ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

2019 Photo Viral as Mortal Remains of Indian Soldiers Post Galwan

Many people shared this photo of the coffins wrapped in the Indian flag in the aftermath of the Galwan face-off.

Updated
story-hero-img
i
Aa
Aa
Small
Aa
Medium
Aa
Large

An old picture of a large number of coffins wrapped in the Indian tricolour is being falsely shared as an image of the coffins of all the Indian Army personnel who died in the violent face-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA at the Galwan Valley on Monday, 15 June.

The picture also shows more than 20 coffins, which has the potential to mislead people into believing that India lost more than soldiers than originally acknowledged by the government.

CLAIM

Many people shared this photo of the coffins wrapped in the Indian flag in the aftermath of the Galwan face-off.
An archived version of this tweet can be seen here.
(Photo: Screenshot/Twitter)

Many people shared this photo of the coffins wrapped in the Indian flag in the aftermath of the Galwan face-off, expressing their condolences and mourning the deaths of the soldiers. While some did not explicitly state a reference to Galwan, sharing such a photo in the current environment makes it clear that one is implying the same clash.

The photo was viral on Twitter with this claim.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD
Many people shared this photo of the coffins wrapped in the Indian flag in the aftermath of the Galwan face-off.
An archived version of this post can be seen here.
(Photo: Screenshot/Twitter)
Many people shared this photo of the coffins wrapped in the Indian flag in the aftermath of the Galwan face-off.
An archived version of this post can be seen here.
(Photo: Screenshot/Twitter)

WHAT WE FOUND

We were aware that no photos of coffins of the 20 soldiers of the Indian Army who were killed in the Galwan clash have been released officially, although their names have been. Further, on seeing the photo, we could count more than 20 coffins, which made it evident that the photo could not be related to the Galwan incident, since the government has so far announced just those many casualties.

On performing a reverse search on the photo, we found that several Facebook pages had shared the photo in February 2019, notably, after 14 February, which is when the Pulwama terror attack had occurred. 40 CRPF jawans died in that attack.

Many people shared this photo of the coffins wrapped in the Indian flag in the aftermath of the Galwan face-off.

SALUTE to INDIAN ARMY 🇮🇳

Posted by Indians in New Zealand on Friday, February 15, 2019

We also found the photo in a Reddit thread from a year ago, which also claimed that the coffins seen in the photo housed the mortal remains of the CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama.

We then looked at the photos of the coffins of the jawans killed in Pulwama. While we could not find the exact photo, we found similar photos of the coffins laid out as politicians paid their tributes to them.

Many people shared this photo of the coffins wrapped in the Indian flag in the aftermath of the Galwan face-off.
Many people shared this photo of the coffins wrapped in the Indian flag in the aftermath of the Galwan face-off.
Many people shared this photo of the coffins wrapped in the Indian flag in the aftermath of the Galwan face-off.

According to reports, after the Pulwama attack, all 40 coffins had first been flown by the Indian Air Force to Delhi’s Palam airport, where PM Modi and other political leaders paid them final respects in an official ceremony.

While, the exact origin of the viral photo could not be ascertained, it is clear that an old photo dating back at least to February 2019 is being used to claim that these are the mortal remains of the troops killed in Galwan.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on Whatsapp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)

(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)

Published: 
Speaking truth to power requires allies like you.
Become a Member
Read More
×
×