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| - Fact Check: Evolution of CRPF tactical gear over the decade? Not really
A photo is being widely circulated on social media with the claim that it shows a CRPF jawan with state-of-the-art gear.
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India Today Fact Check
The claim is misleading as the image shared as that of the CRPF jawan from 2011 was clicked in 2017, while the second image is of an elite commando of the paramilitary force.
It is the first day of the New Year and misleading posts have already flooded social media. Several viral tweets from January 1, 2022, claim that India's largest Central Armed Police Force - the CRPF - has undergone a gear upgrade in the last decade.
"CRPF jawan 2011 Vs CRPF Jawan 2022. Choose wisely India. Jai Hind," says the claim along with two images of what is said to be of CRPF personnel.
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be misleading. The image of a jawan has been shared as from 2011, while it was originally photographed in 2017. The second picture is of a member of CRPF's elite commando wing.
AFWA probe
The first photo, claimed to be taken in 2011, shows a jawan donning khaki pants, an army-green vest and armed with an INSAS rifle.
A reverse search showed the photo was clicked by photographer Arbaz Mughal for Alamy News Live in Srinagar in 2017.
Hence, the first photo is not a decade old as the post wrongly claimed.
The second image shows another personnel in far-advanced military gear, including a night-vision-attached military helmet and a communication device. The word 'Commando' can be seen stitched on both sides of his grey uniform. A closer look showed the insignia on one of his sleeves that read "Valley QAT".
Using this clue, we ran a keyword search to learn that the CRPF's elite anti-terrorism commando unit in Jammu & Kashmir is called the Valley Quick Action Team or 'Valley QAT'. They are highly trained and equipped to work in close quarters with the Indian Army and Jammu & Kashmir Police during counter-insurgency operations.
A reverse image search of the commando's image - with 'Valley QAT' as a keyword - cleared our doubts. The same photo, along with a handful of similar images, was found on the website of stock photo firm Getty Images.
This answered the question of why the equipment owned by the officer in the second image is far advanced than that of the jawan in the first.
But has the CRPF altered their uniform post-2017 to grey? We checked the latest parade of the CRPF from December 23, 2021, on the YouTube channel of Doordarshan National. This confirmed that the khaki uniforms are still in place for CRPF personnel.
Thus, it can be concluded that the two photos of CRPF jawans in the viral claim were not taken a decade apart or represent the upgrades the force has undergone over the years.
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