on social media. It is being claimed that Ayyub put out an insensitive tweet on former President Pranab Mukherjee’s death. The alleged tweet reads, “The man who rejected martyr Afzal Guru’s petition has died today. Afzal Guru is at peace today.” Twitter user Jyotsna Varma, who is followed by PM Modi, posted the screenshot. In her tweet, Varma demanded action against the journalist while tagging Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Several people have targeted Ayyub while posting this screenshot. Murali, Jai Shree Raam, and #IamSushant were some of the Twitter handles that targeted the journalist.
We compared a genuine tweet put out by Ayyub’s handle with this screenshot. The tweet used for comparison carries an image along with the text as in the case of the viral screenshot. A comparison reveals stark differences between the genuine tweet and the screenshot of the alleged tweet.
It is also noteworthy that all the screenshots shared on social media are identical—they have the same number of retweets, comments and likes.
Rana Ayyub also tweeted about the fake screenshot, “Hello @TwitterIndia this photoshopped tweet is being circulated and shared by thousands on all social media leading to targeted abuse and harassment,” she wrote. Ayyub also quote-tweeted Jyotsna Varma and said, “Hello @TwitterIndia @instagram, this concerted attack using photoshopped tweets has begun yet again. This is not the first time, will not be the last. You don’t know who photoshopped it but you do know who is spreading this fake news to threaten and target me.” In the past as well, Rana Ayyub has been at the receiving end of misinformation on social media.
Hello @TwitterIndia @instagram , this concerted attack using photoshopped tweets has begun yet again. This is not the first time, will not be the last. You don’t know who photoshopped it but you do know who is spreading this fake news to threaten and target me. https://t.co/vT7QqAcwcJ
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) September 1, 2020
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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3rd September 2020 / 5:21 pm / Last updated: 3rd September 2020
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-tweet-of-ranaa-ayyub-about-afzal-guru-on-pranab-mukherjees-death-is-viral/",
"author": "Priyanka Jha"
}
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1,179 |
Fake tweet portrays AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan saying 'Islam will win across India' - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
13th February 2020 / 4:24 pm / Last updated: 26th February 2021
A screenshot of an alleged tweet by AAP MLA Amanatullah is circulating on social media. The purported tweet portrays the politician dedicating his win in the 2020 assembly polls in Delhi to the victory of Islam and saying, “Islam will win across India.”
🙏🙏🚩🚩 हिंदुओं तुम फ्री के चक्कर में रहो बहुत जल्दी तुम्हारा विनाश होने वाला है
Posted by Dayalsingh Dayal on Thursday, 25 February 2021
The text on the tweet reads, “After 13 rounds, I am leading by 72000 votes. Today, Shaheen Bagh won, Islam won Inshallah. Soon, Islam will win all over India. I want to thank all my Muslim brothers and sisters. Everyone showed their strength together and stayed united. We will repeat history.”
[Translated from: 13 राउंड पूरे होने के बाद 72000 वोट से आगे चल रहा हूँ। आज शाहीन बाग जीता,आज हमारा इस्लाम जीता है इंसा अल्लाह, जल्दी ही पूरे इंडिया में इस्लाम की जीत होगी, मेरे सभी मुस्लिम भाई बहनों का सुक्रिया, सबने मिल कर अपनी ताकत दिखाई एकता बनाएं रखना, हम इतिहास जरूर दोहराएंगे]
Below the purported tweet is a message that warns members of the Hindu community – “You vote on free water and electricity and they are voting to make India an Islamic society. But remember that your kids will pay the price.”
[Translated from: तुम पानी और बिजली फ्री पर वोट देना और वो भारत को इस्लाम में बदलने के लिए वोट कर रहे हैं लेकिन याद रखना इसकी कीमत तुम्हारे बच्चों को चुकानी पड़ेगी ]
The claim is widespread on Facebook.
The same screenshot of the purported tweet was also shared last year after the Delhi elections.
Alt News had received multiple fact-check requests on its official mobile application.
The screenshot was also floating on Facebook.
नफ़रत से भरे लोग न खुद को बीमार कर रहे हैं पर अपने परिवार और पूरे शहर देश को बीमारू बना रहे हैं। ऐसे फेक ट्वीट कल से चल…
Posted by Navya Chaudhary on Wednesday, 12 February 2020
A Twitter search with words picked up from the tweet yields no results. However, at the likelihood that the tweet may have been taken down, Alt News performed a preliminary analysis. Needless to say, the tweet turned out to be a fake one.
On February 11, Amanatullah Khan had posted a tweet that starts with the same sentence as the viral tweet – “13 राउंड पूरे होने के बाद 72000 वोट से आगे चल रहा हूँ। (after 13 rounds, I am leading by 72000 votes.)”
13 राउंड पूरे होने के बाद 72000 वोट से आगे चल रहा हूँ।
— Amanatullah Khan AAP (@KhanAmanatullah) February 11, 2020
The viral tweet has been manufactured by adding sentences below the one tweeted by Khan. Both have the exact date and time – February 11, 2020 at 12:08 PM. However, there’s a mismatch in the font and uneven alignment of sentences, as pointed out below.
A screenshot of a fake tweet is making the rounds on social media portraying Amanatullah Khan in favour of transforming India into an Islamic society. The AAP leader has emerged as a prominent target of the disinformation brigade after the Delhi assembly elections. He won from the Okhla constituency by over 70,000 votes after defeating rival BJP’s Braham Singh. Last year, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had shared a video of Khan with the false claim that he spoke of creating ‘Sharia’.
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…
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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13th February 2020 / 4:24 pm / Last updated: 26th February 2021
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"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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Fake tweet portrays Amit Shah saying he has bone cancer - Alt News
Archit
9th May 2020 / 11:28 am / Last updated: 11th May 2020
A screenshot of Home Minister Amit Shah’s alleged tweet has gone viral on WhatsApp. As per the screenshot, Shah wrote in Hindi that he is suffering from bone cancer and seeks blessings from the Muslim community for a speedy recovery. The purported tweet is circulating in the backdrop of people questioning the Home Minister’s low profile during the Covid-19 outbreak that continues to rage.
The text in the viral image reads, “My fellow countrymen, each step that I took was for the nation’s well-being, I don’t hate any person from any caste or religion. Since the past few days due to poor health I haven’t been able to serve the citizens of the country, I am sad to share that I have bone cancer in the back of my throat. I hope during good months of Ramzan, Muslim community will also pray for my speedy recovery and I will be at your service soon.”
[Translated from: मेरे देश की जनता, मेरे द्वारा उठाया गया हर एक कदम देश हित में ही रहा है, मेरा किसी जाती या धर्म विशेष के व्यक्ति से कोई दुश्मनी नहीं है, कुछ दिनों से बिगड़े स्वास्थ के चलते देश की जनता की सेवा नहीं कर पा रहा हूं, यह बताते हुए दुख हो रहा है मुझे गले के पिछले हिस्से में बोन कैंसर हुआ है, में आशा करता हूं, रमज़ान के इस मुबारक महीने में मुस्लिम समाज के लोग भी मेरे स्वास्थ के लिए दुआ करेंगे औरजल्द ही स्वस्थ हो कर आपकी सेवा करूंगा।)”
Alt News has received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160) and on our official Android application.
The viral image of Home Minister Amit Shah’s tweet is not authentic. The tweet has been manufactured and this is evident from the inconsistencies.
1. Tweet is not in perfect alignment
Alt News has compared the viral tweet with a screenshot of a recent tweet by Shah. In the viral tweet, the text crosses over the red line towards the left and beyond the display picture. It is not aligned.
The viral tweet has been manufactured to imitate how a tweet appears on mobile phones. The time ’12h’ appears beside the username and not on the bottom in the time-date format, meaning that the fake tweet attempts to replicate tweets that appear on the home page when they haven’t been opened (clicked on).
2. Exceeds character count
At first glance itself, the text in the viral screenshot seems over the 280 character limit on Twitter. Alt News extracted the text from the image by saving the file and opening it in Google docs. Upon pasting the text on Twitter, we found that it has 149 extra characters.
3. Spelling and grammatical mistakes
The tweet carries more commas than required and only one full stop at the end. The entire paragraph is essentially one sentence. Furthermore, the word ‘जाति’ (caste) has been wrongly spelt as ‘जाती’, ‘स्वास्थ्य’ (health) as ‘स्वास्थ’, ‘मैं’ (Me) as ‘में’ and ‘और जल्द’ (and soon) as ‘औरजल्द’.
On May 9, Amit Shah tweeted a statement in Hindi which clarified that he is “completely fine and does not suffer from any diseases.”
मेरे स्वास्थ्य की चिंता करने वाले सभी लोगों को मेरा संदेश। pic.twitter.com/F72Xtoqmg9
— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) May 9, 2020
Therefore, a fake tweet is widely circulating on social media in the name of Amit Shah. Moreover, if such a tweet was put out from the Home Minister’s official account, it would not be taken down. But we were unable to find the tweet on Shah’s timeline. Even if we assume that the tweet has been deleted, there would be a clarification from the Home Minister which is not the case. In March, Alt News debunked two images that claimed Shah was infected with the coronavirus.
[This article was updated with Home Minister Amit Shah’s tweet.]
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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9th May 2020 / 11:28 am / Last updated: 11th May 2020
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"author": "Archit"
}
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1,181 |
Fake tweet portrays Rahul Gandhi suggesting odd/even method to reopen schools - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
26th May 2020 / 5:05 pm
A screenshot of a tweet supposedly put out by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi is doing the rounds on social media. “Schools and colleges should reopen from 1st June on odd/even basis. Odd days teachers will come and even days, students will come,” reads the tweet. It suggests that Gandhi proposed the odd-even method to reopen schools while jokingly suggesting that teachers and students should come to school on different days.
While the statement itself reads like a joke, some users have used it to mock Gandhi.
With a keyword search on Twitter, Alt News found that no such tweet has been put out by Rahul Gandhi. Moreover, there are no media reports claiming that he made the tweet. Considering Gandhi’s political prominence, it is unlikely that such an absurd tweet went unnoticed.
However, the most important point which highlights that the tweet is fake is the misalignment of the text and profile picture. In the comparison posted below, a screenshot of a recent tweet by Gandhi (top) has been juxtaposed with a screenshot of the morphed tweet (bottom).
We also found a tweet from May 12 which posted a similar message in the form of a joke. The message was not attributed to Rahul Gandhi when it initially started making the rounds on social media.
Therefore, a fake tweet was circulated on messaging applications and social media platforms to mock Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Earlier, a morphed tweet was viral in Amit Shah’s name, claiming that he said he has bone cancer.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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26th May 2020 / 5:05 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-tweet-portrays-rahul-gandhi-suggesting-odd-even-method-to-reopen-schools/",
"author": "Jignesh Patel"
}
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1,182 |
Fake tweet portrays Rahul Gandhi addressing late actor Sushant Singh Rajput as "cricketer" - Alt News
Archit
15th June 2020 / 8:42 pm / Last updated: 15th June 2020
On June 14, the demise of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput due to suicide shook the nation. He rose to stardom after 2013 hit ‘Kai Po Che!’ and since then he has starred in several movies including the biopic on former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni. People from all walks of life offered condolences on social media — fans, actors, journalists and politicians.
In this backdrop, a screenshot that appears to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s tweet paying last respects to Rajput has gone viral on social media where Gandhi has apparently addressed the actor as a ‘cricketer’.
As per the viral screenshot, Gandhi tweeted, “I am sorry to hear about the passing of #SushantSinghRajput. A young & talented Cricketer, gone too soon. My condolences to his family, friends & fans across the world.”
Several users on Twitter and Facebook, believing the screenshot to be authentic, have attacked Gandhi and questioned his general knowledge.
Twitter user @darshtiti (archive link) tweeted the viral image and wrote, “You all should train your Pappu in general knowledge.” Similarly, @BLDY_HYPOCRITES (archive link) posted the picture and said, “@RahulGandhi is ridiculous…. An individual who cnt get his info right & calls Sushant Singh Rajput a “Young & Talented Cricketer”.
In order to authenticate the viral image, Alt News visited Gandhi’s Twitter profile and found the tweet where he had extended condolences to Rajput and his family. He wrote, “I am sorry to hear about the passing of #SushantSinghRajput. A young & talented actor, gone too soon. My condolences to his family, friends & fans across the world.”
I am sorry to hear about the passing of #SushantSinghRajput. A young & talented actor, gone too soon. My condolences to his family, friends & fans across the world.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 14, 2020
Alt News compared the screenshot with the tweet posted by Gandhi. Both the tweets are identical word for word, with the exception that the viral screenshot addressed Rajput as a cricketer, with a capital C, while Gandhi’s tweet addressed him an actor. Furthermore, the time stamp of both tweets is also the same.
Thus the viral image is morphed. This was yet another attempt to portray Rahul Gandhi in poor light. Alt News has debunked multiple accounts of misinformation about Gandhi in the past including a morphed tweet where he is shown suggesting odd/ even method for reopening schools.
🙏 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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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15th June 2020 / 8:42 pm / Last updated: 15th June 2020
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"author": "Archit"
}
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1,183 |
Fake tweet portrays Ravish Kumar targeting AAP ahead of Punjab elections - Alt News
Kalim Ahmed
12th February 2022 / 4:25 pm
An infographic with an alleged tweet by Ravish Kumar quoting a tweet of Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, amidst the Punjab election is widely being shared on social media.
The alleged quote-tweet by Kumar reads, “Before going to Punjab, you should have visited the house of the Sikh woman who was raped in Delhi’s Kasturba Nagar. If you had done that perhaps it wouldn’t have required you to travel 250 kilometres to get Sikh votes. Anyway, who even cares about Delhi #ChunavJivi”. The infographic also contains the Punjabi translation of the tweet.
[Original Hindi text: पंजाब जाने से पहले दिल्ली के कस्तूरबा नगर में जिस सिख बेटी के साथ दरिंदगी हुई थी, उनके घर भी जाना चाहिए था। शायद सिख वोटों की राजनीति के लिए 250 किलोमीटर सफ़र ना करना पड़ता। वैसे भी दिल्ली की पड़ी किसको है #ChunavJivi]
The “Sikh woman” referred to here is the woman who was abducted, raped, assaulted, tortured and paraded in Delhi’s Kasturba Nagar last month. So far the Delhi police have arrested 16 men and women in connection with the case.
This infographic is extremely viral on Facebook.
The tweet that is being attributed to Ravish Kumar is so controversial that if he had indeed made such comments it would have caught the attention of the media. But there are no reports. We also tried to look for the tweet on Wayback Machine, but it did not throw any result.
Moreover, there is also uncertainty about the faith of the young woman who was gang-raped and paraded last month. Below we have attached an excerpt from a report by Newslaundry that has quotes from both the police and the suvivor’s family. As per the police, the survivor and the accused are both from the Bhedkut community. The survivor’s family is Hindu as per their documents but they also follow Sikh customs.
Alt News reached out to Ravish Kumar who told us that this quote is “completely fake”. He also stated that a lot of people from Punjab have reached out to him regarding the tweet, which shows how viral it is.
This is not the first time Ravish Kumar is being targeted with misinformation on social media. False quotes have often been attributed to him. Some of these, debunked by Alt News, can be read here.
Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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12th February 2022 / 4:25 pm
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"author": "Kalim Ahmed"
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1,184 |
Fake tweet portrays US President Joe Biden calling PM Modi "world leader" - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
25th January 2021 / 11:08 am
A screenshot of a tweet believed to have been made by US president Joe Biden has been making the rounds on social media. It suggests that Biden called his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi a “world leader”.
From the Facebook page Modi Mantra ಮೋದಿ ಮಂತ್ರ, the post received over 2,500 reactions and more than 450 shares. It was shared with Kannada text ‘ವರ್ಲ್ಡ್ ಲೀಡರ್ ಮೋದಿ’ that translates to ‘World leader Modi’.
It drew another 500 shares from a Facebook page dedicated to BJP spokesperson Santosh Kenchamba.
The postt received hundreds of likes from Facebook pages Narendra modi fans and HDK Worldwide Fans and the group BSY fans of karnataka. The purported tweet is also circulating on Twitter.
The first clue suggesting that the tweet has not been made by US president Joe Biden is its username. Biden’s official Twitter username is @JoeBiden while the one in the viral screenshot is @JoeBidenPresid.
A quick rummage through Biden’s Twitter handle is further proof that the tweet is fake. He has not quote-tweeted PM Modi’s congratulatory tweet. Moreover, if the tweet was real, it would’ve made the news.
A fake tweet showing US President Joe Biden calling PM Modi “world leader” was therefore shared on social media.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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25th January 2021 / 11:08 am
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"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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1,185 |
Fake tweet: Sitaram Yechury referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping as his "boss" - Alt News
Priyanka Jha
24th June 2020 / 4:32 pm
A purported tweet of Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury is doing the rounds on social media. It shows Yechury referring to Communist-ruled China’s president Xi Jinping as his “boss”. The alleged tweet dates back to October 20, 2015.
Several others on Facebook have shared the alleged tweet.
The tweet is fake and the first clue which makes this evident is the date of the tweet, October 20, 2015. Sitaram Yechury had joined Twitter at least a week later. We found this by searching for his Twitter handle on webarchive.org. In the screenshot below, the date-time 8:13 PM, October 28, 2015 (highlighted in red) is in accordance with the time zone of the server where the screenshot was taken. The difference could be 12 hours (ahead or behind).
Furthermore, the tweet is not aligned with the profile picture as it should be.
A reverse search of the image took us to a report in The Hindu published in 2015. The headline of the article is similar to the text of the tweet. According to the article, “Mr. Yechury, who was in the Chinese capital to participate in an international conference of Asian political parties, called on President Xi last Thursday. In a conversation with The Hindu, following the meeting, Mr. Yechury said that President Xi conveyed to him that the Communist Party of China (CPC) highly valued its relations with the CPI (M).”
CPI(M) called-out the misinformation on Twitter and wrote that Yechury had joined the platform on October 27, 2015.
Stop Lie Manufacturing
Another example of sanghi dirty tricks@SitaramYechury joined Twitter on Oct 27, 2015. This fake tweet is dated oct 20.
Because CPI(M) has exposed Modi’s doublespeak, sanghis have become desperate. Where is the order to do all these things coming from? pic.twitter.com/ZYCkq07dHv
— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) June 22, 2020
A fake tweet was shared on social media to portray CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury referring to Chinese president Xi Jinping as his “boss”.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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24th June 2020 / 4:32 pm
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"author": "Priyanka Jha"
}
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1,186 |
Fake tweets ascribed to journalists after BJP's win in UP - Alt News
Archit
11th March 2022 / 7:03 pm
The results for the 2022 assembly elections in five states have been announced and BJP has won in four states namely, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. In the backdrop of this, screenshots of alleged tweets by journalists Ajit Anjum and Abhisar Sharma are being shared online. These screenshots claim that they said they would leave journalism if Yogi Adityanath wins UP again.
Screenshot 1: Attributed to Ajit Anjum
As per this screenshot, Anjum tweeted, “If in 2020 elections Yogi wins again in UP, I’ll leave journalism and open a stall of chicken pakoras (fritters) in Ballimaran.” Ballimaran is a locality in Delhi.
[Translated from” अगर 2022 के चुनाव में उत्तरप्रदेश में योगी फिर से जीत गये तो मैं पत्रकारिता छोड़कर दिल्ली की बिल्लिमरान में चिकन पकौडे की दुकान खोल लूंगा।]
The president of the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) Ashoke Pandit tweeted this screenshot. He wrote, “Anjum bhai, when do you want to eat pakoras? We’ll feed!” His tweet has gained over 10,000 likes.
Multiple Facebook accounts have shared it as well.
Fact-check
The viral screenshot suggests that Anjum’s Twitter account is verified. However, that’s not the case. Further, Anjum confirmed his Twitter account has never been verified.
In fact, Anjum pointed out the same and debunked the claim himself.
मेरे बारे में दुष्प्रचार का नया फोटोशॉप .
मेरे नाम से कुछ भी लिखकर वायरल किया जा रहा है .
इसी से पता चलता है कि भक्तों की जमात मुझ पर कितनी बौखलाई हुई है .
मेरा ट्वीटर हैंडल वेरिफाइड नहीं है लेकिन ब्लू टिक वाला फोटोशॉप करके खेल चालू है .
ये फर्जी लोग हैं . pic.twitter.com/jolZFCznCD
— Ajit Anjum (@ajitanjum) February 5, 2022
It must be noted that there are other red flags in the viral screenshot. For instance, the date and time format is erroneous. The ‘AM’ should be in capitals. The time and date should be separated by a dot. The format of the date followed by Twitter is month, day and year.
Screenshot 2: Attributed to Abhisar Sharma
As per this screenshot, Sharma tweeted, “If in 2023 elections Yogi Adityanath wins again in UP, I’ll relocate from Noida to Delhi’s Sheikh Sarai and set up an omelette stall. Take it in writing.”
[Translated from: अगर 2022 यूपी चुनाव में योगी आदित्यनाथ फिर से जीते तो मैं नॉएडा से शिफ़्ट होकर दिल्ली के शेख़सराय आ जाऊँगा और वहाँ अंडे औमलेट की रेड़ी लगाऊँगा। लिख कर ले लो।]
@TheAngryLord tweeted the screenshot and drew over 800 likes as of this writing. This account has over 50,000 followers.
Fact-check
Just like the previous tweet, this too is doctored. In order to establish that, we’ll analyse the layout of the viral tweet with a genuine tweet by Sharma. We noticed two key differences:
To sum it up, two doctored screenshots falsely alleged that journalists Ajit Anjum and Abhisar Sharma had tweeted they would quit journalism if BJP won in Uttar Pradesh.
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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11th March 2022 / 7:03 pm
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"author": "Archit"
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Fake tweets attributed to CNN viral amidst Russia-Ukraine crisis - Alt News
Kalim Ahmed
26th February 2022 / 8:27 pm / Last updated: 26th February 2022
As Russia’s military actions against Ukraine continues, two alleged screengrabs of tweets from CNN are viral on social media.
The first tweet, attributed to CNN Afghanistan, talks about a journalist called ‘Bernie Gores’, who was allegedly executed by Talibani soldiers in Kabul. The second tweet also talks about ‘Bernie Gores’ but describes him as an “activist” who was the first American casualty of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. This tweet is attributed to CNN Ukraine.
Twitter user @ExSecular tweeted the screengrabs while mocking the international news organisation.
Several others have shared the alleged tweets.
Nice catch!
We are the news now!
Handle w/ care… pic.twitter.com/FDpI3gPg4f
— (Q)(C) (@QCagain1775) February 25, 2022
The screengrabs were also shared on Twitter with German captions.
😂😅🤣 #Lügenpresse
Wow❗️❗️❗️
Dieselbe Person, die von den Taliban in Afghanistan “hingerichtet” wurde,
ist auch das erste amerikanische Todesopfer in der “Ukraine-Krise”. pic.twitter.com/7vFpzFkffT
— Weltenlehrer (@weltenlehrer) February 25, 2022
They are viral on Facebook as well.
We checked for the Twitter accounts @CNNAfghan and @CNNUKR and found that both accounts have been suspended. It is important to note that both the accounts posing as genuine CNN News accounts did not carry blue tick verification.
We also found that one of the fake tweets was debunked by Politifact last year.
Similarly, a fact-check by Snopes has also debunked the claim and identified the man in the viral tweets to be YouTube personality Jordie Jordan.
