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2,048	Navjot Singh Sidhu chants 'Allah-o Akhbar'? Clipped video viral - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st April 2019 / 2:08 pm A video of Congress MP Navjot Singh Sidhu chanting “Allah-o Akhbar” to a crowd of people which is repeating then slogan after him is viral on social media. Among those who circulated the clip was an individual user Trajan Raj whose post received over 17,000 shares. “अब क्या अब तो कांग्रेस खुलेआम “#अल्लाह_हू_अकबर” बोलने कह रही! (What now that Congress is openly chanting Allah-o Akhbar!)” अब क्या अब तो कांग्रेस खुलेआम “#अल्लाह_हू_अकबर” बोलने कह रही! Posted by राजन राज on Wednesday, 17 April 2019 The clip is viral on Facebook. It has also been circulated on Twitter. बरसों से हिजड़ों की तरह ताली ठोकने वाले वोट के लिए अल्लाह हू अकबर के नारे लगा रहे। लेकिन देश का मुसलमान अब कांग्रेस के झांसे में नही आएगा मोदी को जिताएगा। #VoteForDevlopment @sherryontopp pic.twitter.com/nmydtvtVBU — FUN की बात (@FunKeyBaat) April 19, 2019 The 16-second video viral on social media has been lifted from a 33:35-minute long speech that Sidhu gave in Kishanganj during a Congress rally. At around 31:24, the Congress MP can be heard saying, “Raise both your hands and chant. We’ll first raise the slogans of Sikhs, then our Muslim brothers and then Hindus. We’ll raise all slogans.” Sidhu goes on to say “Bole So Nihaal”, followed by three chants of “Allah-o Akhbar”. He subsequently says that we are one and asks the crowd to raise their hands and say “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. This video was earlier fact-checked by Boomlive. Therefore, while Navjot Singh Sidhu raised the chants of “Allah-O Akhbar”, he also raised other slogans like “Bole Sonihal” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st April 2019 / 2:08 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/navjot-singh-sidhu-chants-allah-o-akhbar-clipped-video-viral/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,049	Navreh or Nauroz? Was Priyanka Gandhi wrongly trolled for her new year greeting? - Alt News Alt News Desk 7th April 2019 / 7:38 pm “Nauroz Mubarak to all my Kashmiri sisters and brothers!!” A Kashmiri new year greeting by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been the eye of a storm on social media. Many twitter users pointed out that it is Navreh, and not Nauroz. Others insisted there was nothing wrong in the greeting as Navreh is also known as Nauroz. The greeting was a subject of much discussion and much trolling. Nauroz Mubarak to all my Kashmiri sisters and brothers!! Despite my mother’s “don’t forget to make the thali” messages, I had no time to make my thaali yesterday but came home after road show and found it placed on the dining table. How sweet are mom’s? pic.twitter.com/Lix2hCVS8f — Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) April 6, 2019 Republic TV declared that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had made a Twitter gaffe and sent Parsi new year greetings to Kashmiri Pandits. “Priyanka Gandhi invents a new spelling, or did she invent a new festival in confusion?” asked right-wing blog, OpIndia attributing her confusion to her mixed Kashmiri-Parsi roots. They explained that Navreh is a new year for the Kashmiri Pandits which falls on the first day of bright fortnight of Chaitra month and Navroz is the Parsi new year which was celebrated on March 21 this year. Nauroz vs Navreh: Priyanka Gandhi invents a new spelling, or did she invent a new festival in confusion? https://t.co/rhNDckP3YR — OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) April 6, 2019 News 18 declared it a faux pas that social media is not going to let her forget soon. Saying, “she was instantly called out for her ignorance“, the media house quoting Pakistani Canadian author Tarek Fatah as the first example. Fatah’s tweet correcting Vadra was shared over 4,300 times. Dear @PriyankaGandhi, 'Nauroz' was celebrated last month. The Kashmiri new year's day being celebrated today is 'Navreh'. https://t.co/DDEUMxUkkU — Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) April 6, 2019 A few Kashmiri Pandits pointed out that Navreh is also known as Nauroz in Delhi/UP but their voice was lost in the noise of mocking Vadra’s ignorance about her festivals. So did Priyanka Gandhi Vadra make a gaffe in her greeting? Let us find out.. Alt News found that Nauroz was a perfectly acceptable form of greeting for Kashmiri new year, used by Kashmiris themselves. Here is the evidence for the same: 1. Other Kashmiri Pandits like Markandey Katju had also posted greetings saying, “Today is Navroz or Navreh for Kashmiri Pandits“. Navroz Today is Navroz or Navreh for Kashmiri Pandits Very early this morning my wife woke me up and showed a thaali (… Posted by Markandey Katju on Friday, 5 April 2019 2. Twitter user Vaibhav Kaul shared a 2018 newsletter of the Kashmiri Pandit Association of Delhi, wishing its readers “NAUROZ MUBARAK”. He explained in a tweet that “we Hindustani-speaking Kashmiri Pandits of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, whose Sanskrit- and Persian-using ancestors migrated to courtly cities such as Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Lahore, Jaipur, etc. BEFORE the 20th century, still celebrate 1st Chaitra (Navreh) as NAUROZ” Yes, we Hindustani-speaking Kashmiri Pandits of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, whose Sanskrit- and Persian-using ancestors migrated to courtly cities such as Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Lahore, Jaipur, etc. BEFORE the 20th century, still celebrate 1st Chaitra (Navreh) as NAUROZ. pic.twitter.com/Yze2tIaIGP — Vaibhav Kaul (@himalayology) April 6, 2019 3. An article in Kashmiri Pandit Association, Delhi, newsletter of 2015 had an explanation of the Navreh / Nauroz confusion. According to an article in the newsletter, the term “Nauroz” is used by Kashmiri Pandit families that migrated to the plains before 1900. It also states that Kashmiri speaking Pandits use the term “Navreh”. Another newsletter by Kashmiri Pandit Association of Delhi also had pictures of Nauroz celebrations. 4. The book, “Two alone, two together” which is a collection of letters between Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru in the period from 1922-1964 has several references to “Nauroz”. This points to the fact that in the Nehru family, Nauroz was the word commonly used for the Kashmiri new year. The above evidence clears the confusion about Nauroz / Navreh. Nauroz seems to be the commonly used term by Pandits who had settled in Delhi/UP in early 20th century whereas Navreh is more common among Pandits who are in Kashmir or moved out of Kashmir at a later date. In Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s family like many other families like hers, Nauroz seems to be the term used. Either way, both Navreh and Nauroz refer to Kashmiri new year and it is unfortunate to see such vicious trolling over a new year greeting. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th April 2019 / 7:38 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/navreh-or-nauroz-was-priyanka-gandhi-wrongly-trolled-for-her-new-year-greeting/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
2,050	NDTV, Hindustan Times share 4-yr-old video as footage from Sept 11 Papua New Guinea earthquake - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 13th September 2022 / 6:20 pm A video of an earthquake is being circulated widely on social media as footage of the 7.6-magnitude quake that hit Papua New Guinea, an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, on September 11. The video shows people panicking and running while large cracks develop on the road as a result of the quake. People can also be heard praying in the background. NDTV has used a still from the video as the Feature Image in its report of the Papua New Guinea tremors. (Archived link) NDTV cited Reddit user ChrisM707 as a source. His post had garnered 2.8k upvotes. (Archived link) The Hindustan Times tweeted a compilation of several videos of the incident. The first of these videos is the viral clip (Archived link). However, a text superimposed at the top of the video reads, “HT doesn’t vouch for the authenticity of the videos”. A powerful earthquake of 7.6 magnitude ripped through Papua New Guinea on Sunday morning. Three people were killed due to the landslides triggered by the earthquake. pic.twitter.com/feP74Mpjt7 — Hindustan Times (@htTweets) September 11, 2022 The Weather Channel also used this video while reporting on the Papua New Guinea quake. (Archived link) This video was also tweeted (archive) several times with claims that it was shot in Papua New Guinea. (Archived link) Watch \| 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits #PapuaNewGuinea. US Geological Survey says the quake, with depth of 90 kilometers, strikes near town of #Kainantu. Power outages and damage to buildings reported in parts of the country.#Earthquake pic.twitter.com/pMo19W7PYv — NCIB NEWS NETWORK (@NCIB_INDIA_NEWS) September 11, 2022 Upon reverse image searching one of the key-frames of the video, Alt News was led to an Advanced Earth and Space Science blog post by Dave Petley dated October 15, 2018. Professor Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide. This particular post contained a geological analysis of the lateral spreading that had been witnessed in Sigi Biromaru, a suburb of Palu in Indonesia, during the Sulawesi earthquake in September 2018. In the blog post, Professor Petley uses screengrabs from the footage that was shot in Sigi Biromaru, during the earthquake. The photographs used by him match the viral video. On searching the keywords “Sigi Biromaru 2018” on YouTube, we found a longer version of the viral video uploaded on October 7, 2018. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbjmI7YnNwU] In the video, two important stills confirm the fact that the video was indeed shot in Indonesia. At 1:56 in the video, a signboard consisting of an arrow pointing downwards, and the text ‘MASUK’ can be seen. ‘Masuk’ is the Indonesian word for ‘enter’. Moreover, at the 3:53-minute mark, a typical gas station signboard is visible with the text ‘PERTAMINA’. According to its website, Pertamina is the national energy company owned by the Government of Indonesia. Getty Images had also uploaded this video on their website. Provided to them by Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah, the video shows the moment a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Sulawesi Island, which triggered tsunamis in Donggala and Palu cities. The death toll stood at 2,045 at the time of the video getting uploaded. Through a keyword search in Indonesian on Twitter with a time filter, Alt News found several posts about the aftermath of the 2018 earthquake on Sigi Biromaru. Out of them, we found some pictures and videos of the Pertamina gas station and its surrounding areas that had been wrecked in the earthquake. (1, 2, 3) Situasi di daerah Biromaru, perbatasan Palu Sigi setelah terjadi gempa. Menurut warga disana, saat gempa, tanah seperti gelombang ombak berjalan. Kiriman gambar dari Helmi…02#DoaUntukSulteng#SaluranPemersatuBangsa pic.twitter.com/Z92hXO5Rkr — TVRI Nasional (@TVRINasional) October 3, 2018 The number on the signboard could be retrieved in a clearer picture. The number read “74.943.18”. While searching for the number on Google, Alt News was led to a Pertamina media file. The 10th page of the file contains an image of this particular gas station labelled with the subsequent number. Alongside this is an image of the shop opposite the gas station, which can be seen in the viral video as well. The image is titled ‘Kondisi SPBU Pertamina 74.943.18 di Kecamatan Sigi setelah diguncang gempa 7,4 SR.’ (Translation: Condition of Pertamina gas station 74,943.18 in Sigi District after being rocked by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake). The bottom of the page reads, ‘SPBU Pertamina di Kabupaten Sigi luluh lantak pasca bencana. SPBU tersebut tidak dapat beroperasi lagi karena permukaan tanah di sekitar SPBU terangkat karena dampak gempa dan likuifaksi’ (Translation: Pertamina gas station in Sigi Regency was destroyed after the disaster. The gas station can no longer operate because the ground level around the gas station has been raised in the impact of the earthquake and liquefaction). According to a Wartakota report dated October 8, 2018, residents looted this gas station, which is located close to Palu-Palolo highway in Sigi as it was not guarded by authorities. The report further states that the condition of the gas station when the Tribune was at the location was also very worrying. The entire roof and support poles were slanted. The ground had cracked. Interestingly, this video has been shared with misinformation in the past as well. The same video had been circulated and viewed tens of thousands of times on social media posts with the claim that it showed a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Banten on January 14, 2022. AFP fact-checked this misleading claim. This video had also been shared after another earthquake hit Palu on October 9, 2018. The truth had been subsequently clarified. Hence, it is evident an old video of the impact of the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake on the neighbouring areas of Sigi Borimaru in Indonesia is being falsely circulated with the claim that it is the footage of the recent earthquake in Papua New Guinea. Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th September 2022 / 6:20 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ndtv-hindustan-times-share-4-yr-old-video-as-footage-from-sept-11-papua-new-guinea-earthquake/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
2,051	SC judges can't choose between Covishield and Covaxin, NDTV updates misreport - Alt News Kinjal 3rd March 2021 / 12:56 pm The second phase of the Covid-19 vaccination in India began on March 1, 2021. The same day, NDTV tweeted that it would be administered to the Supreme Court judges. It also claimed that the judges would be given the option to choose between two vaccines. While the tweet has since been deleted, we managed to capture a screenshot. A user with the display name Major General Surinder Sharma tweeted the same while sharing NDTV’s report. (Archive link) SC Judge Can Choose Vaccine whereas ordinary citizen is not allowed to do so. Totally unfair & partisan conduct. Is it fear of the judiciary or is it favour rendered & banked for future. https://t.co/UUGPzPpYDz — Maj Gen Surinder Sharma (@Surinder_Sh) March 1, 2021 Several others have also been posting this claim. Supreme Court Judges To Be Vaccinated From Tomorrow, Can Choose Vaccine – NDTV https://t.co/aMkYbc5FVo — FlaShBloG Live Entertainment © (@FlaShBloGLive) March 2, 2021 It is noteworthy that India has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, including Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. The Serum Institute of India is producing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in India, known as Covishield. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received the first dose of the locally produced Covaxin. Alt News performed a keyword search and found the related NDTV report, which has now been edited. The claim about Supreme Court judges getting the option to choose between the two vaccines has been removed in the updated piece. A cached version is still available on Google. (Archive link) On March 1, Livemint reported that the Health Ministry clarified that judges were not given an option to choose between the two available vaccines. The ministry stated that the vaccination drive would be conducted via the CoWIN platform only. This is a digital portal where the user can register themselves for the vaccination. It allows them to choose a time slot and centre to get the vaccine administered. The report quoted news agency ANI as saying that the vaccine would be given to judges on the Bench, their families, as well as retired judges. Reports in The Hindu and Financial Express also stated that Supreme Court judges would not be given the option to choose between Covaxin and Covishield. NDTV misreported that the judges of the Supreme Court would be allowed to choose which vaccine they wanted to receive. The Ministry of Health debunked this claim and NDTV subsequently updated its report however it does not carry a clarification. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd March 2021 / 12:56 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ndtv-repots-supreme-court-judges-can-choose-between-two-vaccines-deletes-later/", "author": "Kinjal" }
2,052	NDTV targeted over reporting on the record statement of US Defense Secretary - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 22nd March 2021 / 8:38 pm / Last updated: 23rd March 2021 The United States Secretary of Defence General (Retd.) Lloyd J. Austin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his three-day visit to India. This was the first outreach by the US administration since Joe Biden was elected President less than two months ago. NDTV’s report that the US Defence Secretary said that he discussed human rights issue with Indian ministers is receiving substantial backlash on social media. One Avinash Srivastava juxtaposed NDTV’s report with an ANI tweet where ‘sources’ in India state the opposite. #NDTV means “Lies”, “Fake News”, & “Propaganda”. #ShutDownNDTV pic.twitter.com/WUEVGX91IG — Avinash Srivastava (@go4avinash) March 21, 2021 Another user Atul Ahuja termed NDTV ‘Pakistan media house’ while claiming that the outlet falsely reported that Austin had a discussion on human rights issue with Indian ministers when ANI says that he did not. Both Ahuja and Srivastava are followed by BJP leaders on Twitter. Nothing just one more propaganda from alleged Pakistani Media house. pic.twitter.com/FseVicqDHg — Atul Ahuja (@atulahuja_) March 21, 2021 There are several other posts where NDTV has been accused of spreading false news. NDTV was not the only media outlet that reported the news. Initial reports said that human rights were discussed in a meeting with the US Secretary of Defence. In fact, while social media users shared a tweet by ANI that cites ‘high-level sources’ claiming no discussions took place, ANI had earlier quoted ‘reliable’ sources in a report stating, “In an hour-long meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, apart from geostrategic affairs, the issue of Human Rights also figured.” ANI had also tweeted about the discussion. Defence Secretary said that as the two largest democracies in the world, human rights and values are important to us and we will lead with these values: Sources on meeting between EAM Dr S Jaishankar & US Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III. — ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2021 Two days after the above report, ANI claimed ‘high-level Indian sources’ confirm that there was no discussion on human rights in India with US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin. High-level Indian sources confirm that there was no discussion of human rights in India with US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin III. In fact, human rights & values were mentioned as shared attributes. The only mention of minorities was by the EAM in the context of Afghanistan. — ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2021 The US Department of Defence has uploaded the full transcript of the conference held in New Delhi attended by Lloyd J Austin. The US Secretary of Defence was asked whether he raised the topic of violations of human rights in India, especially against Muslim minorities, during his interaction with PM Modi. Austin answered that he did not have an opportunity to discuss the issue with the Prime Minister but he did have a conversation with other members of the cabinet. A video of his reply can also be watched below. ANI has cited ‘sources’ to claim that human rights issue wasn’t brought up in the conference. India’s denial is not on the record. The US, on the other hand, has placed Austin’s statement on the record. Several journalists have also pointed out that the Indian government has to deny on the record. Interesting that “government sources” are saying that there was no conversation on human rights in India. Austin said it on the record, government must deny it on the record. https://t.co/pUkb2wnZEx pic.twitter.com/BV62qC2QFu — Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) March 21, 2021 As has been said by others, if a visiting dignitary gives an on record answer to a specific question about human rights in India, the government rebuttal has to be on the record as well to have any meaning or weight. Unless it is meant for WhatsApp groups and the likes! https://t.co/58wwCkaPR9 — Sushant Singh (@SushantSin) March 22, 2021 Not only was NDTV unfairly targetted for a report carried by multiple news outlets, but NDTV’s story was also not incorrect. Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin’s statement that human rights in India were discussed with Indian cabinet ministers is on the record. While ‘sources in India’ say no discussion took place, it has not yet been denied by the government on the record. ANI first quoted ‘reliable sources’ and claimed that the issue of human rights was brought up, and later quoted ‘high-level sources’ to claim that it wasn’t. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd March 2021 / 8:38 pm / Last updated: 23rd March 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/ndtv-targeted-over-reporting-on-the-record-statement-of-us-defense-secretary/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,053	Nehru's portrait morphed into picture of Modi-Scholz meet in Germany - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder 7th May 2022 / 5:20 pm An image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is going viral. The image shows the two leaders seated in front of a picture of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and conversing. This picture is claimed to have been taken in Germany and was shared by several Twitter users. देख लो अंधभक्तों.. जर्मनी में भी पंडित जवाहरलाल नेहरू जी छाए हुए हैं… एकता और अखंडता की बेमिसाल पहचान से आज भी देश को ताकत और समृद्धिशाली गौरव भारत बनाता है….!!! “मेरा भारत महान है” pic.twitter.com/tKT8CdcklP — Nagesh Pandey (@Nagesh1oo) May 5, 2022 Oh my God यहां भी नेहरू जी… pic.twitter.com/kVmpjrFo6S — Heera Lal Vishwakarma (@HLVishwakarma) May 5, 2022 By a simple reverse image search, Alt News found that this picture of Prime Minister Modi and German Chancellor Scholz is from their meeting in Berlin on May 2, 2022, where they discussed key areas of bilateral cooperation under the overall strategic partnership, as well as regional and global developments, according to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs. The image was tweeted from the official handle of the Prime Minister of India on the same date and it does not have the portrait of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the background. Expanding India-Germany cooperation. PM @narendramodi and Chancellor Scholz meet in Berlin. @Bundeskanzler pic.twitter.com/CmDfZKv4eD — PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 2, 2022 All of the major Indian media houses have used this original image. Thus, it is quite evident that the image being circulated is a morphed. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was photoshopped into the background. Student of Economics at Presidency University. Interested in misinformation. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th May 2022 / 5:20 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/nehrus-portrait-morphed-into-picture-of-modi-scholz-meet-in-germany/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder" }
2,054	Neither Mumbai nor Japan; digital creation shared as fireworks display - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 30th October 2019 / 4:46 pm “1 min, 45 seconds of fireworks in Borivali West, Mumbai. This show is the first of its kind in the world (spherical pyrotechnics) Worth seeing …one of the World’s best fireworks display” The above message has been shared on social media, along with a video which shows an extravagant display of fireworks. It has been claimed that this spectacular show was held in Mumbai and that it is “the first of its kind in the world (spherical pyrotechnics)”. The video is 1:46 minutes long. 1 min, 45 seconds of fireworks in Borivali West,Mumbai. This show is the first of its kind in the world (spherical pyrotechnics) Worth seeing …one of the World’s best fireworks display 😊 PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO Posted by Dipesh Nathoo on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 The above post, shared over 300 times is by an individual user. The same video clip has been shared on Twitter, but with a twist- instead of Borivali in Mumbai, the location is marked as Mount Fuji in Japan. 1 min, 45 seconds of fireworks in Japan – at Mount Fuji This show is the first of its kind in the world (spherical pyrotechnics) Worth seeing …one of the World’s best fireworks display you will ever see… pic.twitter.com/TrUZUdqtxV — 🇮🇳Jagdish Sethi🇮🇳 (@jcsethi) October 30, 2019 Prima facie, the video appears to be a simulation judging by the perfect synchronization of light and sound. Using the keywords ‘Mount Fuji fireworks display’, we found the same video posted on YouTube in January 2018 with the same narrative. However, in the comments section, several users claimed that the video is fake. One of the comments provided a link to a website (www.fwsim.com), wherein fireworks simulations can be created. Then, with the use of the keywords ‘fwsim fireworks‘ on YouTube, Alt News found several simulation videos of fireworks over Mount Fuji in Japan. Alt News found the exact video posted by a YouTube user in December 2015 (posted below). A similar video may be viewed here. A video created digitally using a fireworks simulation software tool has been shared by social media users as a fireworks display at Mount Fuji, Japan and alternatively at Borivali, Mumbai. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	30th October 2019 / 4:46 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/neither-mumbai-nor-japan-digital-creation-shared-as-fireworks-display/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,055	Morphed photo shows Subhas Chandra Bose reading news of his own death - Alt News Priyanka Jha 28th September 2021 / 4:38 pm Alt News recently received a request to verify a purported image of Subhas Chandra Bose on our WhatsApp number (+91 76000 11160). It is being circulated with the claim that Bose was reading the news of his own death in the papers. The viral message says that the circumstances around Bose’s death are the “biggest lie by Congress”. The newspaper in the photo shows a story about the leader’s death. It is widespread on WhatsApp with the accompanying claim. We received numerous requests to fact-check this picture. The same photo was being circulated online in 2019 with an identical claim but in Bangla. We performed a reverse image search after cropping the text out of the photo, which led us to the original version. It was posted by a user named Anuj Dhar on May 27, 2018. Dhar is the author of the book ‘Kundrum: Subhas Bose Life After Death’. The caption stated that it showed Netaji reading the Nippon Times, Japan’s largest English newspaper, and the daily can be seen in the image. Subhas Chandra Bose reading Nippon Times (now The Japan Times), Japan’s largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper @japantimes pic.twitter.com/6A7YMXGEkW — Anuj Dhar (@anujdhar) May 27, 2018 This picture was posted by the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Memorial in Delhi in May 2018. In addition, an outlet named ‘My City Links‘ carried it in a January 23, 2020 report in remembrance of the Indian revolutionary. In August 2019, Anuj Dhar had tweeted that the photograph was edited by @BiplabC2. The handle is now suspended. Original picture with some reimagination by @BiplabC2.#Netaji #DeathThatWasnt #TheBoseMystery #Gumnaami @prosenjitbumba @srijitspeaketh @chandrachurg @PanickarS @koushikzworld @SayakSen6 @Sayani_Pandit pic.twitter.com/ep8T70g6Uj — Anuj Dhar (@anujdhar) August 18, 2019 An edited photo of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was, therefore, circulated with the claim that he was reading the news of his own death. It is noteworthy that Bose’s death is shrouded in mystery. It is believed that he died in a plane crash in 1945, but this wasn’t confirmed since his remains were never found. She specializes in information verification, examining mis/disinformation, social media monitoring and platform accountability. Her aim is to make the internet a safer place and enable people to become informed social media users. She has been a part of Alt News since 2018. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	28th September 2021 / 4:38 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/netaji-subhas-chandra-bose-reading-news-of-his-own-death-in-newspaper-fake-news/", "author": "Priyanka Jha" }
2,056	Never ending propaganda to malign Jawaharlal Nehru - An Alt News compilation - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 15th November 2018 / 4:10 pm / Last updated: 23rd September 2019 Few politicians in history have attracted admiration and loathing to the degree that Jawaharlal Nehru has. More than five decades after his death, India’s first Prime Minister remains a supreme political figure and a prime target of disinformation, particularly on social media. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has publicly expressed his view about his party’s respect for Nehru, many of his party’s supporters including some who the PM himself follows, have been at the forefront of spreading misinformation about him. Here is a compilation of instances of misinformation and/or disinformation regarding Jawaharlal Nehru that Alt News has chronicled. Had India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru attended an RSS shakha meeting? Apparently so, if one were to believe the narrative surrounding a photograph which was circulated on social media. A Facebook page I Support Doval, posted this photo along with the message, “This photograph was procured with great difficulty. This is Nehru ji standing at an RSS shakha. Now please tell us if Nehru ji was also a saffron terrorist” (translated). That is indeed Pandit Nehru in the picture, but he is NOT attending an RSS shakha. This photograph is of the year 1939 and it was clicked in Naini, Uttar Pradesh. Pandit Nehru can be seen wearing a white cap. However, the uniform of the RSS introduced in 1925 has a black cap and not a white cap. Nehru has been sought to be projected as a philanderer. Photographs of him with his sister and niece were shared by BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, among others. The woman seen in the first and third picture (Left to Right) is Vijayalakshmi Pandit, the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru. The woman seen in the last picture (bottom right) is Nayantara Sehgal, his niece and the daughter of Vijayalakshmi Pandit. A statement which is attributed to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru has circulated online for the past few years. According to this quote, Nehru had said, “I am English by education, Muslim by culture and Hindu merely by accident”. Among those who claimed that Nehru had said this include BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya and national BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra in a recent debate on Republic TV. Alt News found that this statement had been made not by Jawaharlal Nehru but by a Hindu Mahasabha leader, N B Khare who had first made this claim in 1959 that Nehru had said these words in his autobiography. However, this statement is nowhere to be found in Nehru’s autobiography. A letter has been shared widely on social media by detractors of Nehru. According to this letter purportedly written by Nehru to then British PM Clement Attlee, Subhas Chandra Bose has been referred to as a “war criminal” who has entered Russian territory. The letter is dated December 27, 1945 whereas Bose had died in an aircrash in Taiwan in August, 1945 according to the official version of events. Alt News fact checked this claim and found that this letter had not been written by Nehru. It was supposedly part of a testimony by one Shyamlal Jain, who was the stenographer of Nehru. Jain had claimed before the Khosla commission, which had been established in 1970 to probe the mysterious disappearance of Bose, that this letter had been dictated by Nehru in December 1945. Alt News found that neither Nehru nor Asaf Ali at whose residence in Delhi the letter was claimed to be written, were in Delhi on the dates mentioned. An image of a currency note featuring Subhas Chandra Bose was shared online, along with the claim that these notes were ‘demonetised’ by the Jawaharlal Nehru government. The text along with the image stated, “नेताजी सुभास चंद्र बोस की तस्वीर वाला 5 का नोट जिसे नेहरूजी ने बंद करवा दिया था , ताकि भारतीय इस सच्चे स्वतंत्रता सेनानी को भूल जाये लेकिन इसे इतना शेयर करो की सरकार इसे वापस शुरू कर दे” (This is the 5 rupee note featuring Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which was scrapped, so that Indians forget this freedom fighter, but share this to the extent that the government resumes printing it- translated). Alt News’s fact-check found that these notes were issued in pre-independent India by the Azad Hind Bank, which had been set up in Yangon, Myanmar in 1944 to finance the war effort of the Azad Hind Fauj against the British. These currency notes were never legal tender and thus there was no question of the Nehru government scrapping these notes. The person in the following clip is the 1st Muslim Minister of British Cabinet. He is blunt in saying that Nehru destroyed Hinduism in India systematically. Pls spare 2 minutes to see this video.👇👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 The video accompanying this message shows an elderly gentleman criticising former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru over his education policy. The claim that this person is the first Muslim minister in the British cabinet, along with the video was also shared widely on WhatsApp. Alt News found that the above video had been posted on YouTube by a channel called ‘Hindu Academy’. Hindu Academy is an organisation based in Britain that is involved in promoting and teaching Hinduism in schools in the UK. The person in the video is no British cabinet minister but Jay Lakhani, who describes himself on his Twitter profile as a theoretical physicist and teacher of Hinduism. Lakhani’s videos have been shared frequently by pro-Hindutva groups. Several social media users had shared a photograph of Jawaharlal Nehru along with the claim that he was thrashed by a mob after India’s failure in the 1962 war with China. Alt News found that this claim had been circulated for years, with the earliest instance from 2013. Alt News found that while the photograph was indeed of 1962, it was taken BEFORE the Sino-Indian war and was in no way related to it. The photo was taken at the plenary session of the Congress party at Patna in January 1962. A stampede had broken out and Nehru in an effort to restore order tried to plunge into the crowd but was restrained by security personnel. An image juxtaposing two pictures was shared on social media platforms. The photo on the left shows two sportspersons shaking hands with each other, while the adjacent image shows India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru debarking with his pet. The posts claimed that the Indian football team did not have shoes to play football during the period when Nehru’s dog was travelling in aeroplanes. Alt News’ fact-check found that the Indian football team was not forced to play without boots due to lack of financial support but preferred to play barefoot as that is what they were accustomed to. The players continued to play barefoot till the change in International regulations later mandated them to wear boots. “When Pakistan invaded India, one of my friend Commander-in-chief Gen Chaudhuri, asked permission of PM Nehru to counter attack as being defensive wouldn’t help. That’s a simple military strategy; if you are defensive you are already defeated. The best way is to be aggressive.” This was a tweet by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri in March 2019. Agnihotri was ostensibly referring to the Indo-Pak war of 1965. “Commander in chief Gen Chaudhuri” refers to General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri who was the chief of Army staff from 1962 to 1966. The tweet, a screenshot of which is posted below, was the first of a series of tweets in which Agnihotri lashed out at former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for adopting a defensive strategy in the wake of Pakistani aggression. The entire thread was later deleted. Agnihotri was factually incorrect at an elementary level. The Prime Minister of India during the Indo-Pak war of 1965 was Lal Bahadur Shastri and not Jawaharlal Nehru, who had passed away in 1964. Moreover, Alt News found that Agnihotri’s tweets were copied verbatim from a book by godman Rajneesh Osho (‘From Darkness to Light‘). Jawaharlal Nehru is perpetually in the crosshairs of the right-wing social media ecosystem which has adopted diverse means to denigrate him, concocting stories and manipulating photographs. From malicious gossip over his lineage to the false claim that he died of AIDS, rumours surrounding Nehru have been pervasive. Among the tallest leaders of the freedom movement and as the longest serving Prime Minister, Nehru has left behind a powerful legacy which is sought to be erased through systematic, organised and malicious attempts. Update: The article has been updated to include point number 9 (Vivek Aghnihotri’s false claim about PM Nehru and the 1965 war, tweeted in March 2019). Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th November 2018 / 4:10 pm / Last updated: 23rd September 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/never-ending-propaganda-to-malign-jawaharlal-nehru-an-alt-news-compilation/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,057	New Indian Express publishes fake news on Jignesh Mevani's image on laptops in Karnataka - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 11th April 2018 / 1:21 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018 On April 10, 2018, The New Indian Express in its Bengaluru edition reported that youth leader and MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani has been booked by Karnataka police for violating the Model Code of Conduct ahead of the assembly election in the state. The write-up which was published on page 7 of the newspaper reported that 160 laptops had been seized by Election Commission authorities, and that these laptops had pictures of Jignesh Mevani on it. The report states that a case of violation of the Model Code of Conduct was registered against Mevani after a complaint was filed by the returning officer of Shivamogga constituency. This report was picked up by detractors of Mevani, and he was targeted on social media along with the Congress party. Ha Ha! Gujarat election left overs are now being recycled in Karnatata by @INCIndia 160 Laptops with images of @jigneshmevani80 , meant for distribution during Gujarat election, were seized in Shivamogga of Karnataka!! pic.twitter.com/p9XFiq7MoX — Raghunath AS (@asraghunath) April 10, 2018 To verify the news reported by The New Indian Express, Alt News spoke to the District Information and Public Relations Officer, Karnataka Govt, Mr. Shasi Saduddin who clarified that “the laptops that were seized had CM’s picture and not Jignesh Mevani’s picture. The laptops were on their way to a school in Shivamogga when the Model Code of Conduct came into place before the laptops could reach its destination.” The interesting part is that this news of 160 laptops seized by polling officials at Shivamogga had appeared on April 1, and it was reported by The Hindu. These laptops were first distributed in January, 2018, as reported by Times of India. The laptops in question were seized on March 31, and they did not carry Jignesh Mevani’s image as reported by The New Indian Express, nor was he booked by the police in this case. Mevani had in fact been charged with allegedly making incendiary remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event in Chitradurga on April 6. The news is patently false and suggests gross callousness on the part of the newspaper. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th April 2018 / 1:21 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/new-indian-express-publishes-fake-news-on-jignesh-mevani-being-booked-in-karnataka/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,058	New set of videos viral in Gujarat, child abduction rumours continue unabated - Alt News Jignesh Patel 29th June 2018 / 3:05 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 A WhatsApp message is being circulated with four horrifying videos of a mob beating up four alleged women child abductors who are stranded in a rickshaw. As the text claims, they have been caught abducting children from Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Text: “ભાઈ ઓ વાડજ બસ સ્ટેન્ડ જોડે થી નાના છોકરાઓ ઉપાડી જતી 4 મહિલા ઓ પકડવામાં આવી છે …ગાંધીનગર સેક્ટર 24માંથી બાળકો નું અપહરણ કરતાં પકડાઇ ગયેલ છેં. (Brothers, a gang of four women child abductors has been caught near Vadaj bus stand. They have been caught abducting children from Gandhinagar Sector-24. -translated)”. The four videos which have been circulated along with the rumour have been combined and posted below. The above video is not of child kidnappers as claimed on social media. In fact, Times of India has also uploaded this video on its website, stating that this is the incident wherein a 40 year old woman was lynched on suspicion in Ahmedabad. It may be reiterated that these are simply rumours that were circulating on social media, and there is no truth to these claims. An article published by Indian Express on June 27, 2018, reported, “A 40-year-old woman beggar was lynched by a mob on the suspicion of being a child lifter in Vadaj area of Ahmedabad on Tuesday afternoon“. It further stated the victim, Shanta Devi was attacked by a mob of 40 to 50 people when she was traveling from Sardarnagar to Juna Wadaj area in an autorickshaw with her sister-in-law and two other relatives. The report added that rumours of child lifters in the area is said to have triggered the lynching. A part of the above message, “ગાંધીનગર સેક્ટર 24માંથી બાળકો નું અપહરણ કરતાં પકડાઇ ગયેલ છેં. (They have been caught abducting children from Gandhinagar sector-24. -translated)” has been shared by many Facebook accounts with different images allegedly of a gang of child abductors. The above post from an account on the Facebook page, ‘એક કરોડ ગુજરાતીઓનું Facebook ગ્રુપ(1 ગુજરાતી બીજા 100 Gujarati ને જોડે) (One crore Gujaratis Facebook group(1 Gujarati add other 100 Gujaratis -translated) has been shared more than 570 times. Earlier this month, Alt News had debunked a claim of a child abduction gang active in Kutch district. While rumours of child abduction are rife over the past month, the same set of images are used to spread such rumours in state after state. The above image which has been used in this latest post was found in an article published on May 20, 2018, where it had been reported by a Telugu publication that this is part of a set of photographs circulating on WhatsApp with the claim that these are child kidnappers. This is one of the photographs which recurrently appear in relation to the child-abduction claims floating on WhatsApp and social media platforms. Child kidnapping rumours are currently widespread across Gujarat. A series of such incidents has been reported from the state which too has fallen prey to this rumour frenzy witnessed in recent times. There is an urgent need to take effective steps to end this menace before more lives are endangered. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th June 2018 / 3:05 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/new-set-of-videos-viral-in-gujarat-child-abduction-rumours-continue-unabated/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,059	New York restaurant to serve human flesh? No, this is satire - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 27th November 2019 / 1:51 pm Has a restaurant in New York received government approval to sell human flesh as meat? A lengthy message to this effect has been shared widely on WhatsApp. As seen in the above image, the source of the information is an article from a website, www.empirenews.net. The article published in March 2016 states that the restaurant in question is named SKIN, and quotes the owner of the restaurant Mario Dorcy, who has supposedly said, “As a species, we are at the top of the food chain, and the only meat left to tackle was other humans. We battled long and hard to be able to serve human meat in our restaurant, and the government finally conceded that we were in the right.” Alt News received several requests on WhatsApp for verification of this shocking information. The same write-up was also found on other websites, Elite News Press and Desert Herald. It has also been posted by users on Facebook. RESTAURANT IN NEW YORK GETS GOVERNMENT APPROVAL TO SELL HUMAN FLESH AS MEAT 😲😲😲🙆🙆🙆 Where else but New York City? A… Posted by Akwaugo1 of Wazobia on Saturday, November 23, 2019 The information is, thankfully, satirical and not real news. The website where this information originated i.e. Empire News, describes itself in the About/Disclaimer section as “intended for entertainment purposes only.” It further states, “Our website and social media content uses only fictional names, except in cases of public figure and celebrity parody or satirization.” It may however be noted that while Empire News clearly mentions on its website as “intended for entertainment purposes”, a similar disclaimer is missing from the other websites which have published this information, causing confusion and horror. The said information is satirical in nature and not real. The story was earlier fact-checked by the American website Snopes. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th November 2019 / 1:51 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/new-york-restaurant-to-serve-human-flesh-no-this-is-satire/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,060	New Zealand govt ordered shut down of all mosques? False claim viral on social media - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st March 2019 / 12:37 pm A message viral on social media claims that the New Zealand government has ordered for the shutdown of all mosques in the country as they are the breeding ground for terrorists. Social media users are circulating this text in the backdrop of the recent Christchurch mosque shooting where a white supremacist gunned down at least 50 Muslim worshippers in a terrorist attack. The viral message reads, “न्यूजीलैंड सरकार ने आज देश में बनी तमाम मस्जिदों को बंद करने का दिया आदेश \|कहा.. मस्जिदों में ही पलते हैं आतंकी! (New Zealand government today ordered for the shut down of mosques across the country. They said that terrorists breed in mosques.)” Below is a screenshot of the message shared on a Facebook group DR. SAMBIT PATRA FANS CLUB. The message has been circulated on several other right-wing Facebook groups as well – We Support Zee News ( ऐड होते ही अपने मित्रों को जोड़ें), विश्व हिन्दू एकता मंच, I support modi ji, and Narendra Damodar Modi Supporter, among others. Several Twitter handles have also posted the message. That the New Zealand government has ordered for the closing down of all mosques across the country is blatant disinformation. A week after the terrorist attack, Christchurch mosque Al Noor, one of the two places where the mass shooting took place, will hold its Friday prayers on March 22. “The Deans Ave mosque’s religious leader Imam Gamal Fouda, who survived New Zealand’s worst ever terror attack, said the move will show the world that Muslims, and all New Zealanders, will not bow down to terror…The majority of people, including myself, we decided to come and prayer close to our site. We will never forsake it to please those people who actually attacked us.” reported New Zealand Herald. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that Friday’s call to prayers at the Christchurch mosque will be broadcast nationally and a two-minute silence will be observed. Live: PM says two minutes’ silence will be shared on Friday and call to prayer broadcast on TV and radio to honor Christchurch victimshttps://t.co/XKMnTmA39N — nzherald (@nzherald) March 20, 2019 Mosques across New Zealand were asked to remain closed on March 15 – the day of the attack. This was a police advisory as a safety precaution and not a government order to shut down mosques. The police have asked all mosques nationally to shut their doors until further notice. A Wellington-based imam says while mosques are closed, Muslims will be praying from the safety of their homes.https://t.co/ZewehpsuEJ — RNZ (@radionz) March 15, 2019 As the first funerals began on March 20, for the ones who died in the Christchurch terrorist attack, PM Arden visited the victims and also spoke at Cashmere high school that had lost two students and one former student in the terrorist attack. Alt News recently debunked another misinformation related to Christchurch where old photographs were being shared to claim that people in New Zealand are converting to Islam. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st March 2019 / 12:37 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/new-zealand-govt-ordered-shut-down-of-all-mosques-false-claim-viral-on-social-media/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,061	New Zealand PM's visit to Hindu temple ahead of national elections viral with COVID spin - Alt News Archit 12th August 2020 / 5:14 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2020 A three-minute video of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in a Hindu temple has gone viral. Several social media users on Twitter and Facebook have shared the video along with the claim, “New Zealand’s PM visited a Hindu temple after declaring the nation free from COVID-19.” (translated from Hindi text न्यूजीलैंड की PM देश कोरोना कोविड19 मुक्त घोषित करने के बाद हिंदू मंदिर गई।). A Twitter user @ajaykum61068972 shared the viral video drawing 100 retweets as of this writing. न्यूजीलैंड की PM देश को कोरोना कोविड19 से मुक्त घोषित करने के बाद हिंदू मंदिर गई। आैर हमारे देश के कुछ #देशद्रोहियों को #राममंदिर बनने से खतरा लग रहा है। सियावर रामचंद्र की जय 🙏 pic.twitter.com/if80IaueLS — Phenomenal Ajay (@ajaykum61068972) August 11, 2020 It was also posted on Facebook (1,2). Cumulatively, these posts have gathered over 1,000 shares. Alt News received several requests to fact-check this on WhatsApp (+917600011160) and on our official Android application. Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube and found that Hindustan Times posted the viral video on August 10. As per the video description, PM Ardern visited Auckland-based Radha Krishna Mandir on August 6 ahead on national elections in September. Indian envoy Muktesh Pardeshi was also present at the event. A keyword search on Twitter led us to reports by several Indian media outlets including Zee News. New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern visits Radha Krishna Temple ahead of national elections#NewZealand #JacindaArdern #radhakrishna https://t.co/SsG5md16PV — Zee News English (@ZeeNewsEnglish) August 8, 2020 Radha Krishna Mandir’s details are listed on the Auckland Indian Association’s (AIA) website. On August 8, AIA posted the images of this event on Facebook. AIAI Officers Team are honoured to welcome Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Leaders of the Labour Party Posted by Mahatma Gandhi Centre/Auckland Indian Association on Friday, 7 August 2020 Similarly, Pardeshi tweeted pictures from the event at Radha Krishna Mandir. Some precious moments with Hon. PM of New Zealand ⁦@jacindaardern⁩ at ⁦@indiannewslink⁩ event on 6 Aug 2020. She paid a short visit to Radha Krishna Mandir and enjoyed a simple Indian vegetarian meal- Puri, Chhole and Daal. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/Adn25UE1cO — Muktesh Pardeshi (@MukteshPardeshi) August 8, 2020 Thus the social media claim that New Zealand PM Ardern visited a Hindu temple after declaring the nation COVID-19 free is false. Ardern visited Auckland-based Radha Krishna Mandir ahead of national elections. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media….	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th August 2020 / 5:14 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/new-zealand-pms-visit-to-hindu-temple-ahead-of-national-elections-viral-with-covid-spin/", "author": "Archit" }
