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| - Fact Check: Lahore protestors burned the Tricolour over prophet row, not Indians
A photo on social media claimed to show protestors in India burning the national flag over Nupur Sharma's remarks on the Prophet Mohammed.
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India Today Fact Check
This photo isn't from India. It shows religious groups burning the Tricolour during a protest against Nupur Sharma's remarks in Pakistan's Lahore on June 9, 2022.
The row over remarks against the Prophet Nabi by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma refuses to die down even after days. Despite diplomatic pressure from several Muslim nations, protests have erupted in several states, resulting in police action.
Among the videos and photos that are shared on social media of the protests, there is an image of a group burning an upturned Indian Tricolour.
"Peaceful Muslims burning Our Tiranga (National Flag) today in India," one such post on Facebook read.
Similar claims have been archived here and here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading. The photo was taken from Pakistan's Lahore on June 9 during a protest by religious groups over Sharma's remarks.
AFWA Probe
The protestors are seen holding a banner in the image. The word "Insults" is seen in bold letters while the half-visible footnote in English reads, "Ulama E Nizamia Pak..."
The rest of the banner was in Urdu and a smaller banner seen in the background was in Urdu too, as confirmed by the Google Translate app.
When the image was run through the reverse search on Google, the top result was a news article by the US news agency, The Associated Press.
The photo that was shared as Indians burning the flag was used in this report that was titled "Pakistanis rally to denounce India over remarks about Islam". Published on June 9, 2022, it narrated the brief scuffle between police and Islamists who took out protests in Islamabad against the remarks made by the now suspended BJP leader.
"Supporters of religious groups burn a representation of the Indian flag during a demonstration to condemn derogatory references to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad recently made by Nupur Sharma, a spokesperson of the governing Indian Hindu nationalist party, in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, June 9, 2022," the photo caption read.
The report gave credit to AP photographer KM Chaudary for the image.
We found the photo in question was used by Al Jazeera in an article as well to report protests in South Asia over the issue. Headlined 'South Asia protests over prophet remarks by India’s BJP officials', the photo was used in the story below the subhead on reactions in Pakistan. Al Jazeera also used a similar photo caption, citing credit to the AP's KM Chaudary.
The story mentioned demonstrators burning Indian national flags along with the pictures of PM Modi and Nupur Sharma.
Hence, it is clear that the photo shared as that of protestors in India was photographed from Pakistan's Lahore.
(With inputs from Adarsh Singh in New Delhi)
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