Reuters had reached out to CNN last year regarding the same tweets. Matt Dornic, head of strategic communications at CNN, told Reuters via email: “This is a fabricated story and a fake post.”
Hence, two fake tweets attributed to CNN were viral on social media amidst the Russia-Ukraine crisis. These tweets are part of internet hoaxes that are always shared whenever a major event takes place.
Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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26th February 2022 / 8:27 pm / Last updated: 26th February 2022
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-tweets-attributed-to-cnn-viral-amidst-russia-ukraine-crisis/",
"author": "Kalim Ahmed"
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1,188 |
Fake account posts tweets against Muslims and women in UPSC topper Shubham Kumar's name - Alt News
Abhishek Kumar
30th September 2021 / 3:17 pm
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) released the results for the 2020 Civil Services Examination on September 24. Shubham Kumar from Bihar’s Katihar district secured the first rank. He was soon flooded with congratulatory messages and good wishes from all over the country. Meanwhile, some users also began sharing screenshots of a few tweets from a handle claimed to be run by Kumar. The handle made some inappropriate tweets targeting women and Muslims.
Sharing screenshots of these tweets, a user wrote, “IAS topper Shubham is frustrated with women.” (Archived link)
A Facebook page called The Logical Muslims also amplified the screenshots and wrote, “When such people secure the posts of DM and SDM, will they promote India’s development or destruction?” (Archived link)
Another user posted one of the screenshots and wrote, “You can become whatever you want to become, but the poor people of the country are definitely going to bear the brunt of this sad mentality.”
Similarly, numerous other Facebook pages and users also circulated screenshots of the alleged tweets.
This handle appeared to be fake right from the beginning. We discovered that all of its past tweets had been deleted. After a closer look at the replies to its pinned tweet (archived link), we noticed the handle’s old usernames were @Mahadev_Bhakt9 and @Charanjit_99.
When we clicked on the first and second usernames on Twitter, we were redirected to old replies that took us to the handle’s current username in Shubham Kumar’s name.
Shubham Kumar later created a Twitter profile himself to clarify this was his personal handle, and the rest are fake accounts.
Hello everyone. I’m Shubham Kumar, AIR 1 CSE 2020. This is my personal account. All other accounts in my name is fake.
— SHUBHAM KUMAR (@SHUBHAMKR_IAS) September 26, 2021
A Twitter handle changed its username in the name of UPSC topper Shubham Kumar. Tweets targeting women and Muslims posted by the account were believed to have been posted by Kumar.
Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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30th September 2021 / 3:17 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-tweets-in-the-name-of-ias-topper-shubham-kumar-anti-muslim/",
"author": "Abhishek Kumar"
}
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1,189 |
Fake tweets portrays BJP's Priti Gandhi claiming her husband escaped Capitol Hill rioting - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
8th January 2021 / 8:47 pm
A tweet thread by @blissfehmi on social media in-charge of BJP Mahila Morcha Priti Gandhi has blown up on Twitter. The thread has over 10,000 likes and has been retweeted by several journalists as of this writing.
Husband is everywhere. pic.twitter.com/VudWMNFKm6
— 🥀🥀 (@blissfehmi) January 7, 2021
The thread shared screenshots of alleged tweets by Gandhi where she has claimed that her husband left the Oberoi Trident Hotel minutes before the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack. It also carries a tweet where she’s claiming that her husband witnessed a gruesome car accident in Bandra where three people died. The fourth screenshot portrays Gandhi suggesting that her husband left Capitol Hill minutes before pro-Trump rioters attacked the building.
Congress member Ayush Bhatt also shared the screenshots.
Please @MrsGandhi wherever your husband is, i hope he is safe. He always seems to be dangeous place. Please call security whenever something bad is to happen,
Credit for finding this trend goes to my friend :@usersahadattiya#किसान_के_लिए_बोले_भारत pic.twitter.com/qrGnSqAK7C
— Ayush Bhatt (@AyushBhatt4INC) January 8, 2021
Three out of the four screenshots have been taken from genuine tweets. It is being portrayed that Gandhi is referring to two different hotels in her tweets. Oberoi was renamed to Trident. The website of Oberoi Group’s EIH Ltd says, “In 2004, we entered into a strategic arrangement with Hilton for the international marketing and handling of reservations of the “Trident” hotels. As part of this arrangement, all the “Trident” hotels were re-branded as “Trident Hilton”, and the Oberoi Towers in Mumbai was re-branded as the Hilton Towers. In April 2008, this alliance ended and the “Trident” Hilton hotels and the Hilton Towers hotel were renamed “Trident” hotels.”
Alt News could not locate the fourth tweet attributed to Priti Gandhi which spoke about Capitol Hill.
Gandhi tweeted that “fake screenshots” of her tweets are circulating online.
Below the belt attacks on my family by sharing FAKE screenshots of my tweets is so NOT cool!!
I understand your desperation to get back at me, but atleast come up with facts that I can counter. What sore losers!!
— Priti Gandhi – प्रीति गांधी (@MrsGandhi) January 8, 2021
Furthermore, the absence of more than one copy of the Capitol Hill tweet also suggests that it’s fake.
While her statement reads in the plural, only one of the screenshots in the viral tweet is fake. The one about her husband escaping rioting in Capitol Hill is manufactured.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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8th January 2021 / 8:47 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-tweets-portrays-bjps-priti-gandhi-claiming-her-husband-escaped-capitol-hill-rioting/",
"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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1,190 |
Fake Twitter account (Dr Abdul Vashist - @ShaneMalwa) is instigating Hindus after terror attack on Amarnath Yatra - Alt News
Pratik Sinha
11th July 2017 / 6:09 pm
Fake Twitter accounts with Muslim identities are the norm of the day in Indian social media. They either support right-wing politics or spurt out hate while donning a Muslim identity, either of which, directly or indirectly, helps propel right-wing politics. Alt News had recently written a detailed account of one such fake Twitter account called giniromet. After the terror attack on Amarnath Yatris in which 7 pilgrims were killed, a fake Twitter account with the ID “@ShaneMalwa” with the name “Dr Abdul Vashisht” has sent out several hateful tweets.
These tweets are designed to hurt Hindu sentiments and especially so after a terror attack in which Hindu pilgrims were killed. Even during the recent riots in Basirhat, Bengal, this Twitter account tried similar tactics.
How do we know this Twitter id is fake? We tracked the changes in this account’s Twitter biography which shows how the person is assuming various identities, the new one clearly contradicting the old one. We also tracked the old deleted tweets from this account and the present tweets which show clear contradiction in terms of narrative and identity.
In this account’s current biography, the person claims to be, “Former Hindu now Progressive Muslim.I am a Muslim scholar who tweets on Muslim issues in USA&India.Spreading Islam in USA & India is my goal.Phd in Computer Sc.”
This same account at an earlier time used to have the following biography, “Progress Hindu Muslim. My ancestors were Brahmins of Konkan who became Muslims. Bhakt of Pradhan Sevak Shri Narendra Modi. Lets save India from Islamization.”
This same old Twitter bio also shows up in cached Google Search results.
In the present bio, this account claims to be “Spreading Islam in USA & India is my goal” while in its previous avatar stated, “Lets save India from Islamization“. Such behaviour is typical of a fake account which changes narratives depending on the situation. This Twitter account which once used to uphold Hindu Rashtra is now upholding an Islamic state under Sharia. Some of the following tweets have been deleted and we retrieved them from various services that cache old tweets.
In the above tweets, this Twitter account clearly endorses the concept of Hindu Rastra. Lately, the account has completely changed its narrative and now wants Sharia and wants everybody to convert to Islam.
Another narrative that changed was this account going from “Jai Modi” to “56 inch has shrunk to 3 inches“. The old Twitter biography also stated, “Bhakt of Pradhan Sevak Shri Narendra Modi“.
The changing bio and the changing narrative in this account’s tweets clearly shows that it is a fake account designed to instigate people depending on the situation. However, people are falling for this obviously fake account and are feeling offended.
This Twitter account is a repeat offender, tried to incite communal hatred during Bengal riots and now after the terror attack on Amarnath Yatris. Hopefully, the law enforcement agencies will track down the owner of this Twitter account and expose the person behind such dangerous propaganda.
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
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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11th July 2017 / 6:09 pm
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"author": "Pratik Sinha"
}
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1,191 |
Fake Twitter account impersonates Kashmiri woman Nadia Beig who cleared UPSC exam - Alt News
Archit & Pratik Sinha
8th August 2020 / 12:04 am / Last updated: 8th August 2020
Sixteen people from Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh cleared the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examinations 2019, as per media reports. The results were declared on August 4. News18 reported that two candidates from North Kashmir’s Kupwara district, Nadia Beig and Aftab Rasool, also cleared the exams. Two days later, several Facebook and Twitter users claimed that Beig’s Twitter account is full of “anti-national activities”. This was based on tweets by a Twitter account ‘@Nadia_Beigh’ which no longer exists. These screenshots below have been widely shared on social media.
Twitter account @kapilverma73 posted a tweet-thread on the matter. He referred to Beig’s alleged social media activity and questioned her “loyalty” to the nation. In one of his tweets he wrote, “Her one step can ruin our nation’s relationship with any nation, and a woman who has Pakistani ideology, won’t she have a soft corner for Pakistan? ( इसका एक कदम हमारे देश के किसी भी देश से रिश्ते बिगाड़ सकता है, और पाकिस्तानी आइडियोलॉजी वाली यह महिला क्या पाक के साथ सॉफ्ट कार्नर नहीं रखेगी ?). This tweet-thread gained over 15,000 likes and more than 9,000 retweets cumulatively. (archived link)
Similarly, other Twitter users also promoted the same claim (1, 2, 3). One of them wrote, “I had saved her tweets because I knew she will delete her account.”
On August 3, a news website Samachar24x7 published a similar report with the headline — “How will Nadia Beig work as an IAS officer with her anti-national mindset? Will UPSC answer to the country?’ (archived link)
Alt News has received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+917600011160) and on our official Android application.
At first glance, we noticed that Twitter account @Nadia_Beigh spells Nadia’s last name incorrectly. Nadia’s last name is spelt as ‘Beig’ on the UPSC results. The screenshot below is from the UPSC’s official website.
On August 4, @decibel008 tweeted a screenshot of a 2017 tweet by @Nadia_Beigh which shows a man’s picture with the hashtag #NewProfilePic.
Hi Nadia Congratulations.. congratulations for fooling people & for getting new followers.
Nadia ye tweet delete karna reh gaya.. aage se dhyaan rakhna.. IAS wale dimag use karhttps://t.co/dkCAs9Hku6 https://t.co/jZDDLOXolt pic.twitter.com/Q517iJfR5O
— decibel (@decibel008) August 4, 2020
Twitter user @@decibel008 also shared a screen recording of the now-deleted account where, at the 9-second mark, another picture of the same man is visible.
But the information that irrefutably establishes that @Nadia_Beigh is a fake account is that the handle’s previous username was @IndolentUser. This is can be spotted at 18 seconds into the screen recording.
Every Twitter account has a unique numeric ID which does not change even if the username is altered. The section below explains how we found that @Nadia_Beigh and @IndolentUser have the same numeric ID.
Step 1: Alt News found archived tweets of @Nadia_Beigh and @IndolentUser on Wayback Machine, a digital archive of the world wide web founded by a US-based Internet Archive. As per the archived tweets of @IndolentUser, the username belongs to ‘Nayeem’.
Step 2: We accessed HTML source codes of the archived web pages of @Nadia_Beigh’s tweet on August 4 and @IndolentUser’s tweet on July 25. The HTML source code can be viewed by right-clicking on the website, then selecting ‘View Page Source’ as shown below.
Step 3: We performed a keyword search using the syntax ‘data-user-id’ on the respective source pages (@Nadia_Beigh and @IndolentUser) and found that both Twitter users have the same numeric Twitter ID ‘1860799123’.
Thus, @Nadia_Beigh was an imposter account of Kashmiri woman Nadia Beig who cracked the 2019 UPSC examinations. The account was believed be to authentic by several social media users including Congress member Salman Nizami (archived link).
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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8th August 2020 / 12:04 am / Last updated: 8th August 2020
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"author": "Archit & Pratik Sinha"
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1,192 |
Fake Twitter account of Gilgit-Baltistan appears, Home Ministry calls it out - Alt News
Archit
13th May 2020 / 9:23 pm / Last updated: 15th May 2020
On May 4, Ministry of External Affairs (MHA) issued a statement asking Pakistan to vacate “Pakistan occupied areas of the Indian territory of Jammu & Kashmir”, including Gilgit-Baltistan. On May 12, there was chatter on social media that an official account of Gilgit-Baltistan, Ladakh UT has been set-up by the government. Zee 24 Kalak (archive link) and The Print (archive link) published reports claiming the same.
Facebook page HIND Swaraj posted an image which shows a screenshot of the Twitter account in question along with Prime Minister Modi’s image. (archive link)
Suresh Kochattil (archive link), who handles social media for BJP (as per Facebook bio), and Twitter-user Deldan Namgial (archive link) has also posted the viral claim. Both their posts have been shared over 150 times.
The viral Twitter account’s handle is @GB_Ladakh_India (archive link). Since its first tweet on May 9, it has gained over 30,000 followers. On May 13, the Press Information Bureau’s fact check wing tweeted that the handle is fake. “It is a #Fake handle. Union Territory of Ladakh has only 2 official Twitter handles ie @DIPR_Leh & @InformationDep4.”
Claim: A twitter handle @GB_Ladakh_India claims to be official account of “Gilgit-Baltistan, Ladakh, UT, India”#PIBFactCheck: It is a #Fake handle. Union Territory of Ladakh has only 2 official Twitter handles ie @DIPR_Leh & @InformationDep4.
Follow them for official updates pic.twitter.com/sKzK6xvpIC
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 13, 2020
The same was tweeted by MHA and the Department of Information & Public relations Leh Ladakh.
Kindly follow @DIPR_Leh & @InformationDep4 for official updates on UT of Ladakh.
There is NO other official account of Govt. of UT of Ladakh. BEWARE OF IMPOSTERS. @PMOIndia @HMOIndia https://t.co/LR6MdiED9M
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) May 13, 2020
Furthermore, had the government set up an official account, it would most likely be verified or mentioned by officials, which was not the case.
In order find when and how the fake Twitter account blow up, Alt News searched for tweets that mentioned @GB_Ladakh_India across various time intervals using epoch time.
Prior to 2:31 am on May 12, only two other tweets mentioned @GB_Ladakh_India. The first is by the fake account itself and the second one is by Deldan Namgial (archive link). Alt News reached to Namgial on Twitter who subsequently deleted his tweet.
Readers should note that @GB_Ladakh_India’s first tweet was posted on May 9. Since then there was neither any activity by the fake account nor was it detected by the public for three days until Namgail’s tweet which tagged influential twitter accounts such as Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, NDTV, Republic, ABP News and The Quint.
The account had also tagged the handle @SengeHSering which began retweeting its tweets and replying to @GB_Ladakh_India. @SengeHSering has nearly 12,000 followers. It is possible this is what led to people noticing the account.
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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13th May 2020 / 9:23 pm / Last updated: 15th May 2020
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"author": "Archit"
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1,193 |
Fake Twitter accounts created in actor Naseeruddin Shah's name - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
10th February 2021 / 3:04 pm / Last updated: 10th February 2021
In the backdrop of actor Naseeruddin Shah’s vocal support for the ongoing farmer’s protest, several Twitter accounts have cropped up in his name. On February 8, Twitter handle @naseruddin_shah posted a tweet criticising the supporters of political parties opposing the farmers’ protest. “Bootlicking and slavery of the parties will not satisfy your hunger. You will need food to fill your stomach. Support farmers if your conscience is alive,” reads the tweet. (तलवे चाटने और पार्टियों की गुलामी करने से पेट नहीं भरेगा, पेट को भरने के लिए, अनाज चाहिए इसलिए ज़मीर ज़िन्दा है, तो किसानों का समर्थन करें, सहमत #रिट्वीट.) It has garnered over 9,000 retweets so far.
The account has put out several tweets in support of the farmers this month.
Journalist Nidheesh MK posted a screenshot of another Twitter handle (@NaseeruddiinSah) and asked whether the account belonged to the actor.
Is this his real account? Should I buy myself a Biriyani today to celebrate?! pic.twitter.com/UoIK65MDQQ
— Nidheesh M K (@mknid) February 9, 2021
A Twitter search for the handle @naseruddin_shah revealed that it earlier operated with the username @RakeshTkaite, possibly impersonating farmer leader Rakesh Tikait.
Moreover, actress Ratna Pathak Shah, wife of Naseeruddin Shah, clarified, “Mr Shah doesn’t have a Twitter account but has been unable to stop these fake accounts”. Her statement comes in the light of an unverified profile in her husband’s name posting a series of tweets about the ongoing farmers’ protest.
Last year, the actor had also taken to Instagram to clarify regarding fake Twitter accounts created in his name.
A post shared by Naseeruddin Shah (@naseeruddin49)
After getting called out on Twitter, @naseruddin_shah has now added a description in the bio which says, “Not affiliated With Naseeruddin Shah ,FC, Parody”. As of this article, the account has over 60,000 followers. At the time when he posted pro-farmers’ protest tweets in Shah’s name, the account did not have a bio (screenshot on the right).
Since Naseeruddin Shah has clarified that he is not Twitter, the account @NaseeruddiinSah has also been created by an imposter. Moreover, it neither has a huge follower base nor is it verified.
Therefore, Twitter accounts impersonating actor Naseeruddin Shah posted tweets about farmers’ protest. It may be reiterated that the actor is not on Twitter. This is not the first instance when a Twitter account impersonated a prominent personality. In January 2020, an imposter account had quote-tweeted Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan calling for support towards Kashmiris against “oppressive government.” Last year, a video of VHP leader was shared as Naseeruddin Shah’s brother supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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10th February 2021 / 3:04 pm / Last updated: 10th February 2021
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"author": "Jignesh Patel"
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Fake video of Major Prafulla 'giving instructions while injured' is viral on social media - Alt News
Pratik Sinha
27th December 2017 / 10:15 am
“Major Prafulla giving instructions to his unit though shot and collapsed thereafter“, a video with the aforementioned message is currently viral on social media. It is being claimed that Major Prafulla Ambadas Moharkar, who was killed in the ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Keri sector on Saturday, was shouting instructions to his unit till the last breath. According to reports, Major Moharkar, along with Sepoy Pargat Singh, Lance Naik Gurmail Singh, and Lance Naik Kuldeep Singh were killed after Pakistani troops violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Keri sector.
ये है असली हिंदुस्तानी..last clip of Major Prafulla giving instructions to his unit though shot and collapsed thereafter..नमन 🙏🚩🚩
Posted by AAZAAD on Tuesday, December 26, 2017
This video was shared by the verified Facebook page of General VK Singh without mentioning the name of the officer while stating, “Young Officers are the strength of Indian army as they lead from front. भारतीय सेना की जाँबाज़ी की अग्रिम पंक्ति हैं हमारे युवा अधिकारी।#JaiHind“. Many people shared this video mistaking the officer to be Major Prafulla. This video was also posted by AAP MLA Alka Lamba on her Twitter timeline. This video was also shared by Telangana Today and Siasat Daily websites.
The video is currently viral on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.
Is the video really that of Major Prafulla? It cannot be because this video has been around on YouTube for over 7 years. In January 2017, CRPF posted this video on their verified Twitter account and identified the soldier as Assistant Commandant Satwant Singh.
Exemplary leadership in adversity, leading & guiding fellow troops in the heart of Bastar by Asst Comdt Satwant Singh, 85Bn CRPF on 8Jun2009 pic.twitter.com/XdccphMlx6
— CRPF (@crpfindia) January 17, 2017
Sometime back, when 2 Indian army soldiers were beheaded by Pakistani army, a video of a Brazilian bank robber’s beheading was made viral claiming that it is Indian soldiers being beheaded. Such fake videos are often made viral after tragic events. Kindly, be careful and do not fall for such videos. We don’t need fake videos to be proud of the heroics of our armed forces.
Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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27th December 2017 / 10:15 am
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-video-major-prafulla-giving-instructions-injured-viral-social-media/",
"author": "Pratik Sinha"
}
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1,195 |
Fake video of funeral procession of Kathua rape victim viral on social media - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
17th April 2018 / 11:08 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018
A video is being circulated on social media, and it is claimed that it is the video of the funeral of the 8-year old victim of the Kathua rape and murder case. The duration of the video is about one minute, and it is being shared widely on all forms of social media. The following video on YouTube has been viewed close to a million times at the time of writing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLbP66Moe-o
The above video has been shared multiple times on Facebook claiming it to be the funeral procession of the Kathua rape victim.
Not only Facebook but the video is being shared widely on Twitter as well.
This video has also been posted along with a report published by a website www.cinemathagaval.com..
To fact-check this claim, Alt News viewed the video frame by frame. While doing so, we found the billboard of a shop called “Hakimee Hardware Stores” in one of the frames. We found that this store is located in the city of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh according to Justdial directory.
When we looked up recent funeral processions in Jabalpur, we found that the video being currently circulated as that of the Kathua victim in reality is of the funeral of Mufti-e-Azam Maulana Ahmed Qadri of Jabalpur which took place in February 2018 and was reported by Patrika and Hitavada. Multiple videos of this funeral procession were uploaded to social media in the month of February 2018.
The video that is now circulating as the funeral process of the Kathua rape victim had also been posted with another fake claim, that it was the funeral of the son of the Imam of Asansol who was killed in rioting during Ram Navami in March 2018.
Earlier, Alt News reported that a video of a young girl reciting a poem was presented as the last video of the Kathua rape victim. Now, this unrelated video has been circulated to show how thousands of people turned up for the funeral of the Kathua rape victim. Notwithstanding the collective outrage and anguish over the horrific crime of Kathua, certain elements on social media have been using this public anger for emotional manipulation.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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17th April 2018 / 11:08 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-video-of-funeral-procession-of-kathua-rape-victim-viral-on-social-media/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,196 |
FAKE: Video of IT raid on T&T law firm made viral as money found at Congress Minister DK Shivkumar's home - Alt News
Pratik Sinha
5th August 2017 / 4:43 am / Last updated: 12th September 2019
A Twitter handle called @DurgaMenon which is followed by PM Narendra Modi, Power Minister Piyush Goyal and many other senior BJP leaders has posted a video on her Twitter timeline. The accompanying text says, “DK Shivkumar’s home with just one Locker room opened..Congis whr will u hide ur faces???“. The video posted by this Twitter handle shows a locker full of cash and more bags full of cash on the floor.
This same video is viral on Facebook as can be seen in the video below. The identical text “Shivkumar home with just 1 Locker room opened” across most of the Facebook posts also indicates that this video is widely circulating on WhatsApp. Even DurgaMenon states in a tweet that she got the video via WhatsApp.
In reality, the video that is being passed around is that of an Income Tax raid on T&T law firm in Delhi founded by Rohit Tandon. In total, Rs 13 crores worth of cash was found in raids on Rohit Tandon’s law firm and residences in Delhi in December 2016. The video that is now being shared as cash found in DK Shivkumar’s house was originally posted by a journalist Shiv Sunny on his Twitter timeline on December 10, 2016. He posted the video with the text, “Video of over Rs 8 cr cash (Rs 2 cr in new currency) seized by Delhi Police from T&T law firm in Delhi’s GK.“. The video can be seen below.
