The Pahalgam Attack, Targeted Claims & Viral Misinformation

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On 22 April, terrorists opened fire on several tourists and locals gathered in the Baisaran meadows area of Pahalgam, Kashmir, killing 26 people and injuring several others. 

The incident has shattered the relative calm in the valley and is set to hugely impact the recent surge in local tourism. Family members of the deceased have alleged that the attackers specifically targeted Hindu male tourists. 

Targeted Claims & Fight Against Misinformation

The internet is filled with several posts, images and videos. BOOM’s fact-checking team is working round the clock debunking one claim at a time.

Exhibit A: This is the last video of Navy Lieutenant Vinay Narwal who was killed in the Pahalgam attack. Several news outlets, including Times Now, Free Press Journal, News18, and Mint, also reported that the couple seen dancing in the viral valley video were the Narwals. 

Fact: BOOM found that the claim being made with the viral video is of social media influencer Ashish Sehrawat and his wife Yashika Sharma.

Exhibit B: Mainstream media outlets like India Today, AajTak, Times Now, ABP News, Zee News, The Economic Times, News18, CNBC TV18, Mint and FirstPost carried a photo claiming it shows the terrorist involved in the Pahalgam terror attack, captured on camera with his assault rifle.  

Fact: BOOM verified the picture and found that it is a screengrab from a video available on Facebook since October 2021. Additionally, none of the media reports mentioned included any confirmation by a government official that the photo shows an attacker involved in the recent Pahalgam attack.

TFCN Impact

We, at BOOM, have been running the Teen Fact-Checking Network India (TFCN)—a newsroom of teens, by teens & for teens. 

Alokita, a TFCN alumni from Season 2 and a trained teen fact-checker, came across this viral video of a child sitting on a dead body. It went viral claiming the visuals show scenes from the recent attack on tourists and locals in Pahalgam.

She didn’t immediately believe the claim because of the following red flags:

• “One of the major red flags was that the people in the background kept discussing how heinous the crime was in 'Sopore'. Whereas, the recent attack took place in Pahalgam,” she told me.

• Next, the people who were trying to console the child in the van by offering him chocolates and biscuits kept conversing in their local language. “However, the attack was mostly on tourists who were visiting Pahalgam, and would mostly be unable to speak the local language,” she added.

So, she conducted a reverse image search on some of the frames of the viral video and found that it’s an old one. Read BOOM’s fact-check on this video here.

TL;DR: Always verify before you share!

DECODE

It Wasn’t Just A WhatsApp Image That Stole Rs 2 Lakhs- There’s More To It

Harmless click, costly mistake: Pradeep Jain, a resident of Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, never imagined that clicking on a harmless-looking image could drain his bank account. The photo accompanied a text: “Have you seen this person?”

It began on the morning of 28 March. A call from an unknown number came in around 8 am. The voice on the other end asked if he recognised the person in a photo sent via WhatsApp, then abruptly hung up. 

Bank account drained in minutes: After ignoring follow-up calls but ended up picking one of the calls inadvertently, three SMS alerts arrived in quick succession. One showed a Rs 1 credit into his Canara Bank account. The next two revealed a double punch: Rs 1,00,000 gone. Then Rs 1,10,000. Wiped out in minutes. 

Next, he rushed to the bank. His account was frozen, but the damage was done. The money had vanished. 

"I begged the bank to help, but they just told me to go to the cyber helpline," he told Decode’s Hera Rizwan. "Even the helpline didn’t register my complaint. I had to physically submit a letter the next day." 

How could an image do this?: But could a simple image on WhatsApp really unleash such chaos? Read this story to know what cybersecurity experts have to say.

LAW, JUSTICE ET AL

Waqf Row: Can States Refuse To Implement Laws Passed By The Parliament

• The Supreme Court allowed only five petitions challenging the new Waqf law and treated the remaining petitions as applications to the lead petitions. 

• Even as the constitutional challenge of the new Waqf law is pending before the Supreme Court, Opposition-ruled states continue to oppose the 2025 amendments. 

• Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi on 18 April reiterated the State government’s opposition to the new Waqf law calling it “anti-people and anti-minority.” 

• The Jammu & Kashmir government too passed a resolution opposing the new amendments. 

• West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee went as far as to declare that her government would not implement the law – which got the President’s nod on 5 April, a day after it was passed in the Parliament by a slim majority.

Even as the debate against the new law moves from the parliament to the courts, BOOM’s Ritika Jain explores if there is merit to Banerjee’s declaration. 

'FAKE NEWS’ YOU ALMOST FELL FOR

🔍 An old video showing heavy artillery attack by Indian security forces went viral falsely linking it to the recent terror attack in Baisaran meadow, Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. The video was shared with a false claim that it shows the Indian Army attacking 12 Pakistani soldiers in retaliation for the Pahalgam incident. Read 🔗 Shivam Bhardwaj’s ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 A list containing 26 names, 15 of which are Muslims, went viral on social media claiming that it is part of a report published by India TV, listing those who lost their lives in the recent Pahalgam terror attack. BOOM’s 🔗 Srijit Das & Shivam Bhardwaj ↗️ spoke to Jammu Defence PRO Lt Col Suneel Bartwal, who confirmed that the list is fake and does not accurately reflect the names of the victims.

🔍 An internal circular issued by the managing committee of a residential complex in Delhi asking residents to be wary of a gang of thieves posing as government officials was 🔗 falsely ↗️ viral as a recent order issued by the police for all housing societies in the country. It’s an old hoax!

🅱️ RECOMMENDS

This week's recommendation is: The development of media truth discernment and fake news detection is related to the development of reasoning during adolescence

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