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| - Fact Check: This breastfeeding mother is NOT Manipur violence victim, old photo viral amid clashes
The picture had been viral in many Southeast Asian countries since 2021 and has been used as fodder for misinformation campaigns in the past as well.
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India Today Fact Check
The image has been on the internet since as early as September 2021 and has been linked to Myanmar’s civil conflict in the past.
Violent clashes between the ethnic Meitei and Kuki communities have left at least 115 dead and around 40,000 displaced since they erupted early in May. As the unabated violence in the state continues, a photo of a bleeding woman breastfeeding a child has gone viral on social media.
Those sharing the picture claimed that it is from the northeastern state. One such tweet read, "One of the saddest and the most painful pictures I've ever seen till today during the Manipur crisis. Let the peace prevail soon." Its archived version can be seen here.
India Today, however, found that the disconcerting viral picture has nothing to do with the ongoing Manipur violence. It has been on the internet since September 2021.
Our Probe
Reverse-searching the viral picture led us to several social media posts from September 2021 containing it. At the time, it went viral on social media with a mix of allegations. Both pro-democracy activists and military junta supporters in Myanmar shared the photo, each claiming the woman was a victim of violence at the hands of the other.
Condemning the People's Defence Force — the armed wing of the National Unity Government, Myanmar’s government in exile formed after the coup d'état in February 2021 — some claimed that rebels from the group hit a breastfeeding woman on her head in the Khayan Township of Yangon in Myanmar. Similar counter-accusations by PDF sympathisers against the military junta.
A keyword search in Burmese along with a reverse image search led us to a purported fact-check of the viral picture. The post claimed that the photo had nothing to do with Myanmar and that it had originated in Thailand.
Further searches led us to a Facebook post by a person called Thol Bena. The post from September 28, 2021, was shared more than 45,000 times. This was the oldest instance we found of the photo being shared online. The photo’s caption, which revealed no details, was in Khmer, the national language of Cambodia. In the comments section, many discussed domestic violence, hinting that this victim was a victim of that.
So, while we couldn’t find the exact date and location of the photo, two things are clear: one, it’s been widely shared across Southeast Asian countries and has been fodder for misinformation campaigns; two, it’s at least two years old and therefore has nothing to do with the ongoing violence in Manipur.
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