Video of over Rs 8 cr cash (Rs 2 cr in new currency) seized by Delhi Police from T&T law firm in Delhi’s GK. @the_hindu @abaruah64 pic.twitter.com/qXlQ7Ixg3y
— Shiv Sunny (@shivsunny) December 10, 2016
Recently, after an RSS karyakarta Rajesh was murdered in Kerala, a fake video from Brazil claiming it to be Rajesh was circulated. =
Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker.
Follow @free_thinker
Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about…
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The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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5th August 2017 / 4:43 am / Last updated: 12th September 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-video-raid-tt-law-firm-made-viral-money-found-congress-minister-dk-shivkumars-home/",
"author": "Pratik Sinha"
}
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1,197 |
Fake: Viral message warning of social media surveillance over Ayodhya case - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
5th November 2019 / 8:19 pm / Last updated: 5th November 2019
Ahead of the impending Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya case, WhatsApp is rife with rumours and misinformation. A message which has gone viral over the past few days states that with the upcoming Ayodhya verdict, new rules for public communication will come into effect.
The message states that all calls will be recorded, all call recordings will be saved, and social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook would be monitored, as would WhatsApp. It further states all personal electronic devices will be connected to systems in the ministry. The message then warns readers not to forward posts or videos which are critical of the government or the Prime Minister, and asserts that writing or sending objectionable messages of political or religious nature would constitute a crime, inviting arrest without a warrant.
The message has also been posted on Facebook.
ब्रेकिंग जरूरी सूचना
किसी भी तरह का गलत मैसेज भेजने पर होगी कड़ी कार्यवाई।
*अयोध्या फैसला कल से नये communication के…
Posted by Amethi Mobile News on Monday, November 4, 2019
UP police has confirmed via Twitter that the aforementioned message is a hoax. It is one of several such messages circulating in Ayodhya. On November 5, the Twitter account of Ayodhya police uploaded an image of a news report titled, ‘सोशल मीडिया के माध्यम से अशांति फ़ैलाने की हो रही है नाकाम कोशिश’ (Efforts to spread disharmony via social media rendered futile- translation). Ayodhya police tweeted with the hashtag #UPPAgainstFakeNews.
#UPPInNews #ayodhyapolice @Uppolice @adgzonelucknow @igrangeayodhya@dgpup @IpsAshish @UPPViralCheck
#UPPAgainstFakeNews @aajtak @ABPNews @ZeeNews pic.twitter.com/gVPRKY6fS3
— AYODHYA POLICE (@ayodhya_police) November 5, 2019
The news report tweeted by Ayodhya police specifically refers to the aforementioned message as fake. The report has been filed from Ayodhya, and refers to attempts being made via social media to spread rumours before the verdict. The report states that such efforts by mischief mongers have been neutralized by prompt action on the part of the police in the district, where several peace committee meetings among citizens have been organized.
SSP-AYODHYA @IpsAshish के निर्देशन में जनपद के समस्त क्षेत्राधिकारी/थाना प्रभारियों द्वारा अपने-अपने थाना क्षेत्र में आगामी मा0 सर्वोच्च न्यायालय द्वारा प्रस्तावित निर्णय के परिपेक्ष में सम्भ्रान्त व्यक्तियों के साथ पीस कमेटी की मीटिंग की गई। @Uppolice @dgpup @adgzonelucknow pic.twitter.com/PLIGLMBtAD
— AYODHYA POLICE (@ayodhya_police) November 4, 2019
Moreover, ANI UP has reported that the DM of Ayodhya has prohibited social media messages and posters relating to the Ayodhya dispute over concerns of disturbance to communal harmony. The prohibition will be in force till December 28, 2019.
Ayodhya District Magistrate, Anuj Kumar Jha prohibits social media messages & posters on Ayodhya land case, that could disturb communal harmony, in view of upcoming festivals & verdict in Ayodhya land case. Prohibition will stay in force till 28th December, 2019.
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) November 4, 2019
It may be noted that the viral message, warning readers of surveillance of social media accounts and personal devices in light of the Ayodhya verdict, is a hoax.
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…
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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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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5th November 2019 / 8:19 pm / Last updated: 5th November 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-viral-message-warning-of-social-media-surveillance-over-ayodhya-case/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,198 |
Fake order attributed to Tourism Ministry claims restaurants, hotels to remain closed till Oct 15 - Alt News
Priyanka Jha
24th April 2020 / 4:36 pm
Alt News has received several requests on its official Android application to fact-check a letter circulating on social media. The letter is a supposed order issued by the Tourism Ministry which says that hotels and restaurants will remain closed till October 15.
The order also says that “all tourism departments of India” have been informed. At one point, it specifically talks about closing north Indian hotels, restaurants and resorts. It also says that in case of any violation, a case will be filed against the owner of the property.
First of all, the supposed order is replete with spelling and grammatical errors which is unusual for any official document. The order also mentions a website – indiantourism.org – which doesn’t exist. The official website of the Tourism Ministry is tourism.gov.in. All government websites either end with ‘.gov’ or ‘.nic’.
With a keyword search on Google, we couldn’t find any news report which said that hotels, restaurants, and resorts will remain closed till October 15. Press Information Bureau of India’s fact-checking handle on Twitter had called out the misinformation and dubbed the order as fake. “The order is Fake and has NOT been issued by Ministry of Tourism.” reads the tweet.
Be cautious of #Fake order claiming that hotels/resturants will remain closed till 15th October 2020 due to #Coronavirusoutbreak.#PIBFactCheck: The order is Fake and has NOT been issued by Ministry of Tourism.
Do not believe in rumours! pic.twitter.com/efRx3PWTj0
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) April 8, 2020
Earlier, we had debunked a fake notice which was circulating in the name of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
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.
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The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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24th April 2020 / 4:36 pm
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"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-viral-notice-attributed-to-tourism-ministry-to-falsely-claim-that-hotel-restaurant-will-remain-close-till-15-october-due-to-coronavirus/",
"author": "Priyanka Jha"
}
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Fake: Viral poster claims Rahul Gandhi's DNA doesn't match Rajiv Gandhi's - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
25th January 2019 / 5:24 pm
A poster about a supposed DNA expert’s claim that Rahul Gandhi is not the son of Rajiv Gandhi is circulating on social media. It has been shared by several individuals on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. The claim has been circulated in the form of a newspaper clipping.
@realDonaldTrump @XiJinping0615 @VladimirPutin24 @PMpakistan2018
American DNA specialist proved that Rahul Gandhi DNA doesn’t match his father late PM Rajiv Gandhi …
Then who is his father ??
Sonia Gandhi must reply !!! pic.twitter.com/ZYsghsUjvp
— Jago Bharat Jago (@germanhitechhe1) January 24, 2019
Facebook page – I Support Narendra Bhai Modi Bjp had also shared the clipping with an identical narrative.
1. Alt News did a Google search with key words given in the poster and found that no such media report exists on the internet.
2. Another search about DNA expert named Martin Sizo also yields no search results. We also couldn’t find a news report on such a press conference held by a DNA expert in any publication.
In all probability, if at all there was a slightest doubt about Rahul Gandhi’s lineage, given his prominence in the Indian political system, the issue would have been echoed by a multitude of opposition parties, which is NOT the case here. Moreover, the issue would have been on the radar of mainstream media organisations. In conclusion, the poster shared on social media with the narrative questioning Rahul Gandhi’s DNA is fake.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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25th January 2019 / 5:24 pm
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{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-viral-poster-claims-rahul-gandhis-dna-doesnt-match-rajiv-gandhis/",
"author": "Jignesh Patel"
}
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1,200 |
Fake website claims PM has announced Unemployment Allowance Scheme - Alt News
Kinjal
28th May 2021 / 3:51 pm
A viral claim circulating on social media and messaging application WhatsApp suggests that unemployed youth will be given a monthly sum of Rs 3,500 under the Pradhan Mantri Berozgari Bhatta Yojna (Unemployment Allowance Scheme) 2021. The message includes a pre-registration link for those wishing to sign up.
“Pre-registration is underway for the Pradhan Mantri Unemployment Allowance Scheme 2021. Rs 3500 will be given every month to all unemployed youth under this scheme. Click the link below to pre-register and fill the form. Application fee: Rs. 0 (FREE). Eligibility: 10th pass. Age: 18 – 40. Last date of registration: May 27, 2021,” reads the complete message.
Twitter user BK Agrawal posted the claim. (Archive link)
प्रधानमंत्री बेरोजगारभत्ता योजना2021 केलिए प्री-रजिस्ट्रेशन होरहा है,इस योजनाके अंतर्गत सभी युवाबेरोजगारों को3500रुपये हरमहीने दियाजाएगा प्री-रजिस्ट्रेशन करनेके लिए निचे दिएगए लिंकपर क्लिककर अपना फॉर्मभरे
आवेदन शुल्क -00 Rs(FREE)
योग्यता -10वीपास
आयु-18से 40वर्ष
— BK Agrawal (@isrtc8) May 23, 2021
It is being shared widely on Twitter and Facebook.
Alt News received several requests on its WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160) to investigate the message.
The link provided in the message leads to a blog post and not a government website ending with ‘gov.in or nic.in’.
There is no government website for the purported initiative. Other central government initiatives – Pradhan Mantra Awas Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna – have dedicated websites hosted on ‘gov.in’.
The official Twitter handle of the Prime Minister’s Office has also not tweeted about any such scheme. Neither has it been mentioned on the Prime Minister’s website.
Apart from this, links to other pages on the blogpost like ‘Terms and Conditions, ‘About Us’, ‘Contact Us’, ‘Privacy Policy’ and ‘Disclaimer’ do not function.
The form asks for personal details and prompts people to forward the message to 10 WhatsApp groups which also point to the fact that it is fake.
PIB Fact Check tweeted that the blogpost is fake and the government has not launched any such initiative.
दावा – एक व्हाट्सएप मैसेज में यह दावा किया गया है कि ‘प्रधानमंत्री बेरोजगार भत्ता योजना’ के अंतर्गत भारत सरकार सभी बेरोजगारों को प्रतिमाह ₹ 3500 दे रही है#PIBFactCheck: किया गया दावा और दिया गया ब्लॉग लिंक फर्जी है| भारत सरकार द्वारा ऐसी कोई योजना नहीं चलाई जा रही है pic.twitter.com/27yluwbpdq
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) May 4, 2020
Home Ministry’s Cyber Crime Coordination Centre warned the public to be aware of such fake sites.
“बेरोजगारी भत्ता योजना” धोखाधड़ी : सावधान रहें pic.twitter.com/4v4vlerzpA
— Cyber Dost (@Cyberdost) May 21, 2021
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.
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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28th May 2021 / 3:51 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-whatsaap-forwards-claiming-pm-unemployment-allowance-pradhanmantri-berojgar-bhatta-yojna/",
"author": "Kinjal"
}
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Fake WhatsApp chat shared on social media to claim 292 terrorists killed in Balakot airstrike - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
5th March 2019 / 8:03 pm / Last updated: 6th March 2019
A Twitter user Shekhar Chahal shared a WhatsApp chat with an alleged Pakistani, who is a resident of Balakot, to claim that the Indian air force’s recent air strike killed 292 terrorists of JeM. Chahal is followed by prime minister Narendra Modi on Twitter.
In the chat, Chahal’s ‘friend’ said that his mother is the dean of Balakot medical university and was responsible for examining the dead bodies of the slain terrorists.
Chahal has also shared the alleged conversation on his Facebook profile.
Exclusive #PROOF of #AirStrikes
One of My Friend’s Known From PAKISTAN Claimed That Around 292 Terrorists Killed in…
Posted by Shekhar Chahal on Monday, 4 March 2019
Alt News looked up ‘Balakot medical university’ on Google but the search engine threw up no results. Chahal, however, tweeted a link, claiming that it pertains to the said university. But the link has no mention of the medical college. A few users called out his chicanery.
Alt News also looked up existing medical universities in Balakot on Google Maps. However, as there seem to be no medical colleges in Balakot, Google maps threw up universities in nearby areas. One of the closest universities, Azad Jammu & Kashmir medical college, is situated at a distance of about 40 km from Balakot.
The airforce is yet to provide any details on the number of casualties in the airstrike. In a recent press briefing, Air vice-marshal RGK Kapoor stated it is premature to ascertain the number of casualties. Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa on March 4 said that it is not for the air force to count the number of casualties and the government provides such details. The only detail that the government has, however, provided is union minister SS Ahluwalia’s statement that the Indian air force strike in Balakot did not intend to inflict “any human casualty” but was to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines.
Despite BJP president Amit Shah’s claims that 250 terrorists were killed in the Balakot airstrike, there is no evidence to back the statement. In fact, the Defence minister herself said that there are “no numbers” to give out.
The WhatsApp chat uploaded Chahal was clearly manufactured, the poor attempt at Urdu giving away its fallacy. Several basic Urdu words were misspelt in the conversation.
For instance, ‘nazdiki’ was spelt was ‘najdiki’; ‘pareshan’ was written as ‘paresan’; ‘Alhamdulillah’ was spelt as ‘Allamuddiah’; ‘tashreef’ was written as ‘tasreef’.
A few other words like ‘ghayalo’ and ‘aantankvaad’ are Hindi words. A person living in Pakistan, fluent in Urdu, is most likely to use ‘zakhmi’ for the former and ‘dehshat gardi’ for the latter.
Furthermore, a few sentences in the chat do not make any sense and it appears that Urdu words were forcefully added mid-sentence. “Par ye galat hai na loc cross krna..khair allah fitrat kre” – was one of the messages sent by Chahal’s ‘friend’ from across the border. However, the word ‘fitrat’, which means ‘character’ or ‘habit’, is not applicable here. What the ‘friend’ perhaps meant was ‘allah khair/hifazat kare’, which basically means ‘May God bless you’.
Another sentence, “aur allamuddiah media bhi imran ke ishare pe chalti hai”, makes no sense as the word ‘Alhamdulillah’ means ‘praise the God’ and is used while thanking for blessings.
The aftermath of the Balakot air strike has seen a massive amount of misinformation circulating online, with several users posting fake videos and images to prove that the air strike caused severe damage in Pakistan.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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5th March 2019 / 8:03 pm / Last updated: 6th March 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-whatsapp-chat-shared-on-social-media-to-claim-292-terrorists-killed-in-balakot-airstrike/",
"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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Masquerading as Govt initiatives, scam websites con readers with offers of free bicycles, helmets - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
24th July 2018 / 9:44 am
“फ्री साईकिल वितरण योज़ना भारत सरकार |सभी लड़के और लड़कियों को मिलेगी मुफ्त में साइकिल सभी साइकिलें 15 अगस्त को बांटी जाएंगी, यहाँ से अपना फॉर्म भरे| http://Bharat-Sarkar.co/साइकिल|विनती:कृपया इस मैसेज को अपने दोस्तों, रिश्तेदारों और सारे ग्रुप्स में शेयर करे” (Free cycle delivery scheme. All boys and girls will get cycles for free. All cycles will be distributed on 15th August. Fill your form here – http://Bharat-Sarkar.co/cycle. Request – Kindly share this message with all your friends, relatives and groups – translated).
This is one of the latest rumours doing rounds on Whatsapp via the facade of a government website. It claims that the Indian government has launched a scheme to give away free cycles to youngsters. Accessing the “bharat-sarkar.co” link attached to the message opens up a form that mentions the details of the purported government initiative. It says (translated) – “To get cycles for free, fill the form below with your name, your school’s name and the state you’re from.” It goes on the add that “all cycles will be distributed on 15 August 2018 at your nearest government school.” The website asks for personal details, including father’s name and residential address.
The same “free bicycle” advertisement is also propagated on another website of the same name but different domain – “bharat-sarkar.com”
Alt News found two other websites staging the similar interface but a different government scheme. Websites “pm-yojna.in” and “helmet.pm-yojna.in” claim that the central government is giving away free helmets under its “Pradhan Mantri Sadak Surasha Yojana”. Both websites include the Prime Minister’s photograph and forms similar to the “free bicycle” scheme. To enter the initiative the websites ask for your name, bike registration number and state.
The web design of these sites is optimised for mobile phone users. Furthermore, an image of the Prime Minister and the state emblem of India are added to make the website look credible and the possibility of getting something for “free”, takes away users’ hesitance. Those who have been newly introduced to the virtual world and are smitten by the internet, might not delve into its perils.
The messages of these fake government schemes are also circulating on social media.
There are various clues that call these websites’ bluff, some more glaring than the rest. Below is the analysis of “bharat-sarkar.co”, however, all other websites echo these same characteristics.
1. “Terms and conditions”
If one were to scroll down the form, a “terms and conditions” link is visible at the bottom and this alone is enough to bust the scam. Clicking on this link redirects to a page that clearly mentions “this site is not associated with Indian government or any political party” and “bicycle distribution depends on us”.
2. All government websites either end with “gov.in” or “nic.in”
The makers of the aforementioned website attempted to make it resemble a government portal, which also explains the name “bharat-sarkar”. However, its URL ends with a “.co” while websites of the Indian government either end with a “gov.in” or “nic.in”.
The official website of any ministry or government department always ends with the domain “gov.in”. For example – Ministry of External Affairs (mea.gov.in), Government of Uttarakhand (uk.gov.in), Swachh Bharat (swachhbharatmission.gov.in), Prasar Bharati (prasarbharati.gov.in).
The website of any organisation affiliated to the Indian government ends with a “nic.in”. Domain name ‘nic.in’ is owned by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which is the science and technology organisation of the Government of India under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. ‘Nic.in’ can be allocated only to Indian government entities. For instance, Central Board of Secondary Education (cbse.nic.in), Indian Institute of Mass Communication (iimc.nic.in).
3. IP address located in Singapore
Alt News first searched the IP address of “bharat-sarkar.co”.
We then located the website’s region of origin and found that it was registered in Singapore, under GoDaddy.com. An Indian government website cannot be registered abroad and is always registered under National Informatics Centre (NIC). The website details of MEA in the image below affirms the same.
Google AdSense is an easy method to make quick bucks and one cannot help but notice the ads placed through the length of the forms on all the four websites. The reason for the makers of these shady websites to popularise fake advertisements via Whatsapp is to redirect as many people as possible to their portals. If the traction is high, a number of individuals would click on the Google ads thus, giving the sites more money on cost-per-clicks.
Alt News had, in an earlier article, reported how such websites are created to make money off of deceiving people and collecting their personal data. Last year, a Whatsapp forward claimed that PM Modi is giving free balance. This too redirected users to a form that asked for their name, phone number, mobile service operator and the state of residence. Alt News found how the person behind this scam was operating a host of other such websites to make money.
Such instances are commonplace on the internet, and Whatsapp is one of the quickest ways to garner an audience. Recently, another fake message was viral on Whatsapp, calling Hindus to vote for Ram Mandir against Babri Masjid. It provided a link at the end that redirected people to a voting form. The one-page form also adorned two Google ads.
The internet is infested with shady websites and pages/groups on social media that post content of “mass appeal”. We have observed in the past as well, instances of publishing provocative content – political, communal or sleazy – to amass countless clicks on a page. However, when such websites resort to faking government schemes and blatantly use the Prime Minister’s photograph for the same, the issue deserves greater attention and the need for law enforcement agencies to pay heed.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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24th July 2018 / 9:44 am
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-whatsapp-viral-free-bicycles-helmets/",
"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
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1,203 |
Fake WikiLeaks list on top black money holders in Swiss bank viral on social media - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
11th September 2019 / 8:54 pm
A viral message on social media claims that WikiLeaks has released a list of top black money holders in Swiss banks. Incidentally, all the individuals named in the list are Indians. “Undigestible news: Indians black money in Swiss bank is Rs. 358,679,863,300,000 (estimated to be 1.3 trillion dollars) this money belongs to 2000 indians who have kept there to evade from tax, This money is enough for our india to become 10 america and become one of the most powerful developed country in the world for next 100yrs..Please raise your hand by forwarding this to all if you have free messages..As an INDIAN I am Forwarding…” reads the concluding para of the message.
WIKI LEAKS Published 1st List of black money holders in SWISS bank…… The Top Most 30 members are…..(money is in…
Posted by Sampath Sarangapani on Tuesday, 10 September 2019
Karnataka Congress minister KJ George tops the list with an alleged net worth of Rs 5.82 lakh crores, followed by AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi (Rs 5.687 lakh crores), SP President Akhilesh Yadav (Rs 3 lakh crores) and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (Rs 2.57 lakh crores). Other prominent names that appear on the list (which is not in chronological order) are Sonia Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, Chidambaram, DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, Ahmad Patel, Manmohan Singh, Mayawati and Rahul Gandhi among others. The list has 30 names.
Alt News found that the same message – ‘WikiLeaks published 1st list of black money holders in Swiss bank’ – has been doing rounds online at least since 2011. The earliest instance we found on Facebook listed 13 individuals, including former Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi who was assassinated in 1991.
WIKI LEAKS Published 1st List of black money holders in SWISS bank…… The Top Most 13 members are…..(money is in…
Posted by Rakesh Kumar Sharma on Thursday, 22 September 2011
The list went through a makeover in 2014 when 24 persons were named. Rajeev Gandhi made a comeback among several other individuals who adorn the recent list.
The 2016 and 2017 lists featured Prime Minister Modi.
WIKI LEAKS Published 1st List of black money holders in SWISS bank…… The Top Most 24 members are…..(money is in…
Posted by टीम श्रुती चौधरी on Monday, 26 December 2016
The list currently viral has been circulating since last year. A similar pattern was also observed on Twitter.
WikiLeaks has not come up with a recent list of Indians who are the top black money holders in Swiss bank. The last report published by the organisation was in January 2019 and it was on the Catholic Church.
A list on top Indian black money holders has, in fact, never been released by Wikileaks. A keyword search on the website makes this evident.
In 2011, Wikileaks had tweeted a clarification on fake lists on Indian black money being shared on social media.
WARNING: WikiLeaks and Indian black money: The following is a FAKE image and never appeared on WikiLeaks http://t.co/Dwbpc3P
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) August 5, 2011
Wikileaks’s name is being used to give credence to a piece of misinformation that reappears every year in different versions.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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11th September 2019 / 8:54 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/fake-wikileaks-list-on-top-black-money-holders-in-swiss-bank-viral-on-social-media/",
"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
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1,204 |
False allegations of toxins and harmful chemicals in India’s widely sold commercial salt brands - Alt News
Jammi Nagaraj Rao
22nd July 2019 / 10:55 pm / Last updated: 22nd July 2019
On the 26 of June 2019, Shiv Shankar Gupta, the chairman of Godhum grains & farms products, conducted a press conference while alleging that two popular brands of salt in India contain known toxic chemicals according to an American lab report.
On the same day, multiple mainstream media outlets in India carried reports titled “Premium salt in India contains deadly cyanide” which was based on a publication by a news agency IANS which had covered the press conference.
‘Premium salt’ in India contains deadly cyanide. US Report pic.twitter.com/WMFp9yVWzp
— Rajnish Sharma (@rajnish1Midas) June 28, 2019
The articles quoted Shiv Shankar Gupta, and alleged that America West Analytical Laboratory, had ‘revealed’ that two brands of salt, consumed en masse in India contained alarmingly high levels of potassium ferrocyanide (PFC).
The levels reported were: 4.71 mg/Kg in Sambhar refined salt, 1.85 mg/Kg in Tata salt, and 1.9 mg/Kg in Tata salt lite. The article reported stated that Mr Gupta, suggested that nowhere else in the world was PFC permitted in the edible salt industry, and described it as ‘a deadly poison’.
In addition to mainstream news outlets, Website called Great Game India published a story about presence of toxic chemicals in two brands of salt widely used in India. Beyond the reportage by IANS, this article also points out to a pending public interest litigation (PIL) and other related information.