2,062	Newly laid road in Indonesia viral as PM Modi's infrastructural push in India - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 29th November 2018 / 5:19 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019 Twitter user Pawan Durani tweeted in the morning of November 29 images of a road and claimed that it was newly constructed in a village, courtesy Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the photographs, children can be seen playing on the road barefoot. Durani, who is followed by PM Modi, later deleted his tweet. However, it had already received over 5,000 likes and 2,000 retweets. A screenshot of Durani’s tweet was widely circulated by several right-wing pages on Facebook, inculuding fake news purveyor Post Card Fans. Thank u Modiji… Posted by Post Card Fans on Wednesday, 28 November 2018 Other pages that shared the tweet were My Prime Minister – Modi, We Support Sangh Parivar and Narendra Modi Fans : Karnataka. The identical claim was also circulated by individual users. Alt News reverse-searched the images and found that they were of an Indonesian village where the residents had seen an asphalt road for the first time in their lives. In an article published on October 15, 2018, website The Quebec Times shared the photographs. The same images were also circulated by other websites in October – 1, 2, 3. However, Alt News could trace them as far back as August 2018. They were shared by a popular Indonesian website brilio.net, which credited the images to Twitter handle @gothed. The user had tweeted the photographs on August 27, 2018. kebahagiaan yang sederhana adalah pembangunan yang merata. Adek² kita ini akhirnya merasakan apa yang namanya aspal, saking excitednya mereka sampe lepas sandal 😂👌. tkp daerah Wates Wali Songo. pic.twitter.com/L31v7UcnbX — Mas Rufi (@gothed) August 27, 2018 It is commonplace on social media for infrastructural developments of other countries to be attributed to the Indian government. Recently, Ahmedabad Mayor Bijal Patel tweeted an image from Seoul as Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad. Earlier, an image of Nanpu Bridge from Shanghai was posted as Varanasi roads on social media. Last year, Chhattisgarh PWD minister Rajesh Munat passed off a Vietnamese bridge as one in Raigarh; a digital impression of Rajkot Bus stand was circulated by many as the real image; the Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways posted pictures of roadways from US and Canada on its parivahan website. Even the Aam Aadmi Party had recently passed off a bridge in the Netherlands as Signature bridge in Delhi Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th November 2018 / 5:19 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/newly-laid-road-in-indonesia-viral-as-pm-modis-infrastructural-push-in-india/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,063	Newly sworn Minister Anantkumar Hegde's Twitter account gives a peek into his mindset - Alt News Pratik Sinha 4th September 2017 / 7:37 am Anantkumar Hedge was sworn in as the Minister of State for Skill Development in the latest Cabinet shuffle. He shared his happiness regarding being appointed as a Minister on his Twitter account. Over the course of six tweets, he thanked the Prime Minister, people from his Uttar Kannada constituency, BJP President Amit Shah and the party itself. However, as one scrolls down his Twitter timeline, some of his tweets raise grave question marks over his appointment as a Minister. In the image above, not only is the Minister pushing a fake narrative, he seems to have an issue with a man and a woman having a friendly relationship. Report by ABP News on this issue states, “We found that the woman in photograph was not a teacher but a research scholar named Somya Mani Tripathi. The woman had shared the picture on her Facebook profile, in which Kanhaiya and she were sharing a friendly laughter. She had uploaded the pictures on March 5. Some miscreants took out the picture and shared the derogatory post. She later clarified on her Facebook post that she didn’t find laughing with her friend wrong.” He’s tweeted multiple times attacking JNU. He also retweeted a tweet which said, “Bring in Army and Crush these A**holes” while referring to students of Ramjas college. So, we now have a Union Minister who wants to ‘crush’ rebellious students with the Army. Islam needs to be held by its horn, Church is just a commercially operated Religious conversion platform, and if not for Buddhism, Akhand Bharat could have been realized – These are his views on religion in a multi-cultural, multi-religious country like India of which he is a Central Minister now. Here are his views on Ayodhya. Further, in a press conference, he had stated, “Till the time Islam exists in the world, no one can stop terrorism. If we want to keep a place like Bhatkal peaceful, then we should throw Islam away from this world and we should shut Islam.” Presstitute is a derogatory term which is essential a combination of Press+Prostitute. The Minister uses it routinely on his Twitter timeline. Photo captions are usually added by editors based on feedback from photographers. Here the Minister holds Barkha Dutt responsible for a photo caption while referring to her as presstitute. In another tweet, he was found outraging about a fake news report about Dawood Ibrahim being killed and suggesting that “presstitutes and bollywood actresses” would feel tremendous loss. Why attack only actresses and not actors even if you are livid about Bollywood’s connection with Dawood? He also wants journalist Rana Ayyub under surveillance for her ‘anti-national’ misdeeds. This tweet came a few days after Rana Ayyub’s book Gujarat Files was released. In this tweet, Mr Hegde refers to Indira Gandhi as Maimuna Begaum, a name that fake news sites like PostCard News often use for Indira Gandhi. Associating a Muslim name to political leader is not limited to Indira Gandhi. In another tweet, he refers to Mamta Banerjee as Mumtaz. Addressing Indira Gandhi as Maimuna Begaum and Mamta Banerjee as Mumtaz is what trolls on Twitter do. Here we have a Union Minister doing the same. Also, it yet again shows his mindset towards Muslims since he thinks that addressing a person with a Muslim name brings down his/her character. In real life too, Mr Hegde’s career hasn’t been short of controversies. Recently, he was caught on camera thrashing a Doctor at Karnataka Hospital as reported by NewsMinute. It is shocking that a person with so much apparent hate for various religions has been chosen to be a minister in a multi-cultural country like ours. It is shocking that a man who retweets tweets wanting to ‘crush’ students and thinks that a woman laughing with a man is to be looked down upon has chosen to be a minister. Out of 280 BJP MPs, is this the talent that PM Modi has ‘thoughtfully’ chosen to be the Minister of Skill Development? Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th September 2017 / 7:37 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/newly-sworn-minister-anantkumar-hegdes-twitter-account-gives-peek-mindset/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
2,064	News18 falsely claims temple razed in Alwar as "revenge" for Jahangirpuri demolition drive - Alt News Abhishek Kumar 28th April 2022 / 7:43 pm Delhi’s Jahangirpuri witnessed communal violence during a recently held procession marking Hanuman Jayanti. In the aftermath of the violence, the municipal corporation of North Delhi carried out a demolition drive in Jahangirpuri against “illegal encroachments” with the help of bulldozers. Apart from shops razed in the area’s Muslim-majority C-Block, the revered Jama Masjid’s gate and boundary walls were also destroyed against a status quo order by the Supreme Court. Following this, videos of temples being demolished in Rajasthan’s Alwar district were widely shared on social media and covered by mainstream media. It was claimed that the Congress government in Rajasthan demolished temples in seeking “revenge” for the demolition of Jama Masjid’s gate in Jahangirpuri. A 300-year-old Shiva temple was among the structures demolished in Sarai Mohalla, Rajgarh in Alwar. According to a report by Aaj Tak, a master plan was devised for the construction of a “Gaurav Path”. All “encroachments” coming in the way of this construction were removed including the Shiv temple. Congress alleged that the Rajgarh Municipal Corporation where the BJP has a thumping majority was responsible for the decision to demolish the temple whereas the BJP has accused Congress and alleged this was an administrative decision taken by the party. News18 TV channel ran the story in its show “Desh Nahin Jhukne Denge” with Aman Chopra and claimed thus follows: “जहांगीरपुरी का बदला, महादेव पर हमला ” (Revenge for Jahangirpuri, attack on Mahadev). During the show, a video of the mosque in Jahangirpuri being demolished was shown with graphics suggesting that the event took place on April 20, 2022, while the video of the temple in Alwar being demolished was played stating that it took place two days later on April 22, 2022. Host Aman Chopra tweeted a part of the show with the question, “जहांगीरपुरी में बुलडोजर का दंड, अलवर में शिवलिंग खंड खंड?” (Bulldozer justice in Jahangirpuri, Shivling broken into pieces in Alwar). Although he later deleted the tweet (archive link). Chopra stated during his show, “It is such a big coincidence that two days after a bulldozer was used to demolish the gate of a mosque in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri, three temples were demolished in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. One of the temples is 300 years old. Is this a mere coincidence or are these events interconnected? Is this revenge for Jahangirpuri?” (Archive Link) On Aaj Tak’s show, “Halla Bol With Anjana Om Kashyap”, the story was run with the graphics “मंदिर पर बदले का बुलडोज़र” (Bulldozer of revenge against temple). BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra claimed on the show that the manner in which Congress attempted to make a legal demolition drive in Jahangirpuri a communal issue, using bulldozers to demolish the temple in Alwar clearly shows that it is an act of revenge. Sambit Patra can be heard making this claim at 4:10 minutes into the broadcast. Another BJP spokesperson, Gaurav Bhatia, made similar claims regarding the demolition of the temple in Alwar insinuating that it is an act of revenge in response to the demolitions that took place in Jahangirpuri. Gaurav Bhatia can be heard making this claim at 9:55 minutes. (Archive Link) [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFMEy28P7hQ] On April 22, 2022, Republic Bharat ran a promo for its 5 PM show claiming that Hindu sentiments have been hurt after the demolition of the temple in Alwar. The channel took a jibe at Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot insinuating the Congress party’s involvement in the demolitions. Himani Naithani, the show’s host, reiterated the claims in a tweet. (Archive Link) हिंदुओं की आस्था पर चोट, गहलोत की नियत में खोट! देखिए ‘5 का प्रहार’ 5 बजे सिर्फ रिपब्लिक भारत पर LIVE- https://t.co/2G7CKH45An pic.twitter.com/CXWbUnASRT — रिपब्लिक.भारत (@Republic_Bharat) April 22, 2022 A tweet from BJP Rajasthan’s official Twitter handle claimed when the demolition drive against “rioters” in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri was taking place, temples were being razed in Alwar under the Congress government’s watch. This tweet was later deleted. (Archive Link) These claims are also widely circulating on social media. Upon performing a keyword search on Google, we found an article published by Aaj Tak. The report mentions that the Alwar district administration carried out the demolition of the “encroachments” on April 17 and 18. We also found a tweet dated April 17, by Zee Rajasthan, referring to the demolition of houses and shops in the Alwar district under the Rajgadh master plan. Therefore, this incident had clearly taken place before April 20, when Jama Masjid’s gate was demolished in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri. We then performed a keyword search on Twitter using the date filter and found two different videos from Alwar documenting the demolition of temples, dated April 18 and 19. The two videos aired on News18 and passed off as events that took place in Alwar on April 22 were already in existence on social media before the demolition drive in Jahangirpuri was carried out on April 20. This means that the temples in Alwar could not have been demolished as “revenge” for Jahangirpuri demolition drive. The District Collector and Magistrate of Alwar tweeted a press note which also said that “encroachments” were removed on April 17 and 18. Several mainstream TV channels and BJP leaders and supporters falsely claimed that temples were razed in Alwar as a response to Jama Masjid’s gate being destroyed in a demolition drive in Jahangirpuri. Rajasthan police have reportedly filed an FIR against News18 anchor Aman Chopra under sedition and other sections for publishing a provocative report. Abhishek is a senior fact-checking journalist and researcher at Alt News. He has a keen interest in information verification and technology. He is always eager to learn new skills, explore new OSINT tools and techniques. Prior to joining Alt News, he worked in the field of content development and analysis with a major focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	28th April 2022 / 7:43 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news-18-anchor-aman-chopda-falsely-claim-that-alwar-rajasthan-temple-demolition-is-revenge-of-jahangirpuri/", "author": "Abhishek Kumar" }
2,065	Aaj Tak, India TV air old video from Indonesia as bridge collapsing in Assam floods - Alt News Kinjal 19th May 2022 / 4:12 pm / Last updated: 19th May 2022 More than 6.6 lakh in 27 districts across Assam have been hit by the floods due to pre-monsoon rains in Assam. Nine people have died. While reporting on the flood situation in the state, Aaj Tak aired a video that shows an iron bridge collapsing due to the strong current of the water. (Archive link) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdCVGxH2BqI&feature=emb_title India TV also played the same video while reporting on the floods in Assam. The video appears after 29 seconds into the broadcast. (Archive link) Apart from this, News18 Bangla, Bharat Samachar, Oriya news channel OTV News, short video platform Editorji aired the video while reporting on the Assam floods. However, Editorji added a disclaimer stating “authenticity unverified”. The video has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter with the same claim. According to a tweet by Guwahati Plus, this video is old and not from Assam. #VIDEO \| Fake News ALERT! An old video of a bridge being carried away by floodwaters is going #viral on the Internet. The video which is said to be from #Assam is actually not so…#fakenews pic.twitter.com/pQAcJBLXLq — G Plus (@guwahatiplus) May 17, 2022 Netherlands ambassador to Indonesia, Labert Grange, had tweeted this video on April 6, 2021. He wrote that it depicted the floods in Eastern Flores in Indonesia. Our thoughts are with the victims of the floods in Eastern #Flores and #TimorLeste. We’d like to express our heartfelt condolences to all those affected by this enormous tragedy. pic.twitter.com/1UGXgKxhj0 — Lambert Grijns (@LambertGrijns) April 5, 2021 Australia’s ABC News reported, “Floods and landslides also hit several nearby islands in the Indonesian archipelago, including Flores, leaving at least 55 people dead.” Through the help of Google Street View, Alt News found that this is the Old Kambaniru Bridge. It was located in Sumba Regency, which is in Indonesia. We found old imagery of the bridge on Google Street View. Ultimately, a one-year-old video of a bridge collapsing in the Indonesian floods was shared as the recent floods in Assam. It is noteworthy that a bamboo bridge collapsed in the Udalguri district in Assam. But several major media outlets, including Aaj Tak, shared an old video from Indonesia to report the flood situation in Assam. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	19th May 2022 / 4:12 pm / Last updated: 19th May 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news-channel-including-aaj-tak-share-old-video-from-indonesia-as-assam-flood/", "author": "Kinjal" }
2,066	News from 2010 shared as Canadian govt refusing visas to Indian army personnel - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 23rd August 2019 / 8:29 pm The Indian government’s decision to revoke key provisions of Article 370 relating to the state of J&K continues to reverberate on social media in the form of misinformation and/or disinformation. Now, sections of social media users are spreading the claim that the Canadian government has “refused visas to Indian Army Generals and Brigadiers who served as intelligence officers for their part in Kashmir”. 🇨🇦 Canada refuses visa for Indian Army Generals and Brigadiers who served as intelligence officers for their part in #Kashmir: thank you @JustinTrudeau for your brave stance pic.twitter.com/KaCwdsz7jy — Lord Nazir Ahmed (@nazir_lord) August 21, 2019 As can be seen in the above tweet by Lord Nazir Ahmed, which has been retweeted over 5800 times, the basis for this claim is a video report by a news channel. Ahmed is a member of the House of Lords in the UK. This video is 2:20 minutes long. Alt News found a longer version of this video shared on Facebook by several users. The video and accompanying claim have been circulated widely in the Pakistani social media ecosystem. The same claim, that Indian army officers have been refused visas by the Canadian government for alleged atrocities in Kashmir, has been made in an article published by a website, Research Snipers. This information that the Canadian government has refused visas to senior Indian army personnel over their alleged role in Kashmir, is not recent and has nothing to do with the revocation of key provisions of Article 370 by the Indian government. A vital clue in this regard is the logo of the news channel seen in the video- Headlines Today. It may be noted that Headlines Today is the former name of India Today, the popular English TV news channel owned by the India Today group. The channel was renamed in 2015. This itself is proof that the video dates back to at least 2015 if not earlier. To find out more about the video, Alt News used specific keywords on YouTube, and found this video posted nine years back i.e. in 2010. Using the date and time filter on Google, Alt News then sifted through news reports of 2010, and found several articles relating to the diplomatic row which ensued when the Canadian government had refused to issue visas to several ex-servicemen and intelligence officials, citing human rights violations. It may be reiterated that the claim that Indian army personnel have been refused visas by the Canadian government, pertains to news of 2010 and is not related to the recent developments in J&K. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd August 2019 / 8:29 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news-from-2010-shared-as-canadian-govt-refusing-visas-to-indian-army-personnel/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,068	News Nation aired old videos as visuals of destruction caused by typhoon Hinnamnor - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 9th September 2022 / 5:38 pm / Last updated: 10th September 2022 Typhoon Hinnamnor has ravaged parts of Japan and South Korea in the last few days. As per ABC News Australia, in Japan’s southern region, more than hundred people were evacuated and at least eleven facilities were damaged by floods. Factory work has also been suspended in parts of the two countries. The slow-moving typhoon is expected to bring potentially life-threatening rain and destructive winds to much of South Korea and far south-west Japan. This satellite image shows Typhoon Hinnamnor over the past 24 hours. The powerful storm lashed Japan’s Okinawa islands on Sunday and is now tracking north. It could strike South Korea late Monday as a typhoon, with damaging winds, flooding rains and a storm surge. pic.twitter.com/nfGftQSktP — BBC Weather (@bbcweather) September 4, 2022 In the backdrop of this news, a Hindi news channel called News Nation in its broadcast on September 4 aired several clips allegedly of the typhoon with the watermark “News Nation Exclusive”. The six-minute long broadcast gained over 1 lakh views on the platform. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SK_MSc0bQs] The broadcast by News Nation also appears among the first few results when we search “Japan Typhoon Hinnamnor” on YouTube. In the comments of the video, a user called “Blue Moon” replied by saying that the channel was broadcasting “old pictures”. Taking note of the comment, Alt News performed a keyword search on YouTube and came across a video from September 2018 titled, “Typhoon Jebi hits Osaka, Japan – September 4, 2018“. In this video, we found several clips that were there in the News Nation broadcast as “News Nation Exclusive”. Below we have attached side-by-side images comparing the visuals from the YouTube video to the ones broadcast by News Nation: Visual 1: A man on a two-wheeler struggling in the wind In this clip, we see a man struggling with his two-wheeler for several seconds before it falls. News Nation aired the clip at the 2:49-minute mark. In the YouTube video from 2018, we can find the same clip at the 0:31-second mark. Visual 2: Video of a car rolling over In this clip, a car that appears to be in a parking lot can be seen rolling over multiple times due to extreme weather conditions. This visual appears on News Nation’s broadcast at the 2:49-minute mark, and in the YouTube video from 2018 it appears at the 0:43-second mark. Visual 3: Video of a container truck skidding on the road In this clip, we can see a container truck lose its balance and roll over as it battles the strong currents of wind. The visual appears on News Nation’s broadcast at the 2:52-minute mark. The same visual can be seen on the YouTube video from 2018 at 0:51-second. Visual 4: Uprooting of a shed In this clip, we can see a shed in a parking lot that is moving like a wave due to the wind. This visual airs at the 3:12-minute mark in News Nation’s broadcast. The same clip can be found on the YouTube video at 0:04-second. Visual 5: Uprooting of a roof of a house In this clip, we can see the roof of a house gets uprooted and the debris dancing with the winds. News Nation aired this clip in its broadcast at the 3:18-minute mark. The same clip can be found on the YouTube video at the 0:07-second mark. Visual 6: Roof of a warehouse getting uprooted In this clip, the roof of a warehouse-like structure can be seen getting uprooted and a lightning strike appears at the bottom right corner of the screen. News Nation aired this visual in its broadcast at the 3:45-minute mark. We can find the same clip on YouTube at the 0:17-second mark. Visual 7: A lightning strike at a building In this clip, we can see a lightning strike a building or an electric that appears to be near a railway line. News Nation aired this visual in its broadcast at the 5:51-minute mark. The same visual can be found on the YouTube video at the 2:34-minute mark. It is quite evident from the above screenshots that News Nation has lifted a YouTube compilation that is at least four-year old and aired it as super exclusive visuals of typhoon Hinnamnor. Moreover, some of the clips in the broadcast are in the same chronological order as the YouTube compilation video. To sum it up, News Nation in its broadcast on September 4 aired at least seven old videos as visuals of destruction caused by typhoon Hinnamnor. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th September 2022 / 5:38 pm / Last updated: 10th September 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news-nation-aired-old-videos-as-visuals-of-destruction-caused-by-typhoon-hinnamnor/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
2,069	News Nation misidentifies shop as samadhi in Malanggad, accuses Muslims of trespass - Alt News Archit 7th April 2021 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 8th April 2021 On March 28, several news outlets including News Nation reported that Muslim men entered a Hindu place of worship and interrupted aarti in Maharasthra’s Malanggad. At 4:13 minutes into a six-minute broadcast, News Nation showed two structures and claimed that the dargah on left is Baba Malag’s tomb while on the right (pointing at a blue shed) is Machindranath’s tomb. On April 6, Alt News reached out to News Nation editor-in-chief Sanjay Kulshrestha, Maharashtra chief Vikas Shrivastav and reporter Pankaj Mishra who had visited Malanggad. Kulshrestha refused to speak with us and the broadcast was quietly taken down from across social media accounts of News Nation. A downloaded copy can be watched below. “On the hill, we have Baba Malag’s Mazar and right next to it lays Machindranath ji’s samadhi which means both Hindu and Muslim communities were present…” the anchor can be heard saying. Below is a screenshot of a tweet that has also been taken down. “Why did namazi enter samadhi during aarti? Who raised Islamic slogans during aarti? What did you get after interrupting the aarti, bhai jaan? Battle in samadhi in Maharashtra! Why was Allah-o-Akbar chanted in Baba’s samadhi?” read the tweet. In a report published on April 3, Alt News had found that members of the Muslim community indeed interrupted an aarti performed on Holi, March 28, when Muslim festival Shab e-Barat was also observed. However, Muslims did not enter a temple. The conflict took place at Haji Malang which has historically been referred to as dargah by the Government of India. In 1986, Shiv Sena claimed that the dargah was the site of the 700-year-old Machindranath temple. Since then, a section of the Hindu community regards the dargah as a Hindu place of worship. The Supreme Court recognised Haji Malang as a dargah in 1954 and 1968, but the conflict awaits any verdict. The visuals aired by News Nation neither showed Haji Malang nor the site of Machindranath’s tomb. We reached out to Rizwan Khan, son of the chairman of Haji Malang Baba Dargah Trust, who pointed out – Structure on left: Bakhtiyar Shah Baba Dargah The first point can be established based on Google Maps visuals. The mosque’s dome and the blue shed were easy to spot. The area around the domb is pinned Bakhtiyar Shah Baba Dargah. The following comparison shows a visual match between Google Earth visuals with the pictures aired by News Nation. The conflict between the two communities took place at Haji Malang dargah which on a higher altitude. The following Google Earth screenshot shows the same. Khan also shared multiple pictures of Bakhtiyar Shah Baba Dargah. One of them has been shot from a distance while the other shows a close-up of the mosque and the adjacent shop with blue shed. Structure on right: Shop News Nation referred to the blue shed, next to Bakhtiyar Shah Baba Dargah, as Machindranath’s shrine. However, this a shop next to the mosque. The owner of the shop Moiddin Abba Mohammad Shaikh told Alt News, “I saw the video by News Nation. I can confirm that the blue shed shown by the channel is my shop.” At the moment, Shaikh is in his hometown Kerala. Md Altaf, Moiddin’s nephew, sent a video clip from the shop where he is explaining, “The shop belongs to my uncle Moiddin Abba Shaikh. That’s the first dargah [pointing at the mosque] at Haji Malang also know as pehli salami (first shrine). News Nation’s clip from March 31 shows this location. In that bulletin, from 4:20 to 4:33 seconds, the channel has shown our shop as samadhi.” [vimeo 533441638 w=640 h=352] News Nation misidentified two locations while reporting on the communal conflict that took place in Malanggad’s Hali Malang Dargah on March 28. The channel aired visuals of Bakhtiyar Shah Baba Dargah as Haji Malang Dargah and an adjacent shop as the shrine of Machindranath. Last year, when Delhi’s Nizamuddin was recognised as a COVID-19 hotspot, TV9 Bharatvarsh aired visuals of the ground floor of the Markaz building as an ‘underground tunnel’. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th April 2021 / 5:37 pm / Last updated: 8th April 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news-nation-misidentifies-shop-as-samadhi-in-malanggad-accuses-muslims-of-trespass/", "author": "Archit" }
2,070	UP govt didn't order special exam for 10th, 12th students to get govt jobs - Alt News Kinjal 7th August 2021 / 8:02 pm A screenshot of an alleged News18 story is being circulated widely on social media platforms. The Hindi headline states, “Government jobs: Students promoted to 10th, 12th to give special exam for government jobs.” According to the story, since the students were promoted without taking exams, their mark sheets will not be considered for government jobs. Some variations of the screenshot also feature an image of Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. It is being claimed that the new initiative was a recent move by the Yogi administration. It is noteworthy that the image has gone viral against the backdrop of the upcoming assembly elections in the state. The photo is widespread on Facebook. Alt News also received a number of requests to verify the image on its official mobile app. The screenshot has also made its way to WhatsApp. Alt News performed a keyword search, which led us to a News18 report dated July 7, with a headline that resembles the one seen in the screenshot. The story mentions that the Assam government issued an order according to which mark sheets of students promoted to 10th and 12th standards during the COVID-19 pandemic will not be valid for government jobs. The Assam administration announced it would create a special evaluation policy, consisting of a set of special exams for recruitment to positions in the state government in addition to the existing qualifying examinations. Nowhere in the report has it been mentioned that the Uttar Pradesh government or the central government has taken any such decision. According to Navbharat Times, there was a flurry of opposition against this move. “The decision was withdrawn at a meeting between Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the All Assam Students Union (AASU), All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) after widespread protests by student organisations,” said the report. To sum it up, the Assam government recently announced that students promoted to the 10th and 12th standards would have to appear for a special examination for recruitment in government jobs. This decision was withdrawn following a wave of opposition. Uttar Pradesh government had not come up with the order. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th August 2021 / 8:02 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news-of-assam-special-exam-for-govt-job-12th-10th-shared-as-up/", "author": "Kinjal" }
2,071	News of Mysore engineering student's murder viral with communal spin - Alt News Kalim Ahmed & Archit 8th September 2022 / 9:33 am / Last updated: 8th September 2022 On September 2, Star of Mysore, an evening newspaper from the city of Mysuru, reported that a 21-year-old engineering student, Apoorva Shetty, was found murdered in a private hotel on Hunsur Road in the city. As per the report, the victim was staying in the hotel with a man, believed to be her boyfriend, who allegedly killed her and then left the hotel alone. The report also mentions that the accused is a 28-year-old man called Ashik, who is allegedly a resident of Hinkal village. Against this backdrop, Journalist Sagar Kumar of Sudarshan News tweeted a photo collage of the victim and the accused, which were available in the news report, and wrote a caption in Hindi that read, “My Abdul is not like others”. His tweet implied that this was an interfaith relationship, as the accused had a Muslim-sounding name. Interfaith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men are often termed “love jihad“, a conspiracy theory according to which Muslim men are trained to trap Hindu women and convert them. Twitter user @RituRathaur shared the photo and wrote, “One thing is beyond my understanding, how does a well educated, nice looking Hindu girl fall for an ugly looking unemployed M guys?” This user’s caption also suggested that the accused was a Muslim. Sharing the photo collage, Dr Syed Rizwan Ahmad, who claims to be a political analyst, wrote, “My Abul is not like others’. Some may not be, but most of them are like that.” Another Twitter handle, @HKupdate also shared the collaged saying that another Hindu girl was murdered by her ‘ashique’. The incident was also reported by Zee News, Times of India Malayalam, News18 Kannada, TV Kannada and Mathrubhumi. Except for the ones in News18 Kannda and TV9 Kannada, the rest of the reports named the accused as Ashik. These reports also do not mention his caste or religion. Alt News spoke to Mysuru DCP Pradeep Gunti (Law and Order), who told us that there was no communal angle to the case. We also reached out to Devaraja Police Station, where a senior officer confirmed to us that the name of the accused was Ashish, and not Ashik. He also confirmed that both the victim and the accused hail from the Hindu community. Alt News got access to a copy of the FIR where the accused has been clearly named as “Ashish”. Upon examining the details of the FIR, we found that the accused had booked the hotel on August 29 under the name Ashish. The victim last spoke with the family on August 30 and the body was discovered between August 31 and September 1. Nowhere in the FIR, it is mentioned that there was a communal angle to the case. Below, we have attached the relevant portion of the FIR which has been translated using Google Lens. Alt News also spoke with the victim’s father, Ravish Kumar H T (53), who confirmed that the accused hailed from the Hindu community. To sum it up, the murder of a 21-year-old engineering student in Mysore was given a communal spin on social media based on the misreporting that the name of the accused was Ashik. The police have refuted the communal angle and the name of the accused has been revealed to be Ashish. Both the victim and the accused hail from the Hindu community. Sudharshan News and its employees have a history of spreading misinformation that has been documented by Alt News. The readers can find the related reports here. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th September 2022 / 9:33 am / Last updated: 8th September 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news-of-mysore-engineering-students-murder-viral-with-communal-spin/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed & Archit" }
2,072	News outlets leave out torture accused Seema Patra's BJP connection in their tweets - Alt News Shinjinee Majumder & Kalim Ahmed 31st August 2022 / 1:39 pm / Last updated: 31st August 2022 A video of a tribal woman, who worked as a domestic help in Jharkhand, accusing her employers of brutal torture and abuse has surfaced online. In the video, the victim, Sunita painstakingly recounts the details of the torture allegedly inflicted upon her by her employer, Seema Patra. As the videos went viral, several major news media outlets covered this story wherein they identified Patra as the “wife of an ex-IAS officer”. ANI tweeted, “Police team rescued a 29-yr-old woman working as a domestic help at the residence of an-ex IAS officer on Aug 22, after she was allegedly physically tortured by her employer.” (Archived link) Ranchi, Jharkhand \| Police team rescued a 29-yr-old woman working as a domestic help at the residence of an-ex IAS officer on Aug 22, after she was allegedly physically tortured by her employer. Case registered; probe on. The woman is currently undergoing medical treatment:Police — ANI (@ANI) August 30, 2022 Pro-BJP propaganda outlet OpIndia tweeted their stories both in Hindi and English. The English caption reads, “Wife of Ex-IAS booked for torturing maid, a tribal woman, used to force her to clean toilet with tongue”, and the Hindi caption reads, “Domestic help tortured with a frying pan, thrashed with an iron rod, forced to clean faeces with her tongue: if the son objected, he was called ‘crazy’ and was sent to a mental hospital.” (Archived links- 1 and 2) Times Now tweeted a clip of their coverage of this story with the hashtag #ShameSecularHypocrisy. The caption also identified the accused as the “wife of ex IAS officer”. In a subsequent tweet, Times now used another hashtag #SorenMustResign while reporting on the incident. (Archived links- 1, 2) #ShameSecularHypocrisy ‘Abused’ Tribal worker rescued from former-IAS officers house in #Ranchi \| Assailant is #SeemaPatra, wife of an ex IAS officer, son who defended the domestic worker was also locked up in a room: @BannaGupta76 @MohitBhatt90 & @anchoramitaw with details pic.twitter.com/QCg2VNzxHq — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) August 30, 2022 DNA tweeted their report with the caption “Ex-IAS officer’s wife #SeemaPatra accused of torturing maid, her son shielded the victim”. (Archived link) #Ranchi \| Ex-IAS officer’s wife #SeemaPatra accused of torturing maid, her son shielded the victimhttps://t.co/PlyXawOhGG — DNA (@dna) August 30, 2022 Dainik Bhaskar tweeted their story with the caption, “रिटायर्ड IAS की पत्नी ने 8 साल बंधक रखा: दिव्यांग बोली- जीभ से फर्श साफ करवाया, पेशाब पिलाई; सालों से सूरज की रोशनी नहीं देखी”. This caption, like the others, only decsribed Seema Patra as the wife of a retired IAS officer. (Archived link) रिटायर्ड IAS की पत्नी ने 8 साल बंधक रखा: दिव्यांग बोली- जीभ से फर्श साफ करवाया, पेशाब पिलाई; सालों से सूरज की रोशनी नहीं देखीhttps://t.co/Akzre8HZxv#Ranchi pic.twitter.com/qGiD1raZUM — Dainik Bhaskar (@DainikBhaskar) August 30, 2022 Republic Bharat also identified Seema Patra as the wife of an IAS officer. (Archived link) #ArrestSeemaPatra \| हैवानियत भी शर्मसार: IAS अफसर की बीवी सीमा पात्रा ने लड़की को बनाया बंधक, तवे से दागा, जीभ से साफ कराया टॉयलेटhttps://t.co/QGmYYWmuLs — रिपब्लिक भारत (@Republic_Bharat) August 30, 2022 Analysing Seema Patra’s social media Based on Seema Patra’s social media presence, it can be ascertained that Patra is a BJP worker. Her Facebook page bio reads, “State Convener, Beti Bachao – Beti Padhao, BJP Jharkhand Member – National Working Committee, BJP MA” while her Twitter bio reads “Member National Working Committee M.morcha State Convenor, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, State In-charge Policy & Research”. Her Facebook page cover photo (check below) is a picture with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, most likely clicked in 2018. The last post on her Facebook page is from April 2019, in which she can be seen campaigning for BJP during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Alt News found that the official handle of BJP Mahila Morcha uploaded a photo of Seema Patra along with other BJP workers on April 6, 2022, from the inauguration of “BJP Foundation Day” program at the National Office in New Delhi. Her name has also been mentioned in the caption (Archived link). On June 2, 2022, BJP Mahila Morcha Meghalaya’s Facebook page also uploaded a picture of a virtual meeting about the Mahila morcha training camps. Seema Patra can be seen in the meeting and has been identified as an “executive member” in the caption. We also found a News 11 video coverage on Seema Patra’s page, identifying Seema as BJP’s Beti Padhao Beti Bachao State Convenor. In the video, Patra can be seen giving a speech to schoolchildren on the occasion of Independence Day, as part of a Beti Padhao Beti Bachao committee. The video was shared on Seema’s page in April 2019. Posted by Seema Patra on Tuesday, 9 April 2019 In April of this year, Seema Patra tweeted pictures from an event at the BJP State Office. Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and Leader of Opposition Legislative Party Babulal Marandi, General Secretary (Organisation) Dharampal Singh and President of the BJP Mahila Morcha Vanathi Srinivasan can also be seen in the picture. (Archived Link) आज भा ज पा प्रदेश कार्यालय में कार्यक्रम में प्रथम एवं पूर्व मुख्य मंत्री सह विधायक दल के नेता आदरणीय बाबू लाल जी, संगठन महामंत्री आदरणीय धर्मपाल जी एवं ST Morcha की बहनों के साथ…@VanathiBJP @blsanthosh @dushyanttgautam pic.twitter.com/3hLRLvway6 — Seema Patra (@SeemaPatra7) April 26, 2022 After videos of her domestic help accusing her of torturing and abusing her went viral, Seema Patra was suspended by the BJP on August 30. Jharkhand BJP chief Deepak Prakash ordered the action against Ms Patra after videos of her domestic help accusing her of torture went viral. This further confirms Seema’s BJP affiliations. Sunita, who is 29 years old, was employed by the Patras a decade ago. Over the last six years, Sunita alleges that she was subjected to brutal torture by Mrs Patra and her daughter. Speaking through immense pain, Sunita recalls in the videos details of the pain and abuse allegedly inflicted upon her by the mother-daughter duo. According to the NDTV news report, Sunita states that Seema Patra’s son Ayushman was the only person who defended her. Regional online news outlet The Followup interviewed the man who filed the FIR against the Patras. The interviewee, Vivek Baskey, who claims to be a friend of Ayushman’s (Seema’s son), stated that he was informed about Sunita’s condition by Ayushman himself. However, Seema Patra then allegedly spun a false narrative about Ayushman and they admitted him to Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry & Allied Sciences. At that point in time, Baskey was unsure about the chain of events but did not question Ayushman’s admission to the institution initially. Eventually, he managed to piece all the information together and requested rescue operations. Sunita was found on August 22. Baskey alleged that no action had been taken by the police since the rescue. He also insisted that Sunita was not disabled, contrary to several media reports. As of August 31, it has been reported that the police have arrested Seema Patra. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t1W-64t7Dk] Thus several media outlets reported on this issue and identified the accused Seema Patra only as the wife of an ex-IAS officer in their tweets and left out her professional role as a BJP Jharkhand Member. Times Now, DNA, and Dainik Bhaskar do however acknowledge that Seema Patra is a BJP worker in their video coverage and articles respectively. But they do not mention this fact in their tweets. It is pertinent to note that OpIndia and Republic Bharat have left out Seema’s BJP connection inside the articles as well. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	31st August 2022 / 1:39 pm / Last updated: 31st August 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news-outlets-leave-out-torture-accused-seema-patras-bjp-connect/", "author": "Shinjinee Majumder & Kalim Ahmed" }
2,073	News18 broadcasts 2016 video from Malaysia as Chinese man beats Pakistani driver in Karachi - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 29th June 2020 / 7:40 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2020 A video of a man thrashing another with a stick was shared by Twitter user @TheZaiduLeaks which poses as a Pakistani handle. The clip was shared with the claim, “Graphic Content: Chinese Engineer in Karachi caught on video beating Pakistani driver for submitting fake petrol bill. Engineer from PowerChina Gansu Energy Co came to Pakistan under CPEC.” An archived link of the tweet can be viewed here in case the video is taken down. Graphic Content : Chinese Engineer in Karachi caught on video beating Pakistani driver for submitting fake petrol bill. Engineer from PowerChina Gansu Energy Co came to Pakistan under CPEC. My Dear Pakistani brothers & sisters we must raise our voice against this this behaviour pic.twitter.com/SuJK72C1TS — 🇵🇰Zaidu🇵🇰 (@TheZaiduLeaks) June 28, 2020 The clip was subsequently picked up by hundreds of users on Twitter and Facebook who shared it with the same claim. Incidentally, the video was also broadcast by News18 on June 29 where the anchor claimed, “Some news coming in, a Chinese CPEC engineer has been caught on camera beating up a Pakistani driver…this took place in Karachi. The driver was beaten for submitting a fake petrol bill. The relation between Pakistan and China is at its lowest after investing crores of rupees in CPEC [and] not getting the desired results.” The broadcast has now been taken down from the social media accounts of News18 however, a screenshot of its tweet posted below. An archived link of the tweet can be accessed here. The clip was also played during a broadcast by News Nation where the anchor asserted that Pakistan has become a “slave” to China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW6FlEAoRA4 The video is quite viral on the Indian social media ecosystem. Below is a tweet by Zee News anchor Sudhir Chaudhary which drew over 5,000 retweets as of this writing (archive). If this is true Pakistani Govt should arrest this Chinese national. Do they have the courage? https://t.co/OvPTWgUNCL — Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) June 29, 2020 Defence expert Mihir Shah retweeted a tweet mocking China’s Belt and Road initiative. CPEC or China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a part of China’s grand Belt and Road initiative which aims to connect Asia, Africa and Europe by heavily investing in infrastructural projects across the globe. The cost of the project is proving to be an expensive affair for local contractors in partner countries, including Pakistan, which are at serious risk of not being able to repay loans. CPEC aims to link Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang province to Gwadar deep seaport close to Pakistan’s border with Iran. A reverse-search of the video’s keyframes on Yandex lead to several Facebook posts from 2016 where the same video was shared. According to a post on I’m Malaysian 我是马来西亚人, the clip depicts a racial attack on a Chinese national in Malaysia. Several Malaysian websites had also reported on the incident. According to mynewshub.tv, a foreigner was beaten by his employers. As per an article on malaysiakini.com published on November 29, 2016, the police were trying to identify the perpetrator who was wearing a yellow t-shirt of Bersih 5, a pro-democracy group based in Malaysia. The Twitter bio of @TheZaiduLeaks reads, “All Tweets are for fun 100% fake imaginary” yet News18 broadcast a show based on a video promoted by the account. But this is not the first time that a news channel fell for the handle. Last year, the handle had shared a still from the HBO drama series ‘Game of Thrones’ as a Kashmiri girl with a pellet injury. This was ‘fact-checked’ by Times Now and declared ‘Pakistani propaganda’. Alt News had found that after its creation, @TheZaiduLeaks was promoted by an Indian user associated with the right-wing portal rightlog.in. Our detailed investigation into the handle can be read here. In yet another comical gaffe, News18 ran a whole show claiming that a Chinese national brutally thrashed his driver in Karachi. The channel also linked the old video from Malaysia to the CPEC project between Pakistan and China. [Update: The initial title of the article read “Chinese national beaten in Pakistan” which has been rectified. News18 took down its broadcast after this fact-check was published. A downloaded video of the same has been added to the report. News Nation’s broadcast has also been included.] Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th June 2020 / 7:40 pm / Last updated: 2nd July 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-broadcast-2016-video-from-malaysia-as-chinese-national-beaten-in-pakistan/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,074	News18, CNBC Awaz misreport India-US joint army exercise as Howdy Modi preparations - Alt News Mohammed Zubair 23rd September 2019 / 2:55 pm Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Houston for his mega-event ‘Howdy Modi’ on the night of September 21 to address a huge gathering at an event in Texas on September 22. Several media outlets covered his arrival and the upcoming events that were scheduled. CNN News18 had tweeted a video of US army playing the Indian national anthem which they claimed was in preparation for PM Modi’s arrival at the Howdy Modi event. “Watch – US army playing the Indian national anthem in preparation for PM @narendramodi’s arrival at the #HowdyModi event,” read News18’s tweet. The same video was also tweeted by CNBC Awaz. Both News18 and CNBC Awaz have taken down their tweets but the video is viral on Facebook and Twitter. Power of Shri @narendramodi ji.. USA will be playing Indian National Anthem on Modiji’s arrival.. Making India Great Again!! 🇮🇳 Proud of you 🇮🇳@PMOIndia#HowdyModi pic.twitter.com/aC8TW3AVZY — Jigar B Desai (@JigarBDesaiBjp) September 22, 2019 It is also viral with a Kannada text – “ಅಮೇರಿಕಾ ಸೈನ್ಯ ವು ಮೊದಲ ಭಾರಿಗೆ ಭಾರತದ ಪ್ರಧಾನಿ ಮೋದಿಯವರಿಗೆ ಸ್ವಾಗತ , ಗೌರವ ವಂದನೆ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಲು ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶದ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಗೀತೆಯನ್ನು ಅಭ್ಯಾಸ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವುದು (The US Army is practising our country’s national anthem to welcome and pay homage to Indian Prime Minister Modi – Google translate.)” US Army band did play the Indian National Anthem, but it was during the concluding day of the Yudh Abhyas, a joint military training exercise of the Indian and US Army which was conducted at the Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington. Manish Prasad, India TV Journalist covering Defence and National Security, was one of the firsts to tweet this video on September 19. Proud Moment for Everyone. Our“National Anthem” played by @USArmy Band in Exercise #YudhAbhyas19 @adgpi @indiatvnews #IndianArmy#USArmy pic.twitter.com/gMmx2WCcWY — Manish Prasad (@manishindiatv) September 19, 2019 It was also tweeted by ANI. #WATCH USA: American Army band playing Indian National Anthem during the Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2019 at Joint Base Lewis, McChord. pic.twitter.com/J9weLpKD3X — ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2019 A video of the US Army playing the Indian National Anthem during a joint military training exercise was shared by sections of mainstream media and social media as preparation for PM Modi’s event in Texas. Co-founder, Alt News Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via Twitter at https://twitter.com/zoo_bear Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd September 2019 / 2:55 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-cnbc-awaz-misreport-india-us-joint-army-exercise-as-howdy-modi-preparations/", "author": "Mohammed Zubair" }
