A photo depicting Indian Army officer Major Kumud Dogra attending the funeral of her husband, Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Dushyant Vats, while holding their daughter, is being shared claiming that Indian media outlets are neglecting this news and, instead, focusing on the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani, the son of Mukesh Ambani, with Radhika Merchant. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: The media covered the pre-wedding events of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant but did not report on the news of Indian Army officer Major Kumud Dogra attending the funeral of her husband, Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Dushyant Vats while holding their daughter at the same time.
Fact: The picture is not recent; it was captured during the funeral of IAF Wing Commander Dushyant Vats, who lost his life in an aircraft crash in 2018. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On performing a relevant keyword search regarding the claim, we found news reports published by the Indian Express on 23 February 2018 featuring the same image with the title, “IAF chopper crash: This army officer’s photo with her newborn at her husband’s funeral has left everyone teary-eyed.”
Subsequent research led us to more such articles published in 2018 (here, here and here). As per the reports, on 15 February 2018, Wing Commander Dushyant Vats of the Indian Air Force tragically lost his life in a Microlight aircraft crash in Majuli, Assam. During a routine sortie, the Virus SW80 he was piloting encountered technical issues, resulting in the crash. Shortly after the incident, a photograph of his wife gained widespread attention on social media. In the image, Major Kumud Dogra is observed proceeding to her husband’s funeral, accompanied by their five-day-old baby girl on the day of the funeral.
To sum up, an old image of an Army officer at her husband’s funeral with a newborn was shared as a recent one.
