A social media post accompanying three images of a building engulfed in fire, shrouded bodies lined up on the ground, and a group of men beating a man with sticks is being shared widely. The posts claim that these images show Indian forces’ crackdown on Kashmiris. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Images showing Indian forces’ crackdown on Kashmiris.
Fact: These images are old and have nothing to do with Kashmir. While couple of images are related to CAA protests back in 2020, the image of a building on fire shows Dastageer Sahib shrine in JK which was gutted by fire back in 2012. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The image shows 200-year-old Dastageer Sahib Shrine in Jammu Kashmir which was gutted by fire back in 2012. Reverse image of this photo led us to a 2012 news article that reported about the JK government’s decision to conduct a fire safety audit of all shrines. This article published the same image in the post. According to the article, the image shows Dastageer Sahib Shrine which was gutted in a fire accident in 2012.
Further, the image in the above article is credited to PTI. Upon search on PTI archive, we found the same image with a description which reads “Fire fighters and locals try to douse a massive fire that broke out at the 200-year-old Sufi heritage shrine of Dastageer Sahib at Khaniyar in Srinagar on Monday”.
Multiple news agencies have reported the incident back in 2012. As per one such article, the fire started in the dome of the wooden shrine due to a short circuit and soon engulfed the whole building.
The image is related to the CAA protests in Delhi in 2020. Reverse image search of this photo yielded multiple news articles which published the same image. In one such listicle which listed the works of recently died Pulitzer prize winning photographer Danish Siddique, the same image is listed with a description which reads “A group of men beat a man during protests sparked by the Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi on February 24, 2020.”
A couple of other news articles which published the same image, with the same description can be seen here and here.
This image is in circulation on the internet since 2020. Reverse image search of this photo led us to multiple social media posts dating back to 2020, attributing the image to anti-CAA protests in Aurangabad. A couple of these posts can be seen here and here.
Further, a Hindi regional news article published the same image. According to the article, protesters wore white shrouds and laid down in protest against the CAA and NRC. Moreover, upon close observation of this image, we can clearly spot ‘CAA’ & ‘NRC’ on one of the placards.
To sum it up, old and unrelated images are being shared attributing them to the Indian military and Kashmir.
