2019 photo of Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal’s family mourning on his coffin shared as a recent one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 2, 2022
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it is a recent picture of Major Vibhuti Shankar’s wife and family members mourning on his coffin. This post claims that Major Vibhuti Shankar was martyred recently after 8 months of his married life. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent picture of Major Vibhuti Shankar’s wife and his family members mourning on his coffin.
Fact: The photo shared in the post is an old one. Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal was martyred during a gun battle that took place in Pulwama, in February 2019. Following the footsteps of her husband, in May 2021, Major Vibhuti Shankar’s wife Nikita Kaul joined as a Lieutenant in the Indian army. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, the same photo was found in a ‘Amar Ujala’ article published on 20 February 2019. The article reported it as the picture of Martyred Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal’s family members mourning on his coffin. Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal was one of the four soldiers who were martyred during a gun battle that took place between soldiers and terrorists in Pulwama, in February 2019. This attack took place just a week after the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers.
Reporting the same, several news websites published articles in February 2019. They can be seen here and here. Following the footsteps of her husband, in May 2021, Major Vibhuti Shankar’s wife Nikita Kaul joined as a Lieutenant in the Indian army. In November 2021, Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal’s wife Nikita Kaul and mother Saroj Dhoundiyal received Shaurya Chakra (Posthumous) on his behalf. From all these pieces of evidence, it can be concluded that Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal was martyred during a gun battle in 2019.
To sum it up, 2019 photo of Major Vibhuti Shankar’s family mourning on his coffin is being shared as a recent one.