2,075	News18 falsely claims 'Pakistan zindabad' chanted after UP panchayat poll result - Alt News Anuradha Prasad 6th May 2021 / 8:34 pm After the results of the recently-concluded gram panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh, News18 UP Uttarakhand broadcasted a video of a group celebrating the victory of an elected pradhan (head) in UP’s Bahraich. The channel claimed that ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans were raised at the rally. Anchor Aparna Moazzam even went on to say, “Bahraich is in India. Victory is for pradhan in Bahraich. Then why so much love for Pakistan?” The procession was taken out to celebrate the victory of Haji Abdul Kalim in the Kewalpur gram sabha elections. News18 published an article on the same which was amplified on Twitter and Facebook. Dainik Jagran had also published an article with a similar narrative but it was later taken down. A cached version can be accessed. “Pakistan zindabad slogans echoed in Bahraich near the Nepal border, video viral on internet media (बहराइच में नेपाल सीमा पर गूंजा पाकिस्तान जिंदाबाद का नारा, वीडियो इंटरनेट मीडिया पर वायरल),” read its headline. It is noteworthy that Dainik Jagran is a Hindi daily by the Jagran Prakashan Limited which also owns the IFCN certified fact-checking portal Vishwas News under MMI Online Limited. According to Vishwas News’s About Us page, MMI Online is the digital platform of Jagran Prakashan Limited. Breaking Tube, an online portal that on several occasions has amplified misinformation, also published a report on the video with the same claim. Alt News found that the supporters of Haji Abdul Kalim were not raising ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans but ‘Haji Saab Zindabad, and this is clearly audible if one carefully listens to the chants. A slow-motion video has been attached below where ‘Haji Saab’ is audible even more clearly. Amar Ujala had reported on May 5, 2021, that supporters of Haji Abdul Kalim took out a procession to celebrate his victory in the panchayat elections. The report also stated that a video of the rally has given rise to rumours on social media. The police has registered a case against the winning candidate and 100 unidentified people for violating COVID protocol and taking out a procession. Bahraich police has also put out a tweet rubbishing the claims that Pakistan zindabad slogans were raised at the procession. “The truth is that in the victory procession, the supporters of the newly-elected pradhan only raised slogans of ‘Haji Saab zindabad’ NOT Pakistan zindabad. This is clear upon closely listening to the audio of the viral video clip,” the police statement said. Alt News reached out to Haji Abdul Rahim, the brother of Haji Abdul Kalim. He said, “All that is being spread is false. As soon as the results came out, I was leaving from there, then supporters started raising Haji Saab zindabad slogans. We didn’t take out any procession. If it were the case, we would have gone out everywhere. As soon as the counting of the votes concluded, I came home and the supporters present at the location followed me. My brother reached home in the evening, till then he was present at the party office.” News18 UP Uttarakhand and Dainik Jagran published misreports on the procession taken out in support of Haji Abdul Kalim with the false claim that his supporters raised ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans. News18 is yet to take down its report. A journalist and a dilettante person who always strives to learn new skills and meeting new people. Either sketching or working. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	6th May 2021 / 8:34 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-falsely-claims-pakistan-zindabad-chanted-after-up-panchayat-poll-result/", "author": "Anuradha Prasad" }
2,076	News18 gets a lesson in flags from Twitter users - Pakistani flag vs Islamic flag - Alt News Sam Jawed 22nd July 2017 / 10:05 pm Pakistani flag in Uttar Pradesh? At least that is what News18India would like us to believe. “Uttar Pradesh, Gonda: Pakistani flag hoisted on an electricity pole, created tension”, tweeted News18India. A picture of the flag accompanied the tweet. If you believe a nationals news channel must know what the Pakistani flag looks like, you are in for a surprise. Here is the News18India‘s tweet and photograph of the flag Here’s a video of News18’s broadcast: On seeing the tweet, Twitter users were quick to point out that the flag in the picture was not the Pakistani flag but an “Islamic flag”. Twitter user, @Md_Hakim marked UP police on the tweet and asked them to investigate this attempt to spark communal tension. UP police in turn marked Gonda police to investigate and take action. Gonda police clarified that it was not the Pakistani flag but one which had an inscription in Urdu that can be roughly translated as “there is no one worthy of worship but Allah.” While the flag in question was green in colour and had a crescent, it is inexcusable that a national news channel doesn’t know the difference between such a flag and the Pakistani flag. This is not the first time that a news channel has mixed up other green flags with the Pakistani flag. Times Now, Times of India and ANI news have all made the same error in recognising Pakistani flag in the past. J&K: Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq’s supporters raise Pakistani flags at a rally in Srinagar’s old city area. pic.twitter.com/HNJ57QPpYu — ANI (@ANI_news) May 20, 2015 Here is a quick guide for media to avoid such goof-ups in the future: Pakistani flag: The Pakistani flag has a white band on the left. Note the colour and the angle of crescent and the star Islamic flag: The green flag with the crescent is often regarded as an Islamic flag, though there is no prescribed flag in Islam. There is no particular flag that can be called an “Islamic” flag, though the image of the crescent and the star is associated with Islam. Past and present flags of Islamic countries have varied images or inscriptions ranging from the crescent and star, Shahada to the takbir. Contrary to popular belief, they need not always be green in colour. Once again, we see that basic fact checking takes a back seat when it comes to breaking sensational news. News18India has now deleted the story but at the time of writing this article, the tweet was still on its website. For the deleted story, there was no apology, explanation, retraction or even an acknowledgement of the error. Nobody's cheerleader, I tweet at @samjawed65 Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	22nd July 2017 / 10:05 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-gets-lesson-flags-twitter-users-pakistani-flag-vs-islamic-flag/", "author": "Sam Jawed" }
2,077	News18, Times of India run Indore video as man jumping into floodwater in Pakistan - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 28th August 2020 / 2:55 pm / Last updated: 3rd September 2020 On its daily show ‘Sau Baat Ki Ek Baat’, News18 India anchor Kishore Ajwani highlighted the ‘failure’ of the Imran Khan-led Pakistani government to control floods caused by heavy downpour in the country. During the 9:50 am broadcast on August 25, the channel aired footage of an area drowned in water to depict the calamitous situation in Pakistan’s Karachi. This can be watched from 18:10 minutes into the show. “After heavy rainfall in Pakistan’s Karachi, a video of a shocking stunt by a man became viral. He can be seen jumping off a four-storied building in the video and he pulled off this stunt to showcase the failure of Imran Khan’s government. The place where this incident took place experienced waist-deep flooding. The streets and lanes resembled a swimming pool hence the man jumped from a four-storied building into the water,” narrated Ajwani. While visuals of a man diving into floodwater were played, a ticker on the screen read, “पाकिस्तान सरकार की पोल खुली” which roughly translates to “Pakistan government exposed” in English. The same video was picked up by The Times of India on September 1 with the same claim that it’s from Karachi. A day after the show was aired, Twitter user Shahnawaz Ansari took to the micro-blogging platform to inform that News18 India ran a three-day-old video of his brother’s friend “Bhura Bhai” from Indore as Pakistan. ये 3 दिन पहले की इंदौर की वीडियो है, जिसमे मेरे जानने वाले भाई के एक दोस्त "भूरा भाई" बारिश के पानी छत कूदकर गोता लगा रहे हैं। देश की गोदी मीडिया NEWS18 इंडिया ने भूरा भाई की इस वीडियो को, कराची पाकिस्तान का बताकर न्यूज़ चला दी है।@RoflGandhi_ pic.twitter.com/y6Wo2JsW0z — Shahnawaz Ansari (@shanu_sab) August 26, 2020 Alt News spoke with Ansari who connected us with Jafar, popularly known as “Bhura Bhai” in his locality. “That’s me in the video News18 aired as scenes from Pakistan. I had jumped into the water after we heard that a teenaged boy was drowning. But he was already rescued by the municipal corporation by the time I plunged into the water,” said Jafar. He also sent us the original footage of the clip aired by News18. The incident took place in Sikandrabad Colony and a mosque’s minaret is visible in both clips—the one aired by News18 (left) and the original sent by Jafar (right). Jafar informed that the mosque is Sikandrabad Masjid located in the same colony. The Google Maps screenshot below shows that the mosque is barely 50 metres from Sikandrabad Colony. The area floods almost every year during the monsoons as the Sirpur Lake, located about 5.5 km from the colony, overflows due to incessant rains. Jafar sent us another clip where he is diving into the water from a different building. He jumped a second time to show that the location is the same. News18 India, therefore, picked up a video from Madhya Pradesh and aired it claiming a man dived into floodwaters in Pakistan’s Karachi to send a message to PM Imran Khan for his ‘failure’ to tackle flooding in the country. The man had jumped into the water in Indore’s Sikandrabad Colony to save a drowning boy. [Update: On September 2, four days after this fact-check was published, The Times of India also carried the video claiming it’s from Pakistan.] Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	28th August 2020 / 2:55 pm / Last updated: 3rd September 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-india-airs-video-from-indore-as-man-jumping-into-floodwater-in-pakistan/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,078	News18 joins social media in sharing false news: Old video claimed as 'live murder' in Meerut - Alt News Jignesh Patel 25th October 2019 / 8:36 pm / Last updated: 1st November 2019 On October 22, News18 Uttar Pradesh tweeted about a video supposedly viral on social media. The channel said that, in the clip, one can hear a blizzard of gunshots piercing through the dead and SSP Meerut Ajay Sahani has stated that the video will be investigated – “मेरठ- लाइव मर्डर का वीडियो वायरल ताबड़तोड़ गोलियों की गूंज से मेरठ में मची है सनसनी .. .. !मृतक को एक के बाद एक गोलियों से छलनी किया गया .. .. !सोशल मीडिया पर जमकर वायरल हुआ है वीडियो .. .. !एसएसपी अजय साहनी ने वीडियो की जांच कराने की बात कही है .” A few users on Facebook and Twitter shared the same message as News18 while posting a gory video of armed men firing multiple gunshots at a person lying supine on the ground. On October 24, Times of India reported that Meerut police has lodged an FIR against those who had uploaded an 18-month-old clip supposedly shot in Kenya. According to the report, an FIR has been registered under IPC sections 505 [2] for publication or circulation of rumour and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act. The report further stated, “no action has been taken against the channel so far”. Meerut police had tweeted that the video is not from the district. उपरोक्त प्रकरण जनपद मेरठ से सम्बन्धित नही है, कृपया किस जनपद से सम्बन्धित है अवगत करायें। — MEERUT POLICE (@meerutpolice) October 22, 2019 With the help of Invid, Alt News broke the video into multiple frames and found that the video has existed on the internet at least since November 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjS7WbyCzYA The video shared on social media is 26 seconds long, whereas the clip posted above is an extended version of 57 seconds. French television station France 24 had debunked this video in March 2017 when it was viral with the claim that it depicted xenophobic attacks in South Africa. “It was published in November 2015 on YouTube (and has since been taken down). In the video some words of Portuguese can be heard and it has appeared on several user accounts based in Brazil, suggesting that it is another video of score-settling, but this time in a favela in Rio.”, reported France 24. Mexican news website Periódico e-consulta published an article on November 26, 2015, which also stated that the video is from Brazil. While Alt News could not independently verify the location, it is certain that the video is not from India. In conclusion, a video supposedly from Brazil, as per foreign media, was shared with the false narrative that it depicted a gruesome murder in Meerut. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th October 2019 / 8:36 pm / Last updated: 1st November 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-joins-social-media-in-sharing-false-news-old-video-claimed-as-live-murder-in-meerut/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,079	News18 Kannda uses 2019 image from Bihar floods as aftermath of recent Mumbai rains - Alt News Archit 23rd July 2021 / 7:01 pm The ongoing monsoons have caused havoc across the country. Several cities have flooded due to heavy rainfall and as per the July 23 forecast by India Meteorological Department, heavy or extremely heavy rainfalls can be witnessed in multiple states. The death toll in Maharashtra’s Raigad district rose to 36 due to landslides caused by incessant rainfall. Mumbai is also experiencing a heavy downpour. Several trains were cancelled or diverted for safety. On July 18, News18 Kannada posted an image of coats inside a store filled with muddy water. The caption of the image read, “120mm of rain in Mumbai in the last 12 hours. Heavy rains are expected in two days, the Met Department said.” The image has also been shared on Twitter with the claim it’s from Mumbai. (1,2,3) You can imagine what havoc the rain is causing in #Mumbai .#MumbaiRainUpdate #MumbaiRains Weather 😑 pic.twitter.com/jGdTn2qljt — Khan Arshad (@RealAtmnirbhar) July 18, 2021 Similarly, a Facebook user also posted the image in question with the same claim. Alt News performed a reverse image search and found that the image is three years old and is from Patna, Bihar. According to a September 2019 report by Nai Dunia the image is from a Raymond showroom located at Hathwa Market. The store was flooded after the city received 158 mm of rain in the span of 24 hours. YouTube channels Live Cities Media Private Limited and NMF News showed other images from the showroom. ANI uploaded a video of dewatering machines trying to clear waterlogging in Patna’s SK Puri area. News18 Kannada posted an image from the 2019 monsoons in Patna while reporting the 2021 monsoon in Mumbai. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	23rd July 2021 / 7:01 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-kannda-uses-2019-image-from-bihar-floods-as-aftermath-of-recent-mumbai-rains/", "author": "Archit" }
2,080	News18 misreports SAARC and other nations join PM Modi-led effort to switch off lights, light candles - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 6th April 2020 / 9:41 pm / Last updated: 15th April 2020 In an April 5 broadcast, News18 India reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to switch off lights and ignite diyas received support from across the world. Apart from SAARC countries, Japan, Australia and several other nations, also participated in the feat – the channel asserted as ‘breaking news’. PM Modi had appealed that every citizen lights a diya, candle or a torch at 9 pm on April 5 for nine minutes to ‘dispel’ the darkness caused by the coronavirus pandemic. While his request was met with resounding support within the country (with many partaking in mini-Diwali celebrations), News18 India declared that the activity was a global success. #BREAKING– PM मोदी की 9 बजे 9 मिनट के लिए लाइट बंद करने की अपील, दुनिया के कई देश आए PM के समर्थन में@PrashantChurhe pic.twitter.com/hAVtlacUTh — News18 India (@News18India) April 5, 2020 News18 India’s claim that countries across the world joined India in switching off lights and lighting candles is a gross misinterpretation of the actual news. Zee Media – Zee News and WION – had reported that they had reached out to foreign missions of SAARC countries and non-South Asian regions as well, who expressed solidarity for PM Modi’s appeal. A foreign mission is a diplomat who represents the interests of a country abroad. Foreign missions of namely Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Vietnam, Japan, Australia, Israel, German, Tunisia and Mexico told Zee Media that they would participate in the activity. “Several foreign missions have come out in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call of solidarity by switching off lights and lighting up diyas, candles and torches at 9 pm on Sunday night at mission offices and residences of diplomats,” reported Zee News. Below is a tweet by Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong. Light a Diya to stand in solidarity with people of #India in the fight against #COVID19. Pay tribute to all medical workers. At this difficult time, #Chinese & Indian people are standing together through thick & thin. Wish India an early victory against the epidemic. #9pm9minute pic.twitter.com/2h9pp7O21d — Sun Weidong (@China_Amb_India) April 5, 2020 Nepal’s envoy Nilamber Acharya told WION, “We, Nepal and India, are all in full solidarity in this fight against COVID-19 pandemic.” Furthermore, Afghan Envoy Tahir Qadiry also confirmed his participation to Zee News: “I will be switching off lights and lighting a candle at 9 pm tonight for 9 minutes to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to showcase our solidarity and our concerted efforts in a battle against the coronavirus pandemic.” CNN News18, which is the English sister channel of News18 India, also claimed that SAARC countries, barring Pakistan, and other friendly countries like Israel and Japan participated in the effort led by PM Modi. Ironically, while the broadcast was a misreport, the tweet put out by the channel rightly mentioned “many other missions”. To reiterate, nations across the world did not join India in the switching off lights and igniting candles on April 5 but foreign mission took part in the activity. This means that diplomats and ambassadors of different countries to India participated at mission offices and residences as a friendly gesture to show solidarity with India. During its 4 pm bulletin on April 6, New18 India carried a clarification stating that the channel erroneously referred to embassies as countries. The relevant section of the broadcast can be watched below. [This report was updated on April 13, 2020 with News18’s clarification.] Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	6th April 2020 / 9:41 pm / Last updated: 15th April 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-misreports-saarc-and-other-nations-join-pm-modi-led-effort-to-switch-off-lights-light-candles/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,081	News18 misreports scuffle between police and locals in Kurla as cops manhandled after namaz - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 3rd May 2020 / 1:08 pm / Last updated: 3rd May 2020 During the May 1 broadcast of News18 Hindi’s debate show ‘Aar Paar’, moderator Amish Devgan played a video of an altercation between locals in a Muslim-dominated area in Kurla Pipe Road and Mumbai police. “There is big news coming from Kurla. A huge crowd has assembled from the mosque after namaz. The police was manhandled when they reached the area. We are showing you these visuals…” said Devgan, 33 minutes into the broadcast. News18 had also tweeted the said portion of the broadcast claiming that police was manhandled in Mumbai’s Kurla while dispersing a crowd that emerged from a mosque. The tweet was later taken down. The clip is floating on social media with the same claim. One Yana Mir on Twitter claimed that the police was abused because they stopped locals from offering Friday prayers. The sheer misbehavior with police is shocking! Man Arguing with cops and later abusing them bcoz of Friday prayers in Kurla Mumbai.. pic.twitter.com/N5rOJA878J — Yana Mir یانا میر (@MirYanaSY) May 1, 2020 A Facebook user Kanchan Gaikwad wrote, “Kurla for friday namaz.” Kurla for friday namaz Niket Aggarwal Posted by Kanchan Gaikwad on Friday, 1 May 2020 Alt News reached out to Mumbai police and was sent a press release dated May 2, 2020. According to the press release, the incident occurred on Wednesday, April 29. This debunks the first part of the claim that “Friday prayers” led to the scuffle. The press release says that sub-inspector Kakasaheb Nagwe and his team was patrolling in Kurla Pipe Road when Rizwan Zuber Memon alias Rizwan Tunda began abusing them from the second floor of a building. He asked the cops to not shut down shops in the locality. Rizwan claimed that he works with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and threatened the policemen of getting them fired from their jobs. A crowd gathered due to the commotion and Rizwan fled the scene. An FIR was filed against him under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Disaster Management Act and Maharashtra COVID-19 Prevention Measures. Therefore, the second claim that the altercation was between worshippers exiting a mosque and the police is also false. This was also pointed out by Twitter user @adil14384. According to ANI, the police is yet to arrest the accused. PTI also covered the incident. Ironically, its feed, which has no mention of ‘Friday prayers’ or ‘mosque’, was republished by News18. The report quotes an official saying, “The incident took place in Bafati Lane on Pipe Road when a police team led by a sub-inspector asked locals to adhere to the lockdown rules.” News18 anchor Amish Devgan falsely claimed during a broadcast that policemen were manhandled in Kurla, Mumbai while attempting to disperse a crowd gathered at a mosque during the lockdown. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd May 2020 / 1:08 pm / Last updated: 3rd May 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-misreports-scuffle-between-police-and-locals-in-kurla-as-cops-manhandled-after-namaz/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,082	News18 shares video of giant snake caught in crane as Jharkhand; video not from India - Alt News Archit 26th October 2021 / 2:08 pm / Last updated: 26th October 2021 A video of a giant snake captured by a crane is widely circulating online. Facebook news page KohramLive, with about one lakh followers, posted the video with the caption, “OMG! Had to bring a JCB to capture such a huge snake…” [इतना बड़ा सांप, उठाने के लिए लगाना पड़ा JCB…] on October 17. The video gained over two million views. The video was also shared by News18 Virals on YouTube on the same day with the claim that it is from Jharkhand’s Dhanbad region. Since then, it has pulled close to three lakh views. News18 has, in fact, shared the video on all its Facebook pages – News18 India, News18 Haryana, News18 Jharkhand, News18 Himachal, News18 Hindi, News18 Madhya Pradesh, News18 Rajasthan, News18 Bihar and News18 Uttar Pradesh. Other media outlets that posted this video with the same claim were NDTV, Zee News, TV9 Bangla, Live Hindustan, OdiaKhabar24. Andhra Pradesh MP for YSR Congress Party Parimal Nathwani posted this video with the same claim. Massive! It took a crane to shift this #python weighing 100 kg and measuring 6.1 m length, in Dhanbad, Jharkhand. #nature #wildlife #snakes #forests #India @wwfindia @natgeoindia pic.twitter.com/nZMNUtLkbv — Parimal Nathwani (@mpparimal) October 18, 2021 A week later News18, News18 Kannada, and News18 Hindi published the same video stating it’s from a rainforest in the Caribbean. It was also published by Republic, Aaj Tak Bangla and TV9 Marathi. We found that the viral video has been shared with various claims suggesting it’s from Indonesia, Dominica and Brazil. On October 12, Ecuador-based Facebook page Amazonía Informa also uploaded the video but without offering context. A Facebook user claimed it is from Dominica, an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. A few days later, around October 20, UK-based news outlets Metro and Sun and New York Post from the US published reports claiming the video is from Dominica. On October 20, Brazil-based newspaper ‘A Tribuna‘ reported that the video was circulating among internet users in Baixada Santista, a metropolitan area located in São Paulo. But the authorities denied it was from the area. The report added that various sources claimed that video is from their locality in the United States, China and Thailand. On October 15, a post on Reddit stated the video is from Indonesia. This video has been viewed over million times. Around October 12, Indonesia-based media outlet Merdeka credited an Indonesia-based Instagram page @fakta.indo for the video. The page had posted it on October 11 with an Indonesian caption that claimed a 10-metre long python was found in a forest. The video was also uploaded by several Malaysian YouTube channels such as Harian Semasa (October 12) and KawKaw Channel in two parts Part 1 (October 11) and Part 2 (October 12). As per both, the incident happened in Tanah Merah District of Kelantan state in Malaysia. Both the channels have attributed their video to the TikTok account fakrulazawa with over 350,000 followers. Alt News accessed TikTok using a VPN since it’s banned in India and found that multiple users had posted this video around October 11 (1, 2, 3) along with a caption in Malay, an Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore and unofficially spoken in East Timor and parts of Thailand. User fakrulazawa posted a video on October 10, the earliest iteration of the viral video that we found. It gained over 5 million likes. On October 23 the account became inaccessible; presumably deleted. We also noticed that @fakrulazwa had uploaded a longer one-minute video of the same incident. It showed the men from viral video transferring the snake from a cage to a car with the number plate DAG 3733. The account was taken down before we could take a screenshot. However, segments from the longer video can be seen in a New York Post article. Audio analysis of the viral video At the 12-second mark in the viral video, we can hear a local person speak. We spoke with 33-year old Mohd Shahrul Effendy, a resident of the Malayasian state Negeri Sembilan. He is an employee at the country’s Ministry of Works. He informed, “At the 12-second mark, the phrase “kemana itu” in Indonesian which translates to “where to go” in English can be heard. Tanah Merah area is known to have many Indonesian nationals living and working in the forest near Kelantan. The person in the video seems to be reacting to the snake trying to look for a way out while trapped between the jaws of the crane.” Referring to the longer video by Harina Semasa, he said, “In this video, Malaysian dialect can also be heard.” Upon asking about the vehicle registration, Effendy added, “DAG 3733 is a cent per cent from Kelantan state in Malaysia,” adding that number plates registered in Kelantan begin with ‘D’. We checked the latest vehicle registration number in the state (as of October 25, 2021) on the official portal of the road transport department of Malaysia and found that it began with a ‘D’. Thus, the video was shared on social media globally with various claims about its location. Our research points that the video was most likely shot in Kelantan, Malaysia. It was picked up by News18 and several other outlets which falsely claimed the incident took place in Jharkhand. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	26th October 2021 / 2:08 pm / Last updated: 26th October 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news18-shares-video-of-giant-snake-caught-in-crane-as-jharkhand-video-not-from-india/", "author": "Archit" }
2,083	News24 airs 2015 video of port explosion in China as Russia bombing Ukraine - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 24th February 2022 / 7:29 pm / Last updated: 25th February 2022 Amidst Russia’s ongoing military operations in Ukraine, a video of an explosion has been linked to the crisis. Viral claims suggest that the video shows Russia bombing Ukraine. We are very concerned for Ukraine. The sad thing is that whenever innocent people of a peaceful country are killed in war what is their fault, then it seems that human life has no value#worldwar3#RussiaUkraineConflict pic.twitter.com/HOxq6rfqJY — Ukraine News update (@Senju_hyuga) February 24, 2022 The video was picked up by Hindi news channel News24. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbHXhUDcYD4?start=160] The same video was part of another News24 broadcast where it was again played as heavy “bombing” in Ukraine by Russia. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIuirQBzMlE?start=48] We broke down the viral video into keyframes and ran one of the stills through Google reverse image search. This led us to various news reports about a port explosion in China in 2015. We checked a news broadcast by CBS and noticed some similarities to the viral video. Taking this broadcast as a clue, we performed a keyword search on YouTube and came across the full video on BBC News’s YouTube channel. The video was recorded by an American tourist named Dan Van Duren. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=993wlZ6XFSs] Hence, a video of an explosion in China in 2015 was part of News24’s broadcast of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. News24 has aired multiple instances of misinformation on the Ukraine crisis that can be read here and here. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th February 2022 / 7:29 pm / Last updated: 25th February 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news24-airs-2015-video-of-port-explosion-in-china-as-russia-bombing-ukraine/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
2,084	News24 shares old broadcast of namaz at Jama Masjid multiple times to portray mass gathering - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 18th April 2020 / 6:08 pm / Last updated: 18th April 2020 On Friday, April 17, Hindi media outlet News24 shared a video on Facebook titled, “कोरोना ने बदला इबादत की तरीका,दिल्ली के जामा मस्जिद का माहौल क्या है?” This translates to – “Cororna has changed the ways of worship, what is the atmosphere in Delhi’s Jama Masjid?” The broadcast started with the anchor informing that the coronavirus scare has caused Islamic nations across the world to alter the ways of offering prayers. “People are being advised to offer namaz at home. But today we are at Delhi’s Jama Masjid and here Friday namaz is being offered as usual.” The channel gave its viewers the impression that worshippers gathered at the mosque on Friday despite the lockdown imposed due to coronavirus pandemic. News24 took down the video after it was pointed out that the broadcast was over a month old. It was first aired on March 13. In its response, the channel claimed that an “old video was shared by mistake” and that it can assure its users that this was “totally unintentional”. Dear Zubair, this old video was shared by mistake and was taken down as soon as the mistake was realised. We can assure you and all our followers that this was totally unintentional. — Corona Warrior News24 India (@news24tvchannel) April 17, 2020 However, several people downloaded the video and shared it on social media, believing that it is recent. The channel claimed that it made a genuine mistake. But did it really? News24 wasn’t lying that the broadcast was first aired on March 13. However, it is difficult to believe that sharing the clip on April 17 was an inadvertent error when this was the third time that the same broadcast was uploaded after its initial airing. The channel had also shared the broadcast on March 19 and on April 1. News24 conveniently misled its audience that worshippers unfazed by the coronavirus outbreak were gathering in large numbers at Delhi Jama Masjid, putting themselves and everybody else at risk. Below is the broadcast in question. On the initial date of upload – March 13 – coronavirus had not gained centre stage in mainstream media reports. In fact, the Union Ministry of Health had declared that it wasn’t a health emergency. However, by March 19, when the channel reuploaded the broadcast for the first time, the Delhi government had banned all social, political and religious gatherings of more than 50 people. On April 1, when the video was reshared for the second time, the centre had announced a nationwide lockdown to tackle coronavirus. On April 17, as the channel uploaded it once again (and later took it down), the discourse around coronavirus had already taken an anti-Muslim shape after Nizamuddin Markaz was identified as a hotspot. News24’s broadcast has a cumulative view count of over 6 million. News24 has put out a clarification for the April 17 ‘mistake’ (sans an apology). But it would be interesting to find out its justification for reuploading the video on the two previous occasions. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	18th April 2020 / 6:08 pm / Last updated: 18th April 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/news24-shares-old-broadcast-of-namaz-at-jama-masjid-multiple-times-to-portray-mass-gathering/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,085	Morphed newspaper clipping claims Tablighi Jamaat's Maulana Saad donated Rs 1 crore to PM CARES fund - Alt News Kinjal 8th April 2020 / 4:08 pm As the coronavirus pandemic has caused an economic crisis in India, multiple individuals came forward to donate money in the PM-CARES fund which has reportedly raised Rs 6,500 crore since it was set up on March 28. Social media is ripe with several claims about prominent industrialists and personalities pledging huge sums of money for the fight against coronavirus. Now, a newspaper’s front page image is getting shared on social media. It includes a news clipping which says that Maulana Saad has donated Rs 1 crore to the PM relief fund. The clipping is dated March 30, 2020. It is being claimed when Saad was asked about the pledge he said Islam doesn’t allow showing off the donation. Maulana Saad, formerly known as Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, is the chief of Tablighi Jamaat Markaz. He has been in the news after a religious gathering organized at Delhi’s Nizamuddin was identified as a hotspot of coronavirus. An FIR has been lodged against Saad and five others for violating the lockdown. On April 6, the Crime Branch of Delhi had issued a second notice to Saad after it reportedly deemed his response to the first notice “unsatisfactory”. Importantly, the report is seen beside the news of Azim Premji foundation committing Rs 1,125 crore for tackling coronavirus. Twitter user Asgar Qureshi tweeted the clipping and said, “Maulana Saad had donated Rs 1 crore to the PM relief fund. (translated)”. The same image is also viral on Twitter and Facebook. Alt News has received several requests on its official android application to fact-check the viral clipping. With a keyword search of the headline seen below the said news clipping, Alt News found an article published by BBC News on June 6, 2019. Northern Ireland daily The News Letter’s front-page photograph was published along with this article. A comparison of the viral front page of The News Letter with the one published by BBC reveals that the news clipping of Maulana Saad donating Rs 1 crore has been edited into the original photo. Furthermore, the news about Azim Premji foundation pledging money and “Corona virus havoc in Spain” has been morphed into the front page to give the impression that it is genuine and recent. The original copy of the newspaper is dated June 6, 2019. In conclusion, a news clipping was manufactured to claim that Tablighi Jamaat Markaz chief Maulana Saad donated Rs 1 crore to Prime Minister Modi COVID-19 relief fund. This news clipping was later morphed into an older front-page of the newspaper The News Letter to inject credibility to the claim. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th April 2020 / 4:08 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/newspaper-clip-morphed-to-claim-that-maulana-saad-has-donated-rs-1-crore-to-the-pm-relief-fund/", "author": "Kinjal" }
2,086	NewsX, Jansatta join social media in rumor-mongering over Irrfan Khan’s health - Alt News Alt News Desk 8th March 2018 / 1:42 pm Ever since Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan tweeted that he has been diagnosed with a rare disease, rumour mills have been working overtime to speculate about his health. Khan had requested his fans not to speculate as he will himself share the story once the further investigations come up with a conclusive diagnosis. Social media did exactly the opposite of what Khan requested and at least one mainstream media joined in to fuel speculation about his health. What was so far a social media rumor was circulated further by NewsX by adding disclaimers like, “it is rumoured”, “if latest reports are to be believed” and “we don’t confirm any such news”. 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/JXD8NKwH3D — Irrfan (@irrfank) March 5, 2018 Soon after Khan’s tweet, a screenshot has been doing the rounds on Whatsapp. Posted like a news item without giving the link or the source, the screenshot diagnoses Khan with a deadly cancer. NewsX initially published a story with the headline “Unconfirmed reports suggest Irrfan Khan has brain cancer; fans shocked, prayers pour in from all over the world”. On the lines of the Whatsapp screenshot, the article went on to diagnose the cancer as Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) Grade IV, also called ‘death on diagnosis’. Adding the rider, “If the latest reports are to be believed” the news site stated that “Irrfan had been having convulsion attacks along with slurring of speech due which he had to be admitted into the Hospital immediately.” The second version of the NewsX story added additional details of Khan being admitted to Kokilaben Hospital under a new headline, “Irrfan Khan is rumoured to have been diagnosed with Brain Cancer; admitted in Kokilaben Hospital.” Taking words circulating on a WhatsApp rumor, the news site added, “The tumor has been identified as ‘death on diagnosis’ as death becomes certain once the diagnosis is confirmed. The aggressiveness of the tumor is believed to be very high. However, the doctors need to go for a needle biopsy to ascertain the exact nature of the tumour. According to latest reports, Irrfan Khan will be going through a chemo coupled with Radiation Therapy. The final decision will only be made after the reports of biopsy are finally out.” At the end of the article, it added “NewsX has no confirmed medical reports but the latest reports circulating on the internet suggest the same.” After it emerged that news about Irrfan Khan’s health was untrue, NewsX amended its story one more time. The latest headline of the News X story chose to stick closer to the fact from Irrfan Khan’s tweet, stating that “Irrfan Khan reveals he has a rare disease” This time NewsX story shared the screenshot of the social media rumor stating that “There are some unconfirmed claims on the internet which are floating around. One of such screenshots is given below, we don’t confirm any such news and we wish Irrfan Khan a speedy recovery.” Apart from NewsX, several Hindi publications have also carried the unverified news about ‘cancer’ and ‘death on diagnosis’. Jansatta, a prominent Hindi publication reported that Irrfan Khan is suffering from a serious illness and has been admitted to Kokilaben Hospital. The article quoted the report of a publication called ‘Bollywood Life’ for this news. Catch News Hindi reported that Irrfan Khan had been admitted to the hospital due to serious illness. As regards the situation regarding Khan’s health, officials at Kokilaben Hospital have confirmed to PTI that Khan is not admitted there. Khan’s team also refuted that he is admitted in a hospital and declined to comment if he had cancer. Komal Nahta, a film trade analyst tweeted that Khan is in Delhi and news relating to his hospitalisation is fake. Although IrrfanKhan is unwell, all malicious news being spread about him and his condition since an hour or two are untrue. Likewise, all other horrendous news relating to his hospitalisation are fake. By God’s grace, Irrfan is in Delhi and that’s the only truth. — Komal Nahta (@KomalNahta) March 6, 2018 The rumor mongering about Irrfan Khan’s health comes at a time when Indian media is already under fire for its over the top coverage of Sridevi’s death. Khan’s request asking his fans not to speculate about his health has fallen on deaf ears. Social media as usual took the lead in rumor-mongering but it is unfortunate to see a section of mainstream media join in as well. Follow @free_thinker Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th March 2018 / 1:42 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/newsx-jansatta-join-social-media-in-rumor-mongering-over-irrfan-khans-health/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
2,087	NewsX posed journalists as students during a debate on anti-CAA protests - Alt News Archit 26th December 2019 / 8:28 pm / Last updated: 27th December 2019 On December 19, NewsX conducted a debate on the nationwide student protest against Citizens Amendment Act (CAA). The 57-minute debate, titled ‘Young students on CAA, Let’s solve this CAA Warzone’ is available on YouTube. On December 20, Twitter user @theotherdemon02 alleged that NewsX posed some of its journalists as students during the show. “ANI moment for #NewsX channel. NewsX panel posts own journalists as students, 4 of the 6 people on the panel are from the channel, and speaking against the interest of real students,” he wrote. ANI moment for #NewsX channel. NewsX panel posts own journalists as students, 4 of the 6 people on the panel are from the channel, and speaking against the interest of real students. Pls investigate @zoo_bear @free_thinker Full link here. 😂 https://t.co/CFI0QU7gNq pic.twitter.com/MpmDTLx7BN — Panpompur (@theotherdemon02) December 19, 2019 Alt News reached out to a former NewsX employee (identity concealed at request) who could immediately identify two guests on the panel as current journalists with the channel – Arshiya Bhalla and Srishti Goel. According to the source, both Arshiya and Shristi work for NewsX digital team. While introducing the panellists, anchor Devika Chopra said, “…I have with me, several students in the studio right now…” As a result, the viewers were likely to believe that all the guests on the show were students. The second “guest” was Arshiya Bhalla. While introducing her at 5:20, Chopra said, “Arshiya Bhalla also joins us…” NewsX subsequently introduced her as a student at 5:54. However, later in video Bhalla was addressed as a ‘professional’ or ‘young professional.’ As per Bhalla’s comments during the show, it seems she doesn’t approve the protests. Her last words on the debate appropriated the PM’s statement – “identify people from their clothes.” [Translated from – कपड़ों से पहचानो] At 8.30, Devika Chopra introduced the third “guest” Shristi Goel. “I also have Shristi Goel who is a Jamia student with me on the broadcast,” the anchor stated. At 8:39, Goel opened her statements with, “First of all, as you said I’m a Jamia student…” and expressed her views on the anti-CAA protest in the varsity. On-screen, NewsX introduced Goel for the first time at 10:12 as a ‘Jamia student.’ Just like Bhalla, in the latter part of the show, Goel was addressed as a ‘professional’ or a ‘young professional.’ Goel came across as a person who believes in citizens’ right to protest. She also expressed concerns with NRC, however, said that the government should have been prepared like they were with Kashmir. Update: Another “guest” on the show ‘Adarsh’ was introduced by Devika Chopra at 15:54. He too was identified as a student via an on-screen graphic at 16:22 and subsequently referred as a student throughout the length of the debate. Adarsh opened his statements by saying, “I believe there is a problem on both sides..” however condemned the discriminatory nature of the law and police excess. Alt News found Arshiya Bhalla and Srishti Goel anchoring a segment for NewsX YouTube live on December 22. Bhalla can be seen on ‘Bigg Boss 13 Live : Weekend Ka Vaar – Episode – 82‘. According to her Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, she currently works at NewsX. Both Bhalla and Goel have author profiles on the NewsX website. It is noteworthy that Goel was first identified as ‘Sristi’ (refer to screenshot 2) but the channel later changed the spelling to ‘Shristi’ (at 14:50), which matches with her spelling on NewsX website. Goel can be seen anchoring ‘Bigg Boss 13 Live : 17th December Full Episode‘ for NewsX. Adarsh’s full name is Adarsh Shukla. He is a journalist with inKhabar which is a part of India News. Both NewsX and inKhabar are managed by the same parent organisation ITV Network. Alt News found Shukla anchoring a show for inKhabar– ‘Vashishtha Narayan Singh Death, जिन्हें नाज़ है हिंद पर वो कहां हैं? \| India News’ – on November 14. Shukla also has an author profile on inKhabar’s website which addresses him as the chief sub-editor. The last report under his byline was published on December 23. NewsX, therefore, placed at least three journalists as students during a discussion on protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. While Arshiya Bhalla and Srishti Goel are associated with NewsX digital, Adarsh Shukla is a journalist with inKhabar. The debate, broadcast as ‘Hear the students’, had individuals from the parent organisation ITV Network posing as student voices on the controversial legislation. Alt News tried contacting NewsX via text, email and phone but we are yet to get a response. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	26th December 2019 / 8:28 pm / Last updated: 27th December 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/newsx-posed-its-journalists-as-students-during-a-debate-on-anti-caa-protests/", "author": "Archit" }
2,088	Nexus between slaughter houses and Ahmedabad based Akhil Bharatiya Sarvdaliya Gauraksha Mahaabhiyan Samiti uncovered - Alt News Alt News Desk 7th May 2017 / 12:06 am A nexus between the slaughter houses and Akhil Bharatiya Sarvdaliya Gauraksha Mahaabhiyan Samiti, Ahmedabad, has been uncovered. A truck full of cows and calves was seized from ‘Golden Chowkdi’, Vadodara by police based on a tip received by Animal Welfare worker Jatin Vyas. The cows and the calves were sent from the Shrinathji Gaushala – Ahmedabad via Vadodara to a slaughter house outside Gujarat with the permit papers signed by Babu Desai, the National President of a Gauraksha organisation. The so called gau-rakshak was found allegedly involved in the process of sending cows to the slaughter houses. The Animal Welfare Officer of Animal Welfare Board, India and resident of New VIP Road, Vadoodara, Jatin Jitendra Vyas had received the information that a truck filled with cows and calves was being sent to a slaughter house outside Gujarat in the name of transferring the animals to a ‘Panjarapol’ (animal shelter) outside Gujarat and possible involvement of Babu Desai. He got information from a reliable source that on evening of 2 May, truck, no. GJ-24 V 8851 is dispatched. Hence, he immediately informed the local police officials. The Harni area police station arranged a watch on Golden Chowkdi, and caught the mentioned truck when it passed. When, police and the Animal Welfare volunteers checked the truck, they found 12 cows and calves tightly bonded with rope. There was no arrangement for food or water for the animals. Police arrested truck driver, Ibrahim Sahebkhan Sindhi(Res. Rangrej Pol, Mahesana) and Narayan Harji Rabari(Res. Ramnagar Society, Visnagar). Upon scrutiny, Police found that they were taking the animals to Bharuch based slaughter-house owned by a guy named Ismail. Police also found a letter-pad signed by Babu Desai, where it was written that the animals are being taken to an animal shelter in Maharashtra. Babu Desai is also said to have taken permission from Krushnanangar police station, Ahmedabad and the local RTO, where he stated that he is donating 7 cows from his Shrinathji Gaushala, Nava Naroda to an animal shelter in Samrala, Maharshtra. Babu Desai allegedly collects cows from Gujarat based various municipalities and corporations run animal shelters for his Shrinathji Gaushala and later sells the cows to slaughter houses. He also collects donations for his Gaushala in name of feeding and taking care of the cows, while charging money from municipalities and corporations for transporting the cows. Harni Police, Vadodara arrested three persons including the President Babu Karsanbhai Desai along with the driver and the Cleaner of the truck under the Animal Cruelty Act. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th May 2017 / 12:06 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/nexus-slaughter-houses-ahmedabad-based-akhil-bharatiya-sarvdaliya-gauraksha-mahaabhiyan-samiti-uncovered/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
