Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
An alleged incident from Kashmir opened discussions about “true love” and a comic fest on social media platforms. Several Facebook and Twitter users claimed that a Budgam youth was arrested while digging a tunnel to his girlfriend’s house, but Newschecker has found that the viral claim is false.
Links to such posts can be found here, here, here, here, here and here.
Also Read: Amidst Reports Of Kashmiri separatist Yasin Malik’s Hospitalization, Old Image Shared As Recent
Fact Check/Verification
Newschecker conducted a keyword search for “Budgam Youth Girlfriend Tunnel” on Google to look for any reliable news reports on the alleged incident. However, we just came across one article by ‘The Chenab Times’ dated July 26, 2022 with the title ‘Budgam Youth Arrested While Digging Tunnel To His Girlfriend’s House, Claims Viral Posts on Social Media.’
Notably, the article was solely based on social media posts and to conclude stated, “However, there is no official confirmation regarding this arrest until the report is filed. The Chenab Times will update you if we get any official confirmation.”
Following this, we contacted a local journalist, Aabid Hussain who said that there was no clue about the incident. “We have been searching for this guy and the tunnel for the last four days but there we could not find anything. This was just a rumour,” Hussain told Newschecker.
Furthermore, Newschecker also reached out to Budgam SSP Tahir Saleem who denied the claim. He said, “ We neither received any complaint regarding it nor we took any action. Because we know fake news spreads quickly. Somebody might have joked or whatever I don’t know.”
We continued our investigation to decipher the origins of this news and conducted keyword searches for “Budgam Youth Tunnel Girlfriend,” “Budgam Youth Tunnel”, “Budgam Youth Arrested” on Facebook and Twitter. One such keyword search on Facebook led us to a post by user @ashiq.khan.16144, dated July 26, 2022. It carried a screenshot of another Facebook post stating “I roasted one of my friends on FB with this meme. It went viral from north to south within hours on every social media site. Hata korwa khudayam reham yi haa chu mea dili jiger (May God’s peace be upon you. He is my heart.),” and featured an image of some text written in Urdu.”
@ashiq.khan.16144 had shared this screenshot with the caption “Reality about #BUDGAM YOUTH who dug tunnel..Social media made it viral news”
Taking a clue, we conducted a keyword search for “I roasted one of my friends on fb” on Facebook which led us to a post by one Tabish Malik dated July 26, 2022- whose screenshot was carried by the aforementioned post.
The text in Urdu translates to “A youth Asif from Budgam Kashmir was arrested while digging a tunnel to his girlfriend’s house,” -confirmed our Kashmiri team.
Newschecker has reached out to Malik for his comments on the same. The copy will be updated upon receiving his response.
Conclusion
Viral claim that a Budgam youth was arrested while digging a tunnel to his girlfriend’s home is false. Police and journalists have confirmed that no such incident took place.
Result: False
Sources
Contact With Journalist Aabid Hussain On July 28, 2022
Contact With Budgam SSP Tahir Saleem On July 28, 2022
(With on ground inputs by Abrar Bhat)
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Authors
Vasudha noticed the growing problem of mis/disinformation online after studying New Media at ACJ in Chennai and became interested in separating facts from fiction. She is interested in learning how global issues affect individuals on a micro level. Before joining Newschecker’s English team, she was working with Latestly.