In the course of this article, we will examine the following claims made in the aforementioned press conference and the media report that covered it:
1) The veracity of the US lab report based on which the ‘toxic salt’ claim was made
2) Whether Potassium Ferrocyanide (PFC) is toxic for human consumption
3) Whether PFC is a legal component in food consumption of other countries
4) The differences between PFC and cyanide- a highly toxic substance linked with instant death
Kyle Gross, Director of American West analytical laboratories, responded with a prepared statement categorically denying that they cannot analyse or disperse information on PFC levels, as well as refrain from commenting on the client or the work conducted at the lab to the third parties, i.e. Mr Gupta . The full statement is available here.
The toxicity and safety of PFC and other ferrocyanide salts (such as sodium and calcium) was comprehensively reviewed in 2018 by an expert panel of the European Food Safety Authority.
This review concluded that the use of potassium (as well as sodium or calcium) ferrocyanides as food additives presented no reason for concern. It was neither genotoxic (i.e. it did not alter the genetic make-up of cells), nor carcinogenic (causing cancerous tumours).
In very large quantities, its toxicity was demonstrated in rodent kidneys and adverse effects were observed at about 4.1 mg/Kg PFC of body weight everyday over a two year period.
For human consumption, the expert panel concluded that the acceptable daily intake of PFC was 0.03 mg/Kg body weight per day expressed as the ferro-cyanide ion.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India also clarified that allowed levels of PFC is 10 mg per Kg of salt and that the reported limits in media were well within the allowed limits.
Ferrocyanides are used as anti-caking agents in processing of salt which is safe for consumption and they’re different…
Posted by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India on Thursday, 27 June 2019
Furthermore, to attain a level of PFC of 10 mg/Kg, the required salt consumption for a human would be 3 gm of salt per Kg body weight. This amount for an average human of 70 Kg weight would be 210 gm every day. This level is highly unlikely in humans as the maximum salt intake is largely 10-12 gm per day. In comparison, the recommended salt intake for an adult is less than 6 grams a day.
An alternative name for the ferrocyanide ion is hexacyanoferrate and may be preferable since it does not lead to a confusion with ‘cyanide’ for the lay person. The potassium, sodium and calcium salts of ferrocyanide (or hexacyanoferrate) have the same properties. Also, it does NOT decompose into cyanide which is a well-known lethal toxin.
Hence, it is false and misleading to suggest that PFC is related to potassium cyanide. While the chemical bond between iron (Fe) and cyanide radical is strong. PFC is very poorly absorbed in humans between- 0.25 – 0.42% of the amount ingested.
Salt is the oldest known food seasoning and preservative. India produces some 27 million tons of it and ranks third in the world behind USA and China. Within India, Tata Salt is the leading producer of cooking and table salt and markets its brand with the slogan, ‘Desh ka namak’. Tata Salt put out a statement rebutting the claims made by media organisations and Mr Gupta. They have argued that their salt does contain PFC, that the levels of PFC are well within the limits mandated by regulatory guidelines and that their salt is safe. Tata’s statement also gives web links to regulatory standards from around the world that set out the use of PFC as an additive.
Science journalism in India is woefully lacking in rigour and understanding. This news report was easily refuted as it was based on concocted and demonstrably false statements.
The exaggerated of toxic chemicals in common and widely used brands of salt caused confusion in the minds of the public. Many confused ‘cyanides’ with ‘ferrocyanide’, causing a further alarm in the general populace.
The PFC levels in Tata salt as clarified by FSSAI are well within permissible limits.
Public health doctor, epidemiologist, critical appraisal of medical research, systematic reviews, intermediate-level skills in data science using R and Ggplot.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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22nd July 2019 / 10:55 pm / Last updated: 22nd July 2019
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"author": "Jammi Nagaraj Rao"
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1,205 |
False anti-Muslim spin added to attack on college girl in West Bengal - Alt News
Archit
7th December 2021 / 12:46 pm / Last updated: 7th December 2021
Pro-BJP and communal propaganda platform Kreately tweeted two images — one that shows a woman with a head injury and another picture of a man. The text on the image reads, “After being rejected in ‘love’, Md. Fayez Ahmad attacked Hindu girl with sharp blade in West Bengal. In another grooming Jihad incident, a Hindu girl was attacked yesterday afternoon by one Md. Fayez Ahmad in Kochbihar, Falakata of West Bengal. The girl was reportedly going to her college when she was attacked. Situation remains tensed in the area. [sic]” The tweet received over 3,000 retweets as of this writing.
Also read: Who runs Kreately? – Alt News investigates the factory of hate and misinformation
BJP supporter Arun Pudur also shared this graphic. Prior to this, Twitter user @JatayuOSINT posted a video of the incident with the same claim. Alt News has not included the video due to its graphic nature.
Several Facebook users have also shared this graphic.
According to local Bangla news outlet Anandabazar Patrika, the incident indeed took place. However, the report does not state the attack was communally motivated. Fajaddin Hossain attacked a student at Falakata College with a knife after his proposal was turned down. Hossain is a resident of the Ghoksadanga area in the Cooch Behar district in West Bengal.
The Telegraph also reported the incident and made no reference to a communal angle. As per the report, both the victim and accused were batchmates. The Telegraph cited that hospital sources informed that the victim received multiple stitches.
SHO Ghoksadanga told Alt News, “Both the victim and accused were from the same community.”
Prior to our report, The Quint had debunked this claim. The outlet accessed the FIR pertaining to the case and included a relevant excerpt — “On 29.11.21 at about 13:30 hours one Fajaddin Hossain s/o Babuddin of Baro Solmari PS Ghoksadanga District-Cooch Behar attacked one Alina Yasmeen (20) d/o Ainul Haque of Dulal Dokan PS-Falakata with a sharp cutting weapon (blade). The incident took place at Dhupguri More college road following a failed love affair between the two.”
The assault on the woman was falsely communalised by Kreately and several pro-BJP accounts on social media.
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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7th December 2021 / 12:46 pm / Last updated: 7th December 2021
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"author": "Archit"
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1,206 |
False anti-Muslim spin added to Kerala entrepreneur's dispute over 'no halal' restaurant - Alt News
Archit
31st October 2021 / 12:03 am
Around October 25, several prominent social media users claimed that a Kerala-based woman Thushara Ajith was attacked by a group of Muslim fanatics due to non-compliance with Halal in her hotel. BJP Kerala’s president K Surendran made the same claim on Twitter. He wrote, “What happened in Kakkanad is nothing less than Talibanism. I urge the people of Kerala to reject #HalalInvasion”
Strongly condemn the attack against Smt.Thushara Ajith. A group of Muslim fanatics brutally attacked the woman entrepreneur due to non-compliance of Halal in her hotel. What happened in Kakkanad is nothing less than Talibanism. I urge the people of Kerala to reject #HalalInvasion
— K Surendran (@surendranbjp) October 25, 2021
Other BJP members who posted the claim include politician Sandeep Vachaspati, Anoop J (2K RTs) and CT Ravi. Rahul Easwar who identifies as a ‘Hindu activist’ also shared the claim (later deleted the tweet and apologised).
Several media outlets shared this claim including Malayalam-language news outlets Kurukshethra, Bharathlive, and Marunadan TV; mainstream media outlets such as The Times of India, India Times, NewsTrack Live and Zee News; and pro-BJP propaganda outlets such as OpIndia, RSS mouthpiece Organiser, Kreately and The Hindu Post.
Posts on the same topic by columnist Shefali Vaidya (3.8K RTs), BJP supporter Arun Pudur and FB user ജിതിൻ ജെ കുറുപ്പ് (1,2) gained high engagement.
What was the dispute?
Halal food is that which adheres to Islamic law, as defined in the Quran. It is typically associated with how animals are slaughtered prior to processing meat. More details about it can be read at the website of Halal Food Authority, a non-profit organisation that monitors adherence to halal principles, and this 2014 BBC report.
In January, Kerala Kaumudi (KK) reported, Thushara whose full name is Thushara Ajith Kallayil, started the first ‘anti-halal’ restaurant in Kerala called ‘Nandu’s Kitchen’. It is located at Vennala near Medical Center in Ernakulam. Thushara told KK, “The board was set up because some avoided food for the sole reason that it is not halal, which was annoying.”
The News Minute reported that the police informed that a scuffle took place between two shop owners on the eve of October 24. One party involved Thushara, her husband Ajith and some other men. The other group comprised Nakul, one of the other shop owners, and Binoj George.
Both Thushara (FIR 1290/21) and George (FIR 1289/21) filed a police complaint on October 24. Kerala-based journalist Zayan Asif translated the FIRs to English for Alt News.
According to George, Nakul operated a chaat stall outside his cafe (Dine Restro Cafe). He was informed that the stall was allegedly removed by Thushara and her husband. Upon questioning Thushara, a scuffle broke. He was allegedly slapped by her and another man who purportedly slashed Nakul’s hand and attacked his leg using a knife. This FIR was registered at Sunrise Hospital where both were hospitalised. The IPC sections listed are 323 [Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt.], 324 [Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means], 326 [Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means] and 34 [Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention].
However, as per Thushara, Nakul and an unnamed person (George) allegedly came to their restaurant (Nandu’s) and started a verbal altercation. She claimed they subsequently hit her on the head and when she threatened to report to the police, Nakul allegedly grabbed at her sari and blouse and partially disrobed her. Shortly after, the unnamed person allegedly hit her on the stomach and that’s when her staff member came with a kitchen knife and attacked Nakul. As per her statement, she offered Nakul and George a ride to the hospital. The IPC sections listed are 354 [Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty], 323 [Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt.]; 294 (b) [sings, recites or utters any obscene song, ballad or words], and 34 [Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention]. It is worth noting that Thushara has not mentioned that she was attacked by “Jihadists” in her statement but she did make this claim on social media (later discussed in the article).
Kochi city police commissioner Nagaraju Chakilam told Alt News, “The incident of October 24 is not related to the ‘No-Halal’ board and the violence was not communal. It was purely a civil dispute. As of now, Thushara and Ajith are hiding from the police. Based on our progress in the investigation, they will be arrested soon.” On October 28, Infopark police shared a Malayalam report based on their investigations (view PDF). Police wrote in their report that this was a calculated attack by Thushara, her husband and their accomplices. Thushara’s husband Ajith is accused in several cases in the Cheranallur police station, including the Imtiaz murder case. Alt News found a 2017 TOI report that has named Ajith as one of seven accused in the murder of one Imtiaz Khan, a real estate businessman.
Kochi city police commissioner Nagaraju Chakilam shared CCTV footage that shows Thushara and her associates. One of them damaged the CCTV at the 0:58 mark.
How was the communal spin added?
On October 25, Thushara shared nine Facebook Lives (at 8:41, 8:53, 9:13, 9:54, 9:58, 10:38, 10:46, 14:51, 14:52). In these videos, various claims have been made. Kochi city police commissioner Nagaraju Chakilam told TNM that there is no communal angle as portrayed by Thushara and others on social media. “Basically, there exists a multipartite civil dispute over leases, subleases, etc. The scuffles, the alleged theft of furniture items etc, are over claiming rights of the commercial space. Complaints given at the police station are all indicative of the above and any other versions getting circulated in social media are just to pressurise and channel police action for or against a particular party,” he said.
Alt News spoke with another person fluent in Malayalam who said that around the 1-minute mark in the first Facebook Live, Thushara claimed that “jihadis” along with “communalised/ commi Hindus” tried to attack her.
To sum it up, a scuffle between restaurant owner Thushara Ajith and others with Nakul and Binoj George in Kochin’s InfoPark area was reported as a communal incident based on misleading claims by Thushara on social media. Several Kerala-based media outlets and BJP members including Kerala BJP president K Surendran amplified the claim. While viral claims attempted to build a narrative against Muslims, the reality was completely different.
🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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31st October 2021 / 12:03 am
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1,207 |
False child kidnapping rumours revived in Gujarat with illegal organ trade claim - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
14th June 2019 / 6:51 pm / Last updated: 14th June 2019
“ઈકો ગાદી લઈને આવે છે નાના બાળકો લઈ જાય છે અને કિટની વેચે છે જલ્દી સારે મોબાઇલ મા ફોરવર્ડ કરો હમારા બાળકો ની જીદગી બચી જાય મહેસાણા પાટન પાલનપુર જલ્દી જપ્ત કરાવો GJ19AF 0827 (They come in Ecco car and kidnap your children and sell their kidneys. Immediately forward this message to all the mobile phones to save the lives of our children. Seize this car GJ19AF 0827 Alert Mehsana Patan Palanpur -translated)”
The above message is being shared on WhatsApp with a set of images and a video. It was also shared on Facebook and Twitter with the same set of images in the past as well. The description of the visual and photographs are as followed:
Alt News found the video and images to be old. They do not depict a gang of child kidnappers involved in the illegal organ trade.
A close analysis of the policemen’s uniform hinted that he might be an officer with the Uttar Pradesh police force. With keyword a search on Google – “boy beheaded Uttar Pradesh” – we found an article published by Hindustan Times on February 22, 2017. “Drug addict beheads 7-year-old boy, eats his flesh in UP’s Pilibhit”, reads the headline of this article. Mohammed Monis, the victim, was reportedly playing outside his house when his twenty-year-old neighbour lured him inside his house and killed the child. According to a police officer, the body of the boy was lying on the floor with his decapitated head placed beside it. “The skin on the abdomen was missing and internal body parts and bloodstains were scattered across the room,” he said. We also found a video on YouTube corroborating the incident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPGAHnIIVxs
This image was published by Patrika in an August 26, 2017 report. A gang of thieves was arrested by Hoshangabad police in Madhya Pradesh. The gang had a modus operandi of forming different teams for recce, the crime (robbery), and the selling of loot.
This photograph has been circulating on social media with the infamous “child kidnapping” rumours since 2018. In June 2018, Alt New had debunked several other pictures, including this one, shared with the identical child kidnapping narrative. We couldn’t independently verify the image and its origin. However, it was fact-checked by Kannada newspaper Prajavani in 2018. The media outlet reported that according to Karnataka police, the said photo is 3-4 years old. At the time, police had appealed to people to not believe such rumours circulating on WhatsApp.
Regarding the registration number of a vehicle circulating with the claim, Alt News contacted Bardoli (Surat) police. They said that they are looking into the matter.
Since 2014, child-lifting rumours have sparked mob-lynchings across India, leading to the death of at least 30 people. The police had undertaken steps to quell the rumours however, they resurface on social media every now and then. The messages are circulated with slightly changed narratives but similar videos and images. For instance, Rohingya Muslims were made a part of the rumour last year. These messages are usually circulated in the language suited to the state where they are being shared. Similar to the message now circulating in Gujarati, Alt News had debunked a rumour last year, days before a pauper woman was mob-lynched in broad daylight in Ahmedabad. The best way to cross-check such rumours is to look for news reports, the absence of which is a hint the social media claims are most likely unverified.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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14th June 2019 / 6:51 pm / Last updated: 14th June 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-child-kidnapping-rumours-revived-in-gujarat-with-illegal-organ-trade-claim/",
"author": "Jignesh Patel"
}
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1,208 |
False claim: 58% employees at NASA are Indian - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
15th June 2019 / 7:48 pm
A message going viral on messaging platforms claims that 58% of the employees at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are Indian. This claim is part of a longer message in which it is mentioned that the CEOs of several top companies are Indian.
Google’s CEO is Indian
Nokia’s CEO is Indian
Adobe’s CEO is Indian
Amazon’s BOD is Indian
MasterCard’s CEO is Indian
Microsoft’s CEO is Indian
Nasa has 58% Indian employees
In the next few years, India will be the World’s IT hub
(Found on LinkedIn)
— Dr. Kash Sirinanda (@kashthefuturist) June 11, 2019
A screenshot of the above tweet has been shared widely on WhatsApp. The text of the same has been posted by individual users on Facebook. It has also been posted by several Twitter users.
The claim that Indians account for a whopping 58 percent of the employees at NASA, is patently false. The relevant information is available on the website of NASA. According to the Data and Analytics Unit of the agency, Asian Americans (which includes Indians) or Pacific Islander account for merely 8 percent of the total workforce.
The website states, “NASA employs nearly 17,000 people with diverse backgrounds. Seventy-two percent of NASA employees are White or Caucasian, 12 percent are Black or African American, 7 percent are Asian American or Pacific Islander, 8 percent or Hispanic or Latino; 1 percent are American Indian or Alaska Native, and less than 1 percent are more than one race.”
According to the NASA Model Equal Employment Opportunity Agency Plan and Accomplishment Report, the percentage of Asian American or Pacific Islander (AAPI) has risen steadily from 4.5% of the total workforce in 1996 to 7.4% in 2016. However, it is still nowhere close to 58%. Moreover, it may be noted that ‘Asian American’ refers to several Asian ethnicities and not only Indian. Thus, the proportion of Indian employees to the total is likely to be lesser than the figure provided for AAPI.
NASA is an agency of the United States Federal Government. Its employment policy categorically states that US citizens will be hired, and exceptions to this rule have been rare.
Moreover, it may be noted that the CEOs of the companies listed in the viral message are of Indian origin, and not Indian citizens. Google CEO Sundar Pichai is an American citizen; Rajeev Suri, the CEO of Nokia, is from Singapore; CEO of Adobe, Shantanu Narayen is an American citizen; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella too is an American citizen. Alt News could not ascertain what ‘Amazon’s BOD’ means. The CEO of Amazon is Jeff Bezos, an American. Alt News could not ascertain MasterCard CEO Ajaypal Singh Banga’s nationality.
The claim that 58% of employees at NASA are Indian, is 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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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15th June 2019 / 7:48 pm
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,209 |
False claim about Kejriwal wearing shoes at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial viral on social media - Alt News
Kalim Ahmed
24th March 2022 / 2:35 pm / Last updated: 25th March 2022
A photograph of Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party and Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal is viral on social media. In the photograph, everyone around Arvind Kejriwal, including CM Bhagwant Mann are seen walking barefooted while Kejriwal can be seen in shoes.
The photo is accompanied by a Hindi caption that claims that Arvind Kejriwal was wearing shoes at Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s Memorial.
This was shared on Twitter by various BJP workers and sympathisers.
The claim is also viral on Facebook with the same Hindi caption.
We performed a Google reverse image search on the image and came across a news report by Dainik Jagran from March 14, which had the viral photo as a file image. As per the report, both Kejriwal and Mann had visited Darbar Sahib to pay obeisance to god for the massive victory in elections.
We checked the official Facebook page of Arvind Kejriwal and came across a post from March 13, which said that he and Mann had paid their respects at “Shri Darbar Sahib, at Shri Ram Teerth Temple and Durgiana Temple and offered flowers at Jallianwala Bagh Shaheed Memorial”.
Using Google Lens, we performed a reverse image search on one of the photos posted by Kejriwal, which helped us identify the location as the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial based on a news article by The Tribune.
Taking this as a clue we performed a keyword search on YouTube and found various video reports of Kejriwal’s visit to the memorial.
We also found the structure seen in the viral image in a report by News18 Punjab/Haryana/Himachal. The structure appears at 2:10 minutes. This confirms that the viral image was clicked at the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial.
We also checked a video report by ANI where it is clearly visible that Kejriwal is not wearing shoes when he reaches the platform of the memorial. Moreover, in the video report by News18 Punjab/Haryana/Himachal, you can see Kejriwal stops for a second at 0:10 seconds, this is when he takes his shoes off before approaching the main platform of the memorial. The viral photo in circulation was clicked before he had taken his shoes off.
In the video report by ANI, it is very clearly visible that multiple folks, including the security, had not taken their shoes off before approaching the main platform. But when they approach the main platform of the memorial, even the security there can be seen barefooted.
We found a video on the official Facebook page of the Aam Aadmi Party from March 16 where Kejriwal and Mann could be seen paying tribute to Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
शहीद भगत सिंह के गांव खटकड़ कलां में शहीद स्मारक पर Delhi के CM Arvind Kejriwal और Punjab के CM Bhagwant Mann ने श्रद्धांजलि अर्पित की।
Posted by Aam Aadmi Party Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, 16 March 2022
The clothes seen in the video don’t match the ones seen in the viral image. More importantly, Kejriwal was not wearing his shoes while paying tribute to Bhagat Singh.
To conclude, a photo that was clicked during Kejriwal’s visit to the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial was falsely shared as a photo from his visit to the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial. Kejriwal had removed his shoes during both visits.
Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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24th March 2022 / 2:35 pm / Last updated: 25th March 2022
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"author": "Kalim Ahmed"
}
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1,210 |
False claim alleges Disha Ravi hired Akhil Sibal at Rs 5-7 lakh per appearance - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
20th February 2021 / 9:06 pm / Last updated: 22nd February 2021
The Delhi High Court, on February 18, issued notices to the News Broadcasting Standards Authority and media houses News18 and Times Now regarding publishing extracts of climate activist Disha Ravi’s private chats. The court looked into a petition filed by senior advocate Akhil Sibal representing Ravi who was arrested by Delhi police on February 14 for ‘editing’ a toolkit supporting the farmers’ protest.
A claim viral on social media suggests that Sibal is charging Rs 5-7 lakhs for every court appearance on Ravi’s case. Below is a tweet by columnist Abhijit Iyer Mitra that received over 22,000 likes and close to 6,000 retweets.
Disha Ravi hires Akhil Sibal – that’s between 5 to 7 lakhs per appearance. Do the maths.
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) February 19, 2021
A screenshot of Mishra’s tweet has been shared by several Facebook users.
The claim is in fact widespread on Facebook.
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Posted by Khalid Baig on Thursday, 18 February 2021
The claim was also shared by Twitter user @abdullah_0mar who is followed by BJP leaders Piyush Goyal and Kapil Mishra. It was tweeted by @SaffronSunanda who is also followed by Mishra.
Pro-BJP propaganda website The Frustrated Indian wrote an article that read, “But then again, coughing up an estimated 5 to 7 lakh rupees per appearance to Akhil Sibal is only possible under one condition – that of the lawyer waiving his fees in totality and fighting for Disha Ravi pro bono, which is highly unlikely. Who then, is paying for Disha Ravi’s rather flamboyant legal representation? Is it the Khalistani organisations like Poetic Justice Foundation and Sikhs for Justice, or some other vested interest groups who seek to globally defame India and destabilise the Modi government?”
In a conversation with Alt News, Akhil Sibal informed that he is representing Disha Ravi pro bono. “I was approached by her lawyer Vrinda Bhandari and have appeared twice for her regarding the media trial petition,” he said.
“I took on the case because this was an important issue to agitate before the court. We know the menace of media trials. Private messages should not be leaked during an ongoing case. It sets a dangerous precedent for due process and affects the privacy of the individual. The law has to take its course. The presumption of innocence recognised by law should not be affected,” he added.
Advocate Vrinda Bhandari also clarified that the claims are untrue. “He decided to help on such short notice. He has taken up the case pro bono,” she told Alt News.
Social media has been rife with misinformation surrounding Disha Ravi. This is the latest in a plethora of false claims suggesting Ravi is a single mother and hails from the Christain community.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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20th February 2021 / 9:06 pm / Last updated: 22nd February 2021
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"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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1,211 |
False claim: Asaduddin Owaisi wrote letter to UN saying Muslims not safe in India - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
8th January 2019 / 10:17 pm / Last updated: 8th January 2019
ओवैसी ने UN को पत्र लिखा कि हिंदुस्तान में मुस्लिम सेफ नहीं है , UN से जवाब आया ‘जहाँ पर सेफ हो वहां चले जाओ ‘ (Owaisi wrote a letter to UN saying Muslims are not safe in Hindustan, UN replied ‘please go wherever you are safe’- translation). This message along with a picture of AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has been posted by a Facebook page Acche Din.