2,089	Nine children killed by speeding car. How did media cover Muzaffarpur tragedy? - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 27th February 2018 / 3:58 pm Nine children were killed and 24 injured when a speeding vehicle slammed into a school at Muzaffarpur in Bihar on February 24. This shocking incident was the main talking point for political parties, as the accused is alleged to be a BJP worker. #SpotVisuals: Nine students dead, 24 injured after a vehicle rammed into a school building in #Bihar‘s Muzaffarpur pic.twitter.com/n8E4UNwY8R — ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2018 Alt News looked at the coverage by television news channels and newspapers for English and Hindi to see whether the issue made it to the prime time slot and the front page. We looked at the prime time coverage for February 24 and February 25. For newspapers, we looked at the Sunday edition i.e. February 25, a day after the incident. Here is what we found. ENGLISH TV NEWS CHANNELS Times Now For Times Now, the news of the nine slain children was not as important as Mani Shankar Aiyar. The favourite punching bag of mainstream TV news channels was once again on air on Saturday, the day the tragedy occurred. I’ve known him for 50 years since we were undergraduates. He’s a brilliant person: Sumanth C Raman, Political Analyst from #AiyarSecretMeetTape pic.twitter.com/iMbJg3rN85 — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 24, 2018 #AiyarSecretMeetTape was the hashtag for the show by senior anchor Rahul Shivshankar at 8 pm. The other topic was on the recent bank scam. On Sunday i.e. February 25, a day after the incident, the channel focused on Sridevi. The channel however did cover the news even though it may not have made it to the prime time slot. The focus on the story did not wane the day after and in fact picked up momentum. 53 hours after Muzaffarpur tragic road accident which killed 9 children, Bihar Police is yet to arrest BJP leader Manoj Baitha. @roypranesh speaks with Muzaffarpur SP Vivek Kumar #ArrestHitAndRunBJPNeta pic.twitter.com/B4H2TimSen — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 26, 2018 Republic TV For Republic TV, the most important story on February 24 was singer Papon who landed in controversy after a video of him kissing a minor was broadcast. #ArrestPapon was the hashtag for the channel, which also went on to conduct a Twitter poll on the same with the question: Should ‘pervert’ Papon be arrested? Republic TV on February 26 i.e. two days after the incident reported on the FIR filed against the accused BJP leader Manoj Baitha and kept the heat on him. #BJPNetaHitAndRun \| The BJP leader, who is named in the FIR for mowing down 9 children, is abscondinghttps://t.co/Ztxy9O7pA3 — Republic (@republic) February 26, 2018 India Today India Today did report the story as and when it happened on the 24th, and the channel presented a ground report from Muzaffarpur that detailed the incident. 9 innocent children lost their lives in a tragic accident in Muzaffarpur. Know more about this accident in this report by @rohit_manas.#ReporterDiary Watch more videos at https://t.co/Nounxo6IKQ pic.twitter.com/NogP1V5Prl — India Today (@IndiaToday) February 24, 2018 For the prime time slot on Feb 24 and Feb 25, the channel focused on the bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan and Sridevi respectively. Anchor Gaurav Sawant on his show #IndiaFirst conducted a debate on Indo-Pak relations with the question ‘Is it time for India to cut off all sports, cultural connections with Pakistan?’. Is it time for India to cut off all sports, cultural connections with Pakistan?#IndiaFirst with @gauravcsawant@JaiveerShergill@SudhanshuTrived Watch full weekend special show https://t.co/JI3pfopiAzpic.twitter.com/UtN9rQfaST — India Today (@IndiaToday) February 24, 2018 NDTV NDTV reported the news on the day the incident occurred. The channel kept up its coverage and came out with a series of reports on the tragedy. Overall, the news was given a degree of prominence. BJP suspends Bihar leader accused of running over 9 children with his SUV https://t.co/ODvykZhOvZ pic.twitter.com/rjEcVsITvY — NDTV (@ndtv) February 27, 2018 CNN News18 CNN News18 did a ground report on the story wherein its reporter spoke to the families of the slain children. The channel also made it a talking point in its prime time slot with the 10 pm slot on February 26, targeting the Nitish Kumar led state government. .@BJP4India neta mows down 9 children in Bihar; 24 hours on, ‘killer’ neta still on the run. ‘Sushasan Babu’ @nitishkumar‘s ‘political duplicity’ exposed. Watch #Epicentre with @maryashakil at 10pm; tweet using #BJPKillerNeta pic.twitter.com/ICWuPRinlf — News18 (@CNNnews18) February 26, 2018 NEWSPAPERS Newspapers were no different when it came to determining the degree of prominence to be given to this news. We looked at the front pages of leading newspapers (Delhi edition) and here is what we found: Times of India On February 25, Times of India on its front page made no mention of this news. The report was hidden in the inner pages of the daily. On Page 10, the story was mentioned in a tiny column. There was no reference to the accused being a BJP leader. Hindustan Times The report was the top most story for Hindustan Times, which covered it prominently on its front page in its February 25 edition. It did not however mention the accused’s link with the BJP. Indian Express Indian Express which is known to give attention to human interest stories too failed to print this news on its front page of Sunday Express. Instead, in a manner similar to Times of India, the newspaper published this report on Page 9. However, it gave more importance to the story than ToI did, giving it more space although there was no reference to the political links of the accused. DNA Daily News and Analysis (DNA), another prominent English language daily carried the news on the front page in the bottom right corner on February 25. HINDI TV NEWS CHANNELS Zee News Zee News, one of the most news channels reported the news from Muzaffarpur on February 24. It reported ‘BJP leader’s car hits crowd in Bihar, 9 children killed, many injured’. BJP leader’s car hits crowd in Bihar; 9 children killed, many injuredhttps://t.co/6h8jggzOQd pic.twitter.com/6YDM4fHuqO — Zee News (@ZeeNews) February 24, 2018 The focus of prime time though was on other stories. Anchor Sudhir Chaudhary discussed how private hospitals fleece patients. #DNAWeekendEdition: प्राइवेट अस्पतालों की लूट के खुलासे का #DNA टेस्ट रात 9 बजे @ZeeNews पर @sudhirchaudhary के साथ pic.twitter.com/CcPisXpfPY — Zee News Hindi (@ZeeNewsHindi) February 24, 2018 On Sunday, i.e February 25, Sridevi was expectedly in the prime time show. The channel also discussed the Sangh Parivar’s plans to help PM Modi emerge victorious in 2019. संघ का ‘सुपर शो’ बनाएगा बीजेपी को ‘शक्तिमान’ संघ के मंथन से मोदी जीतेंगे 2019! 9:10 PM @ZeeNewspic.twitter.com/w4k713oyiQ — Zee News Hindi (@ZeeNewsHindi) February 25, 2018 Aaj Tak Another popular channel Aaj Tak focused on the tussle in Delhi between the State Govt and the Centre on the day the tragedy occurred. पहले थप्पड़ कांड, अब कटोरा राग! (@AajGothi , @manideep_shrma, @PankajJainClick ) देखिए #India360: https://t.co/0vgbDcivG9 pic.twitter.com/cNLyggU5wq — आज तक (@aajtak) February 24, 2018 The next day on February 25, the channel presented a ground report from Muzaffarpur on the tragedy. बीजेपी नेता की गाड़ी से मुजफ्फरपुर में हुई दुर्घटना में 10 बच्चों की मौत के बाद अब ये बात सामने आ रही है कि गाड़ी खुद महादलित मंच के प्रदेश मंत्री मनोज बैठा चला रहे थे। सुजीत झा की रिपोर्ट #ReporterDiary pic.twitter.com/HUzik3D3oQ — आज तक (@aajtak) February 25, 2018 India TV India TV, the Rajat Sharma owned channel broke the news from Muzaffarpur in the afternoon of February 24, soon after the incident. Apart from this, there was very little coverage of this news on the channel. #BreakingNews: 9 students killed, 24 injured after vehicle rams into school building in #Bihar https://t.co/Su1cYaaguQ — India TV (@indiatvnews) February 24, 2018 For prime time, the channel broadcasted reports on Nirav Modi and Virat Kohli. The next day’s coverage was dedicated to Sridevi. Watch our Special Show on #TeamIndia captain @imVkohli Tonight at 9 @indiatvnewspic.twitter.com/PgEGywKYew — Rajat Sharma (@RajatSharmaLive) February 24, 2018 NEWSPAPERS Dainik Jagran One of the most widely read Hindi dailies Dainik Jagran in its Sunday edition on February 25 had Nirav Modi as its lead story. The report was about how the Govt is acting tough and a chargesheet is soon to be filed in a month. There was no mention of Muzaffarpur and the slain school children on the front page. Amar Ujala Amar Ujala, a widely read newspaper did justice to the tragic news from Bihar and carried it on the front page. Hindustan Hindustan carried this story on the front page right at the top, in its edition of February 25. Navbharat Times Navbharat Times which is owned by the Times of India group did not feature the news on the front page. Instead, it carried it on page 3 albeit in a tiny column as a snippet under the ‘Fast News’ section. While TV news channels did report the story from Muzaffarpur as and when it occurred, and some channels also did ground reports, the prime time slots on the weekend were dedicated to other stories, with Sridevi dominating viewer space. The story received more coverage from February 26, two days later. Moreover, we found that as news of the accused’s political links became clear, all news channels mentioned this aspect, whereas in the case of newspapers on February 25 i.e. a day after the incident, this reference was missing. Insofar as newspapers are concerned, some gave the tragedy diminutive importance while others featured it prominently. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th February 2018 / 3:58 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/nine-children-killed-speeding-car-media-cover-muzaffarpur-tragedy/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,090	Nirav Modi files gutted in Mumbai IT building blaze? Media organisations fall for a social media rumour - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 4th June 2018 / 5:07 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018 A massive fire broke out at the office of the Income Tax Department in Mumbai on June 1. The inferno damaged the Scindia House building at the Ballard Estate area of South Mumbai, causing destruction of property, although no casualties were reported. Even as firefighters sought to tame the blaze, reports began to emerge that crucial files related to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, accused in the 11,000 crore PNB scam, have been gutted. These reports were carried by mainstream news outlets. On the evening of June 1, Zee News on its channel reported that it is feared that files related to Nirav Modi and disgraced former IPL czar Lalit Modi have been destroyed in the fire. A caption for the story said, मुंबई आग का नीरव-ललित मोदी कनेक्शन!(Nirav-Lalit Modi connection to Mumbai fire- translated). The Tribune, in an article quoted ‘sources’ to claim that the fire at the IT office building has destroyed files pertaining to Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi who are currently absconding. Indiatimes which is owned by the Times of India group reported that files related to the disgraced diamantaire have been feared gutted. Republic TV too joined the bandwagon reporting on the destruction of the files in the blaze, adding that sensitive files related to the Essar group have also been gutted. Mumbai Mirror which is also owned by the Bennett Coleman group reported this development in an article of June 2, mentioning that it was feared the documents have been lost in the fire. Lallantop, a popular website also reported about the loss of the files. The news expectedly circulated widely on social media platforms. The Tribune had published two articles, of which one was used by the Congress party in a tweet of June 3 calling it a ‘rather convenient turn of events’. This tweet has been retweeted close to a thousand times by now. In a rather convenient turn of events, a fire burned papers that the Income Tax Department had on Nirav Modi , the man who was photographed with PM Modi before he went on the run after pulling off the largest banking fraud in India. https://t.co/ps72fm9AFt — Congress (@INCIndia) June 3, 2018 This article tweeted by the Congress party can no longer be found, although the other article by The Tribune of June 4 is still online. Lawyer Prashant Bhushan tweeted on the blaze, saying “How brazen can they get!”. It has been retweeted over 3000 times. Oh my God! Fire In Mumbai’s IT Department Building, Files Of Nirav Modi, Choksi & Mallya Feared Gutted. First they are allowed to escape. Then they get rid of CBI offr investigating this. Now this fire to get rid of the documents. How brazen can they get!https://t.co/g6iQZa3XJB — Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) June 3, 2018 The Income Tax Department has rubbished these reports published and broadcast by mainstream media organisations. In a tweet on the evening of June 3, the department clarified that “News reports appearing in some sections of media alleging that records/documents relating to investigation of Nirav Modi/Mehul Choksi have been destroyed in the Scindia House fire in ITOffice,Mumbai are completely false and misdirected”. News reports appearing in some sections of media alleging that records/documents relating to investigation of Nirav Modi/Mehul Choksi have been destroyed in the Scindia House fire in ITOffice,Mumbai are completely false & misdirected @PMOIndia @FinMinIndia @arunjaitley @adhia03 — Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) June 3, 2018 This clarification by the Income Tax Department was subsequently reported by multiple news organisations. Alt News found out that correspondent with The Pioneer, J. Gopikrishnan was the among the first to raise suspicion over the files having been destroyed in the blaze. Gopikrishnan tweeted on the evening of June 1, Income Tax Investigation Wing’s files on Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi and Upendra Rai burned? 🤔🤔🤔🤔 https://t.co/BsVIxv6zU9 — J Gopikrishnan (@jgopikrishnan70) June 1, 2018 Zee News was the first to pick it up from here, broadcasting a report on the same day, which has been posted in this article above. Now that the IT Department has unequivocally stated that the reports are not true, it emerges that sections of mainstream media jumped the gun, reporting an incident of immense sensationalist value which had no basis in fact. The Tribune has reported this story attributing it to ‘sources’. Zee News, on its broadcast, kept referring to ‘reports’ that had emerged with regard to the destruction of files in the blaze. Republic TV too published this news ‘according to reports’. The Mumbai Mirror story speculated that the files have been destroyed. Indiatimes on the other hand made no reference to where this news had emerged from. In each of these cases, the reports were carried by these publications without independent verification of the facts. The news was either vaguely attributed to ‘sources’ or there was no reference to the origin of the news. While source-based reporting is a tactic regularly adopted by journalists, in this particular instance, reference to ‘sources’ could not withstand scrutiny as the report was promptly debunked. The tardy pace of investigation of high-profile cases in general and the low rate of conviction has convinced many citizens of possible foul play at the highest echelons when it comes to investigation of such cases. While these suspicions may be justified, in this particular case they have been fuelled by media reports which, in the pursuit of sensationalism and speed, often side-step basic verification as was observed here wherein a speculative tweet by a journalist was enough for multiple media houses to report incorrectly. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th June 2018 / 5:07 pm / Last updated: 10th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/nirav-modi-files-gutted-in-mumbai-it-building-blaze-media-organisations-fall-for-a-social-media-rumour/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,091	Nirmala Sitharaman vs Sambit Patra - How to respond when one falls prey to fake news - Alt News Alt News Desk 12th June 2017 / 6:37 pm / Last updated: 12th June 2017 The industry of fake news has become so wide-spread that multiple BJP ministers and leaders are regularly falling prey to it. In the last month, BJP MP Paresh Rawal has tweeted two fake stories and now in a matter of 24 hours, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra have tweeted/retweeted fake news/propaganda. It started with right-wing journalist/economist S Gurumurthy tweeting a fake quote attributed to AR Rahman with the context of eating beef. Fact checking website SMHoaxSlayer wrote a post to show how AR Rahman never said the words that are being attributed to him. The fake quote was a combination of the portion where AR Rahman talks about his mother’s religion and spirituality in this Scroll.in piece and mixing it with an imaginary quote about beef, something which he never said. The strategy of mixing fact and fiction made the quote sound factual. The tweet by Gurumurthy which received over 2.6k retweets was also retweeted by Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. However, when she was informed that the content of the quote was not factual, she gracefully apologised and un-retweeted S Gurumurthy’s tweet. At the time of writing, S Gurumurthy’s tweets have still not been deleted despite him being informed repeatedly that the said quote is fake. Last night, BJP National Spokesperson Sambit Patra also fell prey to fake news when he tweeted an article from a Pakistani fake propaganda site called timesofislamabad.com. In the headline of this article, it was claimed that according to the data revealed by NDTV, NDA’s flagship program Make in India had flopped. Recently, on NDTV Anchor Nidhi Razdan’s show, Sambit Patra had claimed multiple times that NDTV has an ‘agenda’ against BJP after which Nidhi Razdan had asked him to leave her show. Probably, when Sambit Patra saw a piece claiming that NDTV’s data shows that Make in India is a flop show, he thought of it as a good opportunity to attack NDTV and tweeted the article with the phrase, “Hmmm …Agenda!!“. NDTV was quick to point out that they are wrongly attributed in this article and they never did any such story. Nidhi Razdan also pointed out in a tweet to Sambit Patra that this was a case of fake news. Soon after, TimesOfIslamabad tweeted claiming that they had wrongly attributed their story to NDTV and they were actually quoting Indian Express. As it turns out, the “data” that TimesOfIslamabad refers to was neither endorsed by Indian Express nor NDTV, but was part of an opinion piece in Indian Express by former UPA Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Following Sambit Patra’s tweet, BJP National IT Cell head Amit Malviya chose to further propagandise the issue instead of condemning this fake news propaganda by a Pakistani site. When multiple news websites including Wire and Indian Express wrote about this issue, Sambit Patra instead of admitting that he had fallen prey to fake news claimed that he was attacking the Pakistani site for their fake propaganda and it was his Freedom of Expression. He made it seem that the target of his tweet was the Pakistani site and not NDTV. Many reminded him that spreading fake news doesn’t fall in the ambit of Freedom of Expression. In the present age of information overload, all of us from time to time fall prey to fake propaganda on social media. What matters is how we respond to the issue. The menace of fake news has to be acknowledged and not defended. In the present case, while Nirmala Sitharaman gracefully apologized and withdrew her tweet, Sambit Patra claimed that it was his freedom of expression and did not delete his tweet. This contrasting approach is a good example of “what to do” and “what not to do”. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th June 2017 / 6:37 pm / Last updated: 12th June 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/nirmala-sitharaman-vs-sambit-patra-respond-one-falls-prey-fake-news/", "author": "Alt News Desk" }
2,092	No, '1098' service will not distribute your leftover food to needy children - Alt News Jignesh Patel 20th June 2018 / 8:42 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 “Good News In india: As announced by PM Modi-If you have a function/party at your home and when you see lots of food may get wasted, Pls don’t hesitate to call 1098 (ANYWHERE IN INDIA ONLY) – child help line. They will come and collect the food…Helping hands are better than Praying Lips“, reads a Twitter post which spreads awareness about what is supposedly a PM Modi initiative. It talks about a ChildLine India Foundation service ‘1098’ which will help to collect left-overs from social functions and distribute it to needy children. This claim has been doing the rounds on social media for many years now. A report published by The Telegraph on 30th January 2012 stated, “Thanks to a hoax on Facebook, the country’s only toll-free tele-helpline for street children has been receiving calls offering after-party leftover food.”. It further stated, “Nishit Kumar, head of communications and strategic initiatives at Childline India Foundation said that we receive a deluge of calls asking us to pick up food from party venues. Our Mumbai helpline gets hundreds of calls from street children from across north and west India asking for help. Even if five calls are from people asking us to pick up leftover food, it’s a waste of our time. It means some child somewhere is being denied access to us.” Receiving a spate of phone calls which adversely affected the cause of the Child helpline, the foundation had issued a warning on the homepage of their official website ChildLine India, “We understand there is a chain mail circulating that says – one should call up 1098 to pick up leftover food after a party etc so that it is not wasted. This is not true. We are India ‘s only and most widespread Children’s phone emergency outreach service (1098) for children in need of care and protection. We do not pick up food or distribute food. This mail was not initiated by us, kindly do not circulate it. Your cooperation is appreciated.” Yet again, it has gone viral on Facebook with a call to action to spread awareness and some befitting pictures of children to make it believable. According to a BOOM report, it is believed that the message was originally a chain email dating back to 2009. Social media is replete with such hoaxes, which are anodyne in nature but still account for misinformation. Rumours like these may perpetuate a feel-good syndrome among those who share it, but only end up affecting the work of ChildLine India and do not in any way help to address the issue of hunger among children. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… Trigger Warning: Violent Content. Viewer discretion is advised. Over the past few months, rumours of… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	20th June 2018 / 8:42 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-1098-service-will-not-distribute-your-leftover-food-to-needy-children/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,093	No, 5G 'radiation' has NOT caused the second wave of COVID-19 in India - Alt News Jignesh Patel 28th April 2021 / 4:08 pm / Last updated: 8th May 2021 A graphic demanding a ban on ‘5G testing’, claiming that it has led to the second wave of the coronavirus in India, is circulating on WhatsApp. “The epidemic, that has come for the second time which everyone is terming as Corona, is the disease due to the testing of 5G tower and not coronavirus. The radiation emitted out of the tower mixes with the air and makes it poisonous and that’s why people are facing difficulty in breathing and are dying. That is why we need to demand to stop testing of 5G tower and then all will be alright,” says the warning. (Translated from Hindi: “ये जो महामारी दूसरी बार आई है जिसे सब कोरोना का नाम दे रहे है ये बिमारी कोरोना नही 5g टावर की टेस्टिंग की वजह से है टावर से जो रैडिकशन निकलता है वो हवा में मिलकर हवा को ज़हरीला बना रही है इसलिए लोगों को सांस लेने में दिक्कत हो रही है। और लोग मर रहे हैं। इसीलिए 5g टावर की टेस्टिंग को बंद करने की मांग करिए फिर देखिए सब सही हो जाएगा।“) The graphic further expounds on another theory and claims that radiation from 5G towers is affecting humans in a similar way how 4G radiation affected birds and sparrows and became the cause of their death. Alt News has received several requests on its official WhatsApp number (+917600011160) to fact-check this graphic. An audio clip of a conversation between two men is also circulating on messaging platforms. In the conversation, one of the men reiterates the same narrative and can be heard claiming that 5G testing is the cause of numerous deaths in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharastra. He further claims that due to the elections in West Bengal, they did not initiate the testing from the state but instead opted to start from Mumbai, Maharastra. The audio is massively widespread on WhatsApp. The screenshot below shows the numerous verification requests on Alt News helpline number (+91 76000 11160). In the course of this article, we will discuss the following 5G testing in India The infographic states that 5G testing in India is the cause of heightened radiation which has led to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. But 5G testing is still at a nascent stage in India. According to a report in The Economic Times published in March 2021, Bharti Airtel was one of the few telecommunication companies that started the development of 5G network technology in India through their own research and development in collaboration with local and US and Japanese firms using OpenRAN technology. Several other companies like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s application for 5G trials awaited clearance in March 2021. Moreover, it is noteworthy that countries like South Korea and Hong Kong with fully functional 5G have fewer coronavirus cases than India. According to the COVID tracking website Worldometers, the countries recorded 511 and 8 news cases respectively. Thus, there is no evidence to link the rising number of coronavirus cases and 5G networks. 5G radiation did not cause the second wave of COVID The claim that 5G network and not the coronavirus is making people fall sick has been circulating since March 2020. In February last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) clarifying on potential health risk from 5G said, “To date, and after much research performed, no adverse health effect has been causally linked with exposure to wireless technologies. Health-related conclusions are drawn from studies performed across the entire radio spectrum but, so far, only a few studies have been carried out at the frequencies to be used by 5G.” It is important to note that the USA’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says that COVID is thought to have spread from person to person mainly due to close contact (within about 6 feet). “Infections occur mainly through exposure to respiratory droplets when a person is in close contact with someone who has COVID-19,” says the CDC. Moreover, the virus can also sometimes spread by airborne transmission. It can spread by exposure to the virus in small droplets and particles that can linger in the air from minutes to hours. On the other hand, mobile phones send and receive radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. Reuters reported that 5G uses beam-forming technology that allows radiofrequency electromagnetic fields to go directly where needed. Explaining the effects of radiofrequency, WHO wrote, “Tissue heating is the main mechanism of interaction between radiofrequency fields and the human body. Radiofrequency exposure levels from current technologies result in negligible temperature rise in the human body. As the frequency increases, there is less penetration into the body tissues and absorption of the energy becomes more confined to the surface of the body (skin and eye). Provided that the overall exposure remains below international guidelines, no consequences for public health are anticipated.” Speaking to Reuters, Professor Emeritus of Radiology and Medical Physics Marvin C. Ziskin said, “The weight of scientific evidence indicates that 5G emissions are not cumulative. That is, multiple exposures of innocuous exposures do not add to produce any adverse biological effect. I would add that there have been no health agency warnings about possible health risks of RF energy including millimetre waves at exposure levels that an average consumer would experience from communications technology. This is consistent with assessments of the issue by standards-setting groups such as IEEE and ICNIRP.” He emphasised that there is no basis to expect that 5G would cause adverse health issues provided exposure limits are respected. Death of birds and sparrow was not due to 4G radiation In January 2021, Alt News found that the claim that birds are dying due to 5G trials is not backed by evidence. An article in the BBC explained, “The radio waves involved in 5G and other mobile phone technology sit on the low-frequency end of the electromagnetic spectrum. Less powerful than visible light, they are not strong enough to damage cells – unlike radiation at the higher frequency end of the spectrum which includes the sun’s rays and medical x-rays.” You can read our detailed fact-check here. Press Information Bureau’s fact-checking wing also rubbished the message that 5G radiation has caused the second wave of COVID-19 in India. दावा: जिस महामारी को #कोरोना का नाम दिया जा रहा है वह कोरोना नहीं बल्कि 5g टावर की टेस्टिंग के दुष्परिणाम हैं। #PIBFactCheck: यह दावा #फ़र्ज़ी है। विश्वव्याप्त महामारी #कोविड19 के संदर्भ में ऐसी गलत सूचनाएँ साझा न करें व सही जानकारी हेतु प्रमाणित सूत्रों पर ही विश्वास करें। pic.twitter.com/khAQvpq00C — PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) April 27, 2021 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. In a 2-minute video, a man recommends a “technique” to prevent infection from Omicron, the… A video of a set of iron nails that appear to melt after being placed… Several social media users have shared an image that shows two columns — ‘Cepa/variante’ (Spanish… A 90-second video of a man dissecting a banana has been shared on the internet…. The Taliban has formed an all-male government after taking over control in Afghanistan. On September…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	28th April 2021 / 4:08 pm / Last updated: 8th May 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-5g-radiation-has-not-caused-the-second-wave-of-covid-19-in-india/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,094	No, 6 lakh votes polled in favour of Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad did not vanish from ECI records - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 24th May 2019 / 5:42 pm Did over 6 lakh votes polled in favour of Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad disappear from the records? This is a claim which has been made on social media, on the basis of a screenshot of the website of the Election Commission of India. @RahulGandhi yesterday afternoon your votes were approx 13 lakh now it’s showing 7 lakh, where the hell 6 lakh votes went? pic.twitter.com/yrW8AvL8hM — Md Akram (@Sk_md_akram) May 24, 2019 The screenshot shows that Rahul Gandhi has secured 1276945 votes. A zoomed in version of the same is posted below. Gandhi won the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency by a record margin, but lost his traditional borough of Amethi to Smriti Irani. However, when the final result was declared, it was found that Rahul Gandhi had actually polled 706367 votes. According to another screenshot, Rahul Gandhi had polled over 13 lakh votes, which ‘reduced’ to a little over 7 lakh subsequently. The above screenshot was used in a ‘video report’ on a YouTube channel, which casts aspersions on the poll process on the basis of these numbers. The video has been viewed over 1.5 million times since it was posted on May 23. So, did these ‘additional’ votes simply vanish from the records of the Election Commission? Has there been foul play, as alleged by users who shared their own screenshots on social media platforms? The figure of over 13 lakh votes polled in favour of Rahul Gandhi is false. This is because the total number of votes polled in the constituency was 10,89,819, according to a report of The Hindu published on April 24. Thus, it is not possible for 13 lakh votes to have been cast in favour of the Congress president. Moreover, it may be noted that in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, a total of 915,138 votes were cast in the Wayanad constituency. This information is available on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala. The numbers this time (10,89,819) vis-a-vis 2014, are consistent and proportionate with the increase in population. Moreover, it may be noted that the voter turnout this time was 74.14%, which is higher than the turnout in the 2014 Parliamentary polls (73.26%). The claims floating on social media are the outcome of an error on the website of the ECI, which was later rectified. It may be reiterated that according to the final numbers, Rahul Gandhi got 706367 votes, securing 64.67% of votes polled in his constituency. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th May 2019 / 5:42 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-6-lakh-votes-polled-in-favour-of-rahul-gandhi-in-wayanad-did-not-vanish-from-eci-records/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,095	No, a BJP candidate from West Bengal did not dress-up as Hanuman - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 27th April 2019 / 5:22 pm TMC supporter Garga Chatterjee tweeted photographs of a man dressed as Hanuman and said that he was “Jagannath Sarkar, BJP MP candidate from Ranaghat” in West Bengal (archive). Several other users also shared images of the man sitting on a jeep’s bonnet and claimed that he was BJP’s Ranaghat candidate during a rally. The claim is circulated on Facebook and Twitter alike. The photographs viral on social media depict the Bharatiya Janata Party’s recent rally in West Bengal’s Ranaghat constituency. Dilip Ghosh, president of the BJP WB unit, had shared the images on April 22 with the caption – “রানাঘাট লোকসভা কেন্দ্রে প্রার্থী জগন্নাথ সরকারকে নিয়ে রোড শো (Roadshow with Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency candidate Jagannath Sarkar).” Ghosh had uploaded several photographs, including the ones where a man dressed as Hanuman can be seen seated atop a jeep. রানাঘাট লোকসভা কেন্দ্রে প্রার্থী জগন্নাথ সরকারকে নিয়ে রোড শো ( বাদকুল্লা-খামার সিমি- চিত্রশালী বাজার – ফুলবাড়ি.. )। “সাধারণ মানুষের বিজেপির প্রতি ব্যাপক উচ্ছাস” #BJP4Krishnaganj #Ranaghat4SonarBangla Posted by Dilip Ghosh on Monday, 22 April 2019 If one were to scroll through the other images, Jagannath Sarkar can be seen campaigning alongside Ghosh, and he is not dressed as Hanuman. Social media claims are, therefore, false. The ongoing Lok Sabha elections have given rise to a considerable amount of misinformation circulated with regard to the polls in West Bengal – a 2017 video from Gujarat was shared as Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees mistreating BJP workers; one of BJP’s candidates from the state tweeted a video from Bihar to claim that a party worker was attacked by TMC; both BJP and Congress were accused of booth capturing using the same, misleading video. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th April 2019 / 5:22 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-a-bjp-candidate-from-west-bengal-did-not-dress-up-as-hanuman/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,096	No, a 'Harvard' study did not laud UP govt's handling of migrant crisis - Alt News Archit 15th April 2021 / 9:05 pm / Last updated: 16th April 2021 A piece of news that was widely reported in the media in the first week of April claimed that a Harvard study hailed the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh for handling the migrant crisis more effectively than other states. News Nation consulting editor Deepak Chaurasia wrote, “Harvard University salutes CM Yogi Adiyanath for COVID-19 restrictions and recommends the world to replicate.” हार्वर्ड यूनिवर्सिटी का कोविड प्रबंधन पर CM योगी आदित्यनाथ को सलाम, @myogiadityanath से विश्व को सीखने की सलाह। — Deepak Chaurasia (@DChaurasia2312) April 9, 2021 Times Now, Hindustan Times, Asianet News, IANS, Jagran, One India, The Free Press Journal, MensXP, Tatva, Newsroom Post, My Nation, Swarajya and Shortpedia were among the media outlets that carried the story. TV9 Bharatvarsh and The News uploaded video reports on their YouTube channels. Right-wing propaganda outlet OpIndia also published an article on the ‘Harvard study’. The study in question is titled ‘COVID-19 & the migrant crisis resolution: A report on Uttar Pradesh’. This was published by the Institute For Competitiveness (IFC) and not Harvard University. Furthermore, the inference that the study draws has also been misrepresented in media reports. Study not prepared by Harvard University The report in question was published by the Institute For Competitiveness (IFC). The cover page of the report has two logos – IFC and Microeconomics of Competitiveness, an affiliate network of Harvard Business School. MOC is essentially a Harvard course on competitiveness and economic development. It was developed by Professor Michael Porter and the staff and affiliates of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC). ISC is a nonprofit research, education, and policy organization based at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. As per the 2021 prospectus, “The vision of the MOC Affiliate Network was to create local capacity to understand, teach, and upgrade competitiveness through a highly scalable structure: The Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC) at Harvard Business School (HBS) developed the curriculum, teaching materials, and a platform for disseminating these materials around the world. The network enables faculty at affiliated universities to teach the MOC course quickly and without costly course development efforts of their own.” The prospectus lists IFC (highlighted in red) as a MOC affiliate institution. There about 120 affiliate institutes across the world out of which four (highlighted in green) are from India. According to IFC’s website, it is “the Indian knot in the global network” of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC) at Harvard Business School. The readers should note that IFC hasn’t referred to itself as a part of Harvard Business School. Additionally, the report in question is neither available on the website of ISC nor HBS website. Smriti Iyer, an alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School, told Alt News, “To the best of my knowledge there is no such thing as a ‘Harvard study’. There are studies by institutions/ professors/ centres associated or housed at Harvard. In most cases, it’s made clear that the study is attributable to the authors and not the university. In order to create legitimacy, they are often referred to as Harvard studies, which is misleading.” Katelyn B. Ahern, Competitiveness & Economic Development Program Manager at ISC, responded to Alt News’s queries via email. “It is not accurate to refer to a study by a MOC affiliate as a Harvard study,” she wrote. As far as the usage of the MOC logo is concerned, Ahern stated that affiliates are allowed to use the logo for internal network purposes, but “Harvard” (alone or as part of another name) or any logos, seals, insignia, shields or other words, names, symbols or devices that identify Harvard or any Harvard school, unit, division or affiliate (“Harvard Names”) for any purpose, including but not limited to use in course catalogues, advertising or promotional materials need prior written approval from Harvard to use it externally. More details about the trademark can be read on Harvard Trademark Program. Readers should note that MOC is a course at ISC, Harvard Business School. Therefore the rules mentioned by Ahern are applicable to it. Amit Kapoor, honorary chairman at IFC, spoke with Alt News after our interaction with Ahern. He responded to our queries over an email. “It is not accurate to refer to a study by a MOC affiliate as a Harvard study,” he wrote, adding, “Contrary to media reports our study doesn’t conclude UP government handled the migrant crisis more effectively than other states. The document is not a comparative statement on the handling of the crisis by different states. It is documentation pertaining to the effort of the Uttar Pradesh government and extracting insights from the same.” On page 70 of the report, the conclusion states, “Although the Uttar Pradesh government has taken steps to build economic opportunities for them closer to home using existing schemes as well as by signing new MoUs, it is important to develop a long-term employment generation plan.” Our final question to Kapoor and Ahern was if IFC’s usage of the logo on the coverage of the study ‘COVID19 & the migrant crisis resolution: A report on Uttar Pradesh’ breaches the Harvard Trademark Program? Ahern hasn’t responded to the question. However, Kapoor wrote that it does not breach the trademark program. “The document was for internal consumption and was not intended to be made public. In addition, as you note, the study/document was not projected as a Harvard study anywhere in the document, rather as a work of the Institute for Competitiveness. The interpretation was unexpected. The logo from the report will be removed to correct the interpretation and to not project anything wrong,” he said. WhatsApp message forwarded by UP state officials presented as news report An Uttar Pradesh-based journalist informed Alt News that a WhatsApp message was circulated on a group exclusively for media professionals. State officials had shared a message in the form of a press note and a link to the said study. The title of the message – ‘A heaven on Earth for migrants in testing times’ – is the exact headline used by Newsroom Post. Thus, a study by IFC was falsely dubbed as a Harvard study by the UP government and media. Furthermore, Amit Kapoor, honorary chairman at IFC, told Alt News that MOC’s logo will be removed from the report. Alt News had earlier reported another misreport circulated in a similar manner. In the first week of April, a section of the media claimed that Johns Hopkins University hailed Uttar Pradesh among the ‘toppers’ in COVID management. Dr David Peters, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Department of International Health and one of the authors of the report, refuted the claim. Shishir Singh, director at the Department of Information and Public Relation, Government of UP shared an image of Hindustan Times print report that claimed Harvard has lauded the Yogi Adityanath government. Harvard University study appreciates the deft handling of migrant crisis by @UPGovt under the leadership of @myogiadityanath ji. pic.twitter.com/RHpv2s3xOr — Shishir (@ShishirGoUP) April 7, 2021 BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga shared a screenshot of a report by Tatva headlined, “World needs to learn how to manage Pandemic & Migrant crisis from CM Yogi’: Harvard study lauds UP Govt”. His tweet gained over 13,000 likes. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/GESBkir3F2 — Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) April 9, 2021 BJP member Major Surendra Poonia (Retd) also shared the above-mentioned screenshot. His post gained over 2,500 likes. BJP member Vinit Goenka posted HT’s online version of the article. He wrote, “While several migrants were left to fetch for their own in #Delhi leading to exodus due to the apathy of Aam Aadmi Party govt, CM of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath ji did a fantastic job in taking care of the migrant crisis. CM Arvind Kejriwal should learn from this.” BJP supporter Dr. Richa Rajpoot also tweeted about the aforementioned Harvard study. हार्वर्ड यूनिवर्सिटी का कोविड प्रबंधन पर CM योगी आदित्यनाथ को सलाम, कहा कोविड प्रबंधन योगी जी से विश्व को सीखने की सलाह। एक योगी किसी भी हॉर्वर्ड वालों पर भारी है । — Dr. Richa Rajpoot (@doctorrichabjp) April 9, 2021 Twitter user @nehaltyagi08 and social media influencer made the claim in question and wrote, “East or West, Maharaj is the Best.” This tweet gained over 2,000 retweets. Apart from this, several pro-BJP Facebook groups and pages – Nation with NaMo, Postcard and PMO India: Report Card – further amplified the claim. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Inter-faith relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men have been a sore point for the… Right after Elon Musk took over the reins of microblogging site Twitter, the organization carried… A six-second-long clip of a civilian slapping French President Emmanuel Macron while he is interacting… Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was allegedly shot at during a rally in Wazirabad… In a now-deleted article titled “दीप प्रज्ज्वलन के वैज्ञानिक और आध्यात्मिक पक्ष, जानें ये है…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th April 2021 / 9:05 pm / Last updated: 16th April 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-a-harvard-study-did-not-laud-up-govts-handling-of-migrant-crisis/", "author": "Archit" }
2,097	No, a maulvi did not perform Priyanka Gandhi's wedding rituals - Alt News Pratik Sinha & Mohammed Zubair 12th June 2020 / 10:56 pm / Last updated: 14th August 2021 A photograph of Priyanka Gandhi during her wedding rituals over 20 years ago has found itself in the crosshairs of rumour-mongering on social media. Several users on Twitter have claimed that the bearded man in the picture is a maulvi. Alt News has received verification requests for the image on WhatsApp. The image is massively widespread on Facebook. [Complete Hindi text: सबुत सबुत करते हो चमचो ये रहा सबुत ! प्रियंका गांधी के निकाह में पधारे थे महान मौलवी।। हरामी लोग हिन्दू बोलकर हिन्दुओ का अपमान करते है। सबूत देखलो कायरो तुम्हे मूर्ख बनाने वाले मुस्लिम है।। काजी साहब निकाह पढ़ने आये थे।] The same image was viral last year with the claim that the maulvi is MP Shafiqur Rahman Virk who performed Islamic rituals in Priyanka Gandhi’s wedding. ‘Shafiqur Rahman Barq’ is an MP from the Samajwadi Party. The tweet below by Twitter handle @Callme_Varu_ garnered close to 400 retweets. प्रियंका गांधी के विवाह के समय मौलाना और संसद सदस्य शफीकुर्र रहमान विर्क को कुछ इस्लामी रवायत निभाने के लिए क्यों बुलाया गया था ? पूछता है भारत pic.twitter.com/UutOuFl8aY — वारुणी_ink (@Callme_Varu_) April 23, 2020 Another user @ Real_Swatantra who mentions ‘BJP supporter’ in his bio shared the photograph with the same claim. प्रियंका गांधी के विवाह के समय मौलाना और संसद सदस्य शफीकुर्र रहमान विर्क को कुछ इस्लामी रवायत निभाने के लिए क्यों बुलाया गया था ? पूछता है भारत pic.twitter.com/qOqz8JAhyf — स्वतन्त्र ठाकुर 🕉 (@Real_Swatantra) April 24, 2020 The bearded man in the photograph is Pandit Iqbal Kishen Reu. He is the brother of Pandit Swaroop Kishen Reu, the first Kashmiri Pandit cricket umpire and a Padma Shri-awardee. According to a 2009 article on Kashmir Sentinel, Pandit Iqbal Kishen Reu “was employed in the railways and had a thorough knowledge of Kashmiri Karm Kand. He was a practising Kul Purohit and used to perform religious rituals of his jajmans. After performing the marriage of Priyanka Gandhi with Robert Vadra in 1996 according to K.P’s traditions he left this job.” Kul Purohit means family priest. That Iqbal Kishan Reu was the Gandhi family’s priest has also been stated in a feature on Priyanka Gandhi published in DailyO. Alt News spoke with Amrita Chak, ex-journalist, founding editor of Jacaranda Press, and a Kashmiri Pandit herself. “While I do not know Mr Kishen Reu personally, I spoke with many individuals in the Kashmiri Pandit community and they confirmed to me that the person in the picture is Iqbal Kishen Reu,” she informed. According to this tweet by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the viral photograph is of the morning puja on the day of her wedding. In other pictures of the puja provided to Alt News by a Congress office-bearer, she can be seen performing Hindu rituals. Therefore, a photograph of Kashmiri Pandit Iqbal Kishen Reu performing puja on Priyanka Gandhi’s wedding day was shared on social media with the false claim that he is a maulvi who performed Islamic rituals. Portraying the Gandhi family as followers of Muslim tradition is a recurring piece of misinformation. A false claim earlier suggested that Islamic prayers were offered during Indira Gandhi’s funeral. Popular disinformation that often recirculates is a false quote attributed to Jawaharlal Nehru where he is claimed to identify as “Muslim by culture”. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media….	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th June 2020 / 10:56 pm / Last updated: 14th August 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-a-maulvi-did-not-perform-priyanka-gandhis-wedding-rituals/", "author": "Pratik Sinha & Mohammed Zubair" }
2,098	No, a Shivaling wasn't revealed in 'Mecca Madina' - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 3rd July 2021 / 5:40 pm Two images are circulating on social media with the claim that for the first time in history the Shivaling was revealed in Mecca-Madina. The claim requests Hindus to share the images. [Original text in Hindi: इतिहास में पहली बार मक्का मदीना का शिवलिंग दिखाया गया हे सभी हिन्दू भाई चुके नही शेयर जरूर करे] The first image has recently been shared on Facebook while the second image has been on the platform at least since 2017. The claim is viral on both Twitter and Facebook. Alt News has also received several requests to verify the claim on its official WhatsApp helpline number (+91 76000 11160). Image 1 For the first image, we performed a reverse image search on Yandex which took us to a page on Pinterest that describes the image as “Rukn E Yamani corner of Kaaba”. The image carries the name of the Facebook page ‘Cities of muhammad (pbuh)’ on top. A rummage through the page took us to the original photo published in 2012. تمام مومنین کو جشن ولادت مولا علی {علیہ سلام} بہت بہت مبارک… Posted by Cities of muhammad (pbuh) on Monday, 3 September 2012 We found a reference to the Rukn-e-Yamani on the Government of India’s Haj guide PDF (page 41) prepared by the Haj Committee of India, a statutory body of the Ministry of Minority Affairs. It says that the Kaaba in Mecca has four corners 1) Hajr-e-Aswad, 2) Rukn-e-Shami, 3) Rukn-e-Iraqi and 4) Rukn-e-Yamani. Rukn-e-Yamani translates to “The Yemeni Corner” and is situated on the southwestern corner of the Kaaba. It faces Yemen thus the name Rukn-e-Yamani. Pilgrims perform “Istilaam” on the exposed corner i.e., they kiss or touch the corner and make a prayer. Furthermore, Rukn-e-Shaam is the “The Syrian Corner”, Rukn-e-Iraqi is “The corner that faces Iraq” and Hajr-e-Aswad or “Black Stone” is on the eastern corner of the Kaaba. Second image For the second viral image, we again performed a reverse image search which took us to a page on Pinterest that identifies the idol as “12 Heads Shivalinga, Veeratpur, Rajasthan, India”. Taking this as a clue, we looked for more details and found a mapsofindia.com link that says a huge cave in Pandu Hills of Virat Nagar, Rajasthan houses a statue of Nandi and a Shivaling decorated with 12 faces of Shiva. The photo was uploaded in 2015 on the website Maps of India. We also found a vlog on YouTube that gives a tour of the temple. Below we have added a screenshot that show the structure in the viral image is the same as the one in the vlog. Hence, the Rukn-e-Yamani corner of the Kaaba in Mecca and a Shivaling located at the Pandu Hills in Rajasthan were shared with the false claim that a Shivaling was displayed in “Mecca-Medina”. It must be noted that the viral claim erroneously clubs “Mecca and Medina” together. Mecca and Medina are two different cities. Mecca is considered to be the holiest of three cities in Islam, the other two being Medina and Jerusalem. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd July 2021 / 5:40 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-a-shivaling-wasnt-revealed-in-mecca-madina/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
