No, Pic Doesn't Show Terrorist Dressed as Woman Captured in India

An image taken in Afghanistan in 2012 was used to falsely claim that it showed a terrorist captured in India.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An image of a man dressed as a woman is being shared on social media with the claim that it showed a terrorist captured in India.

However, the image dates back to March 2012 and shows Afghan security forces escorting Taliban militants dressed as women.

CLAIM

The claim along with the image reads: 'हर घर से, खाग्रेस काल मे अफजल निकलेगा, सुना तो था, परंतु भाजपा शासन में ऐसे निकलेगा ये नही पता था'

(Translated: We had heard that Afzal will come out from every house during the Congress era but did not know that he would come out like this under BJP government)

You can view the archived version here.

More such posts with a similar claim can be viewed here, here, and here.

Writer Madhu Kishwar also shared the image and wrote that the image was from the Kashmir Valley and was taken during the encounter with security forces that took place on 26 July in Kulgam district. You can view the archived version here.

WHAT WE FOUND

On performing a reverse image search, we came across an article by The Atlantic that was published in April 2012 and carried the viral image.

The caption along with the image stated that it showed Afghan security forces escorting Taliban militants clad in women's dresses.

The image was credited to The Associated Press photographer Rahmat Gul.

We then searched AP Images with keywords 'Afghan women dress 2012' and found that the image was captured on 28 March 2012 in Mehterlam, Afghanistan.

The description along with the image read: 'Afghan security forces escort Taliban militants clad in Afghan women dresses to be presented to the media at the Afghan intelligence department in Mehterlam, Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, 28 March 2012.'

The search result also showed several other images from the 2012 incident available on AP's website.

Evidently, an image taken in Afghanistan in 2012 was used to falsely claim that it showed a terrorist captured in India.

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