अब आगे मर्जी आपकी है 😀
Posted by Achhe Din on Saturday, January 5, 2019
The above post of January 6 has been shared over 16000 times already. The page Acche Din has a following of over 13 million. The message has also been shared by individual users on Facebook.
Expectedly, this claim has also found its way to Twitter.
In conversation with Alt News, Asaduddin Owaisi said, “This is an absolute lie. It is the work of trolls. You may refer to my response to (SP leader) Azam Khan over the Dadri issue, when I had raised objection over him taking the issue to the United Nations. I have recently criticised (Pakistan PM) Imran Khan over his statement on minorities in India. There is no question of my having written such a letter to the UN.”
In 2015, Asaduddin Owaisi had lashed out at SP leader Azam Khan after the latter had written a letter to the then UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, seeking intervention after the Dadri lynching episode in which Mohammad Akhlaq was killed on suspicion of having slaughtered a calf. Owaisi had reportedly said, “Azam has committed a blunder by taking up India’s internal issue with the UN. It is supposed to be solved within the country.”
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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8th January 2019 / 10:17 pm / Last updated: 8th January 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-asaduddin-owaisi-wrote-letter-to-un-saying-muslims-not-safe-in-india/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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Did Gehlot drink charanamrit with mask on? No, BJP leaders shared clipped video - Alt News
Priyanka Jha
8th September 2022 / 6:26 pm / Last updated: 8th September 2022
A number of BJP functionaries are criticizing Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot while sharing a 5-second video in which Gehlot is being offered charanamrit by a temple priest and the former brings his hands near the mouth without taking off his mask. The video ends right at that moment. It is being claimed that the chief minister drank Charanamrit without taking off the mask. Laxmikant Bhardwaj, associated with BJP Rajasthan, made light of Gehlot’s intelligence while sharing this video. Taking a dig at the CM, he wrote that chief minister Gehlot was no less than Rahul Gandhi. (Archived link)
हमारे मुख्यमंत्री गहलोत जी को भी राहुल गाँधी से कम मत समझना । देखो 👇 pic.twitter.com/U7xMPtnlzn
— Laxmikant bhardwaj (@lkantbhardwaj) September 6, 2022
Senior editor of news agency ANI Payal Mehta shared the video questioning how one could consume charanamrit without taking off one’s mask.
How does one drink charnamrit with the mask on??? #JustAsking pic.twitter.com/QETexnxdMl
— 🦏 Payal M/પાયલ મેહતા/ पायल मेहता/ পাযেল মেহতা (@payalmehta100) September 6, 2022
Those who promoted the video include journalists, BJP leaders, and other handles with a sizable follower count and reach on social media.
A number of journalists mocked Ashok Gehlot by comparing him to Rahul Gandhi. Sharat and Shubhankar Mishra of Aaj Tak, Aastha Kaushik and Shalini Kapoor Tiwari of News18, journalists Raghavendra, Sudhir Mishra, Himanshu Jha of Live Hindustan, Dainik Hint Editor Kapil Tyagi, Panchjanya’s Ashwani Mishra, Ayush Suryavanshi of News Nation and Satyam Dubey were among those amplifying the viral claim.
Media outlets including Jansatta, Times Now Navbharat, ABP News, Zee News, Newsroom Post, Live Hindustan, RSS weekly magazine Panchjanya, and Prabha Sakshi shared the video. Based on the claims circulated on social media, they reported that Ashok Gehlot consumed charanamrit without taking off his mask.
BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor tweeted this video and wrote that Ashok Gehlot got his mask wet just for show and should be ashamed for insulting religious sentiments.
सुशील जी यह आपके या मेरे लियें आस्था का चरणामृत है@ashokgehlot51 जी जिस परिवार के पुजारी हैं उनके लियें यह पानी है – गहलोत ने दिखावे के लियें लिया मास्क गीला किया बात खत्म।
शर्म आनी चाहिए अशोक गहलोत को धार्मिक भावनाओं का अपमान करने के लियें।@TajinderBagga https://t.co/iDcCQfkvdx
— Praveen Shankar Kapoor (@praveenskapoor) September 6, 2022
BJP MLA from Bihar Murari Mohan Jha, Madhya Pradesh BJP MP Shankar Lalwani, Shivraj Singh Dabi, BJP Bihar vice-president Mithilesh Kumar Tiwari, Devji Bhai Patel of BJP Chhattisgarh, Neeraj Jain of BJP Yuva Morcha, BJP MP Rameshwar Sharma, BJP spokesperson Brijesh Rai, Jitender Gothwal of BJP Rajasthan were among those who amplified the clip.
In addition, the handle @SocialTamasha, known to circulate misinformation in the past, and Hardik Bhavsar, who is followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also shared this video with the same claim. Actress Sherlyn Chopra wrote, “Ashok Gehlot’s idea of taking Charanamrit while wearing a mask is very unique.” Sharing this video, Supreme Court lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha said that Hindu culture was a joke for Congress.
While fact-checking the claims, Alt News noticed that a few journalists had shared a longer version of the clip which was 14-second long, whereas the viral video was only 5-second long. In this video, Ashok Gehlot brings his hands near his mouth after taking the charanamrit offering. However, as soon as he realizes he is wearing a mask, he is seen removing it with one hand and taking the charanamrit with the other. This scene appears after the 0:05 mark in the longer video. Zee Rajasthan bureau chief Sushant shared the complete video.
राजस्थान के मुख्यमंत्री अशोक गहलोत के जैसलमेर जिले के रामदेवरा मंदिर में मास्क पहने हुए चरणामृत पीने के वायरल वीडियो का पूरा सच देखिए, मुख्यमंत्री @ashokgehlot51 चरणामृत हाथ में लेने के बाद पाँच सेकंड के बाद एक हाथ से मास्क हटाते हुए और दूसरे से चरणामृत लेते हुए दिख रहे हैं। pic.twitter.com/Fcx2CSZeOc
— sushant (journalist) (@pareek12sushant) September 6, 2022
News18 reported that Ashok Gehlot recently visited the Ramdevra temple in Jaisalmer. The priest at the temple gave him charanamrit, which is when the video was shot. This article also includes a statement by Ashok Gehlot in the context of the viral video. He states, “I don’t know where people get these videos. People who don’t work are the ones conspiring. I don’t know where that video is from. I don’t remember. How can someone drink water with a mask on?
#BigNews
CM अशोक गहलोत के चरणामृत वाले वायरल वीडियो का क्या है सच? @News18Rajasthan बता रहा है हकीकत, देखिए…@ashokgehlot51 #RajasthanWithNews18 pic.twitter.com/9BLBRjpK5t
— News18 Rajasthan (@News18Rajasthan) September 6, 2022
To sum it up, journalists, a range of media outlets and a number of BJP leaders falsely claimed that Ashok Gehlot was consuming charanamrit without removing his mask, based on a clipped five-second video. In reality, the part of the video in which he was drinking charanamrit after removing his mask was deliberately cropped out of the video in question. Aaj Tak also used a misleading title in its coverage of the incident carrying the five second long video. However, it later mentioned in a related article that Ashok Gehlot did indeed remove his mask. However, the article was titled, “CM Gehlot drinks Charanamrit without removing his mask! Video viral on social media”. Aaj Tak anchor Shubhankar Mishra deleted his earlier tweet and shared another video.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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8th September 2022 / 6:26 pm / Last updated: 8th September 2022
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-ashok-gehlot-driking-water-without-removing-mask-in-temple-media-misreport/",
"author": "Priyanka Jha"
}
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False claim: Bal Thackeray's sister is Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule's mother-in-law - Alt News
Jignesh Patel & Smit Bhatt
30th November 2019 / 7:15 pm
A message has gone viral on social media which claims that Supriya Sule is the daughter-in-law of Bal Thackeray’s sister. “Balasaheb Thackeray’s sister is Sudha Bhalachandra Sule who is the mother of Sadanand Sule who is the husband of Supriya Sule whao is the daughter of Sharad Pawar You will now Understand Politics”, reads the viral message which is being shared on WhatsApp. Supriya Sule is the Nationalist Congress Party MP from Maharashtra’s Baramati constituency.
She has been at the centre stage of the NCP along with her father and party chief Sharad Pawar during the political tumult in the state. On November 28, Uddhav Thackeray was sworn-in as the chief minister of Maharastra after getting elected as the head of Maha Vikas Aghadi, the alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress.
Twitter handle @ugtunga also posted the same claim, “So Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar is the wife of Sadanand Balachandra Sule who happens to be the son of Sudha Balachandra Sule who is the sister of late Bala Saheb Thackeray. Uff…!! This relationships, I can never understand.” The tweet has garnered more than 1,000 retweets so far.
So Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar is the wife of Sadanand Balachandra Sule who happens to be the son of Sudha Balachandra Sule who is the sister of late Bala Saheb Thackeray.
Uff…!! This relationships, I can never understand 😩
— Mauna (@ugtunga) November 12, 2019
In another tweet, the handle posted an article by Dainik Bhaskar published on June 30, 2016. The article stated that Sadanand Sule, the husband of Supriya Sule is the nephew of late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.
Some are saying this news is not true. https://t.co/eks5fnzTdU
Does Dhainik Bhaskar give false news? If so why haven’t anyone lodged complaint to take down this news? Why it is still there?
— Mauna (@ugtunga) November 12, 2019
Recently, three more media outlets – News18, The Lallantop, and Asianet News Hindi – have published reports where it is being claimed that the husband of Supriya Sule, Sadanand Sule, is a nephew of Bal Thackeray.
With a Google search, we found that Sadanand Sule, the husband of Supriya Sule, is the son of former Mahindra and Mahindra Managing Director Bhalchandra R. Sule. In an obituary of Bhalchandra Sule published on the official website of Mahindra, it is stated that Bhalchandra Sule’s wife name is Anne Sule.
While the name of Bal Thackeray’s sister is Sudha Sule, the name of Supriya Sule’s mother-in-law is Anne Sule. According to an Economic Times profile of companies, Mrs Anne Bhalchnadra Sule was on the list of current board members and directors of KLM Engineering Co Ltd.
However, Bhalchandra Sule’s first wife was Shashi Bhatt, who died when Sadanand Sule was just two years old. Bhatt’s name is mentioned in the book, Contemporary Political Leadership in India: Sharad Pawar, the Maratha legacy by S.R Bakshi, Sita Ram Sharam, and S. Gajrani. “Sadanand’s mother, Shashi Bhatt, was a badminton singles and doubles champion in her time. Her father, M. D. Bhatt, I.C.S. rose to become Chief Secretary of the composite Bombay State. Shashi died in 1964 of cancer, when Sadanand was just two years old.”
In November 2012, Supriya Sule expressed her grief over the death of Bal Thackeray and deemed it a personal loss to the family. She said, “की हमारे तो फैमिली के संबंध थे। जबसे में पैदा हुई तबसे ४० साल से ठाकरे और पवार फ़ैमिली की बड़ी अच्छी दोस्ती थी। तो हमारे लिए तो सिर्फ महाराष्ट्र, देश के एक लीडर नहीं, पर्सनल लोस्स हमारे फॅमिली को हुवा है। की हमारे इदेओलॉजिकल डिफरेंस जरूर होंगे। लेकिन मेरे फादर और बालासाहेब की दोस्ती बोहोत ही सालों से आती रही है। इसलिए हमारे लिए तो एक बड़ा पर्सनल लोस्स है। We had family relations. Since the time I was born, from the last 40 years, Thackeray and Pawar family had cordial relations. Hence for us, it’s not just a loss of Maharastra’s or a country’s leader, it’s a personal loss to the family. We surely might have had ideological differences but my father friendship with Balasaheb has been going-on from many years. Thus, it’s a big personal loss for us. (-translated)”
We also found a 2013 interview of Sanjeevan Karandikar, the sister of Bal Thackeray. At 1:20 mins in the News 18 Lokmat interview, she can be heard saying that when their sister had passed away, Balasaheb had said to her that now only two of us are left. Mrs Karandikar later grieves that when Balasaheb died she said to herself that she is alone now. In the interview, she refers to four elder sisters, two elder brothers and one younger brother excluding herself. Hence, her elder sister Sudha Sule is no more.
Furthermore, Alt News contacted journalist Dhaval Kulkarni, who penned the book: “The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the Shadow of their Senas”, regarding the claim viral on social media. Rubbishing the claim, He said, “Balasaheb had six sisters, of which five were elder to him. However, of Prabhodhankar Thackeray’s 10 children, only one survives. Namely, Sanjeevani Karandikar, who is 80+. His eldest sister’s name was Sudha Sule, but she is not Supriya’s mother in law. I have double-checked this with the family”.
In a conversation with Alt News, Shiv Sena’s deputy leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also refuted the claim and took a jibe at the opposition by saying, “This is absolutely incorrect and not true. In the past few days, we have seen how Shiv Sena has been the target of fake propaganda, which clearly points to an agenda of our opponents. They are clearly rattled with the coming together of Maha Vikas Aghadi that thwarted them from an attempt to subvert the constitution and democracy as we know it”.
Thus, the claim that NCP leader Supriya Sule’s mother-in-law is the sister of Bal Thackeray is false. The name of Supriya Sule’s mother-in-law is Anne Sule and not Sudha Sule as claimed on social media.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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30th November 2019 / 7:15 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-bal-thackerays-sister-is-sharad-pawars-daughter-supriya-sules-mother-in-law/",
"author": "Jignesh Patel & Smit Bhatt"
}
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False claim: Bhagavad Gita made compulsory in primary schools in the Netherlands - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
24th August 2019 / 8:44 pm / Last updated: 28th June 2021
According to a claim which has been shared online, the Bhagavad Gita has been made compulsory in schools in the Netherlands from grade 5.
Hare Krishna pic.twitter.com/zCqSI7usI1
— Maithili (@SuvarnBharat) June 26, 2021
In fact, this claim has circulated on social media platforms for some years now, mostly on Twitter and Facebook. The post below is from 2016.
Bhagavad Gita classes made compulsory for Dutch students from Grade 5- The Netherlands Law In India- a communal book pic.twitter.com/E8YemrdOun
— 🕉️ #PuRu … 🕉️ (@Puru_Tweet) September 19, 2016
Alt News also found articles on the internet which stated the same.
Users of the Alt News app requested us to verify this claim.
There are two aspects to this claim – the narrative itself and the photograph accompanying it.
BHAGAVAD GITA NOT COMPULSORY IN THE NETHERLANDS
It is utterly false that the Netherlands has made the Bhagavad Gita compulsory in schools. The list of mandatory subjects for primary education in the Netherlands is readily available on the website of the Government of Netherlands. Compulsory subjects include Dutch, English, arithmetic and mathematics, social and environmental studies, creative expression, and sport and movement. There is no reference to the Bhagavad Gita as a compulsory subject/module for primary education in the Netherlands.
Alt News reverse-searched the photograph of the two young girls which has been circulated along with the claim, and found that it had been uploaded in September 2013 on a website, Iskcon Mind Tree. It may be noted that ISKCON is a cult of Krishna followers.
It may be stated that the social media claim about the Netherlands making the Bhagavad Gita compulsory in schools is a hoax, and has been posted on websites and circulated on various social media platforms since at least 2016.
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.
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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24th August 2019 / 8:44 pm / Last updated: 28th June 2021
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-bhagavad-gita-made-compulsory-in-primary-schools-in-the-netherlands/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,215 |
False claim: Bomb blast inside mosque in Bihar's Sasaram, 100 bombs found - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
7th November 2019 / 9:55 pm / Last updated: 7th November 2019
A claim widely circulated on social media about the recent bomb blast in Sasaram, Bihar, asserts that the explosion took place inside a mosque where a hundred other bombs were also recovered. From the Facebook account of one Manish Kumar, the post drew close to 4,000 shares.
Several users have made the same claim with the message, “आज सासाराम में मोची टोला मोहल्ला मस्जिद में बम बनाते ब्लास्ट हुआ 100 की संख्या में बम बारूद गिरफ्तार हुआ इस तरह का लगभग मस्जिद में काम काम चल रहा है सासाराम रोहतास बिहार।”
On Twitter, a user ‘Akash RSS’, followed by the office of railway minister Piyush Goyal also circulated identical narrative. ‘Akash RSS’ is Akash Soni (@Satynistha) who was earlier featured in an Alt News expose of a fake news website Coverage Times. Soni was also found to be one of the admins of a WhatsApp group harassing NDTV anchor Ravish Kumar in 2017.
A similar claim suggests that the explosion occurred when bombs were being made inside the mosque “in preparation for the Ram Mandir verdict.” The complete message reads, “सासाराम में मोची टोला मोहल्ला मस्जिद में बम बनाते ब्लास्ट हुआ राम मंदिर की फैसला आने के संबंध में तैयार किया जा रहा हजारों की संख्या में बम बारूद गिरफ्तार हुआ इस तरह का लगभग देश के हर मस्जिद में काम काम चल रहा है सासाराम रोहतास बिहार.” This claim was also shared by a user Janardan Mishra (@JBMIS) followed by Goyal’s office.
Alt News contacted SDO Sasaram, Raj Kumar Gupta, who informed that the claims floating on social media are “just rumours.” The officer said that the blast did not occur inside the mosque but on a campus outside the place of worship. “There was a single blast where a labourer was wounded. We did not recover any other explosives,” he said while adding that the police are still investigating the matter.
The incident was widely reported in Hindi media. A report by Hindustan said that the mosque was under repair the past one month. The labourers working in the area had collected waste on a compound outside the mosque. As soon as they set the waste on fire, a blast knocked down three labourers and also the boundary wall of the mosque.
According to Dainik Jagran, one of the labourers was severely injured. Another report published by the media outlet states that Manish Kumar, whose post was featured earlier in this article, was arrested by the police for “spreading rumours to disrupt social order.”
An incident of a bomb blast near a mosque in Bihar’s Sasaram was communalised on social media. The claim that the explosion occurred inside the place of worship where a hundred other explosives were found was rubbished by the police. Furthermore, the incident is still under investigation. The police are yet to find the perpetrators and the motive behind the incident.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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7th November 2019 / 9:55 pm / Last updated: 7th November 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-bomb-blast-inside-mosque-in-bihars-sasaram-100-bombs-found/",
"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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Aligarh police denies Muslim hawker's thrashing was communal. What is the truth? - Alt News
Priyanka Jha
23rd November 2021 / 5:16 pm
On October 31, journalist Sachin Gupta of Dainik Bhaskar tweeted that a hawker named Aamir selling clothes in UP’s Aligarh was beaten up by two people. They tore his clothes because he refused to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Pakistan Murdabad’. In the tweet, he also shared the link to a report on the incident by Dainik Bhaskar. However, the Aligarh police tweeted on November 1 that this was misleading and the scuffle was due to an argument over the cost of the clothes.
भ्रामक तथ्य न फैलाएं -फेरी के कपड़े की कीमत को लेकर विवाद हुआ-पुलिस ने तत्काल पहुंच, घायल को अस्पताल भेजा तथा FIR दर्ज कर आरोपी राजू व उसके बेटे देवेश को गिरफ्तार कर जेल भेजा ।
— ALIGARH POLICE (@aligarhpolice) October 31, 2021
In response to several tweets promoting the claim, the Aligarh police reiterated that the row broke out over the price of the clothing.
According to the Dainik Bhaskar report, “Aamir, a resident of Bisavanpur Silla village, was a hawker who sold clothes by setting up a roadside stall. He had gone to Nagla Khaim village in Harduaganj town to sell his goods. It is alleged that Raju and his father, both locals to the area, asked Aamir if he was a Muslim. When he said yes, the pair reportedly asked him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and pressured him to say ‘Pakistan Murdabad’.”
The victim is also quoted as saying that the father-son duo surrounded him and began to attack him. They stole Rs 10,000 from him and snatched his phone and the items he had brought to sell. They also tried to set fire to his stall. He narrowly survived after the police had been informed and reached the scene.
When the officers arrived to arrest the father and son, the two also misbehaved with them. When they resisted arrest, police personnel called in additional forces to nab the men.
We noticed that journalist Piyush Rai shared a video related to this incident on November 1. It shows the two accused being arrested, and one of them can be heard chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.
Trigger warning: Abusive content
In UP’s Aligarh, a father-son duo arrested for thrashing a hawker from different community. An FIR under attempt to murder was registered based on the complaint of the father of the victim. Video of police taking accused in their custody. pic.twitter.com/U23aPGHCo4
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) November 1, 2021
Alt News reached out to Rai. He shared with us several videos of the incident as well as a copy of the FIR. One of the videos was a statement Aamir gave to a few news channels. He states that he was attacked by the father-son duo while going door-to-door selling clothes. They demanded he chants ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and subsequently asked if he was Muslim. When was attacked and his money and merchandise were stolen when he said “yes”.
The Dainik Bhaskar report also mentions that the relative who came to the police station to take the accused home claimed that both were mentally unstable and frequently got into such scuffles.
Another video shows the duo manhandling the police while resisting arrest.
Alt News contacted Aamir, his father, and his uncle. All three claimed that there was no argument over the price. Aamir gave a sequence of events. “They asked my name, started saying that I was a Muslim, and began attacking me. I didn’t even understand what was going on. They brought me some photos and demanded that I pray to them. They held me down and were beating me too. I escaped with a lot of difficulties,” he stated.
Aamir’s father sent us some more videos which show him lying unconscious after the beating along with the extent of the injuries on his body.
We spoke to the police twice in this matter and the police stuck to their version of events even when informed that the victim denied that he was beaten during an argument over the price of clothes. The police further said that Aamir’s family did not mention their version in the FIR. Aamir’s father informed Alt News that he had rushed to Aligarh from Delhi in the evening when he found out about Aamir’s condition. He was not aware of the full details of what happened.
It must be pointed out that though the FIR does not state that Aamir was beaten once the accused asked his religious identity, it also does not state that the incident was sparked by a dispute about the price of clothes. When this was pointed out to the police, they said that an investigation is underway.
That the accused were raising slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ also raises doubts about the “price of clothes” version of events. Aamir’s father informed Alt News that the police took his son’s statement on November 15 however, our subsequent calls for further information went unanswered by the police.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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23rd November 2021 / 5:16 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-by-aligadh-police-muslim-hawker-beaten-up-by-a-father-con-for-communal-reason/",
"author": "Priyanka Jha"
}
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False claim that Central govt has taken control of mosques in Kashmir viral with old, unrelated images - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
7th August 2019 / 8:14 pm / Last updated: 7th August 2019
“The central gov’t has taken custody of all the masjids in Kashmir and see yourself, why Masjids are taken into custody.”
The above message has been circulated on social media and WhatsApp along with a set of photographs. According to the claim, a large stash of arms was recovered from mosques in Kashmir.
The central gov’t has taken custody of all the masjids in Kashmir and see yourself, why Masjids are taken into custody. pic.twitter.com/YjcxJaBJLC
— 🚩हर हर महादेव (ब्रजेश सिंह अखण्ड भारत)🇮🇳🚩 (@Brajesh1980Bs) August 7, 2019
The same has been posted by several individual users on Facebook.
The photos with the accompanying narrative have also been circulated on WhatsApp.
The claim that the Central government has ‘taken custody of mosques in Kashmir’, is utterly false. There has been no such development. Insofar as the photographs shared with this false narrative are concerned, Alt News found that they are old and pertain to separate incidents, none of which are in relation to Kashmir.