2,099	No, a 'yogi' wasn't found alive in meditative state 300 years after his burial - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 21st February 2020 / 9:36 pm A video of a man with multiple sores and blood oozing out from his wounds is widely circulating on social media with the claim that he is ‘Siddhar (Yogi)’ who was buried alive 300 years ago in Valliyur, Tamil Nadu and was recently found during the renovation of Vallipoor temple. The viral message adds that he has been sitting in ‘yogasana’ for three centruries. Below is a screenshot of a fact-check request of the video on the Alt News mobile application. The video is viral with the same message in different languages. The message in Hindi reads, “यह है सिद्धार्थ योगी जिन्होंने 300 साल पहले तमिलनाडु के वल्लियुर में समाधि ली थी वल्लियुर मंदिर के लिए मिट्टी खोदते समय उन्हें जीवित पाया गया सिद्धार्थ योगासन में बैठे नजर आए थे ऐसा है भारत जिसकी दुनिया कल्पना भी नहीं कर सकती” The one in Gujarat is as follows: “તામિલનાડુ ના વલ્લિયાર માં 300 વર્ષ પહેલાં એક સિધ્હાર યોગીએ સમાધી લીધેલ હતી અને તે જમીન પર તેનું મંદિર બનાવેલ હતુ અને આજે 300 વર્ષ પછી તે મંદિર ને રિનોવેસન કરવા માટે ખોદકામ કરાવ્યું તો તેની માટી માંથી તે યોગી નુ જીવિત શરીર મલ્યું તો દર્શન કરો તેવા મહાપુરુષ નાં” A differently-worded message in Kannada – “5 ವರುಷದಿಂದ ಸಮಾದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇದ್ದವರು ಎದ್ದು ಬಂದಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಮಾತಾಡುತ್ತ ಇದ್ದಾರೆ ತುಂಬಾ ತುಂಬಾ ಆಶ್ಚಾರ್ಯ ಪುರಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೇಳಿದ್ದುವಿ ನೋಡಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ” – claims that the man came back to life. The same video was earlier shared by international publications including Daily Mail which claimed that the man was found in a “mummified state” after spending a month in a bear cave. The video was fact-checked by AFP at the time. Most of the outlets had cited Russian organisation The Siberian Times as the source. The video earlier appeared on EurAsia Daily but had been doing rounds on YouTube, sans the ‘bear cave’ claim, before international media picked it up. In reality, the man’s name is Alexander. According to AFP, he was identified by “a group dedicated to finding missing people in the city of Aktobe in Kazakhstan called Zello Poisk.” The portion underlined in blue in the screenshot above reads: “We have found that the man in this video is from our city. He is being treated in one of our city’s [Kazakhstan] hospitals and his health is improving.” Rustem Isayev, director of the Aktobe Medical Centre, confirmed to AFP that the man was his patient and was not attacked by a bear. He said that Alexander, a resident of Aktobe, was suffering from the skin disease psoriasis. This was earlier reported by UK-based tabloid The Sun which wrote that Alexander, 41, died of “chronic psoriasis and became critically ill after he ignored his symptoms for months.” The report also stated, “Now a senior medic in the Kazakh city of Aktobe has revealed the former oil worker has died from sepsis caused by a large infected wound.” Alexander passed away on July 25, 2019. Therefore, social media claims suggesting that he is a ‘yogi’ who was found in a meditative state when dug out from a temple 300 years after being buried alive is false and quite bizarre, to say the least. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	21st February 2020 / 9:36 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-a-yogi-wasnt-found-alive-in-meditative-state-300-years-after-his-burial/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,100	No, AAP supporters did not pelt stones at Vande Bharat express - Alt News Jignesh Patel 6th February 2019 / 5:27 pm “वंदेभारत एक्सप्रेस पर पथराव करने वाले दयाबस्ती दिल्ली से आप पार्टी के 4 कार्यकर्ता हिरासत में। यही बेवकुफ राजनीति बदलने आये थे (Four AAP supporters from Daya Basti, Delhi were arrested for pelting stones at the Vande Bharat Express. The same fools had come to change the face of politics -translated)” , reads the text of a message currently viral on social media. The message suggests that the engine-less train Vande Bharat express, also called Train 18, was vandalised by four AAP supporters from Daya Basti, Delhi on February 2, 2019. The message has been shared by several individuals on Facebook and Twitter. Alt News found that the claim about the four people, who were allegedly arrested for stone pelting at Vande Bharat Express being AAP supporters is false and malicious. According to media reports, the police has made no arrest in the case so far. An article published by NDTV on February 2, said, “No one was hurt and no arrests were made after the incident occurred when the train left Sakurbasti at around 11:03 pm on Friday to reach New Delhi to begin its trial run to Allahabad, railways said.” Railway Police Force personnel who were escorting the train to New Delhi station, had informed the authorities about the stone pelting incident on reaching the station. Initial reports indeed suggested that the attack took place near Daya Basti. Later, reports emerged that a stone was pelted near Sadar area and NOT Daya Basti. “The Sadar area was searched, however, no suspect was found. Meanwhile, Indian Railways also informed that no one was hurt in the stone pelting incident. The incident took place, barely a month after a similar incident where stones were pelted on Train 18 during a trial run between Delhi and Agra.”, stated a report published by The Financial Express on February 4, 2019. The train was previously attacked on December 20, 2018 during a trail run. In conclusion, the narrative of four AAP supporters from Daya Basti attacking the Vande Bharat train is completely false. Earlier, the previous case of vandalism related to the same train by unidentified miscreants was attributed to the leader of Opposition in an attempt to portray them as ‘anti-development’. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	6th February 2019 / 5:27 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-aap-supporters-did-not-pelt-stones-at-vande-bharat-express/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,101	Did ABVP member 'Bharat Sharma' pose as Delhi cop during clashes in CAA protests? - A fact-check - Alt News Jignesh Patel 18th December 2019 / 11:44 am / Last updated: 18th December 2019 A screenshot of a Facebook profile of one ‘Bharat Sharma’ juxtaposed with a photo of a man sporting a red t-shirt and riot gear is being widely shared on social media. “सरकार बहादुर जवाब दे कि अब इसकी ड्यूटी किसने लगा दी? (Courageous government should answer that now, who has appointed him? -translated)”, quipped national spokesperson for All India Congress Committee (AICC) Udit Raj on December 17, 2019. The screenshot of the Facebook profile of Sharma identifies him as an RSS volunteer and a state executive committee member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the youth wing of the RSS. It is being claimed that the man in riot gear is Sharma who joined the Delhi police to quell the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). सरकार बहादुर जवाब दे कि अब इसकी ड्यूटी किसने लगा दी? #देश_जल_रहा_है pic.twitter.com/jtQVAXRtxV — Dr. Udit Raj (@Dr_Uditraj) December 17, 2019 On December 17, Aam Aadmi Party supporter Kapil tweeted the image and said, “@DelhiPolice can you explain what is happening here?? Have you outsourced law and order to RSS in Delhi??”. The tweet has garnered more than 5,300 retweets before it was later deleted. Swarajya India president Yogendra Yadav quote-tweeted Kapil’s tweet and reiterated the demand for an answer to the latter’s question. Nationalist Congress Party MLA Jitendra Ahwad also posted the same image and claimed, “Look at this photo and u will come to know who r behind the violence”. Look at this photo and u will come to know who r behind the violence #BlackDay #StudentsProtest pic.twitter.com/rh5zqhXKZ1 — Dr.Jitendra Awhad (@Awhadspeaks) December 16, 2019 Several media outlets have reported Delhi police’s clarification that the man in the red t-shirt is police personnel. In a statement given to The Print, DCP (Central) M S Randhawa clarified, “He is not Bharat Sharma. This is another lie that is being spread on social media to tarnish the image of Delhi Police. He is, in fact, a constable with the AATS in South district who was also deployed on the law and order duty in the area”. Moreover, The Quint reported that the man’s name is Arvind Kumar and he is with the Anti Auto Theft Squad (ATTS) South Delhi police. Alt News spoke to DCP South-East Delhi Chinmoy Biswal and confirmed the media reports which identified the man as Arvind Kumar. We have accessed a recent photograph of constable Arvind Kumar. A juxtaposition of the photograph and the zoomed-in viral image shows that he is the same person. (Notice the shape of the nose and the style of the beard.) On December 17, 2019, former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju tweeted screenshots of a man who is seen holding a baton in a striking position against a group of young women and a man lying on the ground. These screenshots were taken from a viral video where policemen are seen lathi-charging the man while the women try to save their friend. One among the enraged cops is a man dressed in civil uniform albeit equipped with riot gear. Can anyone tell me who is this man in civil dress, with his face hidden, beating the students of Jamia, along with the police?? pic.twitter.com/1MmGukxeHB — Markandey Katju (@mkatju) December 17, 2019 People on social media have confused the man raining blows with a baton as constable Arvind Kumar. According to a report by Hindustan Times, a senior police official refuted the rumours on social media and said that the man is also a constable with the South-East district police. “The constables weren’t in their uniform because they were attached with a team of detectives at the district’s Anti Auto Theft Squad, or AATS,” stated the report published on December 17, 2019. “Police had carried out its duty to control a violent mob and maintain peace. Attempts are being made to present a false picture. A picture is making rounds on social media where police personnel is being projected as a member of a student organisation, It’s a lie.”, said Biswal while speaking with news agency ANI. Below, we have compared a screengrab from the viral video with a recent photograph of constable Arvind Kumar. It is noteworthy that while the picture quality of the screengrab is poor, it is enough to highlight the apparent differences in their facial features and beard. The man on the left is a different AATS police officer. Delhi NSUI president Akshay Lakra tweeted a video of a man kicking a person and claimed the former is Bharat Sharma, a volunteer with RSS and ABVP’s state executive committee member. Lakra also posted Sharma’s photograph and a screenshot of his Facebook profile. Can @ABVPVoice explain this? pic.twitter.com/WzOFbs4G6L — Akshay Lakra (@akshaylakra17) December 16, 2019 After Sharma’s profile screenshot began circulating on social media along with constable Arvind Kumar’s photo, Sharma deactivated his profile and later reinstated it with considerable changes to his public bio. Responding to Lakra’s tweet about him kicking a person, Sharma said, “Yes. It’s me. I did it because innocent students were being attacked. Because girls were being abused. Because students were not being allowed to give Exam. You have conveniently ignored what happened before and after these 12 seconds.” Yes. It’s me. I did it because innocent students were being attacked. Because girls were being abused. Because students were not being allowed to give Exam. You have conveniently ignored what happened before and after these 12 seconds. — Bharat Sharma (@bhaaratsharmaa) December 17, 2019 Speaking with India Today, he clarified that he is not the man in the riot gear. “Bharat Sharma categorically denied this and said that neither he is the man in the picture nor he has any idea about it. He also claimed that the face of the man, partially covered in helmet does not resemble his face,” stated the article published on December 18, 2019. I have been subjected to severe mental harassment since yesterday. I will file a defamation suit against all those who have peddled this lie that I was involved in rioting disguising as a police personnel, thus defaming my organisation and me.@ABVPVoice — Bharat Sharma (@bhaaratsharmaa) December 17, 2019 Sharma also reiterated his confession while speaking to the media outlet and said that the man kicking another person is him and also admitted that he is an active ABVP worker. In his defense, he added that the video viral on social media is clipped and doesn’t show what preceded the said incident. However, when asked to produce a longer version, Sharma couldn’t provide one before the aforementioned report was filed. We have compared constable Arvind Kumar’s photograph with Bharat Sharma’s picture posted on Twitter. The comparison brings out the facial differences between the two men. In conclusion, a photograph of a constable with the Delhi police is being circulated as ABVP, RSS worker Bharat Sharma to propagate the false claim that the latter joined the police at Jamia Nagar and charged at students. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	18th December 2019 / 11:44 am / Last updated: 18th December 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-abvp-and-rss-member-bharat-sharma-did-not-join-delhi-police-during-caa-protests/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,102	No, accused in Karnataka temple poisoning case is not Christian - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 26th December 2018 / 10:16 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019 Over 15 people were killed in an incident of food poisoning at a temple in Chamarajanagar in Karnataka on December 17. The source of the poison was the prasada offered to the devotees of the temple. A section of right-wing supporters on social media have claimed that one of the accused in the case, Ambika is actually Sylvia Ambika and that she is a Christian. The lady who poisoned the devotees in the Maramma temple leading to death of 15 people and several sick, is not just Ambika but Sylvia Ambika, a crypto Christian. This fact has been hidden by the media so far and has just been revealed! From nagesh segal in fb — meena das narayan (@MeenaDasNarayan) December 22, 2018 The above tweet is by Meena Das Narayan, who is a journalist and film maker. Narayan is followed on Twitter by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Her tweet of December 22 has been retweeted over 2700 times. Narayan in her tweet claims that the fact that Ambika is a Christian “has been hidden by the media so far”. A seer has been arrested by the police, who according to reports, hatched a conspiracy with his lover, Ambika. Ambika had allegedly procured the pesticide that was used as poison. The claim that she is a Christian has been shared on Facebook as well. #Siddappa gave insecticide to criminal #Ambika to mixed in prasadam, killing 17 innocent #Hindu Devotees, No jail for… Posted by India Cause on Saturday, December 22, 2018 In a conversation with Alt News, Dharmendra Kumar Meena, Superintendent of Police, Chamarajanagar District stated that this claim is baseless and false. “This is completely fake. Ambika is a distant relative of the seer and both belong to the same village and the same community. We will issue a clarification through our social media handles.” A communal angle was given to a criminal incident, by falsely and maliciously claiming that the accused is from the Christian community, with the objective of fomenting animosity along religious lines. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	26th December 2018 / 10:16 pm / Last updated: 15th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-accused-in-karnataka-temple-poisoning-case-is-not-christian/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,103	No, Adityanath did not say 'our job is to save cows, not women' - Alt News Jignesh Patel 27th December 2018 / 3:15 pm / Last updated: 1st October 2020 A screenshot of a newspaper clipping where Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath is quoted as saying, “हमारा काम गाय बचाना है, लड़की नहीं (Our job is to save the cow and not a girl,” is circulating on social media. बाबा जी के पहले के बयान है देख लीजिए ऐसे लोगों से क्या उम्मीद करेंगे आप… “हमारा काम गाय बचाना है लड़की नहीं” – बाबा जी pic.twitter.com/AcIujI94dI — Sonu Yadav (@ShailendraA2Y) October 1, 2020 The clipping is being shared in the wake of a Dalit woman allegedly raped by upper-caste men in UP’s Hathras. योगी: हमारा काम गाय बचाना है, लड़की नहीं 😱😱#JusticeForManisha pic.twitter.com/VcT81CS9Qe — 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒂🌿सोनीया💗 (@Muskan2893) September 30, 2020 Several Facebook users have posted the clipping including the page भीम आर्मी भारत एकता मिशन, दावरदेही. Journalist-turned-film director, Avinash Das had tweeted the same clipping in 2018 drawing close to 1400 retweets and 3,900 likes. बोलो, इस आदमी को जूते पड़ने चाहिए या नहीं? pic.twitter.com/hFDTL8xgEE — Avinash Das (@avinashonly) December 24, 2018 The statement attributed to Adityanath is viral on Facebook and Twitter at least since April 2018. It is unlikely that such a statement made by a Chief Minister would go unreported in the mainstream media. We couldn’t find any credible news report ascribing the statement to Adityanath. Alt News found that the claim originated from a now-deleted website, Rhumor Times. The statement attributed to Yogi Adityanath first appeared in an article published by the website on April 10, 2018. The archived version of this article can be accessed here. The ‘About Us’ section of the website explicitly mentioned, “rhumor times is a satire and humor website. the website publishes rumor with humor.” Social media users should be circumspect while circulating statements attributed to politicians or celebrities without verifying the credibility of the source. In the past as well, a fake newspaper clipping was circulated on social media ascribing a quote to Amit Shah calling the Baniya community ‘thieves’ and ‘cheaters’. Fake quotes have also been attributed to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, AAP leader Raghav Chadda and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th December 2018 / 3:15 pm / Last updated: 1st October 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-adityanath-did-not-say-our-job-is-to-save-cows-not-women/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,104	No, Adityanath did not threaten to set the country on fire if BJP is voted out - Alt News Jignesh Patel 6th May 2019 / 8:20 pm “अगर हमारी सरकार गीरी तो पुरे देश में आग लगा दूंगा – योगी आदित्यनाथ (If our govt is voted out of power then I will set the whole country on fire -translated)”, reads a statement ascribed to UP CM Yogi Adityanath in a supposed screengrab of a news channel. One Pinku Giri who in his bio on Facebook claims to be the Congress’s Darbhanga district IT cell head, has also shared this image. “Sensing a defeat in the general election, Yogi is revealing his true face”, posted Giri with the image. Few more individuals and pages on Facebook have shared the same image. On Twitter, individual users have requested Alt News to verify the statement ascribed to Yogi Adityanth. Is this true ?? @samjawed65 @free_thinker @zoo_bear @boomlive_in @SMHoaxSlayer pic.twitter.com/CouJtlp6lw — Future PM RELUCTANT_ECONOMIST (@Mnomics_) May 5, 2019 Looking at the logo shown in the screengrab, Alt News found that the screengrab of the news channel belongs to a Gujarati News channel called Mantavya News. We found that the alleged screengrab of Mantavya News, which attributes an outrageous statement to the UP CM, is morphed. Firstly, had the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh made such a statement, it would have been featured in multiple news outlets. That fact itself should raise doubts regarding the authenticity of this screengrab. However, there are other clues in the image which show that the image is morphed. 1. The broadcaster in question here is a regional Gujarati news channel. Therefore, it is unlikely that a statement will be flashed in Hindi and not Gujarati. Alt News contacted Deepak Rajani, the executive director of Mantavya News regarding the matter. He said, “We are a Gujarati news channel, where is the question of broadcasting news in Hindi. Somebody has morphed a screengrab of our news channel. We have never broadcasted such news. The organization is considering a legal action.” 2. If one looks closely at the screengrab, the image of Adityanath in the frame has no margin either above the image or on the left side, with the image touching the edge of the TV frame. Usually, news channels always have a margin on either side of a frame. Alt News went through several videos broadcasted on Mantavya news channel and could not find a single video where a frame has no margin on the top and on the side. Sample this screengrab from the news channel which can be seen on the left in the image below. While a regular frame from the channel has a clearly demarcated margin, the one with Yogi Adityanath in it has no margin as can be seen below. In conclusion, a screengrab of a Gujarati news channel was morphed and an outrageous statement was falsely attributed to Yogi Adityanath. The lack of any credible news report, ascribing the said statement to Adityanath, was sufficient to discredit the veracity of this statement. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	6th May 2019 / 8:20 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-adityanath-did-not-threaten-to-set-the-country-on-fire-if-bjp-is-voted-out/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,105	No, Adolf Hitler had not said "Burn me alive if I am wrong" in 1936 speech at Essen - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 8th September 2018 / 12:42 pm / Last updated: 8th September 2018 A video clip of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler has been circulating on social media. Hitler is seen addressing an audience, and his speech is purportedly the one he made at the Krupp factory at Essen in Germany in 1936. The video is laced with subtitles according to which Hitler is saying, “I left everything for serving my nation. I am not here for any positions but for a responsibility. I have the responsibility for every actions taken for the future of our country. Burn me alive if I am wrong, not afraid of anyone”. This video has been posted on Twitter by a social media user Ashwin Mane (NJCP_India) who describes himself as political strategist of the National Janhit Congress Party. It was posted at around 10 pm on September 7 and has garnered more than 600 retweets so far. This tweet has now been deleted. Its archived version can be accessed here. The video was also posted by the official Twitter handle of Assam Congress. This video was also tweeted by journalist and political observer Shahid Siddiqui. Yet another Twitter user ‘Aarti’ (@aartic02) who is an AAP supporter also tweeted the video and has been retweeted more than 600 times. “Burn me alive if I am wrong”, said Hitler in 1935 But he ended up getting millions of Germans, Polls, Russians, Italians, French British & Jews killed before he killed himself. History repeats itself either as a tragedy or comedy https://t.co/CdZ6DaFSTZ — shahid siddiqui (@shahid_siddiqui) September 8, 2018 The video is also being shared widely on Facebook by individual users and in certain groups and pages. The viral video attempts to draw uncanny similarities between the Nazi leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a reference to a speech he made in November 2016 after demonetisation was announced by the Government. It may be noted that following the announcement of demonetisation on November 8, 2016, PM Modi had made an emotional appeal, asking the people of the country to give him time and to punish him in whatever manner they see fit if he were to fail. At another point in the same speech, PM Modi had said that even if someone were to burn him alive, he is not afraid. Alt News fact checked this claim floating on social media and found a longer version of Adolf Hitler’s speech on YouTube. While the speech is indeed of Essen in 1936, the subtitles accompanying the viral video in which Hitler claimed “Burn me alive if I am wrong” are mischievous and false. The longer version of the video with English susbtitles is posted below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wMBelmoAug In the above video, from 2:42 to 3:04 is the extract that has been shared widely with the false claim. Hitler has not made any reference to what has been claimed. Instead, in this part of his speech he is saying, “If you think my work is right and if you think that I worked tirelessly, that I worked hard, That I’ve stood up for you over these years, that I’ve spent my time properly for my people, give your vote with a yes! Then stand up for me as I stand up for you”. Here is the link (Page 323) to the English translation of the text of the speech on archive.org which has a collection of Hitler’s speeches from 1922 to 1945. The final part of the speech has been translated as “Pronounce whether you hold my work to be right, whether you believe that I have worked hard, that I have taken your side throughout these years, that I have decently devoted my time to the service of this Volk.” This roughly matches with the translation provided in the YouTube video. The context of Hitler’s passionate address was the rapid industrialization and aggressive rearmament of a resurgent and belligerent Germany in the inter-war period, whose expansionism eventually resulted in an escalating trail of death and destruction barely three years later. Moreover, some social media users also pointed out that the subtitles in the viral video are false and translated the clip from German to English. Earlier, Alt News had reported how an image of Adolf Hitler was photoshopped and juxtaposed with that of PM Modi. PM Modi has often been accused of being dictatorial and tyrannical by his critics, some of who seek to draw comparison with Adolf Hitler. At times, this extends to mischief of the kind seen in the above instances wherein videos and photographs are manipulated in a manner which project likeness between the two political leaders. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	8th September 2018 / 12:42 pm / Last updated: 8th September 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-adolf-hitler-had-not-said-burn-me-alive-if-i-am-wrong-in-1936-speech-at-essen/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,106	Viral video: No, Adolf Hitler had not said, "Hate me, but don't hate Germany" - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 24th December 2019 / 7:30 pm / Last updated: 24th December 2019 Speaking at a poll rally in New Delhi on December 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “Hate Modi if you want, oppose him all you want, hit my effigy with shoes, burn it, but do not burn public property” (translated from Hindi). This was reported by the media as PM Modi saying, “Hate me but don’t hate India”. Following the speech, a video clip of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler has been shared on social media with the claim that Hitler had used similar words in a speech. Youth Congress tweeted (archive) the clip and wrote, “आप मुझसे नफरत करो लेकिन देश से नफरत मत करो – प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी Hate me, But don’t hate Germany – Adolf Hitler जर्मनी हम शर्मिंदा है, हिटलर अभी जिंदा है (You hate me but don’t hate the country – Prime Minister Modi. Hate me, but don’t hate Germany – Adolf Hitler. Germany we are ashamed, Hitler is still alive.)” आप मुझसे नफरत करो लेकिन देश से नफरत मत करो – प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी Hate me, But don’t hate Germany – Adolf Hitler जर्मनी हम शर्मिंदा है, हिटलर अभी जिंदा है pic.twitter.com/2jRwfJFJ0l — Youth Congress (@IYC) December 23, 2019 Congress leader and former cricketer Kirti Azad quote-tweeted (archive) Youth Congress’s tweet and wrote, “वाह @IYC कहां से ले आए भाई तानाशाह हिटलर का यह वीडियो? कहते हैं, इतिहास अपने आप को दोहराता है कहीं तो कहीं क्या करें तो करें क्या? “वाह मोदी जी वाह (Wow @IYC from where did you get this video of dictator Hitler? It is said that history repeats itself. If we say, what do we say, if we do what do we do? Wow Modi ji wow.)“ वाह @IYC कहां से ले आए भाई तानाशाह हिटलर का यह वीडियो? कहते हैं, इतिहास अपने आप को दोहराता है कहीं तो कहीं क्या करें तो करें क्या? “वाह मोदी जी वाह”@RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi @INCDelhi @drshamamohd @SChopraINC @INCDelhi @JhaSanjay https://t.co/WphYwF5cqU — Kirti Azad (@KirtiAzaad) December 23, 2019 Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap had also posted the clip. The tweet now stands deleted. (archive). Kashyap’s tweet was retweeted over 5100 times since it was posted on December 22. In the 15-second video clip showing Hitler in the middle of an impassioned speech, the subtitles accompanying it read, “I know who is hating me, Hate me it is your wish, But dont Hate Germany.” The video was also tweeted by Radhika Khera, national media coordinator of the Congress party. Her tweet has been retweeted over a thousand times. (archive). By God पूरा का पूरा हिटलर यहीं भारत आ गया! pic.twitter.com/n4H7drhPGh — Radhika Khera (@Radhika_Khera) December 23, 2019 On Facebook, the video has been posted by the official page of the Indian Youth Congress, the youth wing of the INC. The post has been viewed over 18,000 times and shared over 1100 times so far. आप मुझसे नफरत करो लेकिन देश से नफरत मत करो – प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी Hate me, But don’t hate Germany – Adolf Hitler जर्मनी हम शर्मिंदा है, हिटलर अभी जिंदा है Posted by Indian Youth Congress on Sunday, December 22, 2019 Alt News found that the subtitles accompanying the video do not represent what Adolf Hitler is speaking. Hitler is not saying, “I know who is hating me, Hate me it is your wish, But dont Hate Germany.” Upon searching on YouTube, Alt News found a video which contains the portion circulated on social media. This video is titled, ‘Nazi Rally- Winter 1936‘. The corresponding portion of the video is from 0:10 to 0:25 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNGmHSH3W1g&feature=youtu.be In the beginning of the video, it can be seen that the speech is being delivered at an event- Winterhilfswerk 1936-37. A frame from the video is posted below. The video on YouTube has been posted by British Pathe, a multimedia resource archive. Winterhilfswerk refers to an annual drive for financing charitable work, organized by the Nazi party. On the basis of this information and year mentioned (1936-37), Alt News found another link to a video of the same event on www.archive.org, according to which the speech at the Winterhilfswerk event was delivered by Adolf Hitler in October 1937. We looked up the archive of the speeches of Adolf Hitler from 1922 to 1945, and found a corresponding speech delivered by the Nazi leader, titled ‘Adolf Hitler- opening speech at the new Winterhilfswerk‘. The date of the speech is mentioned October 5, 1937 and the location, Berlin. This English translation of the text of the speech (Page 403) is available on www.archive.org. The full text of the speech is posted below: “You have just been given an idea of last year’s accomplishments of the greatest social aid society of all time. It is gigantic in its scope and enormous in the depth of its effects. I believe that the reward for all who are working in this society lies in the success of the work itself. Sometimes when I see shabbily dressed girls, shivering with cold themselves, collecting with infinite patience for others who are cold, then I have the feeling that they are all apostles of a certain Christianity! This is a Christianity which can claim for itself as no other can: this is the Christianity of a sincere profession of faith, because behind it stands not the word, but the deed! With the aid of this tremendous society, countless people are being relieved of the feeling of social abandonment and isolation. Many are thus regaining the firm belief that they are not completely lost and alone in this world, but sheltered in their Volksgemeinschaft; that they, too, are being cared for, that they, too, are being thought of and remembered. And beyond that: there is a difference between the theoretical knowledge of socialism and the practical life of socialism. People are not born socialists, but must first be taught how to become them. People in the bourgeois era before us insured themselves against everything: against fire, against theft, against hailstorms, against burglary, etc.-but they forgot one kind of insurance, insurance against lack of political madness, insurance against lack of political common sense, that first tears a Volk asunder and then allows it to become powerless to fulfill its lifetasks. And this one omission made all the other types of insurance pointless. We, however, place at the fore of all types of insurance the insurance of the German Volksgemeinschaft! It is for this we are paying our donation, and we know that it will be reimbursed a thousand times over! For as long as this Volksgemeinschaft remains inviolate, nothing can threaten us! Therein lies the guarantee for the future not only of the life of the nation, but hence of the existence of every individual as well. Therefore, it is just to demand from each individual a premium corresponding to his income. Wanting to establish a general lump sum for this premium is a sign of an indecent cast of mind. The little old woman who sacrifices five or ten pfennigs in Moabit or somewhere out in the country casts in more than someone who puts in one hundred or one thousand or perhaps ten thousand marks. Had our so-called intellectual classes initiated these premium payments prior to the war, a certain amount of misfortune could later have been avoided. May God forbid that Fate puts us to the utmost test once again. Yet even then-that is something we know-millions of Germans would be willing to immediately and unconditionally make this last sacrifice to the nation, the eternal Volk. What is this sacrifice we are making today in comparison? Above all, do your duty in being mindful of those millions who once did their duty for all.” As can be seen, nowhere in this speech had Adolf Hitler said “Hate me it is your wish, but don’t hate Germany”. Moreover, Alt News took the help of an interpreter and found that the extract shared on social media loosely translates to, “To talk with the people of brothers, to go inside until the people have overcome all their prejudice, and then to help and continue to help.” This roughly corresponds to the part of the speech (see above image), “With the aid of this tremendous society, countless people are being relieved of the feeling of social abandonment and isolation. Many are thus regaining the firm belief that they are not completely lost and alone in this world, but sheltered in their Volksgemeinschaft; that they, too, are being cared for, that, they, too, are being thought of and remembered.” It may thus be noted that the video clip has been shared with a false narrative. The subtitles accompanying it seek to falsely portray an uncanny similarity between the Nazi leader and PM Narendra Modi. This is barely the first time that comparisons have been sought to be made between the two leaders, through misuse of videos and photographs. A similar instance was noticed in 2018 when a video clip of Hitler was shared with false subtitles in order to draw a comparison with Narendra Modi. In another instance, a photoshopped image was used for the same purpose. [Update: The title of this report was changed to reflect that it talks about only the viral video.] Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	24th December 2019 / 7:30 pm / Last updated: 24th December 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-adolf-hitler-had-not-said-hate-me-but-dont-hate-germany/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,107	No, advocates are not exempted from paying toll fees - Alt News Archit 13th December 2019 / 2:13 pm On December 12, several posts on social were circulating with that claim that advocates/lawyers are exempted from paying toll fee on National Highways. One such post was shared by Twitter user @StratMan001 along with an image of a purported letter from Sanket Bhondve, Private Secretary to the Minister of Road Transport and Highways. @StratMan001 wrote, “Wah! No toll for lawyers all over India…but it pinches if the same concession has to be given to Veterans.” Wah! No toll for lawyers all over India…but it pinches if the same concession has to be given to Veterans. pic.twitter.com/rl7II6vT8d — The Cynic (@StratMan001) December 12, 2019 Alt News has received several requests on WhatApp and its official app to verify the claim. Alt News did a keyword search “lawyers toll fee” on Google and found a December 11 news report by Times of India which states that lawyers and doctors are seeking exemption from paying toll fee. According to the report, on December 3, Chennai-based advocate R Baskaradoss received an acknowledgement from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) about his request to exempt advocates from paying toll tax. On December 12, Press Information Bureau of India (PIB) tweeted that the letter doing the rounds on social media is fake – “#PIBFactCheck Claim: A Letter is being circulated on Social Media, stating that all Lawyers in India are exempted from paying Toll Fees Reality: #NHAI has clarified that as per NH fee rules lawyers are not exempted from paying Toll Fees Conclusion: #FakeNews” #PIBFactCheck Claim: A Letter is being circulated on Social Media, stating that all Lawyers in India are exempted from paying Toll Fees Reality: #NHAI has clarified that as per NH fee rules lawyers are not exempted from paying Toll Fees Conclusion: #FakeNews pic.twitter.com/4YCfQdVxeU — PIB India (@PIB_India) December 12, 2019 Similarly, the official account of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) tweeted, “NHAI clarifies that the user fee collection on National Highways is governed by NH fee rules. As per these rules, Advocates are not exempted from paying user fee (Toll) in NH Fee plazas. @MORTHIndia @MORTHRoadSafety @ihmcl_official” NHAI clarifies that the user fee collection on National Highways is governed by NH fee rules. As per these rules, Advocates are not exempted from paying user fee (Toll) in NH Fee plazas. @MORTHIndia @MORTHRoadSafety @ihmcl_official — NHAI (@NHAISocialmedia) December 11, 2019 This tweet was retweeted by the official twitter account of the MORTH, Alt News searched the keywords “lawyers exempted from payment of toll tax” on Facebook and found a post from December 11 by Vasu Vaswani, who identifies himself as a Bhopal-based advocate. Vaswani posted a letter similar to the one viral on social media. This letter, signed by Bhondve, was addressed to R Baskaradoss, an advocate in the Madras High Court. The letter stated that the MORTH has received Baskaradoss’s a letter dated 13.11.2019 which requested that advocates be enlisted in the exempted list from paying toll tox on National Highways. It also requested that “the advocates passing the National Highways may be permitted to proceed without payment of toll tax on production of identity card issued by the State Bar Council.” Vaswani shared the letter with the caption, “Lawyers of Madras has initiated action for exemption of advocates from payment of toll tax and in response to their representation, Minster of Road Transport and Highways, Govt. of India, has forwarded the letter of advocates to the Chairman, NHAI for taking necessary action. Hope will yield result in the matter.” A close look at this letter revealed that it is dated the same as the viral letter. Furthermore, the Ministry’s acknowledge is also dated identically and the angle of the handwritten acknowledgement is the same. Alt News could not independently verify the letter shared by Vaswani however its content matches with the report by Times of India. Therefore, the claim on social media about lawyers/advocates exempted for toll fee on National Highways is false. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th December 2019 / 2:13 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-advocates-are-not-exempted-from-paying-toll-fees/", "author": "Archit" }
2,108	No, 'Air Marshal Ashutosh Sharma' DID NOT recommend steam inhalation to kill COVID - Alt News Archit 29th April 2021 / 1:02 pm / Last updated: 29th April 2021 A message widely circulating on WhatsApp claims that Indian Air force Air Marshal Ashutosh Sharma, based at Bengaluru’s Command Hospital, recommended steam inhalation to kill coronavirus and end the pandemic soon. The complete message is included at the end of this article. Alt News has received multiple verification requests on our WhatsApp helpline number (76000 11160). Readers can also send queries on our mobile application. (Android, iOS) On April 26, the Indian Air Force (IAF) issued a press note debunking the claim. The press note stated, “It is hereby clarified that there is no Air Marshal Ashutosh Sharma at Bangalore. Command Hospital Air Force Bangalore is headed by Air Vice Marshal Ashutosh Sharma and the message in question has not been originated by him.” The presser added, “Indian Air Force and Air Vice Marshal Ashutosh Sharma do not vouch for anything that is stated in the message. Any person with any symptoms of COVID-19 must seek professional medical help for treatment.” The Ministry of Defence also published this via Press Information Bureau. Last year in June, Alt News Science debunked several claims made by New Delhi-based Dr Parameshwar Arora MD (Ayurveda), a senior consultant at Sir Gangaram hospital, including treating the upper respiratory tract with home remedies like steam. Alt News Science founding editor Dr Sumaiya Shaikh and contributor Dr Sharfaroz Satani wrote, “The novel coronavirus (SARS-COV2) is transmitted predominantly by respiratory droplets, contact, and potentially by the faecal-oral route. After the virus enters the nasal cavity and pharynx (upper respiratory tract), it attaches to the outermost layer of the cells lining the respiratory tract called the ‘epithelial cells’ (see figure). The SARS-COV2 attaches to these cells via a protein called ‘Spike protein’ that attaches to a receptor molecule called ACE2 located on the epithelial cell surface. Once the virus enters these cells, it multiplies by invading further down the respiratory tract, lungs, digestive tract lining, blood, and from there on to the other vital organs of the body. Thus, throughout this process, the virus is multiplying inside a number of cells in many important organs of the body and the blood. Therefore, drinking hot water, washing it down, gargling or steaming with any other substances will not destroy the virus since it is not limited to the respiratory tract. Such home remedies may provide temporary symptomatic relief from a sore throat, but it doesn’t affect the virus or treat the infection. It is a complementary measure for common cold, akin to cold water sponges for fevers.” Neither can steam inhalation cure COVID-19 nor ‘Indian Air force Air Marshal’ Ashutosh Sharma at Bengaluru’s Command Hospital recommend the home remedy to defeat coronavirus. Read the full viral text below: Message from Air Marshal Ashutosh Sharma, Chest physician & pulmonologist COMMAND HOSPITAL AIR FORCE, BANGLORE Please send this message to all your colleagues daily. Important Message for all The hot water you drink is good for your throat. But this Coronavirus is hidden behind the Paranasal sinus of your nose for 3 to 4 days. The hot water we drink does not reach there. After 4 to 5 days this virus that was hidden behind the paranasal sinus reaches your lungs. Then you have trouble breathing. That’s why it is very important to take steam, which reaches the back of your Paranasal sinus. You have to kill this virus in the nose with steam. At 50°C, this virus becomes disabled i.e. paralyzed. At 60°C this virus becomes so weak that any human immunity system can fight against it. At 70°C this virus dies completely. This is what steam does. The entire Public Health Department knows this. But everyone wants to take advantage of this Pandemic. So they don’t share this information openly. One who stays at home should take steam once a day. If you go to the market to buy Groceries vegetables etc. Take it twice a day. Anyone who meets some people or goes to the office should take steam 3 times a day. Steam week According to doctors, Covid -19 can be killed by inhaling steam from the nose and mouth, eliminating the Coronavirus. If all the people started a steam drive campaign for a week, the pandemic will soon end. So here is a suggestion: Start the process for a week from morning and evening, for just 5 minutes each time, to inhale steam. If we all adopt this practice for a week the deadly Covid-19 will be erased. This practice has no side effects & doesn’t cost anything either. So please send this message to all your Loved Ones, relatives, friends and neighbours, so that we all can kill this Coronavirus together and live and walk freely in this beautiful world. Thank you, Jai hind 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. In a 2-minute video, a man recommends a “technique” to prevent infection from Omicron, the… A video of a set of iron nails that appear to melt after being placed… Several social media users have shared an image that shows two columns — ‘Cepa/variante’ (Spanish… A 90-second video of a man dissecting a banana has been shared on the internet…. The Taliban has formed an all-male government after taking over control in Afghanistan. On September…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th April 2021 / 1:02 pm / Last updated: 29th April 2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-air-marshal-ashutosh-sharma-did-not-recommend-steam-inhalation-to-kill-covid-19/", "author": "Archit" }
2,109	No, Akhilesh Yadav had not signed the petition to commute Kasab's death sentence - Alt News Archit 11th December 2021 / 12:37 pm Several social media users claimed that Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav was one of the 302 people who signed the petition to stop the capital punishment of Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, 2008 Mumbai attack convict. [Viral text: कसाब की फांसी रुकवाने के लिए जिन 302 लोगो ने याचिका पर साईन किया था, उनमें से एक अखिलेश यादव भी थे किन-किन भाई बहन को याद है या भूले गए ] BJP Harayana social media head Arun Yadav posted this claim. This post was shared over 23,000 times. Posted by Arun Yadav on Thursday, 2 December 2021 Hindu Yuva Vahini Gujarat-in-charge Yogi Devnath also tweeted the claim and deleted it after gaining over 3,000 retweets (RT). Alt News has documented multiple instances where Devnath has posted misleading claims. Several Twitter users have posted this claim — @BeingBihar_ (over 900 RTs), @I_Khushbo (over 2,000 like), @sarojni12345431 (over 200 RTs), @_S__Raj__ (over 200 RTs), @MeenaTarunYadav (over 700 likes). Facebook accounts that gained high engagement on the claim are — महान हिन्दूस्तान (2,000 shares), यूपी मुख्यमंत्री रिपोर्ट कार्ड (7,500 likes), मोदी समर्थक ख़बर (4,500 likes), Search India (2,800 likes) अब मोदी है तो मुमकिन है (1000 like), Ek Bihari 100 Pe Bhari (2,300 likes). Kasab, 25, was executed on November 21, 2012. The death penalty was upheld on charges of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the nation and various other provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. A few weeks prior to his execution, Kasab’s plea for clemency was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on November 5, 2012. As per a 2012 report by The Indian Express, more than 203 people had signed a petition addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee, requesting a commutation of the death sentence. Mumbai-based lawyer Yug Chaudhry had written to the President on October 28, 2012. “In the first batch sent to the President, 203 people had signed the petition. About 15-20 more signatures were obtained in the second batch that was also sent to the President,” Chaudhry had told The Indian Express. In a conversation with Alt News, he confirmed that Akhilesh Yadav was not one of the signatories to the petition. He further added, “I am not willing to answer any further questions on the topic because the signatories have been harassed enough.” Several social media users including BJP leader Arun Yadav, therefore, falsely claimed that Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav signed the petition seeking pardon for Kasab’s death penalty. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th December 2021 / 12:37 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-akhilesh-yadav-had-not-signed-the-petition-to-commute-kasabs-death-sentence/", "author": "Archit" }
