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No, This Video Of People Driving Over The Indian Flag Is Not From Tamil Nadu! Viral Video Shows Incident From Karachi, Pakistan
Tamil Nadu, 8 Jun 2022 11:09 AM GMT
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The video is not from a recent incident but actually at least two years old. Also, the video is not from Tanjore, Tamil Nadu as claimed but Karachi, Pakistan.
A video has gone viral that shows a group of people surrounding a car which drives over the Indian flag. The video has gone viral in the context of rapid circulation of misinformation across social media to instigate communal hatred.
The video has gone viral in the context of communally sensitive content spreading across social media due to the recent Gyanvapi mosque controversy.
Previously, there have been instances where media regarding the insult to the Indian flag has been shared in misleading ways as can be seen in this The Logical Indian Fact Check Team report.
Claim:
A video shows a bunch of cars driving over Indian flags kept to the road. Several vehicles can be seen driving over the flag, including a rickshaw and a car along with men on motorcycles. People can be seen waving the Pakistani flag and cheering from the sides. The video is claimed to depict an incident from Tanjore, Tamil Nadu where several vehicles can be seen driving over the Indian flag.
A Twitter user shared this video and wrote a caption in Hindi which reads, "इस विडियो को देखें और इसे जितना हो सके उतना फॉरवर्ड करें .... अगर आप यू आज चुप रहते हैं तो हमें नुकसान होगा ... क्योंकि 6 महीने के बाद इसे आगे बढ़ाने का कोई फायदा नहीं होगा ... उँगलियाँ घुमाएँ और इसे आगे बढ़ाएँ अभी - तांजोर, तमिलनाडु."
[English Translation: Watch this video and forward it as much as you can...if you keep quiet today we will be at a loss...because after 6 months there will be no use to forward it... Swipe your fingers and send it forward... - Tanjore, Tamil Nadu.]
A Facebook user wrote, इस विडियो को देखें😡😡 और इसे जितना हो सके उतना फॉरवर्ड करें .... अगर आप यू आज चुप रहते हैं तो हमें नुकसान होगा ... क्योंकि 6 महीने के बाद इसे आगे बढ़ाने का कोई फायदा नहीं होगा ...उँगलियाँ घुमाएँ और इसे आगे बढ़ाएँ अभी ...- तांजोर, तमिलनाडु."
[English Translation: Watch this video and forward it as much as you can...if you keep quiet today we will be at a loss...because after 6 months there will be no use to forward it... Swipe your fingers and send it forward... - Tanjore, Tamil Nadu.]
It is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter with a similar claim.
The Logical Indian Fact Check Team also received several messages on our WhatsApp fact check no. +91-6364000343 requesting to fact check this claim.
Screengrabs of requests received on the TLI WhatsApp fact check number
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian fact check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The viral video is from Pakistan.
We conducted a keyword search with relevant keywords but were unable to come across any news reports related to this incident. Then we conducted a reverse image search on one of the keyframes of the viral video using InVid's Keyframe Analysis tool.
This tweet by a Twitter user, Arif Aajakia, came up which was posted on March 10, 2020. The tweet contained a snapshot from the viral video.
We searched across the Wayback Machine and came across this original version of the tweet which has since been taken down. The video attached with the tweet is likely to be the viral video in question.
In the caption of this tweet, the user wrote, "Because my Pakistan Army has no balls to face a professional army on a battlefield, they do these kinds of cheap things. Hatred is being pumped up in common Pakistanis."
The tweet author alleges that the incident took place in Pakistan. To verify this claim, we then went through the video closely observing the details and the background. We observed that the rickshaws seen are not the rickshaws usually seen in Tamil Nadu.
As can be seen from the examples above, the auto-rickshaw in the viral video carried no Tamil lettering or the identifying marker on the number plates from Tamil Nadu state (TN).
We also noticed a van in the video with 'The Hunar Foundation' written across its side. We also noticed a contact number emblazoned on the back of this van. The contact number starts with the digits "336-8288-..." with the last few numbers illegible.
Following a keyword search, we found that The Hunar Foundation is a foundation based in Karachi, Pakistan which provides vocational and technical training to youth.
On their contact us page, we also noticed the contact number for the organisation. The number for their Donor Relations wing read as 0336-8288777, which matches up with the number emblazoned on the back of the van. This indicated that the video was likely shot in Karachi, Pakistan.
We then went through the video again and noticed that in the opening few seconds of the video, a shop is seen with the name 'Sanam' with the rest of the letters illegible.
We noticed the distinct design of the signboard reading 'Sanam' and accordingly conducted a keyword search for a shop named 'Sanam' located in Karachi. We came across this store named 'Sanam Boutique' located on Tariq Road in Karachi, Pakistan.
This website, BusinessList, lists several businesses in Pakistan and notes the shop located at Tariq Road in Karachi.
We came across the same storefront and the backdrop as seen in the viral video in two videos uploaded on YouTube. In a 2018 video, uploaded by the YouTube channel 'Unique Karachi' on Feb 18, 2018, we observed 'Sanam Boutique'.
The second video was uploaded by the YouTube channel, 'KarachiStreetView-Pakistan' on November 5, 2017.
Credit: YouTube (Sanam Boutique and the building in the backdrop as noticed in the video uploaded by KarachiStreetView-Pakistan)
Conclusion:
The video is claimed to depict an incident from Tanjore, Tamil Nadu where several vehicles can be seen driving over the Indian flag.
While we were not able to ascertain why the incident took place, we were able to confirm that the incident took place on Tariq Road in Karachi, Pakistan. We are able to affirm this fact due to visual evidence present in the viral video which matches up with locations in Karachi. We were also able to ascertain that the video is not from a recent incident but actually at least two years old. The video is not from Tanjore, Tamil Nadu as claimed but Karachi, Pakistan. Hence, the viral claim is false.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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