Alt News reverse-searched the above image on Google, and found a post on Tumblr with this photograph, dated March 2019.
Alt News reverse-searched the above picture and found a tweet by Shamli (UP) police which carried this photograph. According to the tweet, the photograph is representative of arrests which took place after a raid at a madrasa, in which forged documents, along with foreign currency and mobile phones were seized. The incident is of July 2019.
शामली पुलिस ने 04 विदेशियों व तीन विभिन्न मदरसों से संबंधित 03 नफर मोहतमिम/मदरसा संचालक समेंत 07 संदिग्ध किये गिरफ्तार,नाजायज दस्तावेज,देशी-विदेशी मुद्रा समेत कई मोबाईल फोन बरामद। @Uppolice @policenewsup @adgzonemeerut @digsaharanpur pic.twitter.com/BeCYFbbZi3
— Shamli Police (@shamlipolice) July 29, 2019
The above photograph is from a raid which took place at a hotel which was running an illegal arms racket, on the Ahmedabad-Rajkot highway in March 2016.
Alt News reverse-searched the above image on Google and came across an article by India Today which stated that this photograph is actually from a ‘kirpan’ factory in Patiala, Punjab. According to the article, the photo is from the ‘Khalsa Kirpan’ factory in the city. Alt News contacted ‘Khalsa Kirpan’ factory and confirmed that the picture is indeed from the factory at Patiala.
In conclusion, the claim that the Central government has taken custody of mosques in Kashmir, is false. Moreover, the pictures circulated along with the claim are old and unrelated. Earlier, the same photographs were shared with the false narrative that these weapons were seized from a mosque in Rajkot, Gujarat.
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.
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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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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7th August 2019 / 8:14 pm / Last updated: 7th August 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-central-govt-has-taken-custody-of-mosques-in-kashmir-weapons-recovered/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,218 |
False claim: Congress leaders photographed with the same elderly woman in multiple pictures - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
19th April 2019 / 7:40 pm
A set of images circulating on social media attempts to show Congress leaders embracing the same elderly woman in all the three photographs “ये अम्मा कांग्रेस की रजिस्टर्ड दुखियारी है। (This amma is the registered mourner for Congress),” is the caption accompanying the photographs.
ये अम्मा कांग्रेस की रजिस्टर्ड दुखियारी है।
Posted by मोदी दुबारा on Thursday, 18 April 2019
The collage is shared on Facebook and Twitter alike.
ये अम्मा कांग्रेस की रजिस्टर्ड दुखियारी है 😜😜😜।
हर जगह यही क्यों बुलाई जाती है🤔 pic.twitter.com/Piv6MDaHbs
— Vinod Sharma #HTL (@vinodsharma1834) April 19, 2019
It was also retweeted by Times of India journalist Rohan Dua.
While Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor are easily recognisable, the third leader is not even a member of the Congress party. He is the general secretary of BJP Kerala, K Surendran. The image was a part of BJP’s campaign in Pathanamthitta, as per numerous tweets.
No media will show these heartwarming visuals from @surendranbjp campaign in Pathanamthitta. No newspapers will print these emotional pictures as photonews… It is the duty of all Hindus & Ayyappa Devotees to ensure the victory of K Surendran & other BJP-NDA candidates.Share max pic.twitter.com/3reH5oJTuz
— Chowkidar EMS Nampoothiripad (@trollcommies) April 16, 2019
Contrastingly, the image of Rahul Gandhi was lifted from the Congress leader’s visit to flood-affected areas of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in 2015. As seen in the tweet, an elderly woman is visible in multiple photographs including the one where she’s hugging Gandhi.
Snapshots from Rahul Gandhi’s visit to flood affected areas of Tamil Nadu & Puducherry, yesterday (2/4) pic.twitter.com/kA4Qq320D9
— Congress (@INCIndia) December 9, 2015
Shashi Tharoor’s photograph was tweeted by the MP himself on April 13.
This wonderful old lady tried to touch my feet. I stopped her and hugged her instead. pic.twitter.com/tjH7XzXBHJ
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 12, 2019
All three women might seem alike because of their old age and white hair. A closer look, however, reveals apparent distinctions in physical features. Alt News has juxtaposed photographs of the three women for a clearer view. The one on the left was photographed with BJP’s K Surendran and the one on the right, with Shashi Tharoor. The elderly woman in the middle is the same woman who could be seen embracing Rahul Gandhi. We have chosen a different photograph of hers from the images tweeted by Congress for ease of distinction.
The woman in the middle is visibly different from the other two.
The other two women also have distinct physical features. For instance, the one on the left has more black hair than the woman on the right.
Another clear difference is the teeth. While the front teeth of the elderly woman on the left seem blackened, the one on the right has visibly protruding front teeth. The shape of the nose is distinct as well.
Therefore, the three women aren’t the same person. Moreover, one of them did not have an encounter with a Congress leader by BJP Kerala’s K Surendran.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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19th April 2019 / 7:40 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-congress-leaders-photographed-with-the-same-elderly-woman-in-multiple-pictures/",
"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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False claim: Dalit ice-cream seller, mistaken to be Muslim, beaten up for not saying 'Jai Shri Ram' - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
5th July 2019 / 8:39 pm
“गंगा घाट कोतवाली क्षेत्र के अंतर्गत कोतवाली के सामने आइसक्रीम बेचने वाले दलित राकेश को जय श्रीराम न कहने पर मुस्लिम समझकर भगवा आतंकियो ने पीटा (A Dalit ice-cream seller Rakesh mistaken to be a Muslim was beaten by saffron terrorist for not chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The incident took place in an area that comes under Gangaghat police station. -translated)”
The above message is circulating on social media with a photo of an injured man. One Shahnawaz Ansari posted the same on twitter.
गंगा घाट कोतवाली क्षेत्र के अंतर्गत कोतवाली के सामने आइसक्रीम बेचने वाले दलित राकेश को जय श्रीराम न कहने पर मुस्लिम समझकर भगवा आतंकियो ने पीटा
2 रोज पहले मोहनलाल को मुसलमान समझकर लिंच करने वाले थे ये आतंकी लेकिन जब उससे जय श्रीराम का नारा लगवाया तो उसने रामायण की चौपाई सुना दी थी pic.twitter.com/AttL87nMqF
— Shahnawaz Ansari (@shanu_sab) July 3, 2019
Several other users have posted the same image on Facebook and Twitter.
On WhatsApp, a few people have asked Alt News to verify the claim.
Alt News found the contact details of Jitendra Yadav, the proprietor of King’s ice-cream, inscribed on the top of the kiosk seen in the image below. Yadav informed us that the ice-cream seller managing the truck and who was beaten up is not Rakesh but Harishankar Verma, a resident of Shuklaganj, Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh.
In conversation with Alt News, Yadav said, “It was an altercation related to a personal matter that was later resolved. Someone gave a communal angle after 3-4 days of the incident. They are saying that he is Rakesh Dalit but his name is Harishankar. It is not what they are saying on social media.”
Yadav also got us in contact with Harishankar Verma’s son, Avadhesh. He too rubbished the claim circulating along with his father’s photo. Avadhesh said, “We had initially shared the photo on WhatsApp to get it published as news but then somebody posted it on Facebook with a false claim. My father was on his way to our home with his ice-cream kiosk. He was standing near a shop having a conversation with someone when a guy named Deepak came up to him and started a fight after intervening in the conversation. I found my father injured after an hour of the incident. He was soon hospitalised. Now, they are circulating it with a fake narrative.”
When asked whether he has filed an FIR, Avadhesh replied, “Before we could file an FIR, the man [Deepak] approached us and said that he is ready to pay for the medication cost and regrets the mistake. My father didn’t want to take it further.”
Alt News also contacted Gangaghat police station and SO Shyam Kumar Pal said, “We have not received any complaint on the issue.”
In conclusion, a photo of an injured man clicked after a brawl in Unnao district, Uttar Pradesh, was circulated on social media with a communal narrative that an ice-cream seller was beaten up by “saffron terrorists” on refusing to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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5th July 2019 / 8:39 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-dalit-ice-cream-seller-mistaken-to-be-muslim-beaten-up-for-not-saying-jai-shri-ram/",
"author": "Jignesh Patel"
}
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1,220 |
False claim: Dog meat recovered from Ashoka hotel in Kolkata - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
6th August 2019 / 9:39 pm
A claim viral on social media suggests that dog meat has been recovered from the kitchen of one Ashoka hotel in Howrah, West Bengal. This claim is accompanied by a set of photographs, one of which shows hung carcasses.
The above post of May 2018 is by the page The Siliguri Mirror. Although the page has a modest following of less than 12,000, the above post was shared over 27,000 times. The same was posted on the page PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN. The post was shared over 5700 times. Several Facebook users too have posted this information on their timelines.
Alt News found that this identical claim with the accompanying pictures had circulated on Twitter as well.
Raid in Ashoka Hotel, Howrah, Kolkata. Dog’s Meat found in Kitchen.😯 @MamataOfficial pic.twitter.com/egJPbKM0MB
— 🇮🇳Sandeep Singh🇮🇳 (@sandeepfromvns) May 10, 2018
Most of these posts date back to May 2018. Using specific keywords, Alt News came across news reports which stated that stale meat had been recovered from several eateries in Kolkata following raids by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. One of the restaurants from which stale meat was seized was Ashoka hotel in Howrah. According to officials, the meat and fish which were seized were fungal-infected. However, it may be noted that there is no reference to dog meat. Posted below is a video report of the same by NDTV.
Alt News reverse-searched the photograph which has been circulated along with this claim, showing hung dog carcasses, and found it posted on the website www.change.org, in 2012, with reference to Vietnam. The photograph thus cannot be representative of the raids on eateries which took place in Kolkata in May 2018, where no dog meat was reportedly found.
Alt News reverse searched the second photograph which shows a pack of dogs, and found it posted in a report on dog meat in Southeast Asia. The report is of September 2013.
Hence, the above image too cannot be representative of the raids on restaurants in Kolkata.
Reverse-searching the third photograph showing a skinned dog, we found the same on an Iranian news website. The report referred to dog meat reportedly being seized from Mashhad in Iran. The image was featured in this report in 2011.
In conclusion, the claim that dog meat was recovered from a hotel in Howrah, Kolkata is baseless. Moreover, photographs of dogs, used to convey the same, are old, unrelated and not from India.
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.
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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6th August 2019 / 9:39 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-dog-meat-recovered-from-ashoka-hotel-in-kolkata/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,221 |
False claim: Dog meat seized at Nashik railway station - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
28th November 2019 / 5:36 pm / Last updated: 28th November 2019
According to a message shared widely on social media and WhatsApp, 500 kilograms of dog meat has been seized by officials from Nashik railway station. A photograph accompanies the viral message that reads, “Aaj nashik road station par 500 kg Kutte ka gosht pakda gaya. Yeh gosht har roz Dhaba, Hotel aur restaurant mein supply kiya jata hai. Mumbai , new Mumbai aur doosri jagah yeh supply kiya jata hai. Bohot jald kin kin restaurant mein supply hota hai us ki list bahar aayegi. Meharbani karke hotalon aur dhabon par vegetarian khana khaein.”
Posted by Mohammed Asim Asim on Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The above post by a user includes a screenshot taken from WhatsApp. The post has been shared over 500 times since November 26. Expectedly, the same is circulating widely on WhatsApp. Alt News also received several requests on its official app for verification.
The message states that dog meat is supplied daily to restaurants and dhabas in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, and that a list of restaurants where the meat is supplied will be made public soon.
The aforementioned claim is false. Upon reverse-searching the image on Google, Alt News found an article by The News Minute which had published this photo. The article was published in November 2018 and titled, ‘Rotten meat seized from Chennai railway station not dog meat: Food Safety officials’.
Over two tonnes of rotting meat was found at Egmore railway station in Chennai in November 2018. The meat was shipped from Jaipur, and the tails on the carcasses led to speculation it could be dog meat. Food safety officials however later confirmed that the meat was of goat or sheep, and not dog.
It may thus be noted that the claim that dog meat was seized at Nashik railway station is false. The photograph pertains to rotten meat seized at the Egmore railway station in Chennai in November 2018. In a similar instance earlier in the year, it was falsely claimed that dog meat was seized from a restaurant in Kolkata.
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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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28th November 2019 / 5:36 pm / Last updated: 28th November 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-dog-meat-seized-at-nashik-railway-station/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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False claim: Extreme heat caused 'melting' of cars in Saudi Arabia - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
13th June 2019 / 11:51 am / Last updated: 13th June 2019
A photograph of two cars damaged cars has been shared on social media with the claim that their bumpers “melted” due to extreme heat in Saudi Arabia
Today It Was 52°C In Saudia Arabia
Posted by All J&K husbands cordination comeetee on Monday, June 3, 2019
The above post has been shared on the page All J&K husbands cordination comeetee with the caption “Today It Was 52°C In Saudia Arabia”. The same has been shared on another page named Raahil Mir.
Interestingly, on WhatsApp, this picture is being shared with the narrative that this was the state of cars due to the high temperature of 58 degrees Celsius in Churu, Rajasthan.
This picture is neither from Saudi Arabia nor from Rajasthan. According to the American fact-checking website Snopes, the photograph is from Arizona, USA. The cars were damaged not due to an extreme temperature but because of a fire at a construction site close to where the vehicles were parked. The incident had taken place in July 2018.
According to Tuscon News Now, a fire at a construction site had damaged around a dozen cars, as the intense heat melted the bumpers. The incident had taken place at the University of Arizona, and nearly 30 people were forced out of their homes due to the raging inferno.
In conclusion, a photograph shot in Arizona, USA in July 2018, has been shared with the false claim that it shows the effect of extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.
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…
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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13th June 2019 / 11:51 am / Last updated: 13th June 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-extreme-heat-caused-melting-of-cars-in-saudi-arabia/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,223 |
False Claim: Girija Tripathi, accused in Deoria shelter home case is BJP MP Kalraj Mishra's sister - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
11th August 2018 / 2:28 pm / Last updated: 11th August 2018
A photoshopped screengrab of ABP News has been circulating on social media which claims that Girija Tripathi, an accused in the Deoria shelter home case is the sister of BJP MP Kalraj Mishra. A Facebook user, Naween Kumar Sah has shared a screengrab of the news channel with a caption “अरे सुनो देवरिया वाली लड़की सप्लायर गिरिजा त्रिपाठी तो भाजपा सांसद कलराज मिश्रा की बहन है” (Hey listen, Deoria’s girl supplier, Girija Tripathi is sister of BJP MP Kalraj Mishra – translated).
अरे सुनो—
देवरिया वाली लड़की सप्लायर गिरिजा त्रिपाठी तो भाजपा सांसद कलराज मिश्रा की बहन है.
Posted by Naween Kumar Sah on Tuesday, 7 August 2018
Many users have shared the same claim on Twitter and Facebook.
A Twitter account named अनु यादव (Anu Yadav) has also shared the same screengrab tweeting, “बहुत सुन चुकी,कि जुलमी कब-तक जुर्म करेगा सत्ता के गलियारों से.. #savewomen” (Heard too much, how long will the oppressor commit crime from the corridors of power -translated). It may be noted that the veracity of the other screengrab which has been shared by this user hasn’t been subjected to question.
बहुत सुन चुकी,कि जुलमी कब-तक जुर्म करेगा
सत्ता के गलियारों से..#savewomen pic.twitter.com/XAmFI3kNto
— अनु यादव 🕊️ (@AnuYadav88) August 7, 2018
According to a keyword search on Facebook, a post shared by Ahem Khan in a group called कारवाँ (caravan) was one of the earliest that Alt News could find.
Times Now also referred to this claim on the basis of a sting operation that the channel had carried out as part of its reportage on the incident. In the sting operation, SK Yadav, chairman of Child Welfare claimed that he was informed, “Girija Tripathi is the sister of Kalraj Mishra”. Although, later the claim was rubbished by Anila Singh, BJP Spokesperson who unequivocally denied of Kalraj Mishra having any relation with Girija Tripathi.
According to a report published by The Lallantop, Kalraj Mishra has clarified, “I had three brothers and two sisters. All the siblings are now dead. One sister was married in Mirzapur and the other in Azamgarh. Both died almost 20 years ago. I have no relation with Girija Tripathi. I have no kinship with Girija Tripathi. My opponents are spreading such rumors. The police are taking action against the incident in my parliamentary constituency (translated)”.
Meanwhile, a police complaint has also been registered for spreading rumours against the legislator and a tweet regarding the same has attached a screenshot of a tweet by Ankit Lal who is associated with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The tweet had the same screengrab of ABP News.
आदरणीय श्री @KalrajMishra सर जी के खिलाफ झूठी खबर फैलाने वाले लोगों के खिलाफ देवरिया के पुलिस अधीक्षक कार्यालय में FIR दर्ज करा दिया गया है, SP स्वंय इसे अपने निगरानी में देख रहे हैं और दोषियों के खिलाफ कड़ी कार्यवाही करने को कहा है।। @Uppolice @DelhiPolice @deoriapolice pic.twitter.com/ibQtACMwEn
— 🇮🇳अजय कुशवाहा🇮🇳 🇮🇳Ajay🇮🇳 (@AjayKushwaha_) August 8, 2018
Ankit Lal later clarified that he had deleted his tweet after he found out that the information was incorrect.
@KalrajMishra – had tweeted out something about you yesterday which I later found to be wrong.
Deleted the tweet as soon as the incorrectness of the info was brought to my notice.
— Ankit Lal (@AnkitLal) August 9, 2018
Moreover, ABP News has categorically called out the photoshopped screengrab of the channel in a Viral Sach episode.
ABP न्यूज के नाम पर फैलाए जा रहे झूठे दावे का वायरल सच
ABP न्यूज के नाम पर फैलाए जा रहे झूठे दावे का वायरल सच
Posted by ABP News on Thursday, 9 August 2018
More often than not, social media users are likely to believe such manipulated images which circulate on social media, as such content is designed to make it seem credible.
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…
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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11th August 2018 / 2:28 pm / Last updated: 11th August 2018
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"author": "Jignesh Patel"
}
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Video of gold seized in robbery case falsely viral as IT raid in residence of Tirupati priest - Alt News
Kinjal
7th January 2022 / 6:40 pm
A video that resembles a press briefing by the police has been shared on social media. The video shows gold jewellery laid out on a table. It has been claimed that an income tax raid was conducted at the residence of a priest working at the Tirupati Balaji Temple and 128 kg gold, Rs 150 crore cash and Rs 77 crore worth of jewels were recovered.
तिरुपति मन्दिर के 16 पुजारियों में से एक पुजारी के घर इनकम टैक्स की रेड से 128 किलो सोना 150 करोड़ रुपये नगद 77 करोड़ रुपये के हीरे मिले..
ये हैं #उच्च वर्ण के लक्षण जो मन्दिर के #अंदर तक ही सफाई करता है, निम्न वर्ण तो मंदिर के बाहर ही झाड़ू लगाता है।
pic.twitter.com/XgzbFfDDcE
— A Ahmed (@_AAhmed004) January 1, 2022
The video is widespread on Twitter and Facebook with the accompanying claim.
Photos from the alleged raid are also being circulated on WhatsApp. Alt News received a few requests to verify the video on our WhatsApp helpline number (+9176000 11160).
An article by Dainik Savera Times was shared on Zee5 website where the same images were used to support the claim.
An Alt News reader sent the viral claim on our WhatsApp helpline and informed us that the pictures depict a robbery incident from Vellore, Tamil Nadu.
A relevant keyword search based on the reader’s alert took us to media reports from last year. On December 21, 2021, The Hindu reported that a man was arrested after the police seized 16 kg of jewellery from a graveyard. Unidentified miscreants used a drill to make a hole in the wall of a jewellery shop. The police identified K. Raman, 23, a resident of Kuchipalayam village near Pallikonda, from the shop’s CCTV footage.
“The suspect wore a dark face mask and meticulously sprayed paint to all 12 CCTV cameras placed inside the shop. The employees found out about the theft when they opened the showroom in the morning and informed the police,” the report added.
Several other media outlets also gave coverage to the incident. (The Times of India, India Today)
News18 Tamil Nadu journalist Mahalingam Ponnusamy tweeted the same video while reporting on the robbery.
@VellorePolice has arrested a burglar, who drill hole into Vellore #Josalukkas jewellery store wall, decamp with 15kg gold and diamond jewels 🌟💐 pic.twitter.com/yzfZSvp6bY
— மகாலிங்கம் பொன்னுசாமி / Mahalingam Ponnusamy (@mahajournalist) December 20, 2021
It is noteworthy that Alt News could not find any reports corroborating the claim that an income tax raid was conducted at the residence of Tirupati Balaji Temple priest.
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…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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7th January 2022 / 6:40 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-income-tax-raid-on-tirupati-balaji-temple-priest-house-128-kg-gold-150cr-cash/",
"author": "Kinjal"
}
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False claim: India Gate is a tribute to freedom fighters, majority of whom are Muslim - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
17th July 2019 / 4:06 pm / Last updated: 17th July 2019
AIMIM chief and MP from Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi recently claimed at a political rally that the India Gate in New Delhi has the names of over 95,000 freedom fighters inscribed on it, of which 65 percent of the names (61,945, according to the claim) are of Muslims. The video of Owaisi’s speech is posted below, and the relevant portion can be viewed from 1:19 to 2:18 minutes.
Owaisi can be heard saying, “Mr Modi, on India Gate, so many peoples’ names have been written, freedom fighers, the names of 95300 people have been written, those whose names are mentioned had fought against the British…you will be pleased to know that out of the 95,300, 61945 names are of Muslims. 65% of the names are of Muslims.” (translated from Hindi).
Alt News found that this precise claim has been circulating on social media platforms since 2018, and has been posted and/or shared thousands of times. Several individual users on both Twitter and Facebook have shared this message, which has also been posted on some pages and groups.
A variant of this message states, “There are 95,300 names of freedom fighters on India Gate, of which Muslims are 61,395, Sikh- 8050, Backward- 14,480 Dalit: 10,777 Upper caste- 598 Sanghi- 00. These shameless people call Muslims as traitors and say Dalits and backwards looted the country. Look at the reality, blind fools.”
दिल्ली के इंडिया गेट पर कुल 95,300 स्वतंत्रता सेनानियों के नाम है…
– मुसलमान : 61395
– सिख : 8050
– पिछड़े : 14480
– दलित : 10777
– सवर्ण : 598
– संघी : 00
:- और कुछ बेशर्म लोग मुसलमानों को गद्दार कहते हैं, जबकि खुद उनका इतिहास अंग्रेजों की मुखबिरी करते गुजरी है।
— Torab Niazi (@Torab_Niazi) October 13, 2018
The above tweet was posted in October 2018, and has been retweeted over 1200 times. The same claim, posted on a Facebook fan page of student leader Shehla Rashid named I am with Shehla, has been shared over 6600 times.
इंडिया गेट पर कुल 95,300 स्वतंत्रता सेनानियों के नाम अंकित हैं, उनमें से 61,395 मुसलमान हैं और संघी चिल्लाते हैं कि ‘मुसलमान’ गद्दार हैं।
Posted by I am with Shehla on Saturday, October 13, 2018
The same has been circulated on WhatsApp in the form of an infographic.
In essence, there are two claims made by Asaduddin Owaisi and social media users.