2,110	No, AMU students did not chant 'Bharat se lenge Azaadi' - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 4th May 2018 / 10:38 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018 Social media is abuzz with the claim that students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) raised anti-national slogans calling for secession from India. Recently, a controversy erupted at the university over the presence of a portrait of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. This had led to a tussle between the students and members of Hindu Yuva Vahini. Now, it has been alleged that AMU students raised a particular slogan, ‘Bharat se lenge azaadi’ (We will seize freedom from India- translated) as part of their protests. The tweet posted below is by @goonereol who is a contributor to OpIndia. These were the slogans raised in #AMU. “Hum lar ke lenge azaadi. Modi se lenge azaadi. BHARAT se lenge azaadi, BHARAT se lenge azaadi” . Now some fartchecker will call it doctored. (Youtube link attached) https://t.co/r2iuoEqC7o pic.twitter.com/OLweTXLMRf — Un-bhadralok bangali (@goonereol) May 4, 2018 This claim is spreading rapidly on social media, particularly on Twitter where many social media users have slammed AMU and its students. It is also being cited by Pakistani nationals on Twitter. The birth place of 2 nation theory, Aligarh Muslim university (AMU) roars again against the hindutva onslaught Students chant “Modi se lenge azaadi. BHARAT se lenge azaadi” aftr hindutva goons attack students for refusing to remove Quaid-e-Azam M Jinnah’s portrait #ThankYouJinnah pic.twitter.com/ohdzKVlYDC — Asfandyar Bhittani🇵🇰 (@BhittaniKhannnn) May 4, 2018 Alt News analysed the video and transcribed the sloganeering that took place at this event. In the video it can be heard that the protesters are chanting the following: RSS se bhi azaadi, RSS se bhi.. azaadi, hum chheen ke lenge.. azaadi, tum dande maaro.. azaadi, tum dande maaro.. azaadi, Phir Bhi na mane.. azaadi, tum jail mein bhejo.. azaadi, phir bhi na mane.. azaadi, chahe goli maro.. azaadi, chahe goli maro.. azaadi, hum seena denge.. azaadi, hum seena denge.. azaadi, hume goli maaro.. azaadi, tum lathi maaro.. azaadi, phir bhi na mane.. azaadi, hume chahiye chaiye.. azaadi, hume chahiye.. azaadi, tumhe deni hogi.. azaadi, jo tum na doge.. azaadi, jo tum na doge.. a, hum ladkar lenge.. azaadi, Modi se lenge.. azaadi, Bharat mein lenge.. azaadi, Bharat mein lenge.. azaadi, jeene marne ki.. azaadi, khane khane ki.. azaadi, BJP se bhi.. azaadi, RSS se bhi.. azaadi, RSS se bhi.. azaadi, RSS se bhi.. azaadi, bhagwa gundon se bhi.. azaadi, bhagwa gundon se bhi.. azaadi, bhagwa gundon se bhi.. azaadi… It can be heard clearly from 00:37 to 00:40 that the protesters are chanting ‘Bharat mein lenge azaadi’ (We will take freedom in India) and not ‘Bharat se lenge azaadi’ (We will take freedom from India). Immediately after, the next lines are ‘jeene marne ki azaadi, khane khane ki azaadi (freedom to live and die, freedom of choice of food). To dispel any doubts about what was actually chanted, we took a small clip from the video starting from 00:35 to 00:42 and halved the speed of the audio and video. This can be watched below. Earlier in 2016 when the JNU controversy was at its peak, a video had been released in which it was alleged that JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar had raised secessionist slogans. It was later found that the video was doctored. The word ‘azaadi’ itself was construed as a call for separation when in fact these slogans were chanted as a call for freedom from oppression and injustice, real or perceived. Update: The person deleted his tweet after which we have added a screenshot. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	4th May 2018 / 10:38 pm / Last updated: 11th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-amu-students-did-not-chant-bharat-se-lenge-azadi/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,111	No, AMU students did not raise the slogan "Hinduon ki kabr khudegi" - Alt News Jignesh Patel 16th December 2019 / 2:48 am / Last updated: 16th December 2019 A video of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act is being circulated on social media with a claim that they raised slogans against Hindus. BJP Yuva Morcha Vice President Santosh Ranjan Rai posted the video with the message, “हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर.यह भारत में सुनने को मिल रहा है भाई (The grave of Hindus will be dug on the chest of AMU. We are getting to listen this in India -translated)” हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर.यह भारत में सुनने को मिल रहा है भाई #AAPBurningDelhi pic.twitter.com/QICDDM8yme — Santosh Ranjan Rai (@SantoshRanjan_) December 15, 2019 With the help of a keyword search on Twitter, Alt News found the same video with better audio and video quality. Listening to the video posted below, it becomes clear that the claim about the students raising anti-Hindu slogans is false. They were actually raising slogans against Hindutva, Savarkar, BJP, Brahminism and casteism. Here, the students can be heard saying, “हिंदुत्व की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, सावरकर की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये बीजेपी की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ब्राह्मणवाद की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर, ये जातीवाद की कब्र. (grave of Hindutva will be dug on the chest of AMU, grave of Savarkar will be dug on the chest of AMU, this BJP’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Brahminism’s grave will be dug on the chest of AMU, Casteism’s grave will be dug -translated)”. It may be noted that this video was uploaded on December 12, 2019. Are you listening; All the way from AMU. Long Live AMU#AMUrejectscab#CABBill2019#CitizenshipAmendmentBill pic.twitter.com/WN77Kwvcz9 — پیر زادہ محبوب الحق (@psmh019) December 12, 2019 Moreover, we matched the above video with the viral version and found that the video has been zoomed-in in the version that is presently viral as compared to the clearer version above. The audio quality of the video has significantly deteriorated in the viral version uploaded and downloaded multiple times on social media in a cyclic pattern. As can be seen on the image in the right, the entire gate is visible in the background, while it is not in the video which is presently viral, a screenshot of which can be seen on the left. BJP UP spokesperson Shalab Mani Tripathi posted the video falsely claiming that the students were chanting slogans against Hindus while adding, “Treatment is necessary for people with such attitude and voice (-translated)”. The tweet has garnered close to 900 retweets so far. BJP member Richa Pandey Mishra tweeted the video with a similar claim. आवाज सुनिए, अंदाज देखिए, कह रहे हैं – हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर… ऐसी आवाज़ और अंदाज वालों का इलाज ज़रूरी है #AAPBurningDelhi pic.twitter.com/PLhGsJQ7dM — Shalabh Mani Tripathi (@shalabhmani) December 15, 2019 Former Shiv Sena member Ramesh Solanki also tweeted the same video with the false claim, “हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर..Yeh aasteen ke 🐍hamare hi tax pe palte hai aur hamari hi कब्र khodege”. It was retweeted more than 900 times at the time of writing this article. हिंदुओं की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की छाती पर.. Yeh aasteen ke 🐍hamare hi tax pe palte hai aur hamari hi कब्र khodege 😡 #AapBurningDelhi pic.twitter.com/vYIVS9LfiN — Ramesh Solanki (@Rajput_Ramesh) December 15, 2019 BJP Delhi spokesperson Tajinder Bagga posted the same clip (left) along with another video that is viral on social media. He asserted that the students raised “a clarion call for ethnic cleansing of Hindus.” This is Not a protest for #CAB this is call for Ghazwa-E-Hind . Bahut se chehre Naqabo se bahar aa rhe hai dhire dhire pic.twitter.com/MZztJbNwiT — Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga (@TajinderBagga) December 15, 2019 BJP social media head Amit Malviya tweeted the same clip (left) as Bagga’s with the message, “AMU students are chanting ‘हिंदुओ की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की धरती पर”. AMU students are chanting ‘हिंदुओ की कब्र खुदेगी, AMU की धरती पर…’ Chaps at Jamia want ‘हिंदुओं से आज़ादी…’ If this is the mindset that pervades in these ‘minority’ institutions, imagine the plight of Hindus and other minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan… pic.twitter.com/VRNeOyhaHY — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 15, 2019 Many other social media users have shared the video on Twitter and Facebook with the identical false claim. It is evident from the video that the students were raising slogans against Hindutva, not Hindus. BJP office bearers were among many social media users who falsely claimed that the chants were anti-Hindu. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th December 2019 / 2:48 am / Last updated: 16th December 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-amu-students-did-not-raise-the-slogan-hinduon-ki-kabr-khudegi/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,112	No, Amul will not shut its milk chilling centres from March 21 due to coronavirus - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 19th March 2020 / 10:49 pm A notice attributed to dairy company Amul is doing the rounds on social media in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. It claims that all chilling stations of the company will be closed for an indefinite time from March 21, 2020. “विषय : कोरोना वायरस की बजह से चिलिंग सेंटर बंद करने के सम्बन्ध (Subject: Regarding the closure of chilling stations due to coronavirus)” – reads the subject line of the notice. Posted by Mohammed Mohsin Ansari on Thursday, 19 March 2020 Several Facebook users have shared the alleged notice. Posted by Anil Swami on Wednesday, 18 March 2020 Alt News could neither locate any such information on the Amul website or news reports alerting that the company has decided to suspend business due to coronavirus. The managing director of the cooperative body Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) RS Sodhi took to Twitter and informed that the notice is fake. Amul is managed by GCMMF. “None of our milk chilling centre or procurement activities are going to close down. Rather we are procuring more,” wrote Sodhi. It seems somebody spreading this news which is fake and none of our milk chilling centre or procurement activities are going to close down , Rather we are procuring more .@atul1chaturvedi @girirajsinghbjp pic.twitter.com/Glgl8rxfDj — R S Sodhi (@Rssamul) March 18, 2020 A Financial Express article quotes Sodhi saying that milk supply will not be disrupted due to the spread of COVID-19. “According to Sodhi there has been sizable shift of demand for milk from retail outlets to e-commerce platforms and Amul kiosk because of coronavirus scare,” reads the report. Speaking with Zee News, he also said that people are indulging in panic buys and hoarding of supplies in cities such as Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore due to which the sales of milk power, ghee, butter, etc has shot up. However, “this is not creating any problem related to supply at our end as we keep an inventory of 15-20 days in advance. This has helped us in increasing our production. Thus there is no such shortage,” he continued. A fake notice is therefore viral in the name of Amul, claiming that the company will shut down its chilling centres from March 21. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	19th March 2020 / 10:49 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-amul-will-not-shut-its-milk-chilling-centres-from-march-21-due-to-coronavirus/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,113	No, ANI did not misquote AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel in his speech against Nupur Sharma - Alt News Archit & Kalim Ahmed 11th June 2022 / 6:55 pm / Last updated: 11th June 2022 In the last week of May, BJP national spokesperson Nupur Sharma made controversial remarks about Prophet Muhammad on the national news channel Times Now. This sparked outrage in the Muslim world, with several Muslim nations condemning her statement and asking India for a public apology. On June 5, BJP suspended Nupur Sharma. Five days later, on June 10, protests over Sharma’s remarks took place after the Friday jumma prayers across India. As per reports, two people died in Ranchi. Furthermore, Section 144 of the Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has been imposed in several parts of the country. On the same day, AIMIM’s Maharashtra-based MP Imtiaz Jaleel criticised Sharma’s remark. ANI uploaded a 37-second video of Jaleel along with the transcription of his quote – “[sic] Islam is a religion of peace, people are angry…Nupur Sharma should be hanged. If she’s allowed to let go easily, then such things won’t stop. Law should be brought to take action against those who make such remarks against any religion, sect…” This video has gained close to 10 lakh views. #WATCH Islam is a religion of peace, people are angry…Nupur Sharma should be hanged. If she’s allowed to let-go easily, then such things won’t stop. Law should be brought to take action against those who make such remarks against any religion, sect…: AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel pic.twitter.com/jUKkmvDb4V — ANI (@ANI) June 10, 2022 Shortly after, a section of people on Twitter criticised ANI for “misrepresenting” Jaleel’s quote. Journalist Rohini Singh quote-tweeted ANI and wrote, “Imtiaz Jaleel clearly says they aren’t asking for Nupur Sharma to be hanged and the law should take its course. Why has @ANI misquoted him so grossly? This false statement attributed to him has the potential to further inflame tensions.” [Archived link] Imtiaz Jaleel clearly says they aren’t asking for Nupur Sharma to be hanged and the law should take it’s course. Why has @ANI misquoted him so grossly? This false statement attributed to him has the potential to further inflame tensions. https://t.co/db89QWRRkc — Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) June 11, 2022 Similarly, NDTV’s Gargi Rawat and freelance journalist Alishan Jafri made the same claim. Both subsequently took down their tweets. [Archived link] Twitter account ‘Team Saath’ also claimed ANI misquoted Jaleel. [Archived link] Even after being made aware of the “correct” quote, @ANI fails to delete its tweet. Dear @Twitter, This is a deliberate act of spreading misinformation. Please take action on @ANI #TeamSAATH🤝 https://t.co/8wXbYJt0yW — Team Saath Official🤝 (@TeamSaath) June 11, 2022 No. The following is the transcription of Jaleel’s speech uploaded by ANI – “Islam is a religion of peace. Indeed there is anger amongst people. We also demand that Nupur Sharma should be punished by hanging to death. If she easily goes scot-free, she will never be stopped. We are saying that a law should be brought against people who speak against any caste, religion or any religious head … our prophet, and there should be strict action and prompt proceeding. It isn’t happening… that’s why… suspending her… is that called proceeding? Today the entire world…” The relevant section claimed to have been misrepresented has been highlighted. [Translated from: इस्लाम जो है वो अमन का मज़हब है. इस्लाम जो है वो शांति का मज़हब है. यकीनन लोगों के अंदर गुस्सा है. हम भी ये मागणी करते है कि नूपुर शर्मा को फांसी की सज़ा मिलनी चाहिए. वरना अगर उसे आसानी से छोड़ दिया गया तो उसका कोई अंत ही नहीं रहेगा. हम तो ये कह रहे हैं कि किसी भी जाती किसी भी धर्म किसी भी धार्मिक गुरु किसी भी…हमारे नबी के खिलाफ़ अगर कोई बोलता है तो ऐसा कानून लाया जाए की उसके उपर सख्त कारवाई होनी चाहिए, फ़ोरन कारवाई होनी चाहिए, नहीं हो रही है. इस वजह से… उसे पार्टी से निकालना…ये कारवाई है? आज पुरी दुनिया…] The part of the speech misunderstood by many has to be comprehended in Jaleel’s native language (Marathi). Jaleel said, “Islam jo hai woh shanti ka mazhab hai. Yakinan logo ke andar gussa hai. Hum bhi maangni karte hai ki Nupur Sharma ko fasi ki saza milni chahiye.“ The phrase, “Hum bhi maangni karte hai” has been misunderstood. This phrase is a mix of Hindi and Marathi. The Marathi element is the word maangni. It means “demand” in both Marathi and Gujarati. It is worth noting that maangni sounds phonetically similar to the Hindi phrase “maang ni” or “maang nahi” which means “not demanding”. Alt News spoke with a linguist trained in Gujarati and Marathi. On the request of anonymity, they told us, “I heard the video multiple times and I can categorically state that Imtiaz Jaleel said mangani.” The expert added, “It could not have been ‘maang ni‘ because the nasalization on ‘a’ in ‘maang‘ does not get dropped generally in Hindi. Since there is an absence of nasal ‘a’ in Jaleel’s statement, ‘maang ni‘ interpretation is incorrect.” It must also be pointed out that the phrase right after “Hum bhi maangni karte hai” only makes sense if Jaleel demanded Nupur Sharma’s hanging. Jaleel said that she should be hanged “otherwise she will easily go scot-free”. (Warna agar use asani se chodh diya toh uska koi ant nahi rahega). The video below shows the relevant section where the phrase “Hum bhi maangni karte hai ki” can be heard clearly. Verified YouTube channel Gallinews uploaded another video of Jaleel from June 10. He is delivering an inciteful speech on the mic. He is wearing the same cream-coloured shirt as seen in ANI’s clip. Around 25-second mark, Jaleel said, “…Hang [Nupur Sharma] to death at this every crossway of Aurangabad…” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8wRC6N1k7A?start=22] Therefore, the claim that ANI misquoted AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jaleel is false. Since he spoke a mixture of Hindi and Marathi, several people assumed he said “maang ni” when, in fact, he said “maangni” which means “demand” in Marathi. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th June 2022 / 6:55 pm / Last updated: 11th June 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-ani-did-not-misquote-aimim-mp-imtiaz-jaleel-on-his-speech-against-nupur-sharma/", "author": "Archit & Kalim Ahmed" }
2,114	No, anti-CAA protesters did not chant 'Pakistan zindabad' in Lucknow rally - Alt News Pratik Sinha, Priyanka Jha & Pooja Chaudhuri 29th December 2019 / 12:57 am / Last updated: 29th December 2019 On December 28, BJP social media head Amit Malviya tweeted a video and claimed that it shows anti-CAA protesters in Lucknow raising ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans. Malviya wrote, “Since this is a season of pulling out old videos, here is one from Lucknow where anti-CAA protestors can be seen raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans… Damn! Someone needs to have a samvaad with them and ask them to carry tricolour and Bapu’s picture for the cameras next time.” Since this is a season of pulling out old videos, here is one from Lucknow where anti-CAA protestors can be seen raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans… Damn! Someone needs to have a samvaad with them and ask them to carry tricolour and Bapu’s picture for the cameras next time… pic.twitter.com/Lvg7sj2G9Z — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 28, 2019 It is noteworthy that the video has surfaced on social media after a clip of Meerut SP Akhilesh Narayan Singh asking anti-CAA protesters to “go to Pakistan” went viral. SP Singh defended his position with the claim, “Some boys raised Pakistan zindabad slogans after seeing us.” The senior police officer alleged that his “go to Pakistan” statement was in response to the boys’ anti-India sloganeering. The same video was tweeted with the identical claim by Haryana BJP IT cell head Arun Yadav. Media outlet Zee News ran a broadcast based on the video and declared that ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans were indeed raised at an anti-CAA rally in Lucknow on December 13. Zee News also stated that flags of Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM can be spotted in the clip. Republic broadcast a show on the video titled, “Unverified Video Surfaces From UP: ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ Slogans Raised At AIMIM Rally In Lucknow.” The channel spoke to a correspondent Vasudev who claimed that an FIR was lodged after the December 13 rally which states that ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans were raised during the protest. However, Vasudev added that no arrests have been made yet and the police are investigating who raised the chants. The video is also massively viral on social media – Facebook and Twitter. One Neetu Garg, who is followed by PM Modi and Amit Shah, quote-tweeted Meerut SP Akhilesh Narayan Singh’s statement and shared the same video. Several other users – Vinita Hindustani and Pooja Singh – tweeted the clip as well. It has also been shared on YouTube by multiple channels including Breaking Tube. This channel has been found circulating misinformation in the past. If one carefully listens to the audio, the protesters are not chanting ‘Pakistan zindabad’ but ‘Kashif saab zindabad’. Alt News has clipped the relevant parts and slowed down the video 2x times below. It is recommended that readers use earphones for clarity. This is how the complete slogan goes (those who wish to listen to the same portion at normal speed click here): Sloganeer: Akbar Owaisi zindabad. Crowd: Zindabad, zindabad [Pause] Sloganeer: Kashif saab zindabad Crowd: Zindabad, zindabad Sloganeer: Kashif saab zindabad Crowd: Zindabad, zindabad Sloganeer: Hindustan zindabad Crowd: Zindabad, zindabad Below is ‘Hindustan zindabad’ played on a loop at its normal speed. Kashif saab aka Kashif Ahmad is the Lucknow AIMIM chief. In a conversation with Alt News, AIMIM UP president Haji Shaukat Ali informed that Kashif Ahmad was leading the December 13 protest. Alt News confirmed that Ahmad was present at the rally. He is the man in white in the photograph below. The video below shows Kashif Ahmad (the man in white in the middle of the crowd) raising ‘Hindustan zindabad’ slogans at the same rally. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) held a protest rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) on December 13. Protesters marched from Clock Tower to Teele Wali Masjid in Lucknow. According to a December 15 Hindustan Times report, two FIRs were filed against the protestors. “The first FIR was lodged on the complaint of Satkhanda police outpost in-charge sub-inspector Rajiv Dwivedi. In his complaint, Dwivedi mentioned that a group of people gathered near Clock Tower without permission and raised anti-India slogans…Another FIR for violation of prohibitory orders was lodged at Chowk police station against the protestors, who staged a demonstration when they reached Teele Wali Masjid.” However, CAA protesters and AIMIM representatives claimed that they had held a peaceful protest and did not raise any slogan against the country. Alt News was able to access a copy of both the FIRs. Media outlet Republic’s claim that the FIR mentions ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans were raised is false. As per the complaint, protesters at AIMIM rally raised slogans against the Indian government, NRC and CAA. It also mentions that they chanted provocative slogans. The FIRs were lodged under various sections of the IPC, including sedition. According to a December 18 report by The Indian Express, the police dropped sedition charges saying they “could not be substantiated.” Multiple social media users, media outlets Republic and Zee News, and BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya shared the video in question with a false claim. The protesters did not chant ‘Pakistan zindabad’ but ‘Kashif saab zindabad’. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th December 2019 / 12:57 am / Last updated: 29th December 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-anti-caa-protesters-did-not-chant-pakistan-zindabad-in-lucknow-rally/", "author": "Pratik Sinha, Priyanka Jha & Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,115	No, Arvind Kejriwal didn't admit of having family ties with RSS; clipped video viral - Alt News Jignesh Patel 9th March 2020 / 7:58 pm / Last updated: 12th March 2022 A 7-second video clip of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is being shared on social media where he appears to be saying, “Our family was of the Jan Sangh Parivar. We are born ‘BJPwallah’. My father was in Jan Sangh. He went to jail during the emergency.” The video was shared by Congress member Mini Nagare after the AAP’s win the Punjab elections. The clip is being passed off as proof that Kejriwal admitted that his family has links with the RSS. संघी लोग जश्न मना रहे हैं… अब समझे आम आदमी पार्टी को सपोर्ट कहां से मिलता है 😂😂😂https://t.co/wAVoTOZmpy pic.twitter.com/HPm49qrssC — Mini Nagrare (@MiniforIYC) March 11, 2022 One Twitter user Ajay had posted the clip amid the Delhi elections in 2020 along with the message, “Does anybody need further proof of Kejriwal’s RSS roots?” Does anybody need further proof of Kejriwal’s RSS roots? “I come from a Jan Sangh family, I was born in a BJP family. My father was in Jan Sangh & went to jail during Emergency” Aur bolo #KejriwalTsunami !! 😂 Every vote for AAP = Vote for RSS pic.twitter.com/l7fNgusEer — Ajay 🌈 (@SpeakingTigers) February 7, 2020 Alt News had also received a request on its official mobile application to fact-check the video. Alt News found that the 7-second clip has been lifted from a February 2020 interview of Kejriwal with NDTV where he claimed that he was quoting a BJP supporter. The Delhi chief minister did not accept that his family has RSS roots. At 7:15 minutes in the video posted below, Kejriwal can be heard saying, “I saw a ‘BJPwallah’ who was speaking on a channel. He said, ‘Our family was of the Jan Sangh Parivar. We are born ‘BJPwallah’. My father was in Jan Sangh. He went to jail during the emergency but this time I will vote for Kejriwal’.” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snM01RM-wzQ?start=433] Continuing with the man’s story, Kejriwal said, “But then he [the supporter] was asked why so? He said ‘My child studies in a government school and the school used to be in such bad condition. They have improved my child’s future. He said, ‘[Kejriwal] is the only guy who is asking for votes on the basis of his work. In 70 years, no [party] has asked for votes on the basis of their work'”. He further quotes the BJP supporter’s response to the anchor’s query on Shaheen Bagh and said, “I have been in the BJP. I know their politics. They made this 10-day issue and they have created this Shaheen Bagh. In ten days, after the election, Shaheen Bagh will get over. After that only Kejriwal will be of use for our electricity, water, hospital and school”. A 7-second clip was circulated on social media to falsely claim that Kejriwal admitted to having family links with the RSS. However, the Delhi chief minister claimed that he was quoting a BJP supporter talking about voting for AAP on the basis of their work. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th March 2020 / 7:58 pm / Last updated: 12th March 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-arvind-kejriwal-didnt-admit-of-having-family-ties-with-rss-clipped-video-viral/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,116	No, Ashok Gehlot did not say that generating electricity will remove energy from water - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 5th June 2018 / 8:23 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018 Jab pani mein se bijli nikal jayegi, aur pani kheto mein jayega, toh pani mein se bijli nikal jayegi toh takat hi nikal jayegi, phir kheto mein pani kaam kya ayega (If electricity is removed from water and the water goes to the farm, such water will have no energy and will be useless in the farm- translated). AICC General Secretary and former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot is being roasted on social media after he purportedly made these daft remarks at a press conference. A 16-second clip is circulating widely on Twitter in which Gehlot can be heard saying these words. Sambit Patra, National spokesperson of the BJP tweeted about this video with the words “Is it authentic? Is this the way Congress misguided our farmers?” It was also shared by Akhilesh Mishra who is a former director of MyGoV. Mishra has now deleted his tweet. It has been tweeted by several others who are followed by the Prime Minister on the social media platform. Friends I received this video! Is it authentic?? Is this the way the Congress misguided our Farmers?? Pls enlighten!! अशोक गहलोत का विज्ञान – पानी मे से बिजली पैदा करके खेतो में भेजेंगे तो प… https://t.co/cLPCawUXiz via @YouTube — Sambit Patra (@sambitswaraj) June 5, 2018 Within no time, #ScientistGehlot became one of the top trends on Twitter as social media users supportive of BJP and PM Modi tweeted it in droves. The mockery over this statement apparently made by Gehlot has spread on Facebook as well, with a number of individual users posting this video clip and ridiculing Gehlot and the Congress party. So, did Ashok Gehlot say these words? Indeed he did, as can clearly be seen in the video which is real. But, did he mean these words? What was the context in which they were uttered? Alt News fact checked this viral claim about Gehlot’s statement and found that the clip doing the rounds is a severely truncated part of a longer video. A longer version of this video which explains the context has been posted below. The video is of a press conference by the Congress party on May 26. Watching the video in totality makes it clear that Gehlot is referring to Jan Sangh, the forerunner of the BJP. According to Gehlot, when he was young he had witnessed how Jan Sangh cadres were spreading misinformation about the Bhakra dam which was inaugurated by former PM Jawaharlal Nehru, spreading rumours that once electricity is removed from water, the water will become useless. He had said, “I remember, during childhood there was the Jan Sangh. When the Bhakra dam was built, Jan Sangh cadres used to preach that ‘Pandit Nehru has lost it. He is building a dam, on which he will construct a hydro power plant. If electricity is removed from water and the water goes to the farm, such water will have no energy and will be useless in the farm”- translated). Ashok Gehlot had in fact posted the video of this press conference on his official Facebook page on May 26. देश में करीब 6 लाख गांव हैं, यदि 18 हजार गांवों में मोदी जी ने बिजली पहुंचाई तो फिर 5 लाख 82 हजार गांवों में बिजली किसने पहुंचाई? मोदी जी झूठ बोलने की हदें पार कर चुके हैं। Posted by Ashok Gehlot on Saturday, May 26, 2018 This is not the only instance of Gehlot making this claim. A video posted on YouTube by the page Gujarat Congress shows Gehlot making a similar statement in December 2012. Meanwhile, Gehlot tweeted a clarification and slammed those circulating the edited video. ये इनकी असलियत है और इनकी फितरत में है कि मुझ जैसे साधारण इंसान को भी #ScientistGehlot का दर्जा दे देते हैं। This is the original, which was edited.. pic.twitter.com/KGygG7RPMn — Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) June 5, 2018 Mischievous editing that obscures the original meaning of what has been said and places words completely out of context is a popular tactic deployed by fake news purveyors. Earlier, a statement made by Congress President Rahul Gandhi (‘Aloo ki factory’) had been subjected to similar treatment following which Gandhi was ridiculed incessantly. In another instance, journalist Ravish Kumar was targeted by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya who had shared an edited clip with a false claim. The manner in which this edited video was shared and the pace with which it spread across social media in an organised manner represents a strategy that hardly leaves any scope for reflection or scepticism with regard to such videos. This allows such propaganda to spread all over social media in no time. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	5th June 2018 / 8:23 pm / Last updated: 9th July 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-ashok-gehlot-did-not-say-that-generating-electricity-will-remove-energy-from-water/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,117	No, Ashok Gehlot was not waving Pakistan's flag as claimed on social media - Alt News Jignesh Patel 29th November 2018 / 11:22 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019 A video of Congress leader Ashok Gehlot has gone viral on social media. An individual user on Facebook has shared with the caption, “सामने पाकिस्तान का झंडा लहराया जा रहा हैं और मंच पर गहलोत हरा झंडा फ़हरा रहें हैं (Pakistan’s flag is waved in the front and Gehlot is waving a green flag on the stage -translated). This post has been shared more than 1600 times and viewed in excess of 17000 times already. Mahesh Vikram Hegde, the founder of fake news website Postcard News also tweeted the same video. Several social media users have shared this video with the identical narrative. Another post by one Anil Sharma claims that Pakistan’s national flag can be seen on the dais where Gehlot is present. It is based on a screengrab of Ashok Gehlot with a highlighted green flag in the background. This Facebook post has been shared close to 2900 times. If you look closely, both the claims are based on the flag which is NOT the Pakistani national flag. In the images, the green flag with a crescent moon is a generic flag. It is used as a religious symbol by the Muslim community in the subcontinent. In the comparison given below, Pakistan’s national flag with a white patch on the left side can be seen. The pictures depicted in the above Facebook posts are representative of this religious banner and NOT Pakistan’s national flag. Drramgopal Varshney, a Facebook user also posted a claim that the Pakistani flag was waved at a Congress rally. It has been shared more than 1400 times. In the past as well, this green coloured flag has been falsely represented as Pakistan’s national flag on social media to further a political agenda. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	29th November 2018 / 11:22 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-ashok-gehlot-was-not-waving-pakistans-flag-as-claimed-on-social-media/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,118	No, Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal does not have six children; misinformation by NDTV - Alt News Arjun Sidharth 25th October 2019 / 6:07 pm / Last updated: 26th October 2019 Recently, the Assam government announced that with effect from January 1, 2021, persons with more than two children will not be eligible for government jobs. Reporting on the development, an anchor on NDTV stated that the Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal himself has six children. In the above video, the anchor Sonal Mehrotra Kapoor can be heard saying, “It was in 2017 that the Assam legislative assembly adopted a two-child population policy. The state cabinet has now finally decided to implement it by making government jobs out of bounds for people with more than two kids. That means that if you have more than two kids, you will not be entitled to any government job in Assam. The policy will come into effect from January 1, 2021…The interesting bit in this is that the Chief Minister himself has six kids, but he has decided to finally implement this two-child policy.” The part where the anchor refers to the Assam CM begins from 00:47 minutes in the above clip. NDTV’s reportage, wherein it was stated that the Chief Minister of Assam has six children, is factually incorrect. In an affidavit filed by Sarbananda Sonowal in 2014 for the Lok Sabha election, which is available on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer, Assam, it is categorically mentioned that he has no children. Moreover, iInformation about Sarbananda Sonowal’s marital status is readily available on the website of the Assam assembly. According to the CM’s biodata on the website, he is single. Sonal Mehrotra Kapoor, who had anchored the programme, later tweeted acknowledging her error and apologising for the same. My apologies for an inadvertent slip in my anchor link, as reported in our story, the chief minister of Assam is the 8th child to his parents. Thank you for pointing this out 🙏🏻 — Sonal MehrotraKapoor (@Sonal_MK) October 25, 2019 NDTV in its broadcast falsely stated that Sarbananda Sonowal has six children and later took down the broadcast. Update: The article has been updated to include details of the affidavit filed by Sarbananda Sonowal in 2014. Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th October 2019 / 6:07 pm / Last updated: 26th October 2019	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-assam-cm-sarbananda-sonowal-does-not-have-six-children-misinformation-by-ndtv/", "author": "Arjun Sidharth" }
2,119	No, author of TIME's cover story on PM Modi is not a citizen of Pakistan - Alt News Jignesh Patel 14th May 2019 / 11:10 pm Time magazine’s cover story ‘India’s divider-in-chief’ was mooted on social media this week. A sharp critique of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the article, written by journalist and author Aatish Taseer was much discussed with regard to the author’s nationality rather than the contents of the piece itself. The ruling BJP has also dismissed the critique and refused to comment on it, pointing fingers instead at the author’s nationality. Amit Shah, the BJP national president, in an interview with Times Now reverberated the party line. In response to a question about PM Modi’s criticism in the article, he said, “See I believe the people of this country and their sixth sense is much bigger than any magazine. On 23rd [of May], It will be decided so as to how has Modi performed. According to the information that I have… an article written by a Pakistani author shouldn’t be taken with such credibility.” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EX7zF69hGk?start=501] Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Dr. Sambit Patra reiterated the same claim. He said, “The man who called Modi divider-in-chief is a Pakistani man, he is a Pakistani citizen. You all know what Pakistan is like. They hate Narendra Modi because he did two surgical strikes on them. What else is there to say? But Rahul Gandhi is tweeting about it.” Press Conference by Shri Sambit Patra #DeshKeDilMeiModihttps://t.co/2BwcQVdGfc — BJP MadhyaPradesh (@BJP4MP) May 11, 2019 BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain in a sound bite given to Zee News said, “The one who has written the article is a Pakistani. Whether he goes to America. In his mind, there must be instilled anger against Modi. We don’t need any certificate from Time magazine. In the history of India, if there were the least number of riots under anybody’s rule then it was under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”. (translated) Alt News found that BJP’s claim regarding the nationality of Aatish Taseer, son of Indian journalist Tavleen Singh and Pakistani politician Salman Taseer, as untrue. Taseer is a British national. He was born in the UK, grew up in India and is currently based out of New York, USA. Speaking to Tiranga TV about the BJP calling him a “Pakistani citizen”, Taseer said, “Well I have a very thick hide when it comes to criticism. I want people to speak as freely as they like. But when spokesmen of the BJP comes out and puts forward a lie saying that I am a Pakistani. When he knows very well I grew up in India and I have been to Pakistan as about as many times as you have, that kind of annoys me.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxxwdFIufC8 Taseer wrote an article in The Wall Street Journal, when he got a green card for the United States of America. The Day I Got My Green Card London-born #AatishTaseer never felt he truly belonged in the places he and his family were from: India, Pakistan, Britain. In America, finally, he feels free—and at home Posted by Aatish Taseer on Friday, 1 July 2016 Senior journalist Tavleen Singh also rubbished the claims that her son is a Pakistani citizen. In a reply to actor Kabir Bedi’s tweet, she said, “Kabir disagree with what he writes. But, you know that he isn’t Pakistani.” In a conversation with Alt News, Tavleen Singh confirmed that Taseer is a British citizen. Kabir disagree with what he writes. But, you know that he isn’t Pakistani. https://t.co/GKlz1QQDMr — Tavleen Singh (@tavleen_singh) May 12, 2019 A narrative was sought to be created by the Bharatiya Janata Party that an international author who is critical of the Modi government in his article is a Pakistani citizen and thus, the contents of the piece cannot be credible. However, Aatish Taseer is a British citizen and not a Pakistani citizen as claimed. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	14th May 2019 / 11:10 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-author-of-times-cover-story-on-pm-modi-is-not-a-citizen-of-pakistan/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,120	No, bank accounts will not be blocked due to failure of submitting NPR documents - Alt News Jignesh Patel 17th March 2020 / 7:37 pm / Last updated: 17th March 2020 An image of an uncertified document is doing the rounds on WhatsApp. The document urges people to withdraw money from their bank accounts before March 31, 2020. According to the claim, if an account holder fails to submit the National Population Register (NPR) document, their account will get blocked. “प्रत्येक व्यक्ति को सूचित किया जाता है की आने वाली “31 मार्च 2020” से पहले पहले आपने पैसे सभी बैंक से निकल लें “01 अप्रैल 2020” में “NPR” की डॉक्यूमेंट बैंक में मांगे जाएंगे जिस के पास डॉक्यूमेंट नहीं होगा उसका का अकाउंट ब्लॉक कर दिया जाएगा इस सुचना को ज्यादा से ज्यादा लोगों को शेयर करे जय हिन्द,” reads the document. Alt News has received several requests on its official app to fact-check this claim. Alt News found that there is no document available on the website of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which talks about blocking accounts that fail to submit “a letter issued by NPR”. However, we found a document related to Know Your Customer (KYC) on the RBI website. The document (Master Direction – Know Your Customer (KYC) Direction, 2016) reflects the original date as February 25, 2016, and the last update was made on January 9, 2020. In the document, Officially Valid Documents (OVD) required for the KYC process are specified. It includes that “a letter issued by the National Population Register containing details of name and address” will also be considered as an OVD. In a statement to Boomlive, an RBI spokesperson dismissed the viral message and clarified that the information has no basis. It may be noted that The Hindu’s Business Line reported on January 14, 2020, that a letter from the NPR is “now among” the OVDs. However, Alt News found a copy of the same document, updated on July 12, 2018, that referred to a letter issued by the NPR as an OVD. “National Population Register” was inserted as a document valid for KYC in July 2015 when the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act was amended by a notification from the Ministry of Finance in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India. Importantly, the “letter issued by NPR” containing details of name and address is an optional document for the KYC process just like other documents such as passport, voter ID and driving licence. It is also important to note that the ‘Customer Due Diligence (CDD) procedure for individuals’ section, states, “an equivalent e-document of any OVD, the RE shall verify the digital signature as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000″. Hence, it is certain that “a letter issued by NPR” is one of the OVDs. In a response to a tweet by a customer asking for an explanation on the addition of the “letter issued by NPR” as a document for KYC, SBI clarified, “NPR is one of the officially valid documents as approved by RBI that may be submitted for KYC update in your bank account.” However, according to a report, many banks have not yet added NPR letter to the list of valid KYC documents. Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior official of Bank of Baroda said that they haven’t added it as “it doesn’t make sense in adding something that doesn’t exist.” What is the NPR and the letter issued by NPR? (according to government documents) According to the Census of India website, NPR was collected “in 2010 along with the house listing phase of Census of India 2011”. An archived version of the website on December 18, 2014, stated, “The National Population Register (NPR) is a Register of usual residents of the country.” The document said that it is mandatory for every usual resident of India to register in the NPR. “A usual resident is defined for the purposes of the NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past 6 months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next 6 months or more.” While some banks are considering ‘a letter issued by NPR’ as the official document for KYC, there is no clarity on what is a letter from the NPR and how one obtains it. The FAQ for NPR 2010 doesn’t mention about any ‘letter’. Albeit, it refers to an acknowledgement slip given after individual details are collected by door-to-door enumerators. According to the FAQ, these slips were later to be carried to the enrolment camps for completing the process. A baseless claim is viral on social media that if a bank account holder fails to submit an “NPR document” his/her account will be blocked. RBI has not issued any such notification. As stated above, a “letter issued by NPR” is an optional document that has been made valid for the KYC process by some banks. However, it is unclear what exactly is “the letter issued by NPR”. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	17th March 2020 / 7:37 pm / Last updated: 17th March 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-bank-accounts-will-not-blocked-due-to-failure-of-submitting-npr-documents/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,121	No, Banks will not remain closed in the first week of September, as claimed by viral WhatsApp forward - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 31st August 2018 / 5:01 pm / Last updated: 31st August 2018 A message viral on WhatsApp reads, “Dear All, Pl, note that all the Banks will remain closed for six days. 2nd Sept- Sun, 3rd Sept-Janmashtami, 4th, 5th Sept – Banks strike protest for pension. 8th, 9th Sept- sat & sun – Closed. All ATM’s may remain cashless. Pl, plan accordingly. The message is also widely spread on Facebook by individual users claiming that all banks will be closed from September 2 to September 9, with the exception of September 7. The Ministry of Finance issued a press release on August 31 to clarify that the rumours circulating are baseless. Banks will remain shut on September 2 in the first week of the month as it is a Sunday. Janmashtami falls on September 3 and is not a gazetted holiday thus, only some banks might remain closed across the country. The United Forum of Reserve Bank Officers and Employees (UFRBOE) has called for a two-day mass casual leave on September 4 and 5 over longstanding pension-related issues. However, this will not have any effect on banking activities which will continue unimpeded. September 8 is the second Saturday of the month and September 9 is a Sunday hence, banks will remain closed on both the days. The MoF has also clarified that “banks are advised to ensure availability of sufficient cash for dispensation from ATMs.” Regulations pertaining to the refilling of ATMs will, however, undergo some regulations with effect from February 8, 2019. According to a new directive by the Union Home Ministry, no ATMs will be replenished with cash after 9 pm in cities, 6 pm in rural areas and 4 pm in Naxal-hit areas. The move aims to improve security by addressing attacks on cash vans, cash vaults, ATM frauds and other internal frauds. WhatsApp messages are often forwarded without authenticating the information thus, causing unnecessary panic among citizens. These should first be cross-checked with credible media sources before circulating to others. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	31st August 2018 / 5:01 pm / Last updated: 31st August 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-banks-will-not-remain-closed-in-the-first-week-of-september-as-claimed-by-viral-whatsapp-forward/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,122	No, Barack Obama has not taken up a private job as claimed on social media - Alt News Jignesh Patel 13th September 2018 / 9:41 pm / Last updated: 13th September 2018 “अमेरिका के पूर्व राष्टपति बराक ओबामा अब एक प्राइवेट नौकरी कर रहे है और भारत में तो सरपंच की भी पांच पीढ़ी घर बैठकर खाती है” (Former American President Barack Obama is now doing a private job and in India, five generations of even a village head will sit and enjoy the benefits -translated) A Facebook page, Being Hindu has shared the aforementioned claim inscribed below an image, where Barack Obama can be seen working on his computer. It had accumulated more than 14000 shares at the time of writing. Posted by Being Hindu on Tuesday, 11 September 2018 It was also shared by many individuals on Facebook and Twitter. Another Facebook page India Dekho which has more than 37 lakh followers posted a similar claim with a different image. The post has garnered more than 44000 shares. काश ! भारत के नेता कुछ सीखते इनसे 🙏 *सांकेतिक तस्वीर Posted by IndiaDekho on Tuesday, 11 September 2018 Doval Fan Club, a Facebook page has also shared the same claim. It has been shared more than 3000 times. Posted by Doval Fan Club on Wednesday, 12 September 2018 Alt News reverse searched the image shared by Being Hindu on Google and found an old tweet from the official handle of Barack Obama which had the same image. On August 30, 2012, he had tweeted, “President Obama is answering your questions in a #Reddit AMA, starting right now: President Obama is answering your questions in a #Reddit AMA, starting right now: http://t.co/f00rEdkn, pic.twitter.com/Q5gWHTTM — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 29, 2012 A photograph shared by India Dekho was unrelated to the claims made by the page. This image was clicked by photographer Matthew Healey for Getty Images on August 13, 2013. Obama and his family were on an eight day vacation at Martha’s Vineyard on Massachusetts island during his presidential years. The caption states that Obama was placing an order at a restaurant. While the third image posted by Doval Fan Club was Obama serving Thanksgiving dinner to residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, DC. It was clicked by Shawn Thew, a photographer for Associated Press on November 23, 2016. The caption reads, “United States President Barack Obama, with First Lady Michelle Obama, shakes hands while serving Thanksgiving dinner to residents at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, DC, USA, 23 November 2016.” From vacations to speeches to international travel, Barack Obama’s life is under constant media scrutiny even after the end of his presidential term. In such a scenario, Obama pursuing a private job would have been reported widely. However, we found no media reports that would suggest that Obama had taken up a private job. According to media, in terms of professional engagements, the Obamas have inked a book deal and an agreement with Netflix. Michelle and Barack Obama have signed a deal with Netflix to produce a set of films and series. An article published by Reuters on May 21, 2018 stated, “The Obamas will have hands-on involvement in producing content and will appear personally in some of the shows while curating others, said a person familiar with the deal.” President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have entered into a multi-year agreement to produce films and series for Netflix, potentially including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features. — Netflix US (@netflix) May 21, 2018 Michelle and Barack Obama have also inked a multimillion dollar book deal reportedly with Penguin Random House which is pegged anywhere from from $30 million to $65 million for two books. According to report published by CNN Money, Obama’s pension payment will be $207,800, about half of his presidential salary. Facebook pages like India Dekho and Being Hindu have often been found to make such misleading claims which helps them garner followers and circulation for their posts. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	13th September 2018 / 9:41 pm / Last updated: 13th September 2018	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-barack-obama-has-not-taken-up-a-private-job-as-claimed-on-social-media/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,123	No, beef flavoured maggi is not being sold in India - Alt News Jignesh Patel 16th March 2020 / 5:50 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2020 On March 10, one Karunesh Shukla tweeted images of Nestle’s maggi flavoured with beef and urged social media users to boycott ‘Maggi’. It is being claimed that beef flavoured maggi is being sold to Indians. “Friends, now Maggi is selling products with our (mother) cow’s beef in it. A few days back Maggi wallahs were mixing lead with Maggi noodles and selling it to us (Indian). We have to teach these foreign companies a lesson. This Holi lets embrace Indian made products and boycott the foreign ones,” reads the message posted along with the images. A similar claim is viral on Facebook and Twitter, which says, “मैगी में गोमांस का फ्लेवर डालना शुरू कर दिया 😡😡 मैं आज से मैगी का बहिष्कार करता हूँ, कृपया आप भी जो गाय को माता का दर्जा देतें हैं मैगी का बहिष्कार करें (They have started processing beef flavour in Maggi. I boycott Maggi from today. You too, please boycott Maggi if you consider cow to be our holy mother.)” Nestle India took to Twitter and informed that maggi noodles sold and manufactured in India “does not contain beef or any form of flavour beef”. Hi, we would like to inform you that MAGGI noodles manufactured and sold by Nestlé India does not contain beef or any form of beef flavor. — We Care At Nestlé (@NestleIndiaCare) March 11, 2020 While a search on Nestle India’s website with keywords (“Maggi” and “beef”) bore no results, the same gave results for beef flavoured maggi on Nestle’s website for Maggi products in New Zealand, USA, Australia and UK. We found the same product listed on Amazon USA’s website. Furthermore, it was found that the maggi India website includes chicken noodles. Thus, the claim that beef flavoured maggi is being sold by Nestle in the Indian market is false. Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th March 2020 / 5:50 pm / Last updated: 19th March 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-beef-flavoured-maggi-is-not-being-sold-in-india/", "author": "Jignesh Patel" }
