Pak media broadcasts 2010 Dantewada Maoist massacre video as recent incident in Kashmir

A broadcast by Pakistani News channel 92 News HD is viral with the claim that RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP and Shiv Sena goons, disguised as Indian army men, are in J&K to abuse Kashmiri women. Three lakh such “Hindu fanatics” were sent by PM Modi, the message claims, adding that 170 of them were killed and their bodies were found. “फौजी वर्दी मे बजरंग दल और आर ऐस ऐस के भघवा गुन्‍डे जो कशमीर की बेटियो की ईज्‍जत लुटने गये थे आज मारे गये 170 भघवा गुन्‍डो की लासे मीली है । 3 लाख भघवा गुण्डो को नरेन्द्र मोदी ने कशमीर भेजा है जिसमे शिव सेना । बजरंग दल । आर ऐस ऐस । वी ऐच पी । के गुण्डे शामील है.”

In the video, the anchor can be heard saying that 170 Hindu fanatics dressed as Indian army men were found dead in Kashmir. They had come to molest and kidnap Kashmiri women, she claims, further adding that the Indian army tried to hide these dead bodies but failed.

The 30-second clip has been widely circulated on Facebook. It is also being shared by Pakistani social media users using an Urdu caption – “بھارتی فوجی ہندو جنونیوں کی لاشیں چھپانے میں ناکام، مقبوضہ کشمیر میں بھارتی فوجیوں کو پھر منہ کی کھانا پڑ گئی* *کشمیری خواتین کو اغواء کرکے لے جانے والے 170 ہندو جنونی جہنم واصل*”

The complete broadcast by 92 News HD can be watched here.

The broadcast plays blurred visuals of the purported “Hindu fanatics” dressed as army men lying dead on the ground. We found that the same visuals have been circulating on social media. Alt News received a verification request on its official mobile app where the video played during 92 News HD broadcast was shared.

The video can be watched below.

2010 Dantewada massacre

Alt News broke the video we received on the app into multiple frames and found that a YouTube user had uploaded it on 2016. This itself establishes that the video broadcast by 92 News HD cannot represent a recent event that took place in Kashmir.

To confirm the exact location of the video, we searched for it with the keywords “CRPF soldiers killed” and found similar visuals on news reports – a 2010 report by The Hindu and a 2013 report by India Today – on the Dantewada Maoist attack where 76 security personnel were ambushed and killed.

A comparison of the visuals in the viral video and those in news reports establish that they represent the same event.

1. A tree trunk which is visible behind the slain bodies in both the images.
2. The blue mat on which the dead soldiers are laid out can be seen in both the photographs.
3. The wall with gaping holes is distinctly seen in both the images. The pattern of the holes is also exactly the same.
4. Several bodies are laid outside the mat – this too can be seen in both images.

Furthermore, we found another photograph of the same location on AP Images.

One more hint which confirms that the video has nothing do with Kashmir are the words “बस्तर परिवहन संघ (Bastar parivahan sangh)” imprinted on a mat visible at about 2 minutes in the complete video. Bastar is a district in Chhattisgarh.

A video of the 2010 Dantewada Maoist attack where paramilitary forces were massacred was picked up by a Pakistani news channel to claim that the slain men were “Hindu fanatics”, dressed as Indian army men, who abused Kashmiri women. The false claim was earlier shared to circulate another old video.