1. India Gate is a monument that commemorates the freedom fighters of the Indian struggle for independence
2. There are 95,300 names inscribed on it, of which 61,945 names are of Muslims.
The first part of the claim i.e India Gate is a tribute to the freedom fighters of India’s struggle for political independence, is patently false. The monument was built to honour the sacrifices of Indian soldiers who laid down their lives fighting for the British imperial army in World War I (1914-1918). The source of this information is India Gate itself, where the years 1914 and 1918 are inscribed in Roman numerals.
As can be seen in the picture above, MCMXIV (1914) can be seen to the left of the word INDIA, whereas MCMXIX (1918) can be seen to its right. The text inscribed in capital letters below the word INDIA encapsulates the geographical sweep of the war:
TO THE DEAD OF THE INDIAN ARMIES WHO FELL AND ARE HONOURED IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS MESOPOTAMIA AND PERSIA EAST AFRICA GALLIPOLI AND ELSEWHERE IN THE NEAR AND THE FAR-EAST AND IN SACRED MEMORY ALSO OF THOSE WHOSE NAMES ARE HERE RECORDED AND WHO FELL IN INDIA OR THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER AND DURING THE THIRD AFGHAN WAR
This general information is also available on the website of Delhi Tourism. The foundation stone of India Gate was laid in 1921.
The second part of the claim i.e the monument has over 95,000 names inscribed on it with 65% of the names being Muslim, too is false. Information regarding casualties inscribed on the memorial is available on the website of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, an organisation which “honours the 1.7 million men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First and Second World Wars” through maintenance of memorials, cemeteries and archival records. The Commonwealth of Nations is a political grouping of over 50 member states, almost all of which were erstwhile territories of the British empire in its heyday.
According to the commission, the number of identified casualties is 13, 216. The names of each of those honoured at the memorial are also available on the website. Moreover, it may be noted that these names are not classified on the basis of caste, religion etc. Thus, the social media claim is false. The ‘About Us’ section of the CWGC categorically states, “There should be no distinction made on account of military rank, race or creed”, as one of its principles. Acknowledging the stellar role played by Indians in the war, the website states, “The CWGC commemorates some 74,000 who lost their lives while serving with Indian forces between 1914 and 1921. Many were cremated in accordance with their faith and their names are inscribed on memorials which can be found from Brighton to Basra, Cape Helles on Gallipoli, to Egypt and eastern Africa.”
It may however be noted that there is a discrepancy in the number of casualties referred to- The Delhi Tourism website claims this number is 13,516 whereas according to CWGC, the total number of identified casualties is 13, 216. In either case, it is nowhere close to the figure of 95,300.
It may be noted over here that the total number of Indian casualties in World War I exceeded 70,000. India Gate is one of several memorials dedicated to those who lost their lives in the war.
In conclusion, the claim that names of 95,300 freedom fighters have been inscribed on India Gate, of which 61,945 are Muslim, is false. India Gate is a monument that commemorates the fallen Indian soldiers of World War 1. Moreover, no distinction has been made on the basis of caste and/or religion with regard to these names.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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17th July 2019 / 4:06 pm / Last updated: 17th July 2019
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
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False claim: Israel gifted India river-cleaning machines to clean Ganga and Godavari - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
12th July 2019 / 7:43 pm / Last updated: 12th July 2019
“Israel has gifted this to India to clean Ganga. What a beautiful gesture ! Thanks to Modi Government’s Friendship Efforts. This is now used at Godavari.”
The above message has been posted on social media and messaging platforms along with a video which shows trash being taken out of a river by a machine.
Israel has gifted this to India to clean Ganga.
What a beautiful gesture !
Thanks to Modi Government’s
Friendship Efforts. This is now used at Godavari
Posted by Veena Dhamija on Monday, July 8, 2019
The above post by a Facebook user is of July 8. In the video, different kinds of machines can be seen collecting garbage from the river. The same has also been shared on WhatsApp with the identical narrative, that these machines have been gifted to India by Israel and are currently being used to clean the Godavari river.
Alt News found that this video and the accompanying claim have been shared on Twitter since 2018.
Israel has gifted this to India to clean Ganga.
What a beautiful gesture !
Thanks to Government’s
Friendship Efforts pic.twitter.com/PUjh6VxxSv
— Tyagraj shekhawat (@TyagrajShekhawt) July 12, 2018
There are three machines seen in the viral video. Alt News found that only one out of the three machines pertains to India. Reverse-searching one of the frames of the video, we found that two other river-cleaning machines pertain to Baltimore in Maryland, USA and not India. The third machine, though it pertains to India, was not ‘gifted’ by Israel as claimed.
Posted below is a YouTube video of the first machine which can be seen in the viral video. It had been deployed at Baltimore harbour in 2013.
The second machine shown in the video does indeed pertain to India. This is evident from the poster seen on the top of the machine which reads, ‘Clean Godavari Campaign’.
Alt News found that this machine had been deployed in the Godavari river at Nashik, Maharashtra in 2015 after the Kumbh mela. The same video is available on the website of Cleantec Infra, a private firm. The video was also posted by the company on its YouTube channel.
It may be noted that this machine deployed by Cleantec Infra has been imported from the USA, built by a firm named Aquarius Systems. Both, the floating trash skimmers and aquatic weed harvesters deployed by Cleantec Infra have been sourced from Aquarius Systems. This is clearly mentioned on the website of Cleantec Infra . The same information is also available on the website of Aquarius Systems. Thus the claim that this machine was ‘gifted’ by Israel to India, is patently false.
The third machine with wheels, seen in the viral video, was deployed in 2014, again in Baltimore, USA. It has a solar powered water-wheel and can clean up to 50,000 pounds of trash every day, according to reports.
Insofar as the claim about Israel helping India in cleaning up the Ganga and Godavari rivers is concerned, it had been reported in 2015 that Israel had offered help to India to cleanse its rivers. This was followed up later through another expression of interest by Israel for rejuvenating the Ganga river under the Namami Gange project. It may be noted that in 2018, Israel had gifted India a mobile desalination vehicle during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel in January 2018. However, this machine is for the purpose of securing drinking water through desalination, and not for the purpose of cleaning rivers.
In conclusion, two of the three machines shown in the viral video are from Baltimore, USA whereas the third machine, although pertaining to India, is not a ‘gift’ from Israel. Moreover, there are no reports stating that Israel has provided sophisticated river-cleaning machines to India.
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.
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Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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12th July 2019 / 7:43 pm / Last updated: 12th July 2019
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"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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False claim: Muslim lawyer, community filed petition in SC against Hindu ritual ‘Mata ki Chowki’ - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
8th July 2018 / 12:40 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018
On July 7, several claims on social media alleged that members of the Muslim community filed a petition in the Supreme Court against holding ‘Mata ki Chowki’, a Hindu ritual, in public spaces. Among those who tweeted this misinformation was lawyer Prashant Patel Umrao who followed it with a question – “Should Hindus allow Namaz and Muharram on roads?”
Umrao deleted his tweet the next day. Alt News has archived its cached version that can be accessed here. In the less than 24 hours that the tweet was live, more than 1,000 people ‘liked’ it and over 700 retweeted it. A quick read through the comments section shows that a few hours are enough to spread hate. The word quickly spread on both Facebook and Twitter, with many sharing Patel’s tweet.
However, the petition was neither filed by ‘Muslims’ nor was it against the ritual. It was in fact in favour of the ritual and was filed by an organisation, Jyoti Jagran Manch, that was denied permission by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to hold ‘Mata ki Chowki’ and ‘jagran’ (overnight prayer meeting) at a park in South-West Delhi. While the petition referred only to the aforementioned Hindu rituals, the SC’s hearing would pertain to the larger question of whether any religious function should be permitted at public spaces.
Advocate Fuzail Ayyubi, arguing in favour of allowing the ritual to be held in public spaces tweeted at 12:20 am on July 6 about the case. He wrote, “Hon Supreme Court today referred my matter Jyoti Jagran Mandal to CJI for placing it before the Constitution Bench…” As Ayyubi bears a Muslim name, some social media users assumed that he was the one opposing the petition and began to target him.
Ayyubi replied to one of the users, saying that he is in favour of ‘Mata ki Chowki’ and the user subsequently deleted the tweet.
I m for mata ki choki. Saying the same thing https://t.co/RA8TVoVpKZ
— Fuzail Ayyubi (@fuzail_ayyubi) July 6, 2018
Several others came out in defence of Ayyubi, clarifying that he is, in fact, the counsel for the petitioner Jyoti Jagran Mandal.
People like Umrao are spreading falsehood stating muslim lawyer was against mata ki chowki when the fact is that @fuzail_ayyubi appeared for Mata Ki Chowki. This is what the tradition of bar is. Dr. Dhawan appears for babri masjid. Good lawyers don’t ask religion of their client.
— बुखरात वकील (अनस) (@Vakeel_Sb) July 7, 2018
A recognizable pattern can be observed in the manner in which members of minority communities are targeted on social media – a false narrative is created and is widely and repeatedly circulated until the lie becomes truth and the discourse is completely diluted. Such claims are so common on social media that lawyer Fuzail Ayyubi was targeted without the need for a catalyst. People’s biases were enough for them to believe that he couldn’t possibly be “on their side”. It is, thus, imperative that any information on social media is cross-checked and not blindly believed.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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8th July 2018 / 12:40 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018
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"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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False claim: Muslim parties want to declare Belgium an Islamic state after recent elections - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
7th November 2019 / 8:07 pm
A news clip of Russian television RT is viral on social media with the claim that Muslim parties in Belgium are demanding to establish the country as an Islamic state after winning elections. Founder of fake news website Postcard News Mahesh Vikram Hegde tweeted the video writing, “After winning elections, Muslim parties demanding to declare Belgium as Islamic country. Huge protests have already started. This is what going to happen soon in india also. All the best to my beloved so called “SECULAR” brothers and sisters.”
After winning elections,
Muslim parties demanding to declare Belgium as Islamic country.
Huge protests have already started
This is what going to happen soon in india also
All the best to my beloved so called “SECULAR” brothers and sisters pic.twitter.com/6CQZgP1FYh
— Mahesh Vikram Hegde (@mvmeet) November 2, 2019
In the news clip, RT anchor can be heard saying, “A Muslim party in Belgium says it is preparing to campaign for setting up an Islamic state there. Two candidates from the newly-established Islam party won seats in recent municipal elections.” Subsequently in the show, a Belgian Euro MP says, “It’s very worrying to see what’s happening now. We see people from Islamic backgrounds forming their own political parties and demanding the introduction of Sharia law and Islamic state in Belgium.”
The video has also been tweeted by several other handles, including @AjitKDoval_FAN and one Vinay Kabadi with mere 55 followers on Twitter, among them the office of railway minister Piyush Goyal.
After winning elections, Muslim parties demanding to declare Belgium as Islamic country. Huge protests have already started. This is what going to happen soon in UK also. All the best to my beloved so called “SECULAR” brothers and sisters.👆🏼 pic.twitter.com/kwnoMfjf9U
— Vinay Kabadi (@kabadi_vinay) November 4, 2019
A user @KalpanaSubrama5, followed by PM Modi, had tweeted the video in April.
The claim has been widely circulating on Facebook since March.
The news ticker on the bottom of the broadcast reads, “Deadly superstorm Sandy forces Obama and Romeny to suspend election campaigns.”
Superstorm Sandy or Hurricane Sandy devastated the United States, Canada and neighbouring regions in 2012. More than 200 people had lost their lives. The news ticker talks about the suspension of election campaignings by presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney due to the calamity.
The RT video was uploaded on YouTube On October 30, 2012.
A newly-established ‘Islam Party’ in 2012 had won two seats in the municipal elections in Belgium and vowed to implement Sharia law, according to a 2012 report by RT. The party had won two seats in the capital Brussels – Molenbeek and Anderlecht.
However, it lost both the seats in 2018.
Social media claims are thus false. A 2012 news clip about Islam party campaigning for local elections was shared with the false claim that Muslim parties are now seeking to establish an Islamic state in the country after recent elections.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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7th November 2019 / 8:07 pm
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"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
}
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False claim: Muslim woman masquerades as Hindu at protest over mob lynching - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth & Priyanka Jha
3rd July 2019 / 10:16 pm / Last updated: 3rd July 2019
अल तकिया से सावधान..ये तो सबीहा खान निकली, और खुद को हिन्दू लिखकर तब प्रोपेगेंडा रचा था, इस लडकी ने (She turned out to be Sabiha Khan, and was conducting propaganda by calling herself Hindu- translation).
The above message has been shared on social media platforms along with a set of photographs. In one of the photos, a young woman can be seen holding a placard that says, “I am a Hindu and I love Muslims. Muslims are my brothers, sisters and spouses. You killed our Tabrez, we all are Tabrez, your hate is too small in front of us all #NotoHindutvaterrorism”. Another image shows a woman dressed in pink, with an infographic that wishes Eid, with the name Sabiha Khan written on it. A protest was held in the national capital in June over the lynching of Tabrez Ansari in Jharkhand.
The above post is from the Facebook group I Support Yogi, and has been shared over 2100 times so far. It has also been posted on the page NAMO Youth Brigade and India Fans. Moreover, several individual users have posted it on their timelines. For some of these instances, the share count is significant.
The lady in question is not Sabiha Khan, as claimed. Alt News contacted her to confirm her identity and managed to access her driving license. Her name is Swati and she is a Delhi-based college student. Alt News is withholding her full name at her request. She gave us a detailed statement which is posted below.
Yes I stood up for Tabrez and many like him whether they were Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians or anyone else. I and many like me stand for humanity for which this country is known for. I spoke against hate and I feel only Love can conquer it.
That night when we protested against the mob lynching of Tabrez, I went like any other dissappointed citizen tired of explaining both my Hindu and Muslim friends that these crimes are there to divide us and the day we stop getting divided at any cost, the crimes will stop. I have been standing against all the atrocities that happen in our country in the name of religion or caste like that of Pehlu Khan, Akhlaq, Ankit Saxena, Najeeb, Dr. Payal Tadvi, etc. I have been part of many protests.
I feel that I carry a responsibility as an Indian and also a part of Hindu family to defend my own Hindu community that we do not wish to harm any life. I wish to give this message to our Muslim community that THEY ARE US.
Many people online did what-aboutery in this case but I wish they understood that people like me are not selective, its the politicians who sometimes are selective because they desire votes, not people like us. I feel bad as well because some of my own college mates harrassed me online for propagating our constitutional duty as citizens of India.
A-51A of the Indian Constitution says that it is our Fundamental duty to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals, to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities.
I just did my fundamental duty as a law abiding citizen of India and I hope our parliamentarians and their supporters understand that respecting and abiding by the constitution is the biggest national duty one can do as a civilian. I hope we all stay strong and together no matter what happens. This country stands on love and it will stand tall forever.
India has a VIBGYOR colour, no colour can dominate the other. We are a country with colourful problems and colourful solutions. Therefore, I reject to be the colourblind citizen of India.
Thank you.
– Your fellow citizen of India.
Two other photographs which show a woman clad in pink have been circulated with the claim that she is the same lady seen in the picture of the woman holding the placard. Alt News found that this woman is indeed Sabiha Khan. She is a leader of the Hyderabad based political party, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). Sabiha Khan has a dedicated Facebook page with a significant following of over 180,000.
Moreover, the facial features of the two women are markedly different.
In all probability, the confusion surrounding the identity of the lady with the placard was caused by a post by Sabiha Khan on her official page, in which Swati’s photo with the placard was posted.
Please share
Posted by Sabiha Khan on Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Alt News found that photographs of a poet have also been shared with this false claim.
Alt News contacted Huma Shehnaz who confirmed that two of the photos posted along with this claim are hers.
It may be reiterated that this is a false claim- the lady holding the placard is not Sabiha Khan, but Swati, a student based in Delhi.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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3rd July 2019 / 10:16 pm / Last updated: 3rd July 2019
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False claim: Muslim woman masquerading as Hindu during anti-CAA protest - Alt News
Pooja Chaudhuri
21st December 2019 / 6:29 pm
Twitter user Piyush Singh, who is followed by the office of railway minister Piyush Goyal, tweeted two photographs – one where a woman is seen holding a placard against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and another where a woman has adorned a hijab. The placard read, “I am Swati.” Singh wrote, “On Odd Day. Swati a Hindu. Even Day. Sabiha Khan Muslim” and claimed that both the women are the same person.
Another user @Being_Vinita who was recently featured on an Alt News fact-check for passing off old images as violence during anti-CAA protests also claimed the same She posted another image of Swati with a placard during a protest against Tabrez Ansari’s lynching. The placard reads, “I am a Hindu and I love Muslims…You killed our Tabrez, we are all Tabrez.”
Several users have made similar assertions.
Alt News fact-checked this claim when Swati’s images were viral after a protest against Tabrez Ansari’s lynching. She is a Delhi-based student who had shared her driving licence with Alt News to confirm her identity. Alt News is withholding her full name at her request.
The woman wearing a hijab is Sabiha Khan, former leader of the Hyderabad-based political party, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). Khan has a dedicated Facebook page with a significant following of over 2 lakh.
It is noteworthy that Khan’s name is also written on the viral image.
The facial features of Swati and Sabiha Khan are markedly different.
It is noteworthy that Khan had posted Swati’s image with the placard condemning Ansari’s lynching which might have led to the earlier confusion of them being the same woman.
Please share
Posted by Sabiha Khan on Wednesday, 26 June 2019
Alt News contacted Khan who said that she is a resident of Mumbai and as far as her knowledge, Swati is a Delhi-based student. “I don’t know why they are misusing my picture. This is completely fake,” she said.
Thus, a Muslim woman’s image was passed off on social media as a protester who masqueraded as a Hindu woman during anti-CAA protest.
Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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21st December 2019 / 6:29 pm
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"author": "Pooja Chaudhuri"
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False claim: New section 233 of IPC enacted by Modi govt to combat crimes against women - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
5th December 2019 / 3:28 pm / Last updated: 5th December 2019
In the wake of the gruesome rape and murder of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad, a message has been circulated widely on WhatsApp, according to which a new law has been brought into effect by the Modi government for the safety of women- section 233 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
This ‘new’ provision supposedly ensures the right to self-defence for women. The viral message states, “If a girl is suspected to be raped or getting raped, then she has the supreme right to kill the man, or harm that person as dangerously and girl won’t be blamed for murder.” The message then suggests various measures for women who are caught in risky situations, and exhorts readers to share it widely.
Here is the complete message – “Finally a new law passed . As per Indian Penal Code 233. If a girl is suspected to be raped or getting raped, then she has the supreme right to kill the man, or harm that person as dangerously and girl won’t be blamed for murder. Tell as many as you can its your power create awareness. Share this as many as you can1. What should a woman do if she finds herself alone in the company of a strange male as she prepares to enter a lift in a High Rise apartment late at night …?????Experts Say : Enter the lift ……… If you need to reach the 13th floor, press all the buttons up to your destination. No one will dare attack you in a lift that stops on every floor.2. What to do if a stranger tries to attack you when you are alone in your house, run into the kitchen.Experts Say : You alone know where the chili powder and turmeric are kept. And where the knives and plates are. All these can be turned into deadly weapons. If nothing else, start throwing plates and utensils all over. Let them break. Scream… Remember that noise is the greatest enemy of a molester. He does not want to be caught.3. Taking an Auto or Taxi at Night.Experts Say : Before getting into an auto at night, note down its registration number. Then use the mobile to call your family or friend and pass on the details to them in the language the driver understands. Even if no one answers your call, pretend you are in a conversation. The driver now knows someone has his details and he will be in serious trouble if anything goes wrong. He is now bound to take you home safe and sound. A potential attacker is now your de facto protector.4. What if the driver turns into a street he is not supposed too and you feel you are entering a danger zone …Experts Say : Use the handle of your purse or your stole (dupatta) to wrap around his neck and pull him back. Within seconds, he will feel choked and helpless. In case you don’t have a purse or stole just pull him back by his collar. The top button of his shirt would then do the same trick.5. If you are stalked at night …Expert Say : enter a shop or a house and explain your predicament. If it is night and shops are not open, go inside an ATM box. ATM centers always have close circuit television. Fearing identification, no one will dare attack you.After all, being mentally alert is the greatest weapon you can ever have.Please spread it to all those women u care & spread awareness as this is the least we can do for a social & moral cause and for the safety of our women.Guys please forward it to your MOMS … SISTERS … WIVES and female FRIENDS …… Better safe than sorry friends. Plzz frwrd to all GIRLS u know…..To All the WOMEN”
Alt News found a Facebook post which confirmed this message had circulated earlier as well. The earliest instance that we found dates back to 2012.
Finally a new law passed
Indian penal code 233
if a girl is suspected to be raped or
gettin raped, then she has…
Posted by Shriya Singh on Monday, 24 December 2012
The claim contained in the WhatsApp forward and the Facebook post is false. This is because Section 233 of the IPC in no way pertains to self-defence of the individual. The section instead refers to punishment for counterfeiting coins.
Source: Indian Kanoon
Sections 96 to 106 of the Indian Penal Code pertain to the right of self-defence of the individual. Section 96 states, “Things done in private defence.—Nothing is an offence which is done in the exercise of the right of private defence.” Section 100 of the IPC is specific, and provides for self-defence which may amount to causing the death of the assailant if it is an assault “with the intention of committing rape”.
Source: Indian Kanoon
The Indian Penal Code is the official criminal code of India. Aimed at encompassing all aspects of criminal law, the draft of the IPC was prepared for the first time in 1834 by the First Law Commission, which was established under the Charter Act of 1833. The code was finally enacted in 1860 and since then, has been amended numerous times. It may however be noted that Sections 96-106 (Right of private defence) formed part of the Indian Penal Code in 1860, and are not an interpolation.
Moreover, Alt News could not find a single news report on this supposed move by the Modi government on enacting a new law on self-defence to combat crimes against women. The social media claim is false. This was earlier fact-checked by The News Minute.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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5th December 2019 / 3:28 pm / Last updated: 5th December 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-new-section-233-of-ipc-enacted-by-modi-govt-to-combat-crimes-against-women/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,232 |
False claim: New variety of apple 'Modi apple' named after Narendra Modi - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
26th March 2019 / 6:13 pm / Last updated: 26th March 2019
मेलबॉर्न, ऑस्ट्रेलिया : नरेंन्द्र मोदी जी से प्रभावित फिलिपो ने अपने नए सेब के व्यवसाय को मोदी के नाम पर रखा। भारत के बाजारों में भी मिलेगा ये सेब। (Melbourne, Australia: Inspired by Narendra Modi ji, Philipo has named her new apple business after Modi. This apple will be available in Indian markets too- translation).
This message has been shared on social media along with some photographs showing apples with the brand name ‘Modi’ on it. It has been uploaded by a Facebook page Namo Again, and also by the group WE SUPPORT NARENDRA MODI.
The message along with the photos has also been shared on Twitter and WhatsApp.
मेलबॉर्न, ऑस्ट्रेलिया : नरेंन्द्र मोदी जी से प्रभावित फिलिपो ने अपने नए सेब के व्यवसाय को मोदी के नाम पर रखा। भारत के बाजारों में भी मिलेगा ये सेब। देख लो चमचों…आग लगे तो बर्नोल लगा लेना पिछवाड़े में😂😂#मोदी_है_तो_मुमकिन_है #ModiFor2019 #FattuPappu pic.twitter.com/WnOpxyE3Jx
— पूजा चौकीदार-मोदी समर्थक🚩🚩जयहिन्द वंदेमातरम (@Pooja09876089) March 25, 2019
Entrepreneur Harsh Goenka was among those who tweeted about it.