2,124	No, Bihar SP working on Sushant Singh Rajput's case has not been appointed by CBI - Alt News Archit 11th August 2020 / 7:39 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2020 Bihar police is investigating the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. But the case is also undergoing media trials and overzealous social media vigilance. The Indian Express reported that on July 25 Rajput’s father KK Singh filed an FIR at Patna’s Rajiv Nagar police station. Singh accused Sushant Singh Rajput’s ex-girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty and five others of abetment of suicide, criminal intimidation, and criminal conspiracy. On August 6, The Economic Times reported that a four-member Bihar police team left Mumbai after arriving in the city on July 28 for investigating the case. Patna City SP (Central) Vinay Tiwari arrived in Mumbai on August 2. However, he was quarantined by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at the SRPF guest house in suburban Goregaon. Around August 9, several social media users tweeted that Tiwari was deputed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after his “forced quarantine” by the BMC. Twitter user @rvaidya2000 tweeted, “Master Stroke by Amit Shah..! Vinay Tiwari sent to CBI on deputation. Yes, that Bihar SP who was by force quarantined by Thackrey’s BMC.:)) RT.” This tweet gained around 3,000 tweets. (archive) Master Stroke by Amit Shah..!😳 Vinay Tiwari sent to CBI on deputation. Yes, that Bihar SP who was by force quarantined by Thackrey’s BMC.:)) RT — RVAIDYA2000 (@rvaidya2000) August 9, 2020 Similarly, several other Twitter users posted the same claim including — Gaurav Pradhan, editor-in-chief of Gulf Connoisseur Meena Das Narayan, @Shilpi_Flyhigh, @arnab5222, @ThePushpendra_, and @vibhor_anand. This claim was also published in a report by the news website Kalinga TV. (archived link) Alt News spoke with Tiwari who refuted social media claims regarding his appointment by the CBI. “I am aware that several social media accounts have posted this rumour. I categorically refute these claims,” he said. On August 10 Tiwari tweeted in Hindi, “Since yesterday, certain news is circulating. It is totally false, misleading, and a rumour. Kindly pay no attention to it. (कुछ खबरें कल से प्रसारित हो रहीं हैं। वो पूर्णतः गलत, भ्रामक और अफवाह हैं। कृपया उन पर ध्यान ना दें।). कुछ खबरें कल से प्रसारित हो रहीं हैं। वो पूर्णतः गलत, भ्रामक और अफवाह हैं। कृपया उन पर ध्यान ना दें। — Vinay Om Tiwari (IPS)/विनय ॐ तिवारी (@IPSVinayTiwari) August 10, 2020 Thus, social media claims that Panta SP Vinay Tiwari, who is investigating Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, was deputed by CBI is false. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th August 2020 / 7:39 pm / Last updated: 12th August 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-bihar-sp-working-on-sushant-singh-rajputs-case-has-not-been-appointed-by-cbi/", "author": "Archit" }
2,125	No, BJP leader 'Umesh Singh' wasn't beaten for raising pro-Pak slogans at farmers' protest - Alt News Archit & Kinjal 18th December 2020 / 4:23 pm A clip of a mob thrashing a man being escorted by a police officer has been shared on Facebook and Twitter. The video has a logo of Lucknow-based TV news channel Bharat Samachar on the top right corner. As per social media, the man who was apprehended is BJP leader ‘Umesh Singh’ and he was chanting pro-Pakistan slogans in an attempt to discredit the ongoing farmers’ protest. (Translated from Hindi text किसान आंदोलन में घुस कर पाकिस्तान जिंदाबाद के नारे लगाते भाजपा नेता उमेश सिंह को किसानों ने पकड़कर खूब पेला ।। किसान आंदोलन को बदनाम करने की हर संभव कोशिश सरकार द्वारा ।।) The video was shared by Facebook page ‘Priyanka Gandhi – Future Of India’. It gained over 90,000 views. किसान आंदोलन में शामिल होकर पाकिस्तान जिन्दाबाद के नारे लगाते भाजपा नेता उमेश सिंह को किसानों ने पकड़कर जूतों से मारा… Posted by Priyanka Gandhi – Future Of India on Tuesday, 15 December 2020 It was also tweeted by @JagmohanKausha2 (archived link) and @Manglaram_INC (archived link) drawing 10,000 views cumulatively. किसान आंदोलन में घुस कर पाकिस्तान जिंदाबाद के नारे लगाते भाजपा नेता उमेश सिंह को किसानों ने पकड़कर खूब पेला ।। किसान आंदोलन को बदनाम करने की हर संभव कोशिश सरकार द्वारा ।। pic.twitter.com/nGwnSYKGSW — Jagmohan Kaushal (@JagmohanKausha2) December 15, 2020 Similarly, the video was shared by multiple Facebook users. Alt News received several requests on our WhatsApp helpline number (+917600011160) and on our official Android application to authenticate the claim. We looked up ‘Umesh Singh’ on MyNeta, a government portal that lists information about candidates who have contested elections to State Assemblies, the Parliament and a few local bodies. As per MyNeta, no one by the name Umesh Singh has contested elections for BJP. However, it is pertinent to note that a person can be a party leader without contesting elections. Bharat Samachar reporter Lokesh Rai who was present at the scene told Alt News. “Bharat Kisaan Union (BKU) held a protest at Ghaziabad-Delhi border. During my ground report, I learnt that BKU had assigned specific people to interact with the media in order to avoid controversies. The commotion started when Arun Kumar, representing the protest, gave a statement to the media criticising ‘Godi [paid] media’. Kumar, a resident of Delhi and owner of Vaishali Security Enterprises, was arrested by the Khoda Makanpur police station in Ghaziabad.” If one closely listens, the crowd in the video can be heard saying, “Kaha se aaya hai?… Neta banna hai isko, neta? Bana isko neta…(Where has he come from? He wants to be a leader…let’s make him a leader.)” This suggests that the protestors assaulted a man who they think is not a part of the farmers’ protest and was posing as a leader. Furthermore, the mob cannot be heard accusing him of raising pro-Pakistan slogans. Bharat Samachar had tweeted about this incident on December 14 identifying the man as Arun. #Ghaziabad \|\| ➡धरने पर आए किसानों ने शख्स को पीटा ➡मीडिया में इंटरव्यू देने पर की गई पिटाई ➡दिल्ली निवासी शख्स को किसानों ने पीटा ➡अरूण नाम के शख्स की जमकर पिटाई ➡पिटाई का वीडियो हो रहा जमकर वायरल ➡दिल्ली यूपी बॉर्डर पर किसानों ने की पिटाई.@ghaziabadpolice pic.twitter.com/RCFvYRxvif — भारत समाचार (@bstvlive) December 14, 2020 Speaking with Alt News, Station House Officer (SHO) Mohammad Aslam at Khoda Makanpur police station said, “Kumar was arrested after he got involved in a verbal confrontation with a journalist from Republic Bharat. No pro-Pakistan slogans were chanted. Protestors condoned this behaviour and eventually intervened. Kumar is not affiliated with a political party. He runs a business called Vaishali Security Enterprises.” However, when asked if the police had investigated his political background, the SHO answered in the negative. Kumar’s social media accounts were also not probed to verify the same. Furthermore, we were unable to find any online references to a company named Vaishali Security Enterprises. When questioned about the same, SHO Aslam said, “We just noted what he said. We didn’t check where the said company is located.” He shared a photograph of Kumar with Alt News and added, “No FIR was filed. Kumar’s case was registered under Section 151 in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — Arrest to prevent the commission of cognizable offences.” A search across MyNeta reveals that a man named Arun Kumar is a BJP leader from Nagrota Bagwan town in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. Using the email ID mentioned on MyNeta, we performed a Google search and found a photo of BJP leader Arun Kumar on Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha website. We compared this image with the photo shared by SHO Aslam. The two men are not the same. It is to be noted that Alt News could not independently verify if Arun Kumar from the viral video is associated with the BJP or any other political party. Thus, a video from Bharat Samachar bulletin was shared on social media with the false claim that BJP leader ‘Umesh Singh’ was beaten for chanting pro-Pakistan slogans. The man involved in the incident is Arun Kumar, a Delhi resident. Kumar was arrested by Khoda Makanpur police, Ghaziabad. As per SHO Mohammad Aslam, neither pro-Pakistan slogans were chanted nor the man arrested is linked with a political party. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	18th December 2020 / 4:23 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-bjp-leader-umesh-singh-wasnt-beaten-for-raising-pro-pak-slogans-at-farmers-protest/", "author": "Archit & Kinjal" }
2,126	No, BJP leader Vikas Dubey is not the same 'Vikas Dubey' accused of killing 8 UP cops - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 3rd July 2020 / 6:54 pm A photograph of a man with Uttar Pardesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was shared by Jan Adhikar Party leader Rajesh Ranjan, popularly known as Pappu Yadav. He claimed that the man is gangster Vikas Dubey whose attempted arrest in Kanpur led to the death of eight policemen. Ranjan promoted the claim on Facebook and Twitter writing, “यह जो फूल दे रहा है, यही वह कुख्यात है जिसने आठ पुलिसकर्मियों को सरेआम भून दिया…” Yogesh Shukla, who identifies as an executive member of the Congress party, claimed that the man who killed UP cops is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. “यह है कानपुर में 8 पुलिसकर्मियों को मारने वाला भाजपा नेता योगी जी का चेला विकास दुबे (He is the one who killed eight policemen in Kanpur, BJP leader Yogi ji’s aide.)” India TV anchor Sushant Sinha had shared another photograph of the man which he later deleted. He had written, “When BJP spoke of Vikas, were they talking about Vikas Dubey or JP Nadda? Will they be able to give any clarification on this picture to the families of the martyred policemen?” SP member Ali Khan Mahmudabad shared the man’s images with CM Adityanath and Home Minister Amit Shah. He later took down his tweet. Alt News has also received a fact-check request for one of the images. The man in the pictures is a local BJP leader from Kanpur who shares his name with accused Vikas Dubey. The politician took to social media to call out the misinformation. In a video statement, he said, “I am Pandit Vikas Dubey, area chairman of BJP Kanpur-Bundelkhand region. I am currently the area chief of BJYM. A few miscreants on Facebook and Twitter are linking my photos and name with criminal Vikas Dubey. I am going to file a complaint against these people.” गलत पोस्ट करके लोगों को भ्रमित करने वाले सभी अराजक तत्वों के खिलाफ कड़ी से कड़ी कार्रवाई की जाएगी pic.twitter.com/zZZayhWtgt — vikasdubeybjp (@vikasdubeybjp2) July 3, 2020 The BJP leader also shared a few posts where the misinformation was shared. अफवाहों से बचे जो भी लोग आज पुलिस के साथ बदमाशों की हुई मुठभेड़ में उनकी शहादत को नमन करने की बजाय घटिया राजनीति करने का… Posted by Pandit Vikas Dubey Bjym on Thursday, 2 July 2020 Furthermore, the facial features of accused Vikas Dubey and BJP leader Vikas Dubey do not match. Gangster Vikas Dubey, a history-sheeter, has been arrested several times but escaped conviction. The UP police attempted to arrest him in the early hours of July 3 based on a recent attempted murder case. Eight policemen lost their lives after gunfire broke out. In 2001, Dubey was also charged with the murder of Kanpur BJP leader Santosh Shukla but was later acquitted, reported NDTV. As per Hindustan Times, he joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and was elected as a member of the nagar panchayat. A poster has emerged which shows Dubey’s wife Richa Dubey contesting zila panchayat elections on an SP ticket. According to a report in The New Indian Express, she had won the polls in 2015. Photographs of BJP leader Vikas Dubey were falsely shared as the man with the same name who is accused of killing eight policemen in UP’s Kanpur. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	3rd July 2020 / 6:54 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-bjp-leader-vikas-dubey-is-not-the-same-vikas-dubey-accused-of-killing-8-up-cops/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,127	No, BJP ministers, MPs did not give Rs 25 crore cheque toward Kerala floods - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 27th August 2018 / 7:29 pm “BJP ministers and MPs donate for Kerala, don’t say that you have not received anything (translated),” reads a post shared by one Sreekumar Sreedharannair on Facebook. The caption is accompanied with an image of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accepting a Rs 25 crore cheque. He is surrounded by several people, including BJP MP V. Muraleedharan and Alphons Kannanthanam, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism. The post has been shared over 10,000 times. മുഖ്യമന്ത്രിയുടെദുരിതാശ്വാസ നിധിയിലേക്ക് BJP കേന്ദ്ര മന്ത്രിമാരും MP മാരും സംഭാവന കൊടുക്കുന്നു ഇനി കിട്ടിയില്ല എന്നു മാത്രം പറയരുത് Posted by Sreekumar Sreedharannair on Sunday, 26 August 2018 A few individual users on social media have also circulated the image with the identical narrative of BJP ministers donating money to CM Vijayan toward Kerala flood relief. The Rs 25 crore cheque was not donated by BJP ministers, but central petroleum public sector companies on August 21. Since the cheque was presented to the Kerala CM by BJP MPs, they have been photographed together. This has assisted the narrative floating on social media that it is BJP MPs who have donated this sum to the flood-ravaged state. BJP MP Muraleedharan had tweeted that he “handed over the cheque on behalf of oil marketing companies.” The same was also tweeted by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited. Sh. @alphonstourism Hon. MoS Tourism (I/C), handed over contribution cheque of Rs. 25 crore from Oil Marketing Companies in Kerala for Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund to Sh. @vijayanpinarayi @CMOKerala#KeralaFloodRelief #KeralaWeAreWithYou@dpradhanbjp @PetroleumMin pic.twitter.com/lU0IhzCZB5 — Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (@HPCL) August 21, 2018 With Kerala reeling under devastating floods, a lot of misinformation related to relief work is circulating on social media, including a hoard of images and videos, often with the objective of political one-upmanship. It would be prudent to cross-check claims on social media with mainstream media reports. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th August 2018 / 7:29 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-bjp-ministers-mps-did-not-give-rs-25-crore-cheque-toward-kerala-floods/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,128	No, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee's car window was NOT broken from inside - Alt News Smit Bhatt 12th April 2021 / 2:50 pm On April 10, ANI has tweeted a video that shows locals in Hooghly attacking BJP MP Locket Chatterjee’s car during the fourth phase of polling in West Bengal. One of the windows of the car shatters in the commotion. #WATCH BJP leader Locket Chatterjee’s car attacked by locals in Hoogly during the fourth phase of West Bengal assembly elections #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/aQAgzWI94v — ANI (@ANI) April 10, 2021 All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) claimed that the window was not broken by the crowd but was shattered from inside. .@BJP4India বাংলার নির্বাচনের আসন্ন ফলাফলে ভরাডুবির হাত থেকে নিজেদের মুখ বাঁচানোর জন্য মরিয়া! খুব স্পষ্টতই তৃণমূল কংগ্রেসের ওপর অরাজকতার দায় চাপানোর জন্য @me_locket নিজেদের গাড়িতে আঘাত করছেন, গাড়ির ভেতর থেকে কাঁচ ভেঙেছেন । উনি ভালো অভিনেত্রী আমরা শুনেছিলাম, আজ আবার দেখলাম। https://t.co/H1MK0tpcM9 — All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) April 10, 2021 Several others shared the video, including Ravi Nair whose post gained over 1.96 lakh views. Who broke the window of BJP leader Locket Chatterjee’s car from inside? pic.twitter.com/m0mbPeOT9E — Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) April 10, 2021 Shashant Shekhar‘s tweet gained over 10,000 views. If you watch the first few seconds carefully, you can see through the lies spread by Mrs. @me_locket after realising her imminent defeat! The car window was broken from the INSIDE of the car! Seems falsehood and lying are the prerequisites for @BJP4Bengal ticket!#BJPPolKhol pic.twitter.com/ZVTOld51Co — Shashant Shekhar (@shashantshekhar) April 10, 2021 Journalist Payal Mehta had first tweeted the viral video shared by Locket Chatterjee to show how the politician’s car was prevented to move by an unruly corwd. This video was picked up by many and shared with the claim that someone broke Chatterjee’s car window from inside. Video released by @me_locket of how she was hounded pic.twitter.com/vmkmtKkbOd — Payal Mehta/પાયલ મેહતા/ पायल मेहता/ পাযেল মেহতা (@payalmehta100) April 10, 2021 Mehta’s video is clearer and shows a stone shattering the window when played in slow motion. An earlier fact-checked by Boomlive had also found that a stone had broken the window. TMC and several social media users falsely claimed that BJP MP Locket Chatterjee’s car window was broken from inside. But the fact is that a stone hurled from outside shattered the glass. Fact-checker, Interning with Alt News Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th April 2021 / 2:50 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-bjp-mp-locket-chatterjees-car-window-was-not-broken-from-inside/", "author": "Smit Bhatt" }
2,129	No, BJP MP Ravi Kishan did not complain about the 'smell of sweat' of Dalits in this video - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 19th January 2022 / 9:16 pm Recently, Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan from the BJP had posted a picture of him having a meal at a Dalit person’s house in his constituency. The picture received widespread criticism after it was pointed out that the MP can be seen having food and water on a disposable plate and cup. आज #गोरखपुर में दलित भाई के परिवार में सह भोज किया । pic.twitter.com/yg1JV082yo — Ravi Kishan (@ravikishann) January 14, 2022 Now, a 0:29 seconds long clip of the MP complaining about the smell of sweat while travelling in a car is widely being circulated on social media. This video is accompanied by a Hindi caption that suggests Kishan was talking about the body odour of “Dalits”. The video was shared on Twitter by user @SatyendrayadavR, whose bio says that he’s the state secretary of the Samajwadi Youth Brigade and by @ManishCEO2. सांसद रवि किशन ने दलित के घर मज़बूरी में खाना खाया? दलित का पसीना महकता है उससे बदबू आती है?? वाह क्या आज की राजनीति हैं 🙄 भाजपाइयों जनता को समझ क्या रखे हो ? सबका जवाब मिलेगा 🙏@Gyanpra65533145 @ARajesh_SP pic.twitter.com/MmPHuBKvAG — Er.Satyendra Yadav (@SatyendrayadavR) January 17, 2022 गोरखपुर सांसद रवि किशन ने दलित के घर मज़बूरी में खाना खाया?दलित का पसीना महकता है उससे बदबू आती है,क्यों जाते हो दलितों के घर?चुनाव के समय ही दलित क्यों याद आते है,खाना खाने का नाटक पुराना हो गया,अब नेताओं को दलित के घर जाकर गटर साफ करना चहिए और फ़ोटो खिचवाकर तुरंत अपलोड करें। pic.twitter.com/XoABVaNu3k — Er Manish Rajak (@ManishCEO2) January 17, 2022 The video is viral on both Twitter and Facebook. A simple keyword search on Twitter led us to a tweet journalist Puneet Kumar Singh from May 16, 2020. This establishes that the viral video cannot be related to the MP’s recent visit to a Dalit person’s house. ये गोरखपुर के सांसद रविकिशन है, और इन्हें मजदूरों के पसीने से बदबू आती है, वाह महाराज, क्या बात है वोट लेते समय मजदूरों के घर गए थे तब पसीना बदबू नही मार रहा था। pic.twitter.com/t5V54Vm00r — Puneet Kumar Singh (@puneetsinghlive) May 16, 2020 It must be noted that while Singh claimed Kishan said that the body odour of workers smells, the audio does not support his assertion. At around 4 seconds in the video, Kishan asks in Bhojpuri, “How many people have you filled in this [car]?” and subsequently says, “The sweat is smelling so much.” He was talking about the smell of sweat emanating from the car because it was overfilled with people. We also performed a keyword search on YouTube and came across a news report by Live Hindustan posted on May 17, 2020. The video includes a statement from Kishan according to whom the video is from 2017 when he was campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wvCMmOKMLw] Hence, an old video of Ravi Kishan was shared with a misleading claim suggesting that the MP made a distasteful comment about Dalits. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	19th January 2022 / 9:16 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-bjp-mp-ravi-kishan-did-not-complain-about-the-smell-of-sweat-of-dalits-in-this-video/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
2,130	No, Chandrashekhar Azad's real name is NOT Naseemuddin Khan - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 20th June 2019 / 11:13 pm A claim viral on social media suggests that Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan’s real name is Naseemuddin Khan. “भीम आर्मी के नेता चंद्रशेखर रावण का असली नाम नसीमुद्दीन खान है. कितने लोगों को पता था ये हिन्दुओं को तोडने की कुटिल मुस्लिम चाल (Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Ravan’s real name is Naseemuddin Khan. How many of you were aware of his devious plan to divide Hindus?)” – reads the message. The claim, propagated by a Twitter handle Hindu First (@Hindu1stPalghar), received over 1,200 retweets and more than 2,000 likes in merely three hours. The message is viral on Twitter. The claim has also been shared on Facebook by various groups – मोदी सेना, pages – हिंदू राष्ट्र हिंदुत्व की पहचान, Jammu Hindus Against Rohingyas, We support hindutava Army, and individual users. The assertion that Azad’s real name is Naseeruddin Khan is false. The Bhim Army chief himself mocked the claim on Twitter and wrote, “जबसे ये पोस्ट पढ़ी है मेरी तो हंसी नही रुक रही है। वैसे नसीमुद्दीन नाम बुरा नही है (I cannot stop laughing since I came across this post. By the way, Naseeruddin isn’t a bad name.)” जबसे ये पोस्ट पढ़ी है मेरी तो हंसी नही रुक रही है। वैसे नसीमुद्दीन नाम बुरा नही है 😂😂😂 https://t.co/N4bPpOlnjn — Chandra Shekhar Aazad (@BhimArmyChief) June 17, 2019 Azad has built his politics around his Dalit identity – a fact known to all. According to several media reports, he hails from Chutmalpur, a small town situated near Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. He is the son of late Govardhan Das who was a retired government school principal. In a 2017 interview with The Quint, Azad talked about how his father was insulted in the school due to his ‘chamar’ identity. The ‘chamar’ community is regarded as ‘Dalits’ or ‘untouchables’, however, they officially fall into the scheduled caste category. Chandrashekhar Azad has been targetted with misinformation in the past well when Zee News and News18 misquoted the Dalit leader. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	20th June 2019 / 11:13 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-chandrashekhar-azads-real-name-is-not-naseemuddin-khan/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,131	No, China did not launch an "artificial Sun" into the sky - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 12th January 2022 / 9:56 pm A 0:30 seconds long clip is being widely circulated on social media with the claim that China recently “debuted” an “artificial sun”. Except for the video, these claims do not mention in which province or at what time the alleged launch happened. On Twitter, the video has been shared by various popular accounts such as RapTv, a website that covers pop culture and music, and by Mr Whale who claims to be a crypto investor. China debuted a new artificial sun ‼️😳 pic.twitter.com/6ncKa4VQy0 — RapTV (@raptvcom) January 10, 2022 China just launched their artificial sun What in the dragon ball z is going on… pic.twitter.com/O3LBoPV8IC — Mr. Whale (@CryptoWhale) January 10, 2022 China’s “artificial sun” set a new world record after superheating a loop of plasma to temperatures five times hotter than the sun for more than 17 minspic.twitter.com/5rd9mCPDKY — AuxGod (@AuxGod_) January 9, 2022 Indian TV journalist Vivek Bajpai tweeted the video with a Hindi caption. #Video देखिये ऐसे निकला था चीन का ‘नकली सूरज’#China #ArtificialSun pic.twitter.com/xJV4OMypVO — Vivek Bajpai (@vivekbajpai84) January 10, 2022 The video is extremely popular on Facebook as well. We analysed the video and could hear a few people talking in the background. In order to understand the conversation, we reached out to Naomi Wu, a Chinese tech personality. As per Wu, there are two people who can be heard in the video, a man and a woman. The man says, “It has been ignited, it has been ignited” (he says it several times in the video). The rocket is launching right now.” While the woman says, “Can you hear me speaking?” to possibly someone on the phone. We also noticed that Twitter @BleuZ00m had replied to a handle that shared the video. His reply suggested that the viral video could be a recent rocket launch. The article attached in his reply published on December 23, 2021, reads, “…The Long March 7A lifted off from the coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 5:12 a.m. Eastern, rising into a broken cloudy sky just after local sunset.” The word “coastal” here is important as it helps us narrow down the province. We performed a keyword search on the Chinese search engine platform, Baidu, with the help of the TOR browser and found a news report from 2020 talking about a tourism boost in Longlou, a “space town” in the coastal city of Wenchang, South China’s Hainan Province. We came across another report that clearly shows a picture of the beach. All of this information helped us establish that the video was shot in Longlou. We could not find the original source of the video but we did find another video of the rocket launch on YouTube. This video is shot from a different angle. The description in the video reads, “…A Long March 7A rocket launched the pair from the Wenchang Launch Center at 18:12.” [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8qR0zrMN6Y] Hence, the viral video being shared shows the launch of the rocket Long March 7A, shot in Longlou, China on December 23, 2021. It is very common for a sphere-like shape to appear on recordings of rocket launches due to over-exposure of light while filming during the evening or at night. We have added an example below. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B-NR-ML_RU] To answer this question, we again used the TOR browser to perform a keyword search on Baidu and came across a report by Xinhua, Chinese state-affiliated media. As per the report, the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST), or the Chinese “artificial sun”, achieved a continuous high-temperature plasma operation for 1,056 seconds in its latest experiment conducted on December 31, 2021, the longest time of operation of its kind in the world. The report also adds that the ultimate goal of EAST, located at ASIPP (Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences), in Hefei, is to create nuclear fusion like the Sun, using deuterium abound in the sea to provide a steady stream of clean energy. There is no mention of the “artificial Sun” being propelled into the sky. To summarise, China is indeed working on an “artificial sun” to replicate the nuclear fusion of the Sun to produce clean energy. It is not something that will be launched into the sky. The video that is being dubbed as the “launch” of the artificial Sun is actually a rocket launch recorded from a distance. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	12th January 2022 / 9:56 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-china-did-not-launch-an-artificial-sun-into-the-sky/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
2,132	No, China did not seek court’s approval to kill over 20,000 coronavirus patients - Alt News Archit 7th February 2020 / 10:20 pm / Last updated: 8th February 2020 Amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, various posts have gone viral on the internet. The latest addition to this list is an article (archive) by the website ab-tc.com. The report’s headline reads, “China seek for court’s approval to kill the over 20,000 coronavirus patients to avoid further spread of the virus.” On February 6, BJP Maharashtra spokesperson Shweta Shalini tweeted (archive), “Human Rights ? Anyone…..“ Alt News noticed this article is also being circulated on Twitter. We have also received several requests on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160). Alt News did a keyword search and found that no mainstream media has reported on the viral claim that “China seek for court’s approval to kill the over 20,000 coronavirus patients to avoid further spread of the virus.” However, Alt News found that multiple media outlets including TIME, BNO News, WIRED and RThave reported that over 20,000 confirmed cases have been reported world worldwide. After analysing the article and website, Alt News noticed that the home page of ab-tc.com showed several signs of being an inauthentic source of information. For starters, the homepage, from February 7 edition of the website, had a story from August 17, 2019. The most striking anomaly was that the viral article doesn’t have a dateline but only the byline ‘local correspondent’. The screenshot below highlights four articles with the same byline. Moreover, the article doesn’t cite any sources. Alt News did a keyword search on Google and found a statement by the Singapore government. According to the statement, “On 30 Jan 2020, a website called ‘City News’ published an article titled “BREAKING NEWS: Singapore records six more coronavirus case, total of 16 now” (https://ab-tc.com/singapore-coronavirus-cases/) claiming that five Singaporeans have contracted the Wuhan coronavirus without going to China.” In response, the Singapore government said, “As of 9pm on 30 Jan 2020, there is no local transmission of the Wuhan virus in Singapore. All confirmed cases in Singapore to date are Chinese nationals who travelled from Wuhan.” Performing another keyword search, Alt News found a report by Snopes, a US-based fact-checking website, on the viral article on February 6. Snopes stated that the “website (ab-tc.com) is full of junk news stories” and cited multiped false reports published by the website in the past. The report added, “For instance, a July 2010 article (still featured on the homepage) carries the headline, “BREAKING: New York Giants coach Pat Shurmur has died.” But Shurmur didn’t die in 2010. In fact, he is still alive as of this writing and was hired as the offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos in January 2020. The website has also published hoax articles about “cannibal restaurants” (debunked here), death hoaxes about celebrity couples (debunked here), doctored tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump, and a junk news article that falsely claimed Prince Andrew had committed suicide.” Alt News also found that Lead Stories, another US-based fact-checking website, has published multiple reports on ab-tc.com. Alexa, a US-based web traffic analysis company, has ranked the website 504,468 in global internet engagement. Alt News also searched ab-tc.com on DomainBigData, domain name investigation tools. The website is registered to Alim Zaidi from Muscut. The email id associated with the domain is [email protected]. According to the DomainBigData, this id is associated with two more domains – almuqeem.net (not functional any more) and globalpillars.com. Alt News noticed that globalpillars.com recognises itself as DomainNameSales. According to the website, it has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, The Boston Globe, MarketWatch, Reuters and Yahoo Finance. Alt News did keyword research and noticed that no reports were published by the following media outlets. This shows the owner of ab-tc.com domain has multiple websites which mislead people. Therefore, the viral article published by ab-tc.com is fabricated and the website should not be considered as a reliable source of information. The claim that China has not sought the court’s approval to take the life of 20,000 coronavirus patients is false 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	7th February 2020 / 10:20 pm / Last updated: 8th February 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-china-did-not-seek-courts-approval-to-kill-over-20000-coronavirus-patients/", "author": "Archit" }
2,133	Chinese reading Quran after ban lifted in view of coronavirus? Old video viral - Alt News Kinjal 9th March 2020 / 9:59 pm / Last updated: 9th March 2020 Social media is replete with misinformation around novel coronavirus. Alt News has debunked several such claims in past weeks. A video is now viral on social media with the claim that in the light of the epidemic, China is allowing Muslims to read the Quran which was previously banned. Posted by Peronda Pasarmalam on Monday, 9 March 2020 “The Holy Quran was banned in China. Now the ban has been lifted. Chinese Muslims are allowed to read Holy Quran. Look at the Joy!!!!! ALLAHHUAKBAR,” reads the viral text shared with the video. It is also getting shared with the same message in Hindi. Alt News has received multiple requests to fact-check this video on its official mobile application. Alt News broke the video into multiple key-frames with the help of digital verification tool InVid. According to an article published on March 19, 2013, by a website called ‘Gospel Prime‘, the video depicts the moment when people saw the bible for the first time. Although, the article states that it is unclear where and when was the video made. The video was later uploaded by a YouTube channel named International Christian Concern on March 17, 2014. Some reports also claimed that the video is from the 1980s. Alt News couldn’t independently verify the video and its content. Suffice to say, it is unrelated to the recent outbreak of coronavirus since it has existed on the internet at least since 2013. Kinjal Parmar holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. However, her keen interest in journalism, drove her to pursue journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. At Alt News since 2019, she focuses on authentication of information which includes visual verification, media misreports, examining mis/disinformation across social media. She is the lead video producer at Alt News and manages social media accounts for the organization. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th March 2020 / 9:59 pm / Last updated: 9th March 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-china-didnt-grant-permission-to-read-quran-in-the-light-of-coronavirus-epidemic/", "author": "Kinjal" }
2,134	No, CM Kejriwal didn't mock Kashmiri Pandits; BJP leaders share clipped video - Alt News Archit 28th March 2022 / 5:53 pm / Last updated: 4th April 2022 A portion of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s March 24 address during the recent budget session where he referred to the controversial film ‘The Kashmir Files’ has lately made headlines. In the clip, CM Kejriwal can be heard saying, “They are saying make The Kashmir Files tax-free. Well, put it on YouTube and it shall be free.” It is noteworthy that the film has been made tax-free in most BJP-ruled states, including Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Goa, Haryana, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand. In the backdrop of this, several BJP members have targeted CM Kejriwal, claiming that he denied atrocities faced by Kashmiri Hindus. BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya shared a 15-second clip. In the first eight seconds, we see AAP members laughing, following which Kejriwal says, “Won’t even install posters of films based on lies…” Malviya claimed that the Delhi CM denied the atrocities faced by Kashmiri Pandits by terming ‘The Kashmiri Files’ a lie. Only an inhuman, cruel and depraved mind can laugh at and deny the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus. Kejriwal has ripped open the wounds of the Hindu community, who have been forced to live as refugees in their own country, for 32 long years, by calling #KashmirFiles a झूठी फ़िल्म… pic.twitter.com/63w2x9QKqq — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) March 25, 2022 BJP leader Kapil Mishra and Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga posted a screengrab from CM Kejriwal’s address along with images of injured children. Mishra tweeted, “Calling the massacre of Kashmiri Hindus false is equivalent to questioning your mother’s character. Shame on you Kejriwal. Kejriwal has abused every martyr and army personnel of the country by defending terrorists.” (Archived tweet) BJP spokesperson Gaurav Goel tweeted, “Stop making fun of Kashmiri Pandit, Kejriwal. Have some shame.” (Archived tweet) कश्मीरी पंडितो का मजाक मत कर केजरीवाल, शर्म कर !! किसी के होने वाले दामाद ने चंडीगढ़ में कोठी खरीदी है, पैसा कहां से आया ? उसका नाम यूट्यूब पर डालना चाहिए….@ArvindKejriwal — Gaurav Goel (@goelgauravbjp) March 25, 2022 Amish Devgan, managing editor of News18 Hindi, also inferred that terming ‘The Kashmir Files’ fake meant denying the atrocities faced by Kashmiri Pandits. His tweet gained over 12,000 likes as of this writing. (Archived tweet) क्या #KashmirFiles ‘झूठी’ फ़िल्म है ? केजरीवाल जी ने ऐसा कहा । क्या कश्मीर में #HinduGenocide नहीं हुआ था। सदी की सबसे बड़े नरसंघार की हंसी उड़ाना सही था क्या ? ‘हम देखेंगे’ — Amish Devgan (@AMISHDEVGAN) March 25, 2022 Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s full video is available on AAP’s YouTube channel. In the 20-minute address, he speaks about the upcoming Delhi Municipal Corporation election. Nowhere in the video Kejriwal has refuted the 1990 Kashmir violence. It must be noted that both Amit Malviya and Kapil Mishra have misrepresented his speech to make it appear that Kejriwal and AAP members mocked the plight of Kashmiri Pandits. Amit Malviya’s clip Alt News viewed the 15-second clip uploaded by Malviya and noticed that it has two jump cuts at 00:03 and 00:08 second marks. This itself shows that the video is doctored. After the 8-second mark, CM Kejriwal says, “Won’t even install posters of films based on lies…” The first eight seconds of the clip have been extracted from 15:43 to 15:45 and 15:52 to 15:57. This was when Kejriwal took a jibe at the BJP. From 16:00, Kejriwal can be heard saying, “You [BJP members] will… [chuckles] You will get respect [if you join the AAP]. You will not be made to raise false slogans. We will include you in the nation’s development… we’ll build the nation with you…Won’t make you install these posters of films based on lies.” Another bout of laughter broke out at the 16:22 mark when he said, “Do what you want but at least stop promoting a film. You look bad. It doesn’t suit you, you are nice people. You had joined politics to do something significant, but now you are busy promoting films.” [vimeo 693048656 w=640 h=360] Kapil Mishra’s image Mishra’s screenshot from the speech has a watermark of the Twitter handle @BiharKaLall. The same image was earlier posted by this handle. This screenshot has been taken from the 8:56 mark in the video. This was when CM Kejriwal said, “They [BJP] say we are the world’s largest party. We [AAP] are the world’s smallest party and yet you [BJP] got scared.” He neither refers to Kashmiri Pandits nor denies their oppression. [vimeo 693048734 w=640 h=360] To sum it up, several BJP members have falsely shared sections of CM Kejriwal’s speech in Delhi Assembly during the budget session. In the video, Kejriwal criticised the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ for being based on falsehoods. However, no part of his speech can be interpreted as him denying the atrocities faced by Kashmiri Pandits. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	28th March 2022 / 5:53 pm / Last updated: 4th April 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-cm-kejriwal-didnt-mock-kashmiri-pandits-bjp-leaders-share-clipped-video/", "author": "Archit" }
2,135	No, Coimbatore to Thrissur cannot be traveled in 10 minutes via Kuthiran Tunnel - Alt News Archit 11th August 2021 / 6:06 pm Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari tweeted that one side of the Kuthiran Tunnel will be operational from July 31. Kuthiran Tunnel is an under-construction tunnel on the Thrissur-Palakkad route. It is Kerala’s first-ever tunnel for road transport. The 1.6 km tunnel is expected to reduce the distance between the Cochi-Coimbatore route. BJP Gujarat General Secretary Ratnakar posted a video and claimed that the two-hour journey between Coimbatore and Trichur can now be done in 10 minutes because of the tunnel. His video gained over three lakh views. Coimbatore to Trichur Tunnel Opened. 2hours Journey is now 10Minutes. Thanks to the Govt of india Infrastructure development. May be no Media house will talk about such Good News. pic.twitter.com/mTZy9H1Umo — Ratnakar (@ratnakar273) August 9, 2021 Several other Twitter users have made this claim. The claim is widespread on Facebook. According to the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways statement, the Kuthiran tunnel is 1.6 kilometres long and is designed through the Peechi-Vazahani wildlife sanctuary. This itself debunks Ratnakar’s claim. The total distance between Thrissur-Coimbatore is 114 km and the tunnel stretches for only 1.6 km to address congestion on the Kuthiran hill during the commute. The tunnel does not take travellers from one city to another. The distance between Coimbatore-Thrissur (via tunnel) is 114 kilometres. Even with the detour (without tunnel route), Google Maps shows that the distance between Thrissur-Coimbatore is 114 kilometres. This means that the tunnel does not shorten the distance per se. According to Google Maps, the tunnel reduces the distance merely by 0.6 km and the time by 2 minutes without traffic. (Google Maps result of the route travelled via tunnel and without the tunnel.) Readers should note travel time largely depends on traffic. As per On Manorama, while vehicles were earlier trapped in traffic blocks lasting several hours on the Kuthiran hill, they can now cover the distance via the 1.6 km tunnel in a minute. To sum it up, BJP Gujarat General Secretary Ratnakar falsely claimed that the journey between Coimbatore and Trichur can be done in 10 minutes via the Kuthiran Tunnel. This is false since the distance between the two cities is 114 km and the tunnel stretches for only 1.6 km to reduce traffic congestion at a high tragic area in the route. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	11th August 2021 / 6:06 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-coimbatore-to-thrissur-cannot-be-traveled-in-10-minutes-via-kuthiran-tunnel/", "author": "Archit" }
2,136	No, Congress Karnataka did not inaugurate youth wing office with Islamic rituals - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 2nd February 2022 / 3:39 pm / Last updated: 2nd February 2022 A picture of a group of men making dua (invocation) inside a room is being circulated on social media as visuals from the inauguration of a Youth Congress office in Karanataka. The photo also contains portraits of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi on the wall in the background. The claim is particularly viral on Twitter. Karnataka: Congress Youth Wing Opens New Office in Bangalore pic.twitter.com/NXzR5W9zkK — MeghUpdates🚨™ (@MeghBulletin) January 31, 2022 Karnataka Youth Congress office inauguration. pic.twitter.com/zZ3z9JEpYE — Suresh 🇮🇳 (@surnell) January 31, 2022 No this is not inauguration of any madrassa. Its inauguration of Youth Congress office in Karnataka. pic.twitter.com/8geCRFHulo — Pratheesh Viswanath (@pratheesh_Hind) February 2, 2022 Karnataka Youth Congress office inauguration. pic.twitter.com/OvB7BEx5Gg — Rama Subrahmanyam (@ramug0137) January 31, 2022 On Facebook, the photo was shared with the same claim by a fan page of BJP leader Kapil Mishra. We performed a keyword search on Google and came across a news report by Deccan Herald. As per the report, on January 31, Mohammed Haris Nalapad took charge as Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (KPYCC) president. The report also mentions that Haris inaugurated his office with rituals as per Hindu, Muslim and Christian customs. Taking this as a clue we checked the Twitter account of Mohammed Haris Nalapad and found photos of the various religious ceremonies uploaded on January 31. ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಭವನದಲ್ಲಿನ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಪ್ರದೇಶ ಯುವ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್‌ನ ಕಚೇರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಇಂದು ಪೂಜೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥನೆ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಈ ವೇಳೆ ಶಾಸಕರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ @mlanaharis ಹಾಗೂ ಹಿರಿಯ ನಾಯಕರಾದ ನನ್ನ ತಾತ ಶ್ರೀ ಎನ್‌.ಎ. ಮೊಹಮ್ಮದ್ ರವರು ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಹಲವು ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ನಾಯಕರು ಉಪಸ್ಥಿತರಿದ್ದರು. pic.twitter.com/5Qkjk38q9Z — Mohammed Haris Nalapad (@nalapad) January 31, 2022 We further performed a keyword search on Facebook and came across a Facebook live video shared by Nalapad’s father and Shanti Nagar MLA NA Haris where Mohammed can be seen taking part in the Havan ceremony. Other Congress leaders have also posted photos of this event while congratulating Haris. Attending office charge taking ceremony of Mohammed Haris Nalapad as Karnataka youth congress president Posted by N.A Haris on Sunday, 30 January 2022 The claim that the picture is from the inauguration of a “new office” is also not true. As per The New Indian Express, Haris is replacing incumbent KPYCC president, Raksha Ramaiah, as Raksha’s term ended on January 31. He took over by performing some rituals at the Congress Bhavan. There is no mention of a new office in any of the news reports. Even the tweet by Haris mentions the location as “Karnataka Region Youth Congress office at the Congress House”. Hence, an image of Mohammed Haris Nalapad taking charge as the chief of the KPYCC by performing customs of various religions at the Congress Bhawan was shared with a misleading claim that a new Youth Congress Office was inaugurated as per Islamic rituals. Earlier, a viral claim suggested Rahul Gandhi admitted that Congress is a party of Muslims. The claim was refuted by the people who had attended the meeting. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd February 2022 / 3:39 pm / Last updated: 2nd February 2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-congress-karnataka-did-not-inaugurate-youth-wing-office-with-islamic-rituals/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
