Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Video shows Indian national flag being disrespected in Kerala.
Fact
Viral video is old and was found to be from Karachi, Pakistan.
A video, purportedly showing several vehicles driving over the Indian tricolour placed on a busy road, has gone viral with the claim that the incident happened in Kerala. The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker noticed that members of the crowd were waving Pakistani flags, while we also saw the auto rickshaws in the video were not like the ones usually seen in Kerala, raising our doubts on the location of the incident.
We then ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to a slightly clearer version of the video on Youtube, dated June 6, 2022, stating that it was from Pakistan.
We noticed one of the signboards of the shop seen in the background appeared to read “Sanam Boutique,” while one of the cars had a licence plate reading, “BFK 625”. We learnt that such vehicle number plates have been issued in Karachi, following which we ran a search for “Sanam Boutique Karachi”.
A comparison of screen grabs of the viral video (left) with the images of Sanam Boutique and the nearby building on Google Maps (right), further confirms that the video is from Tariq Road in Karachi.
We also came across this PIB Fact Check tweet, dated July 12, 2023, confirming that the video is old and not from Kerala.
Also Read: 2019 Video Alleging Voter Fraud By Army Soldiers At BJP’s Behest Goes Viral Amid Lok Sabha Polls
Conclusion
Old video from Karachi falsely shared as incident of national tricolour being disrespected in Kerala.
Result: False
Sources
Image analysis
Google Maps
Tweet, PIB Fact Check, July 12, 2023
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