BJP campaign goes global… pic.twitter.com/HHM5W2CaR7
— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) March 25, 2019
Much to the chagrin of fans of Narendra Modi, the Modi apple has not been named after India’s Prime Minister. It is in fact a variety of apple which was developed in Italy. The official name for this variety is CIVG198. Information about this brand of apple is available on the website www.modiapple.com. Alt News found that the domain was registered in the year 2007, long before Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister.
According to the website, this variety of apple is named after the 19th century Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani.
Another thing to note is that Modi is spelled differently. Moreover, It has been announced by the firm that Modi apple will be launched in the Indian subcontinent.
It may be reiterated that there is no connection between Narendra Modi and this variety of apple.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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26th March 2019 / 6:13 pm / Last updated: 26th March 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-new-variety-of-modi-apple-named-after-narendra-modi/",
"author": "Arjun Sidharth"
}
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1,233 |
False claim: Newly inaugurated bridge by PM Modi collapses in 3 months - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
24th June 2019 / 11:00 pm / Last updated: 6th July 2019
West Bengal Congress’s official Twitter handle posted a photograph of a collapsed bridge with the claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated this bridge just three months ago. “Planned by then CM Modi, inaugurated by PM Modi, Jamnagar-Junagarh highway bridge collapsed within 3 months of inauguration!”, reads the tweet posted on June 20, 2018. The tweet garnered more than 300 retweets and over 1000 likes so far. An identical post was also shared by the Facebook page of West Bengal Congress. The archived version of the tweet can be accessed here.
Vaidehi Sachin, an individual Twitter user who claims to be the editor-in-chief of a tabloid newspaper Afternoon Voice had earlier posted photographs of the bridge with the identical claim.
Jamnagar-Junagarh highway bridge collapsed within 3 months of inauguration!! Planned by CM Modi, inaugurated by PM Modi. Now who is accountable for this? pic.twitter.com/H2BDKKzw8Q
— QueenBee (@vaidehisachin) June 20, 2019
Alt News found that a bridge located on the Jamnagar-Junagadh highway near Satudad village of Jam Kandorna tehsil of Rajkot district, Gujarat had collapsed on June 19. One of the images shared on social media was published in Gujarati news article titled, “A bridge on Jamnagar-Junagadh highway collapses, see pics (translated)”.
In conversation with Alt News, Jitendra Singh Jadeja, the sarpanch of Satudad village, said that the bridge was more than 50 years old and was not inaugurated by PM Modi. Moreover, Digubha Jadeja, a resident of Satudad village and a member of the Jam Kandorna Taluka Panchayat, said, “I am 46-year-old right now. I don’t remember the time when the bridge was built that means it’s older than me.”
Alt News contacted GV Joshi, the executive engineer at Road and Buildings department in Rajkot to confirm the approximate time of construction. He said, “No it’s not all true. The bridge was built at least 45 years ago. It is also not true that the bridge was inaugurated by PM Modi.”
By speaking with locals in Satudad village, Alt News was able to trace the location of the bridge on Google Maps. Looking at the historical satellite imagery, we could independently verify that the bridge existed at least since 2009. Thus, the claim that the bridge was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi three months ago is false. In the image below, an intact bridge indicated by the pin can be seen in the 2009 imagery.
West Bengal Congress tweeted images of a collapsed bridge in Gujarat falsely claiming that it was inaugurated by PM Modi three months ago.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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24th June 2019 / 11:00 pm / Last updated: 6th July 2019
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-newly-inaugurated-bridge-by-pm-modi-collapses-in-3-months/",
"author": "Jignesh Patel"
}
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Video claiming arrest of 28 sadhus in Varanasi for child theft baseless, confirm police - Alt News
Kinjal
15th September 2022 / 3:06 pm
Last month, a CCTV clip of a man abducting a child from Mathura Railway Station went viral on social media. Police later found the child from a BJP councilor’s home. The incident has since sparked yet another cycle of child abduction rumours which are being circulated on various social media platforms, especially WhatsApp. In 2019, similar rumours had wreaked havoc in some parts of the country. Alt News has worked tirelessly to uncover the truth behind these rumours.
Over the last few weeks, there have been multiple incidents of mob attacks on so-called suspicious individuals in several parts of the country. For some time, a viral claim about child snatchers-cum-organ traders wandering in the guise of sadhus has been making the rounds. While investigating one of these, Alt News recently found that a few sadhus getting beaten up on the suspicion of being child-lifters had committed some petty theft in Madhya Pradesh.
Of late, various media outlets have reported incidents where people have been beaten up based on these rumours. In Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur, a woman was thrashed over rumours of child theft. Taking cognizance of these incidents, police have issued a number of statements. The Sitapur Police put out a statement quashing the rumours. Moradabad Police, Bareilly Police, and Hardoi Police have also issued statements calling these rumours baseless.
Very recently, a 2-minute video gained traction on social media. It showed the logo of ‘The Live TV News’. In the footage, a group of sadhus are seen sitting on the ground with the police surrounding them. The voice-over running in the background claims that 28 sadhus from Beerapatti village of Banaras were caught red handed while killing children to steal their kidneys. Twitter handle ‘@MrKhan1A’ made the claim while tweeting this video. The post garnered more than 3,500 retweets at the time of the writing of this article. (Archived link)
बच्चों की किडनी निकाल बेचते रंगे हाथ पकड़े गए 28 साधु @Uppolice
उत्तर प्रदेश में चल क्या रहा है
इसका जवाब कौन देगा
कभी बाराबंकी तो कभी वाराणसी हर जगह से
बच्चें चोरी किए जा रहे हैं, उनकी किडनी निकाल
के बॉडी को जंगल में फेंक दिया जा रहा है 👇 https://t.co/61Dy93px1D pic.twitter.com/HTS8wIi2cQ
— Ahmad🖤 (@MrKhan1A) September 7, 2022
Twitter handle ‘@ikramAli33’ also promoted the video with the same claim. (Archived link)
वाराणसी नरेद्र मोदी के संसदीय क्षेत्र के बीरा पट्टी गांव में 28 साधू किडनी चोर पकड़े
ये ही है वो साधू @RubikaLiyaquat @AltNews @CNNnews18 @Uppolice @warispathan @syedasimwaqar @asadowaisi pic.twitter.com/QNAM2diUS9
— Ikram Ali (@ikramAli33) September 5, 2022
Twitter user Dr. Mohd. Shakir Khan tweeted another video along with the viral clip. It features the bodies of some children who are seen lying on the ground with people crying around them. Alt News is not including this video in the article due to its sensitive nature. (Archived link)
ये हैं वो सभी 28 साधु जिन्होंने बच्चों के जिम्स काट कर किडनी निकाल कार्य उन्हें मार डाला. pic.twitter.com/e68FRXNyud
— Dr Mohd Shakir Khan (31.5K 💯FB) (@prof_shak) September 6, 2022
Alt News found that the video is widespread with the same claim on Twitter and Facebook.
A video of the same incident recorded from a different angle was also uploaded on YouTube.
Alt News first examined the YouTube channel of ‘The Live TV News’, but discovered that the video had been deleted.
Next, we took a look at the comments made on the viral tweets. Responding to the viral tweets, Varanasi Rural Police shared a video of a statement by its SP. In the clip, the superintendent of police refutes the viral claim saying that the rumours of child-lifters being caught are completely false. He added that nothing suspicious was uncovered during the interrogation of people begging for alms in the guise of a sage.
कतिपय सोशल मीडिया प्लेटफॉर्म पर वायरल हो रहे वीडियो को भ्रामक रूप से वाराणसी ग्रामीण में साधुओं द्वारा बच्चा चोरी से सम्बंधित बताया जा रहा है। उक्त भ्रामक वीडियो के खण्डन से संबंधित पुलिस अधीक्षक #Varanasirural की बाइट। @Uppolice @UPPViralCheck https://t.co/VoKVInH5x5 pic.twitter.com/3KcyreNPYy
— Varanasi Rural Police (@VaranasiRural) September 6, 2022
The Varanasi (Rural) Social Media Cell also issued a written statement on the matter. According to the statement, on September 1, people were suspicious of the sadhus begging for alms in the Indrawar village of Baragaon. The sadhus were then brought to the police station and interrogated. But after the investigation, there was no evidence of any criminal activity, the statement adds.
साधुओं को बच्चों की किडनी निकालते हुए पकड़े जाने के भ्रामक दावे के साथ वायरल वीडियो का वाराणसी ग्रामीण पुलिस द्वारा किया गया खण्डन। @Uppolice @UPPViralCheck @adgzonevaranasi @dgpup @IgRangeVaranasi @ANI pic.twitter.com/2cORtvguGL
— Varanasi Rural Police (@VaranasiRural) September 6, 2022
Further, Alt News also reached out to SP Varanasi (Rural) SK Tripathi. He confirmed that this claim was false. The news of the arrest of 28 sadhus is completely false. Only four or five sadhus were asking for alms, and when the villagers suspected them, they were brought in for questioning, he said.
The Alt News team is investigating another video shared with the same claim. We will update this article if we come across any information on the video featuring the corpses of children.
Alt News requests its readers not to pay heed to such rumours. Please do not take any action without knowing the truth of such claims shared on social media. If you notice any suspicious individual, inform the police.
Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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15th September 2022 / 3:06 pm
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"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-of-28-sadhus-were-caught-stealing-kedney-in-varanasi-up-goes-viral/",
"author": "Kinjal"
}
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False claim suggests 40 out of 62 AAP MLAs are accused of rape - Alt News
Priyanka Jha
15th February 2020 / 8:56 pm / Last updated: 15th February 2020
On February 13, JDU leader Dr Ajay Alok tweeted (archive link) that 40 out of 62 AAP MLAs are accused of rape.
His complete tweet reads: “62 में 40 रेप के आरोपी , उनके समर्थन से @ArvindKejriwal जी मुख्यमंत्री , वाक़ई नई राजनीति की शुरुआत हुई हैं , दिल्ली को रेप कैपिटल कहने वाले आप लोगों ने तो RJD को पीछे कर दिया, @laluprasadrjd ख़ुश होंगे आज की कोई तो आगे निकला , समझ आता हैं की निर्भया कांड क्यों होता हैं जनता ??”
The claim is viral on Twitter and Facebook.
On February 12, Economic Times published a reported which stated that 37 out of the 70 newly-elected MLAs of Delhi have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, including attempt to murder, and at least one related to rape. The report credited a study by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) as the source.
According to the ADR report, 33 out of 62 MLAs of Aam Aadmi Party have serious criminal cases against them. The report includes a comparative study of criminal cases declared by candidates in 2015 and 2020. As per the report, since 2015 there has been an increase in the number of candidates who declared criminal and serious criminal cases.
The subheading ‘party-wise candidates with criminal cases’ on page 5 states, “Among major parties, 42(60%) out of 70 candidates analysed from AAP, 26(39%) out of 67 candidates analysed from BJP, 18(27%) out of 66 candidates analysed from INC, 12 (18%) out of 66 candidates analysed from BSP and 3(60%) out of 5 candidates from NCP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.”
Page six states, “Among major parties, 36(51%) out of 70 candidates analysed from AAP, 17(25%) out of 67 candidates analysed from BJP, 13(20%) out of 66 candidates analysed from INC, 10 (15%) out of 66 candidates analysed from BSP and 2(40%) out of 5 candidates from NCP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.”
The same page, under the sub-heading ‘candidates with declared cases related to crime against women’ states, “32 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 32 candidates, 1 candidate has declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376).”
The details ‘Candidates with Declared Criminal Cases’ can be viewed onward page 78 in the report. Page 122 mentions Mohinder Goyal from Rithala who has declared rape charges against himself. Goyal also has charges related to ‘Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.’ As per the report, Goyal isn’t convicted of any of the charges against him.
Alt News also searched Goyal’s credentials on My Neta and found that one serious case is pending against him.
According to the ADR report, AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan from Okhla, Prakash from Deoli, Abhay Verma from Laxminagar, Jarnail Singh from Tilak Nagar and Dinesh Mohania from Sangam Vihar have been charged with IPC 354, assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty. But only one case related to rape is stated in the ADR report which is against Goyal.
Therefore, the claim made by Dr Ajay Alok is false. 40 out of 62 AAP MLAs are not accused of rape. Even after the conclusion of Delhi assembly elections, rumours are being spread on social media about AAP. Ahead of the polls, a fake list was circulated to claim that most of the candidates of AAP hail from the Muslim community.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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15th February 2020 / 8:56 pm / Last updated: 15th February 2020
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"author": "Priyanka Jha"
}
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Did Akhilesh Yadav say he will leave for London post UP polls? Edited video viral - Alt News
Kinjal
25th February 2022 / 9:57 pm
Amid the ongoing Uttar Pradesh elections, a clip from an interview of Akhilesh Yadav with NDTV’s Srinivasan Jain is being circulated widely on social media. In the clip, Jain can be heard asking the SP chief, “We are also hearing that you will be going to London on the 11th? And you have booked your tickets.” In his reply, Yadav purportedly states, “To that, I will say who is not going abroad…If you have done your homework, then I would like to know why can’t I go? What can I do if you don’t have kids or your kids aren’t going?”
The 19-second clip is being shared with the claim that Akhilesh Yadav is planning to leave for London on March 11 foreseeing his party’s loss in the UP elections. The results for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls will be announced on March 10. Facebook user ‘Sri Ram Bhakt Jitendra’ also shared the video with this claim. (Archive link)
“अखिलेश यादव ने ली लंदन जाने की टिकट अडवांस”
11मार्च, परिवार सहित लंदन हो सकता है फ़रार…✍
पहले बता रहा हूँ, बाद में मोदी पर उंगली मत उठाना..!!😕
Posted by श्री राम भक्त जितेन्द्र on Monday, February 21, 2022
One Ashwani Tripathi, along with several other Facebook users, promoted the clip and accompanying claim.
The video also made its way to Twitter.
After watching the viral footage, Alt News suspected that it was doctored. We noticed sudden jump cuts in the audio at the 0:06 and 0:11 mark, which suggested that parts of the video were edited out.
We performed a keyword search on Twitter, which led us to a tweet posted by NDTV India on June 23, 2021 that carried a clip from the interview with Akhilesh Yadav. After watching this 59-second clip, it was clear that the viral video has been edited.
सपा के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष अखिलेश यादव (@yadavakhilesh) ने NDTV से कहा, ‘क्या मैं बेटी का एडमिशन कराने लंदन नहीं जा सकता?’ pic.twitter.com/8bGMVl3Jdy
— NDTV India (@ndtvindia) June 23, 2021
The interview exchange between the Yadav and Jain is as follows:
Sreenivasan Jain – “We are also hearing that you went to London in between, is this true?”
Akhilesh Yadav – “The real question is, do I have to now tell you who went to London and who didn’t go abroad? You tell me, did I go to London?”
Sreenivasan Jain – “No, I’m asking you this.”
Akhilesh Yadav – “No, I want you to tell me.”
Sreenivasan Jain – “I don’t have these details, that’s why I’m asking you.”
Akhilesh Yadav – “No, I want you to tell me. If you have done your homework then I want to know from you about when I went.”
Sreenivasan Jain – “That’s why I’m asking you to clarify.”
Akhilesh Yadav – “Am I not allowed to go for my daughter’s admission? What can I do if you don’t have kids or your kids aren’t going?”
NDTV India also uploaded a video of the interview on its YouTube channel. In the 26-minute long clip, scenes from the viral video appear at the 10:52 mark. It is worth noting that during this interview, Sreenivasan Jain does not mention March 11, or any date for that matter.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zanPczd8eKQ?start=652]
On February 23, 2022, Jain himself posted a tweet clarifying that the viral clip has been doctored. He wrote that his audio has been morphed and Yadav’s answer has been distorted.
Just got this on WA. My audio has been morphed, Akhilesh’s answer has been distorted. While one is always up for a laugh, it appears this clip has been used to spread misinfo during the elections, and hence am flagging here. https://t.co/0vorwp0V8e
— Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) February 23, 2022
To sum it up, an edited clip from an old interview of Akhilesh Yadav was falsely circulated with the claim that he is set to leave for London on March 11, following the announcement of the results of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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25th February 2022 / 9:57 pm
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"author": "Kinjal"
}
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Did Bajrang Dal Karnataka's Harsha Nagraj criticise BJP before his death? False claim - Alt News
Priyanka Jha
28th February 2022 / 4:19 pm
The situation in Karnataka’s Shimoga remained tense after the murder of Bajrang Dal member Harsha Nagraj on February 19, with authorities imposing Section 144 in the area. Against this backdrop, a video of a youth speaking in favour of the hijab and criticising the BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal is making the rounds online. It has been claimed that the youth is Harsha Nagraj and this was his final statement before his death.
@abhisar_sharma The last statement is given by harsha bajrang dal leader shivamogha dist Karnataka in favour of hijab & he didn’t support bjp rss , bajrang dal & abvp he denied the ideology of all hindutva he speaks truth & he raised question to bjp central & state government pic.twitter.com/Vh9lLxP1Fv
— Mohammed Irshad Mic (@Irshad58410) February 24, 2022
The video is in Kannada and its English translation is as follows – “We appeal to you to also question this decision. When you do your work fearlessly, the authorities will fall in line. Right now, this is all playing out in the form of the hijab issue. But the same people who consider schools to be temples are now throwing stones at colleges. What kind of a culture is this? We condemn this wholeheartedly. We have called this press conference to demand that everyone involved in such activities should be brought to justice. The NIA should investigate all those speaking out against India and our constitution.”
The video is being circulated on WhatsApp. Alt News also received a few requests for its verification.
Alt News discovered that the individual in the video is not Harsha Nagraj, but Campus Front of India (CFI) member Sarfaraz Gangavathi. The video was taken from a press conference held on February 8, which TV9 Kannada had covered. TV9 logo can also be seen in the viral visuals. The full video is attached below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8UrvwWikJ8]
We compared an image of Nagraj used by the media with a screengrab from the video in question. It is clear that it is actually Gangavathi in the footage.
Alt News also reached out to Gangavathi for more information. He revealed that the video has been circulating online for the past few days and he had notified the police about the same. It was filmed during a press conference organised by CFI on the hijab row on February 8. He also confirmed that the individual in the video is him, not Harsha Nagraj.
Gangavathi’s name can also be found on the list of CFI’s elected members, as shown in the poster below.
To sum it up, an unrelated video was circulated online with the false claim that Harsha Nagraj of the Bajrang Dal publicly spoke out against the BJP and RSS before he was killed.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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28th February 2022 / 4:19 pm
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"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-of-bajrang-dal-leader-harshas-last-video-critising-bjp-rss/",
"author": "Priyanka Jha"
}
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1,238 |
No, Denmark hasn't passed law making its Muslim population ineligible to vote - Alt News
Priyanka Jha
12th November 2020 / 6:07 pm
Recently, a number of social media users have been claiming that the right to vote has been taken away from the Muslim community in Denmark. One such tweet came from Kajal Mishra, who describes herself as the city president of the Sathia Foundation, Lucknow. (Archive link)
डेनमार्क में मुस्लिम समुदाय के वोट देने के अधिकार को खत्म करनेवाला कानून पास किया गया …
— Kajal mishra (@Kajal_mishr) November 2, 2020
Several people on Twitter are now posting identical tweets which suggest that law to abolish the Muslim right to vote was passed in Denmark. Many of these tweets have been liked more than 1,000 times.
This claim has also made its way to Facebook.
Alt News did not come across any reports in our keyword search which suggested that voting rights were being snatched from Muslims in Denmark. According to the Danish Parliament’s website, “Danish citizens who have permanent residence in Denmark, Greenland or the Faroe Islands and are at least 18 years of age, the voting age in Denmark, are entitled to vote.” Nowhere does this state that the right to vote is granted on the basis of religion.
In October 2019, it was reported that Denmark had enacted a law to end the citizenship of Danes who went abroad to work with militant groups like the Islamic State. According to an October 14, 2019 report by Reuters, officials believed that since 2012, at least 158 people from Denmark joined militant Islamic groups in Syria or Iraq, of which around 27 remain in the conflict zone. A report by DW News from October 24, 2019, corroborates this.
Furthermore, the total population of Denmark in 2017 was 58 lakh. According to a report, Muslims formed 5.3% of the Danish population, meaning that there were over 3 lakh Muslims in the country. In the last three years, this number would have naturally increased. That the voting rights of such a large section of people were taken away in any country is improbable and would have gained international attention had it been true.
Therefore, the viral online claims stating that Denmark has abolished the Muslim right to vote are completely false.
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.
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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12th November 2020 / 6:07 pm
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{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-of-denmark-passed-a-low-banning-voting-from-muslims-is-viral/",
"author": "Priyanka Jha"
}
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False claim: New Meta policy allows Facebook to use your photos in court trials - Alt News
Abhishek Kumar
4th December 2021 / 3:20 pm / Last updated: 4th December 2021
On October 28, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company’s name has been changed to Meta. Since then, a post has been circulating widely on Facebook about certain changes in the social media platform’s terms and conditions, which will allow Facebook to use users’ photos against them during a trial. It instructs others to copy and paste the text to express their disagreement with the changes, and opt-out.
The complete Hindi message is as follows: “The new Facebook/ Meta rules come into effect tomorrow which allow them to use your photos. The deadline is today! Your photos can now even be used in lawsuits against you, including all the posts you have written to date, even messages that have been deleted. It doesn’t take anything, just a copy, and a post. Better to do it now than regret later. As per Sections 1-207, 1-308 of the UCC… I am enforcing the reservation of my rights…I do not allow Facebook/ Meta or any other individual affiliated with Facebook / Meta to use my photos, information, messages, or messages, past, and future. Press and hold your finger anywhere in this post and the copy icon will appear. Click on it, then go to your profile, click start a new post and paste this there. I do not allow Facebook / Meta to share the information posted on my profile–any photo present or past, phone number or post… Absolutely nothing can be used in any form without my written permission.”
नया फेसबुक/मेटा नियम कल से शुरू होगा जहां वे आपकी तस्वीरों का उपयोग कर सकते हैं । समय सीमा आज है ! यह आपके खिलाफ मुकदमों…
Posted by Himanshu Narayan on Tuesday, November 23, 2021
The post is widespread on Facebook with numerous users copy-pasting the text and sharing it.
Even at first glance, it is clear that this claim is false. However, in order to verify, we checked Facebook’s Data Policy. It clearly states, “The Facebook company is now Meta. While our company name is changing, we are continuing to offer the same products, including the Facebook app from Meta. Our Data Policy and Terms of Service remain in effect, and this name change does not affect how we use or share data.” We found the same information on Facebook’s Terms of Service page.
Alt News then performed a keyword search, which led us to a 2012 report by American fact-checking agency Snopes. It debunks several such misleading claims related to Instagram and Facebook. Forbes had also fact-checked one such message in 2019. This confirms that this claim has been circulating online since 2012, with a slightly different version going viral on social media each time.
According to an AFP Thailand report, this hoax is widespread in different languages in countries like the United States, New Zealand, Singapore, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Thailand. Speaking to AFP, Communication Officer Manaschuen Kovapirat of Facebook Thailand and Laos clarified that the viral post was completely false.
To sum it up, the viral post is completely baseless and has nothing to do with either Facebook or Meta.
Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
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2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452
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4th December 2021 / 3:20 pm / Last updated: 4th December 2021
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{
"license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/false-claim-of-facebook-can-use-photos-of-users-against-them-after-becoming-meta/",
"author": "Abhishek Kumar"
}
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