2,137	No, cops killed in recent Maoist attack were not wrapped in cardboard boxes; old images - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 2nd May 2019 / 4:46 pm Photographs of dead bodies wrapped in cardboard boxes are being circulated on social media with the claim that these are the remains of the policemen who were killed in the recent Maoist attack in Maharashtra. Several individual users on Twitter have shared the images. The photographs are being used to target PM Modi for the alleged disrespect of the slain policemen. A simple reverse-search on Google revealed that the images doing rounds on social media pertain to an incident that occurred in 2017 when seven military personnel were killed in a helicopter crash in Tawang. Former Northern Army commander Lt Gen (Retd) HS Panag was among those who tweeted the photographs. Seven young men stepped out into the sunshine yesterday, to serve their motherland. India. This is how they came home. pic.twitter.com/OEKKcyWj0p — Lt Gen H S Panag(R) (@rwac48) October 8, 2017 Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh had also tweeted about the incident. Shocked to see bodies of 7 @IAF_MCC & @adgpi Tawang crash victims brought in cartons. Is this how we treat our brave men? pic.twitter.com/dP5HGsRvTH — Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) October 8, 2017 The death of 15 policemen in Maharashtra’s Naxal attack was widely reported in the media. Images of the last rites show the slain security personnel receiving state honours. Their bodies were not wrapped in cardboard boxes, as claimed on social media. Maharashtra: Wreath laying ceremony of the security personnel who lost their lives in the IED blast attack by Naxals in Gadchiroli, yesterday. pic.twitter.com/BYDYAbX4DJ — ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019 Images or videos depicting unrelated events are often circulated on social media with a changed narrative. A similar pattern was observed after the recent Sri Lanka Easter bombings and Indian army’s Balakot airstrike in February. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	2nd May 2019 / 4:46 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-cops-killed-in-recent-maoist-attack-were-not-wrapped-in-cardboard-boxes-old-images/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,138	No crowd in Haridwar for Kumbh Mela? Fact-checking misleading video - Alt News Kinjal & Aqib Pathan 16th April 2021 / 8:01 pm Despite India facing a severe second wave of COVID-19, the central government did not ban religious gathering for Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. About 35 lakh pilgrims have gathered at the banks of river Ganga to take a holy dip (Shahi Snan). According to reports, over 2,000 people and 30 sadhus tested coronavirus positive in five days. The mega congregation in the middle of a pandemic has drawn flak for the BJP government. Supporters of the party, however, have shared a video to portray that Haridwar has not witnessed mass gatherings and a false perception is being built against the Hindu festival. Social media in charge of BJP Mahila Morcha Priti Gandhi tweeted the video shot from a flyover that shows empty ghats. The flyover also does not have a lot of vehicles. “Entire propaganda about the #KumbhMela being a #SuperSpreader of #COVID19 is falling flat on its face,” she wrote. Entire propaganda about the #KumbhMela being a #SuperSpreader of #COVID19 is falling flat on its face. Do watch this video to see the REAL SITUATION on ground in Haridwar. pic.twitter.com/s4SOZ18SON — Priti Gandhi – प्रीति गांधी (@MrsGandhi) April 15, 2021 BJP supporter Rishi Bagree also shared the video. The truth of #KumbhMela2021 pic.twitter.com/1VdiZG332h — Rishi Bagree 🇮🇳 (@rishibagree) April 15, 2021 It is widespread on Facebook. Alt News has received several verification requests for the video on its official mobile application and WhatsApp helpline number. Upon watching the video frame-by-frame, hoardings of two hotels – Hotel Ganga View and Hotel Ganges Park – are visible. We have compared Hotel Ganga View visible in the video with a photo of the hotel on Google Maps. Both the hotels are close to Haridwar’s Govind Ghat. We contacted Hotel Ganges Park and spoke with Pradeep Chauhan. “This video has been recorded from the flyover in front of our hotel. This is Shri Govind Ghat. The video does not show any crowds maybe because it was recorded in the afternoon. The holy dip is taken in the morning and most people go to Har Ki Pauri. Only a few people come to Govind Ghat in the morning for the holy dip and aarti and return in the evening again for aarti. The ghats do not see a lot of people in the afternoon,” he said. Google Maps show a flyover in front of Hotel Ganges Park. We also spoke to a Haridwar resident who reiterated that the video shows Govind Ghat. “It would be wrong to suggest there is no crowd in Haridwar. While fewer people have gathered this year compared to previous years, there are still large crowds. The flyover was shut down for safety reasons. Parking arrangements have been made for large vehicles before the flyover starts. People reach Har Ki Pauri on foot or via e-rickshaws after parking their cars. I think the video must have been shot in the afternoon. The time for the holy dip is four in the morning and the crowd starts dispersing by the afternoon. People gather again in the evening for aarti. Loudspeakers announce the time for taking a dip in the water in different akharas and common people are not allowed to stay in a ghat for more than 15-20 minutes,” he said. A local journalist from Haridwar informed that the video may have been shot when most pilgrims were at Har Ki Pauri for the evening aarti that starts at 6 pm. The journalist also said that Govind Ghat does not witness crowds as large as Har Ki Pauri. “Mostly locals visit Govind Ghat while the tourists visit Har Ki Pauri. And this time due to COVID-19 the crowd is comparatively less,” the journalist added. We were also informed that the flyover from where the video was taken is empty because it is a zero zone where only officials and media persons are allowed. Common citizens are not allowed to travel between 5 am to 6 pm as the roads are exclusively reserved for 13 akharas. The distance between Govind Ghat and Har Ki Pauri is about 6-7 km. It is noteworthy that the viral video began circulating on April 15. The first holy dip (Shahi Snan) was held on March 11 on the occasion of Shivaratri. The second and third took place on April 12 and April 14 respectively. It is possible that the video was shot on April 14. Shahi Snan was observed on April 14 on the occasion of Baisakhi. Doordarshan telecasted a 7-hour-long broadcast from Haridwar where devotees and sadhus can be seen gathered at Har Ki Pauri. Kumbh police had tweeted pictures of Shahi Snan on April 14 where a large number of people can be spotted. हरिद्वार महाकुम्भ में बैसाखी पर्व के पावन अवसर पर आस्था के विभिन्न रंग..@UTDBofficial @DIPR_UK @Ashokkumarips @incrharidwar @incredibleindia @DDNational @DDNewslive pic.twitter.com/JUZ74SgfpK — Kumbh Police Haridwar 2021 (@kumbhpolice2021) April 14, 2021 श्री जूना अखाड़े का शाही स्नान..#MahaKumbh2021 #KumbhMela #Kumbh2021 #harkipauriharidwar #ShahiSnan pic.twitter.com/U2wNaMd3xi — Kumbh Police Haridwar 2021 (@kumbhpolice2021) April 14, 2021 Swami Avdeshanad had also shared pictures that show a sea of devotees. नीर से हमारी संस्कृति संस्कार व अनेक संवेदनाएं जुड़ी हुई हैं ! #कुम्भ में हम जिस अमृतत्व का अन्वेषण कर रहे हैं वो जल में ही है \| अतः नदियों की प्रवाह सातत्य व शुचिता सहेज कर रखें।नागा समूह व संतों के साथ मेष संक्रांति #महाकुंभ पर्व का #शाही_स्नान कर आह्लादित हूँ।@TIRATHSRAWAT pic.twitter.com/hopgOmxD3i — Swami Avdheshanand (@AvdheshanandG) April 14, 2021 A video shot when Govind Ghat did not witness large gatherings was shared to falsely suggest that Hardiwar is not crowded for Kumbh Mela during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are enough ground reports to debunk the viral claim. Furthermore, the video was shot 6-7 km away from Har Ki Pauri, which is the main pilgrim attraction. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media….	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	16th April 2021 / 8:01 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-crowd-in-haridwar-for-kumbh-mela-fact-checking-misleading-video/", "author": "Kinjal & Aqib Pathan" }
2,139	No, Danish Kaneria is not among Pakistani players offering Namaz in this photo - Alt News Niddhi Rathi & Jignesh Patel 30th December 2019 / 10:59 pm BJP Mahila Morcha national in-charge of social media, Priti Gandhi, tweeted a photograph of the former Pakistani cricket team offering namaz. She wrote, “Picture of Pakistan cricket team during Inzamam-ul-Haq’s captaincy. Hindu Danish Kaneria & Christian Yousuf Youhana were asked to offer Namaz. #IndiaSupportsCAA“ Picture of Pakistan cricket team during Inzamam-ul-Haq’s captaincy. Hindu Danish Kaneria & Christian Yousuf Youhana were asked to offer Namaz. #IndiaSupportsCAA pic.twitter.com/FEYXPD0wVo — Priti Gandhi (@MrsGandhi) December 27, 2019 The above image is being shared in the backdrop of a statement given by former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar who claimed that his former Hindu teammate Danish Kaneria was discriminated by team members on the basis of his religion. Several other teammates of the ex-Pakistan cricket team refuted the allegation including former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq. Gandhi has linked the alleged discrimination faced by Kaneria with the recent row over the newly constituted Citizenship Amendment Act (2019) which grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhist and Parsis from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The picture includes (from left to right): Abdul Rauf, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf (formerly Yousuf Youhana), Kamran Akmal and Umar Gul. Danish Kaneria, contrary to Gandhi’s claim, is not seen in the picture. Abdul Rauf was the then physiotherapist for the Pakistani cricket team. His facebook profile can be found here. He works at Pain Free Centre, Lahore. A reverse image revealed that the image shared by Gandhi is a Getty Images photo. The picture was clicked before the net practice of a Natwest International Twenty20 match at Bristol on August 27, 2006. Yousuf had announced his conversion from Christianity to Islam in September 2005 and officially changed his name from Yousuf Youhana to Mohammad Yousuf. Hence, this picture was clicked after Mohammad Yousuf’s conversion to Islam. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	30th December 2019 / 10:59 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-danish-kaneria-is-not-among-pakistani-players-offering-namaz-in-this-photo/", "author": "Niddhi Rathi & Jignesh Patel" }
2,140	No, Dean Koontz's 1981 novel did not 'predict' coronavirus emerging from China - Alt News Pooja Chaudhuri 14th March 2020 / 9:56 pm “Is Coranavirus a biological Weapon developed by the Chinese called Wuhan -400? This book was published in 1981. Do read the excerpt,” reads a tweet by Congress MP Manish Tiwari. The book Tiwari refers to is Dean Koontz’s ‘The Eyes of Darkness’. The word ‘Wuhan-400’, developed by a Chinese scientist, features in the marked excerpt. Is Coranavirus a biological Weapon developed by the Chinese called Wuhan -400? This book was published in 1981. Do read the excerpt. pic.twitter.com/Qdep1rczBe — Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) February 16, 2020 That Koontz’s novel released in 1981 ‘predicted’ the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) as a biological weapon developed by China is a claim circulating worldwide in different languages. Below is a tweet in Indonesian. Buku The Eyes of Darkness tahun 90an udah ngomongin 2020 ada virus yang menyerang pernafasan Terus nama biological weaponnya Wuhan 400 😮 pic.twitter.com/oUDDVaV9hT — Ridwan Hanif (@ridwanhr) February 18, 2020 The claim has also been shared in Spanish. A Hindi text claims that a book in China predicted that the country developed the coronavirus to eradicate poverty. “चीन में ये किताब पहले ही आ गई थी जिसमे कहा गया था कोरॉना चीन में सरकार गरीबी हटाने के लिए इस वायरस का उपयोग करेगी चीनी सरकार ऐसा वॉट्सएप पर कहा जा रहा है,” reads the complete message. The novel describes ‘Wuhan-400’ as follows: 1. Developed by a Chinese scientist in an RDNA laboratory outside the city of Wuhan. 2. Wuhan-400 affects only human beings. No other living creature can carry it. 3. The weapon can’t survive outside a living human body for more than a minute. The available information about COVID-19 suggests that these predictions are not aligned with the recent outbreak. Coronavirus is not man-made. Animals can also host the virus. Bogus claims about CoV being engineered as a biological weapon has already been debunked by multiple platforms both national and international. A statement by public health scientists published in The Lancet says, “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin. Scientists from multiple countries have published and analysed genomes of the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and they overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife, as have so many other emerging pathogens.” According to an Al Jazeera report, “Chinese health authorities are still trying to determine the origin of the virus, which they say likely came from a seafood market in Wuhan where wildlife was also traded illegally.” This also debunks the second prediction that the novel coronavirus only lives in humans. The report adds that Chinese researchers said the virus could have spread from “an infected animal species to humans through illegally-trafficked pangolins”, which are prized in Asia for food and medicine. “Scientists have pointed to either bats or snakes as the source of the virus.” The World Health Organisation (WHO) states, “Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such a MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV.” A novel coronavirus (nCoV) and its outbreak COVID-19 has not been previously identified in humans. “Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Detailed investigations found that SARS-CoV was transmitted from civet cats to humans and MERS-CoV from dromedary camels to humans. Several known coronaviruses are circulating in animals that have not yet infected humans,” the WHO adds. Scientific study suggests that the novel coronavirus can survive outside the human body for hours, or even days. An earlier fact-check by Alt News Science editor Dr Sumaiya Shaikh and pharmacovigilance physician Dr Sharfaroz cited a new-preprint study (Doremalen et al 2020) conducted by American scientists. According to the study, COVID-19 can live in the air for several hours and on some surfaces for as long as 2-3 days. The study also suggests that the virus can spread through the air as well as from touching things that were contaminated by those who are infected as well as through direct human contact. They tested the virus by spraying into the air by a nebuliser mimicking the coughing action of an infected person. They learnt that could be detected up to 3 hours later in the air, up to 4 hours on copper surfaces, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel surfaces. A search inside the 1981 edition of ‘The Eyes of Darkness’ on Google books reveals that the fictional novel termed the biological weapon ‘Gorki-400’. According to an article in South China Morning Post, Koontz had the virus originating in Russia. “The book appears to have been rewritten after the collapse of the Soviet Union meant the country was no longer seen as a communist bogeyman,” says the article which adds that the first edition of the book was written under Koontz’s pseudonym Leigh Nichols. The 1981 version on Google books also recognises the author as Leigh Nicols. The initial copy concerns a virus called Gorki-400 that was created by the Russians and emerged from “the city of Gorki”. South China Morning Post also provided an excerpt from the first edition where Gorki-400 and Russia are featured. “The change to Wuhan came when the book was released in hardback under Koontz’s own name in 1989. The year of the book’s re-release is significant – 1989 marked the end of the Cold War. And with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country was no longer communist…An American author pointing the fictional finger of blame at Russia would not have gone down well in that climate, so The Eyes of Darkness needed a new villain,” continues the article. Therefore, social media claims about the novel coronavirus are bogus from all counts. Neither did Dean Koontz author a novel in 1981 concerning a bioweapon that originated in Wuhan nor did he predict the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, ‘Gorki-400’ (later renamed to ‘Wuhan-400’) does not mirror the novel coronavirus. Pooja Chaudhuri is a senior editor at Alt News. Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the… A 1:34-minute-long CCTV camera clip is being widely circulated on social media in which viewers… The teaser of a movie titled ‘The Kerala Story’ is being widely shared on social…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	14th March 2020 / 9:56 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-dean-koontzs-1981-novel-did-not-predict-coronavirus-emerging-from-china/", "author": "Pooja Chaudhuri" }
2,141	No, deers did not turn up on Ooty-Coimbatore road as COVID-19 lockdown restricts human activity - Alt News Archit 27th March 2020 / 7:40 pm / Last updated: 27th March 2020 Several Facebook and Twitter users from India have shared an image of deers sitting on the streets. The image has gone viral with the claim that “Ooty-Coimbatore road is reclaimed by its original owners.” It is being asserted that the deers sat on the road as the lockdown imposed to battle coronavirus pandemic has restricted human movement. Journalist and Padma Shri recipient Mrinal Pande also tweeted (archive link) the viral image. Pande’s tweet was retweeted over 1900 times and liked over 11,000 times. Similarly, IPS HGS Dhaliwal (archive link) also posted the viral image. Alt News performed a reverse image search on Google and found that the viral image was published by Japan Today and SoraNews24 in 2014. According to the reports, the image is from Nara Park in Japan. The park is a popular tourist spot and is known for its deer population. Moreover, a Japanese signboard is visible in the picture, hinting that it cannot be from India. The reason why so many deers turned up at Nara Park was explained by the Nara City Tourism Association (NCTA). “Nara Park covers a broad area, and in fact, a portion of it is made of by the grounds of Kasuga Taisha Shrine. The deity enshrined therein is Takemi Kajichi no Mikoto, said to have ridden to Nara upon a sacred deer from Kashima Shrine (also written with a character for “deer”) in Ibaraki Prefecture. Because of this legend, deer were thought of as sacred animals–the helpers of gods–and have been carefully protected for many years. Even today, Nara’s deer are carefully protected as “natural monuments.” There are several videos available about Nara Park on YouTube. Thus, the social media claim about the viral image is false and misleading. On March 20, National Geographic debunked similar claims of elephants overdosed on corn wine in the Chinese province Yunan and dolphins spotted in Venice. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	27th March 2020 / 7:40 pm / Last updated: 27th March 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-deers-did-not-turn-on-ooty-coimbatore-road-as-covid-19-lockdown-restricts-human-activity/", "author": "Archit" }
2,142	No, Delhi Health Minister did not say no one from Nizamuddin Markaz tested positive for COVID-19 - Alt News Archit 15th April 2020 / 11:12 pm / Last updated: 15th April 2020 A 16-second clip of Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendra Jain has gone viral on social media. On April 14, Facebook page ‘Mohsin Rfi Khan sp’ posted the viral video along with the Hindi text, “Now where has the paid media drowned? Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendra Jain said out of 30,000 not a single was tested positive for coronavirus in Markaz except a beggar who was sitting outside (अब कहां डूब के मरे गी यह दलाल मीडिया Satyendra Jain दिल्ली के स्वास्थ्य मत्रीं सत्येन्द्र जैन ने कहा 30 हजार में से एक भी नही मिला मरकज़ में कोरोना पाॅजिटिव,मरकज के बाहर बैठा एक भिखारी निकला पाॅजिटिव).” This post has been shared close to 700 times. (archive link) #markaz_nizamuddin अब कहां डूब के मरे गी यह दलाल मीडिया दिल्ली के स्वास्थ्य मत्रीं सत्येन्द्र जैन ने कहा 30 हजार में से एक भी नही मिला मरकज़ में कोरोना पाॅजिटिव,मरकज के बाहर बैठा एक भिखारी निकला पाॅजिटिव #cmdehli #satinder_jain #alka_lamba Posted by Mohsin Rfi Khan sp on Tuesday, 14 April 2020 In the video, we can hear Jain saying that no one out of 30,000 people in Nizamuddin has tested positive for coronavirus. “Only a beggar sitting outside the Markaz was tested positive,” he states. We also see ANI’s mic in the viral video. Several Facebook and Twitter users have shared this clip. Additionally, it has also been shared on WhatsApp in the form of a TikTok video – presumably made by TikTok user @shariqmaliksm – which is no longer available. Using the ANI logo on the mic as a clue, Alt News performed a keyword search on ANI’s YouTube account and found a one-minute video interview of Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain. ANI published this video on April 10. The viral video is clipped from the 38-second mark. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgrUdLUWzb4?start=38] While talking about testing strategies, Jain says, “In Nizzamudin, we scanned 30,000 people in 6,000 households. Each one of them has been scanned and we found that one person was tested positive because of the Markaz and that person used to sit outside the Markaz and beg for alms. No one else has been found.” (Translated from: “जैसे निज़ामुद्दीन है, वहां पे 6000 घरों मे 30,000 लोगों को स्कैन किया. एक-एक आदमी को स्कैन किया और वहां पर हमें जो मरकज़ की वजह से एक आदमी पॉज़िटिव मिला जो मरकज़ के बाहर बैठके भीख मांगता था. बाकी कोई नहीं मिला अभी तक.” The readers should note that on April 8 Livemint reported that the Delhi government announced a five-point plan to deal with coronavirus, including treating up to 39,000 patients and conducting “rapid random” testing in hotspots. According to an Indian Express report, the tests will begin from Nizamuddin and Dilshad Garden area. The report quoted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal saying, “We have ordered testing for around 50,000 people, and we have also ordered rapid testing rounds for 1 lakh people, which will begin from Friday.” Jain’s statement to ANI has been placed out of context. 1. He doesn’t refer to the Markaz in the interview but says 30,000 people have been tested in Nizamuddin, out of which one who used to beg outside the Markaz has tested positive. 2. Jain was talking about rapid random tests done for 30,000 people in 6,000 households in the area. The Delhi government is testing residents of Nizamuddin at random since the Tablighi Jamaat headquarter – Nizamuddin Markaz – is located in the area. 3. This is above and beyond the contact tracing and testing of members of the Jamaat who visited the Markaz in mid-March. On April 9, ANI published a report in which Jain was quoted as saying, “Till now, there are 669 COVID19 positive cases including 426 cases from Markaz, in Delhi.” Therefore, several positive cases have been linked to the Markaz. The video has been shared to falsely portray that no one from Nizamuddin Markaz has tested positive and the media has concealed the health minister’s statement. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	15th April 2020 / 11:12 pm / Last updated: 15th April 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-delhi-health-minister-did-not-say-no-one-from-nizamuddin-markaz-tested-positive-for-covid-19/", "author": "Archit" }
2,143	No, Delhi Health Minister is not interacting with Maulana Saad in this photo - Alt News Archit 30th April 2020 / 3:03 pm / Last updated: 30th April 2020 An image of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain talking to three men inside a medical facility has gone viral with the claim that Jain is interacting with Maulana Saad. It is noteworthy that everyone in the image has masks on their faces. Twitter user @sapnarat posted the image and wrote in Hindi, “Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain is with the one who is responsible for Nizamuddin Markaz and one of the world’s richest Hazrat, Maulana Saad who is donating plasma. And the media says Maulana Saad Saab is absconding. The media can’t show this because this won’t spread hate, right? (दिल्ली हेल्थ मिनिस्टर #सत्येन्द्र_जैन के साथ #निजामुद्दीन_मरकज़ के जिम्मेदार और पूरे दुनिया के अमीर हज़रत #मौलाना_साद_साहब अपना #प्लाज़्मा_डोनेट करते हुवे और मिडिया बता रही है कहा फरार है मौलाना साद साहब. अब ये मीडिया नहीं बता सकती, क्योंकि इससे नफरत नहीं पैदा होगी न). The tweet has been retweeted over 500 times. (archive link) Maulana Saad is the chief of Tablighi Jamaat’s Nizamuddin Markaz which was identified as a COVID-19 hotspot on March 31. The Delhi police had filed an FIR against Saad for holding a religious congregation at the Markaz in mid-March. Twitter user @pokershash, co-founder of Fact Hunt, shared the image with the caption, “Either Delhi Police was lying or Media was lying that Maulana Saad was absconding. @CPDelhi” Similarly, Facebook user Maheboob Bagwan posted the viral image along with the identical Hindi text. This post has been shared over 300 times (archive link). In order to authenticate the social media claim, Alt News looked for pictures on social media accounts of Jain. On April 27, the Twitter account of Satyendar Jain Office posted the same image. Delhi Health Minister @SatyendarJain visited Narela plasma donation center. Where many corona recovered persons are donating there plasma for humanity pic.twitter.com/3r3crx9PDB — Satyendar Jain Office (@SaJa_Office) April 27, 2020 Alt News reached out Jain who clarified, “Maulana Saad isn’t present in the image. This image was clicked on April 27 at Narela plasma donation centre.” According to Jain (in blue shirt), the three men standing opposite to him in the picture are — Dr Pradeep Agarwal (left), Haji Mohammed Azad (centre) and Dr Sarfraz (right). Blood plasma is in the trial stage in many countries, including India. Patients recovered from coronavirus infection are being encouraged to donate their blood plasma as it may contain antibodies that fought off the virus. Alt News spoke with Azad who confirmed it was him talking to Jain. We also have a photograph of Azad which we compared with Saad’s image. The same hasn’t been added to the report for the sake of privacy. According to media reports, Maulana Saad is yet to be arrested by the police. While Delhi police has issued a fourth notice asking him to get tested for coronavirus in a government laboratory, his lawyer said that Saad has tested negative in a test done in a private lab. The lawyer also said that Saad is not absconding as they have responded to all notices issued by the police. A photograph of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain interacting with people in a plasma donation centre has been shared with the false claim that he was speaking to Maulana Saad. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media….	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	30th April 2020 / 3:03 pm / Last updated: 30th April 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-delhi-health-minister-is-not-interacting-with-maulana-saad-in-this-photo/", "author": "Archit" }
2,144	No, Delhi's Jama Masjid is not going to issue fatwa against Tanishq - Alt News Archit 19th October 2020 / 2:04 pm / Last updated: 19th October 2020 Several Twitter and Facebook users have claimed that Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam at New Delhi’s Jama Masjid, will issue a fatwa against Tanishq for “destroying Islamic culture” because there is no baby shower ritual in Islam. This claim has been shared with a picture of Bukhari and a still from the ad. Facebook user Rahul Sharma posted the claim on October 16. It has been shared about 600 times. (archived link) #Jama_Masjid will issue #fatwa against #Tanishq, because they had shown “Baby shower” tradition in advertisement which… Posted by Rahul Sharma on Friday, 16 October 2020 Some Twitter users who believed Sharma’s post to be authentic shared its screenshot. The handle @theanuragkts posted the screenshot and wrote, “Jama Masjid is going to issue a fatwa against Tanishq Jewellery, how pathetic these close-minded Bigots are? I can’t breathe now.” The tweet was later taken down but an archived link can be accessed here. Similarly, @RajiIndustani wrote, “Hahaha – where are secular liber****00s” followed by the viral text. (archived link) Jewellery brand Tanishq released an ad on October 9 that showed a baby shower ritual in an inter-faith marriage. The ad sparked massive outrage among Hindutva groups who accused Tanishq of promoting ‘love jihad’, a right-wing conspiracy theory that most marriages between Muslim men and Hindu woman are a tactic to convert Hindu women to Islam. Despite Tanishq removing the ad, its stores in Gujarat and Indore were threatened by goons. Alt News couldn’t find news reports stating Jama Masjid will issue a fatwa against Tanishq. It is improbable that a controversial update on an issue that has garnered media and public attention the past few weeks will go unnoticed. Alt News spoke with Syed Shaban Bukhari, Vice Shahi Imam at Jama Masjid, New Delhi. “No such fatwa has been issued by Jama Masjid, New Delhi,” he said. Prior to the circulation of false claims, Bukhari had shared his thoughts on the advertisement. “I find this ad extremely beautiful. The division is in the minds of few extremists. We as #Muslim’s have “REALLY” good #Hindu friends and we all love each other and when you talk about safety, yes #Hindu’s are super safe in our houses. Tanishq well done for spreading love,” he wrote on a Facebook post. I find this ad extremely beautiful. The division is in the minds of few extremists. We as #Muslim’s have “REALLY” good #Hindu friends and we all love each other and when you talk about safety, yes #Hindu’s are super safe in our houses. Tanishq well done for spreading love. Posted by Syed Shaban Bukhari on Wednesday, 14 October 2020 The claim that Delhi’s Jama Masjid will issue a fatwa against Tanishq for airing the controversial ad is yet another piece of misinformation on the topic. Jama Masjid was also targetted earlier in July when Republic TV claimed that the mosque had not been paying electricity bills. False news about fatwa also keeps cropping up every now and then. 🙏 Blessed to have worked as a fact-checking journalist from November 2019 to February 2023. In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the… The brutal murder of Shraddha Walker has been widely covered across news media over the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	19th October 2020 / 2:04 pm / Last updated: 19th October 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-delhis-jama-masjid-is-not-going-to-issue-fatwa-against-tanishq/", "author": "Archit" }
2,145	No, Dilip Kumar has not donated his wealth to Muslim Waqf Board - Alt News Kalim Ahmed 9th July 2021 / 4:16 pm After the demise of actor Dilip Kumar, a claim viral on social media suggested that the late actor has given away his wealth to the “Waqf Board” or the “Muslim Waqf Board”. The claim was shared by Twitter users @RealArnab_, @arunbajpairajan, @janardanspeaks, @janardanmis, among others, gaining thousands of likes and retweets. Some have also claimed that he donated ₹98 crores to the board. Multiple variations of the claim can be found on both Twitter and Facebook, also in the form of inforgraphics. सेक्युलर हिन्दुओं के गाल पर करारा तमाचा है ये Posted by Kusum singh on Thursday, 8 July 2021 Alt News spoke with Faisal Farooqui, founder and CEO of Mouthshut.com, and the spokesperson of the late actor. He told us that the claim is false and no such donations have been made. Faisal is a close aide and a family friend of Dilip Kumar and he used to handle Kumar’s social media. With a heavy heart and profound grief, I announce the passing away of our beloved Dilip Saab, few minutes ago. We are from God and to Him we return. – Faisal Farooqui — Dilip Kumar (@TheDilipKumar) July 7, 2021 We also contacted Anees Shaikh, CEO of Maharashtra State Board of Waqf, who told us that the office does not have any information regarding such a donation. There are also no news reports on Kumar handing out the generous amount of ₹98 crore to the board. It must be pointed out that right after the late actor’s demise, many individuals referred to his Muslim identity at birth and put out hateful statements. The viral claim that he donated his money to a Muslim institution is an addition to the hate and disinformation campaign that attempts to discredit the actor. जिस दिलीप कुमार नाम से प्रसिद्धी, पैसा और प्रतिष्ठा पायीं उस नाम के अनुसार जलाया जायेगा या यूसुफ़ खान नाम से दफ़नाया जायेगा? #DilipKumar https://t.co/3g5kDCG6QG — Suresh Chavhanke “Sudarshan News” (@SureshChavhanke) July 7, 2021 Moreover, a Waqf Board is a juristic person i.e., a legally recognised entity. Each state has a Waqf Board of its own, headed by a chairperson, one or two nominees from the state government, Muslim legislators and parliamentarians. There’s nothing illegal or wrong about donating to a Waqf Board. This is not the first time that such a campaign has been launched against a prominent individual from the Muslim community. The false claim that Shah Rukh Khan had donated Rs 45 crore to Pakistan for victims of an oil tanker blast circulates every now and then. It may be reiterated that the claim suggesting late actor Dilip Kumar donated his wealth of around ₹98 crore to the “Waqf Board” is false. Kalim is a journalist with a keen interest in tech, misinformation, culture, etc Following Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 win against Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup, speculation about… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The CCTV footage of a man violently flinging a child on the ground has created… A minute-long video clip of a woman being physically assaulted is viral on social media…. Trigger Warning: The following story contains graphic imagery. Several users have shared images of the…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th July 2021 / 4:16 pm	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-dilip-kumar-has-not-donated-his-wealth-to-muslim-waqf-board/", "author": "Kalim Ahmed" }
2,146	No, Donald Trump hasn't asked people to vote for BJP - Alt News Pratik Sinha 9th February 2017 / 6:04 pm / Last updated: 25th February 2017 In the day and age of WhatsApp forwards, even a video as ridiculous as one of Donald Trump holding up a BJP poster becomes viral and the truth for many. Over the last few days, multiple Modi/BJP supporters have been sharing a couple of videos showing Donald Trump holding up a poster which says “Vote for BJP” on social media. Here are a few examples: Trump has supported BJP. Now no doubt on credentials of modi ji. Posted by Pankaj Agarwal on Wednesday, February 8, 2017 And another one: Vòťè fòŕ òñĺý 4 BJP Posted by Puneet Naagar on Wednesday, February 8, 2017 There are hundreds of such posts on Facebook and probably a few times over on WhatsApp. And if one doesn’t apply one’s mind (at all) as to how it is completely preposterous to think that an American President would do so something like that, the video does look ‘real’. However, the URL at the bottom right corner of the video ‘DonaldDraws.com’ reveals the story. That URL redirects to this Android Doodle application which is an App that lets you create GIF images of the kind that can be seen in the above videos. You can add text/image depending on what you want Trump to display and the APP creates an animiated GIF for you. The animated GIF can then easily be converted into a MP4 video and be circulated on social media. We created one where Donald recommends altnews.in. So, that’s that. Co-Founder Alt News, I can be reached via E-mail at [email protected] and on Facebook at https://fb.com/freethinker. Follow @free_thinker Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	9th February 2017 / 6:04 pm / Last updated: 25th February 2017	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-donald-trump-hasnt-asked-people-vote-bjp/", "author": "Pratik Sinha" }
2,147	No, Dr Ambedkar did not say reservation should be abolished the day a tribal woman becomes President - Alt News Archit & Kalim Ahmed 26th July 2022 / 11:56 am Droupadi Murmu took the oath to become the 15th President of India on July 25. Ever since it was announced that Murmu won the presidential election by an overwhelming margin, a quote attributed to the social reformer Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is being shared on social media. The quote in Hindi reads, “The day a tribal woman becomes the President of India (the highest office), reservation should be abolished in the country”. [Translated from: जिस दिन कोई आदिवासी महिला भारत के सर्वोच्च पद “राष्ट्रपति” तक पहुंच जाएगी देश में आरक्षण खत्म कर देना चाहिए।] This quote, along with Dr Ambedkar’s image, has been widely shared on social media. On July 23, a page called We Are Against Reservation shared this quote on Facebook. Another anti-reservation page आरक्षण एक अभिषाप also posted this image. Posted by We Are Against Reservation on Friday, 22 July 2022 Several other Facebook accounts have shared and amplified this claim. Mirroring Facebook’s trend, various Twitter accounts have also attributed this quote to Dr Ambedkar. Alt News has received multiple requests on our WhatsApp helpline (76000 11160) to verify authenticity of this claim. Curiously enough, The Sentinel, a Guwahati-based English daily newspaper, also published an article under the “Letters to THE EDITOR” column where a reader opined on reservation based on the alleged quote by Dr Ambedkar. (Archived link) Alt News performed a search in Hindi and English using relevant keywords. However, this did not yield any credible source of information that attributes this claim to Dr Ambedkar. This was a red flag. We then looked at the website of the Ministry of External Affairs where all the published writings and speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar are available in separate volumes. To have an understanding of these works, we reached out to experts who were involved in the research and compilation process of this project. Alt News spoke with Hari Narke, editor of Writings & Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar from volumes 17 to 22. He was a professor and the head of Mahatma Phule Chair in Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune till 2016. He pointed out, “These volumes include all works and speeches by Dr Ambedkar, including his speeches in the Constituent Assembly Debates.” On a telephonic call, Narke told Alt News, “My credibility is built on my life’s work on Dr BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Jotirao Phule. It’s worth noting while I was not the editor of the first 16 volumes, I was a part of the research. Based on my research, I can state on record that Dr Ambedkar never said, ‘The day a tribal woman becomes the President of India, the reservation should be abolished in the country’. This is not the first time Ambedkar has been attributed to a fake quote on social media. It is worth noting the one commonality among all such fake quotes — they never attribute when or where Dr Ambedkar made these quotes”. Narke continued, “First, we must look at the timing of the quote. Prior to the news of Droupadi Murmu being elected as 15th President of India, this quote didn’t surface. Second, Dr Ambedkar didn’t believe in tokenism. I feel the impact on tribal community’s welfare after Droupadi Murmu becomes the president will be similar to the impact Ram Nath Kovind’s president tenure had on Scheduled Castes community in India.” Old claims with new packaging This is not the first anti-reservation quote attributed to Dr Ambedkar. It is pertinent to note that in the past, several social media accounts (1,2,3,4) have claimed that Dr Ambedkar only wanted reservations for 10 years. In 2018, BJP leader Sumitra Mahajan said, “The idea of Ambedkarji was to bring social harmony by introducing reservation for 10 years. But what we do is to extend the reservation every 10 years. There is a shortcoming,” at the three-day Lok Manthan programme in Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi. In June 2022, Anurag Bhaskar, assistant professor at Jindal Global Law School, published a paper titled, “The Myth of the Ten-Year Limit on Reservations and Dr Ambedkar’s Stance” in Sage Journals, an academic journal that publishes peer-reviewed, original research and review articles in an interactive, open access format. Bhaskar wrote, “Some individuals, including constitutional office holders, tend to argue that ‘Ambedkar wanted reservations only for a decade’ (Scroll, 2018). It is often argued that reservations were intended to exist only for 10 years. In this article, I demonstrate that the argument of Ambedkar wanting reservations for only a period of 10 years is a falsehood.” In order to debunk the claim, he stated, “For this, one needs to examine India’s constitutional history deeply from the Poona Pact (1932), as it marked a significant moment for the discourse around special rights for lower castes in political offices and a time limit upon it. In this article, the terms ‘Depressed Classes’, ‘untouchables’ and ‘Scheduled Castes’ (SCs) have been used interchangeably, as all of these appear in Dr B. R. Ambedkar’s writings in different phases of history. Similarly, Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Adivasis have been used interchangeably in this article.” Those interested in reading the entire paper can do so if they have access to Sage Journal. He concluded, “Ambedkar was not in favour of a fixed time limit of 10 years, even for political reservations for SCs and STs. His demand during the Poona Pact was that after 10 years, there should be a reconsideration of the position of reserved constituencies in joint electorates and that the SCs should decide by referendum if they want to continue with the system. This would mean deciding whether to adopt another method of electing candidates from SCs. Even though this demand was not included in the final text of the Constitution, Ambedkar had left it to the SCs to ‘invent new ways of getting the same protection’ (CAI, 1949e). In effect, without the consent of SCs and STs, political reservation cannot be done away with. The political reservations were a result of ‘mutual agreement’ (Vundru, 2017, p. 57) between SCs and caste Hindus. When it was incorporated into the Constitution, it became akin to a constitutional promise. Though the Constituent Assembly fixed a time limit of 10 years on political reservations, Ambedkar himself had prescribed the method of the constitutional amendment to extend this time limit, if the situation of SCs and STs does not improve (Vundru, 2017, p. 57). The extension of this time limit since 1960 is in consonance with the spirit of Ambedkar’s demands. No time limit was set on reservations for backward classes in public services and educational institutions.” To conclude, a quote was falsely attributed to Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar in the backdrop of Droupadi Murmu being elected as the president. Based on our research and inputs from Hari Narke, editor of Writings & Speeches of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar from volumes 17 to 22, there is no evidence to suggest Dr Ambedkar said that reservation should be abolished the day a tribal woman becomes the President of the country. Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi recently performed aarti at the Narmada Ghat in Madhya Pradesh’s Omkareshwar… In the wake of the alleged murder of Shraddha Walkar by his partner Aftab Amin… The video of a group of people stopping an e-rickshaw with BJP flags attached to… Last week during the G20 summit in Bali, world leaders were informed of a missile… Recently, several prominent BJP leaders claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had intervened to stop…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	26th July 2022 / 11:56 am	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-dr-ambedkar-did-not-say-reservation-should-be-abolished-the-day-a-tribal-woman-becomes-president/", "author": "Archit & Kalim Ahmed" }
2,148	No, Dr Ramesh Gupta's zoology book DOES NOT mention a cure for novel coronavirus - Alt News Dr Sharfaroz Satani & Pooja Chaudhuri 25th March 2020 / 6:11 pm / Last updated: 27th March 2020 An image of a page from a zoology book authored by Dr Ramesh Gupta is massively viral on social media. Several users have shared it claiming that the book speaks of a cure for COVID-19. “#WHO you have not gone through the book of 12th standard written by Dr Ramesh Chand Gupta where he has mentioned about coronavirus so this is not a recent disease and he mentioned the cure too…who else is confused here #JantaCurfewMarch22 #pmoindia #NarendraModi #coronavirus,” reads a tweet by one Sunita Pradhan. #WHO you have not gone through the book of 12th standard written by Dr Ramesh Chand Gupta where he has mentioned about coronavirus so this is not a recent disease and he mentioned the cure too…who else is confused here #JantaCurfewMarch22 #pmoindia #NarendraModi#coronavirus pic.twitter.com/WWA8HzuskX — Sunita Pradhan (@SunitaP22163768) March 22, 2020 The same claim has also been promoted in Hindi – “Brother, the treatment for coronavirus was found with a lot of difficulties after searching for it in several books…the medicine is mentioned in zoology intermediate book…and this is not a new disease. भाइयों काफी किताबों में ढूंढने के बाद बड़ी मुश्किल से कोरोना वायरस की दवा मिली है…दवा इंटरमीडिएट की जन्तु विज्ञान की किताब में दी गई है…और यह कोई नई बीमारी नहीं है…”) The book mentions coronavirus in the ‘common cold’ section. It says that there are several kinds of common cold, 75% of which are caused by rhinovirus or coronavirus. In the end, the excerpt lists medicines that can be used to treat the infection – aspirin, antihistamines and nasal spray. As per Intermediate book of Jantu-science, written by Dr. Ramesh Gupta. Mentioned the medicine of #CoronaVirus on page 1072. We can help effective people by this. Doctors are requested to analysis the medicine and advise. Medicines are Aspirin, anti-histamines & Nasal spray. pic.twitter.com/kBhjG444kf — kapil khatter (@102_khatter) March 22, 2020 1. The novel coronavirus (nCoV) or COVID-19 is not a new disease. 2. The treatment for the disease has already been found. 3. Coronavirus can be cured with aspirin, antihistamines and nasal spray. False All three claims raised on social media are false. 1. The novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain of coronavirus. The novel coronavirus is a new strain of the coronavirus family. It has unique characteristics and has never been discovered before. “This #coronavirus is not SARS, it’s not MERS & it’s not influenza. It is a unique virus with unique characteristics. Both #COVID19 & influenza cause respiratory disease & spread the same way, via small droplets of fluid from the nose & mouth of someone who is sick”-@DrTedros — World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 3, 2020 Chinese health authorities say that nCoV is likely to have come from a seafood market in Wuhan where wildlife was also traded illegally. Chinese researchers said the virus could have spread from “an infected animal species to humans through illegally-trafficked pangolins”, which are prized in Asia for food and medicine. “Scientists have pointed to either bats or snakes as the source of the virus,” adds the report. The novel coronavirus is a new variety of coronavirus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states, “Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such a MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV.” A novel coronavirus (nCoV) and its outbreak COVID-19 has not been previously identified in humans. Its symptoms include fever, tiredness and dry cough. In most severe cases it causes shortness of breath, aches and pains, sore throat or in rare cases – diarrhoea, nausea or a runny nose. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), human coronaviruses were first identified in the mid-1960s. “Sometimes coronaviruses that infect animals can evolve and make people sick and become a new human coronavirus. Three recent examples of this are 2019-nCoV, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV.” SARS-CoV is Severe Acute respiratory syndrome which was identified in 2002. It is thought to be an animal virus from an “as-yet-uncertain animal reservoir, perhaps bats, that spread to other animals (civet cats) and first infected humans in the Guangdong province of southern China in 2002,” per WHO. Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) is a viral respiratory disease caused by a coronavirus that was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Therefore, while different strains of coronavirus have been discovered before, the novel coronavirus also knows as nCoV or SARS-CoV-2 is new. 2. There is no cure for novel coronavirus yet. “There is no vaccine and no specific antiviral medicine to prevent or treat COVID-2019,” states WHO. In fact, no vaccine has yet been found even for SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. It usually takes 10 to 15 years to develop a new vaccine however, technological advancement has sped up the process. Recently, US president Donald Trump touted Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine as possible treatments for coronavirus following which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved clinical trials of Chloroquine. However, an Arizona man with nCoV died in an apparent attempt to self-medicate with Chloroquine. His wife is in critical condition. According to a Forbes Tracker, several drug companies, universities and biotech start-ups are researching treatment and cures for the disease. All medications are either in early stages of development or animal and human testing. 3. Coronavirus cannot be ‘cured’ with aspirin, antihistamines and nasal spray. When any of the coronaviruses (or rhinoviruses for that matter) cause the common cold, the physicians’ aim is to (a) stop the transmission of the infection to other people and (b) treat the symptoms. This is because the common cold is a self-limited disease – it cures by itself. It is for this reason, antivirals or antibiotics are not given for a common cold. In the usual clinical picture, it is also not required to find out which organism has caused the common cold since it has no bearing on its treatment. The mainstay of symptomatic treatment for the common cold is anti-inflammatory drugs like NSAIDs (aspirin is one of them), antihistamines, anticholinergic drugs and decongestants (which can be given as nasal spray). All of these can be bought at pharmaceutical stores without a doctor’s prescription. However, when coronaviruses like SARS, MERS and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cause severe disease with manifestations like pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, the treatment involves intensive care and not over-the-counter medications. Therefore, it is inappropriate to extrapolate the treatment for the common cold as the treatment of all coronavirus infections. The textbook itself mentions inexact and inappropriate treatment. “Nasal spray” only implies the route through which the medicine is given – through the nose. There are many drugs given through the nasal route, decongestants for the common cold are only one of them. Thus an excerpt from a zoology textbook covering the basics of the common cold was taken out of context. The claims made rest on the misconception that there is only one coronavirus and that coronavirus only causes the common cold. In fact, there are many coronaviruses that infect different animals. Of those, from the mid-1960s till date, seven coronaviruses have been shown to infect humans including SARS, MERS and the novel COVID-19. These viruses cause a wide range of illnesses from common cold to acute respiratory distress syndrome. Hence these viral tweets are misleading people on the treatment available for coronavirus and fuel conspiracy theories that the current coronavirus pandemic is not new. Note: The number of positive cases of the novel coronavirus in India has exceeded 600. This has caused the government to impose a complete restriction on movement apart from essential services. Globally, more than 4 lakh confirmed cases and over 19,000 deaths have been reported. There is a growing sense of panic among citizens, causing them to fall for a variety of online misinformation – misleading images and videos rousing fear or medical misinformation promoting pseudoscience and invalid treatments. While your intentions may be pure, misinformation, spread especially during a global pandemic, can take lives. We request our readers to practice caution and not forward unverified messages on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. In a 2-minute video, a man recommends a “technique” to prevent infection from Omicron, the… A video of a set of iron nails that appear to melt after being placed… Several social media users have shared an image that shows two columns — ‘Cepa/variante’ (Spanish… A 90-second video of a man dissecting a banana has been shared on the internet…. The Taliban has formed an all-male government after taking over control in Afghanistan. On September…	news-altnews	2024-05-27T18:24:05.489452	25th March 2020 / 6:11 pm / Last updated: 27th March 2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://www.altnews.in/englishclone/no-dr-ramesh-guptas-zoology-book-does-not-mention-a-cure-for-novel-coronavirus/", "author": "Dr Sharfaroz Satani & Pooja Chaudhuri" }

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