Video from Brazil falsely linked to unrest in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Published on July 26, 2023 at 05:19
3 min read
By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India

A video that shows what appears to be a soldier kicking and pinning down a man has been shared thousands of times in social media posts that falsely claim it shows an Indian soldier subduing a "terrorist" in Indian-administered Kashmir. The clip, however, was filmed in Brazil and has previously circulated in reports that say it shows the violent arrest of a teenager for driving without a licence.

"In Srinagar, Kashmir a terrorist was pinned down with one kick on his chest by an Indian soldier before the terrorist could remove something from his chest," reads the caption to the video shared here on Twitter -- which is being rebranded as "X" -- on July 16, 2023.

The 17-second clip shows a car with a siren light chasing a man on a motorcycle and hitting the bike from behind. A person jumps out of the vehicle and kicks the biker to the ground.

The post was shared over 100 times.

Srinagar is the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

AFP reports the region has faced almost three decades of insurgency, where heavy-handed response by the Indian military has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly Muslims (archived link).

Screenshot of the false post, taken on July 18, 2023

The video was also shared alongside a similar false claim on Facebook here and here and Twitter.

But in fact, the clip was taken in Brazil and shows military policemen kicking a teenage boy accused of riding a motorcycle without a driver's licence.

Brazil incident

A combination of reverse image and keyword searches on Yandex found a longer version of the video uploaded on the YouTube channel of a Brazilian news outlet RICtv on August 3, 2021 (archived link).

The report says a 17-year-old boy was chased by military police because of his suspicious behaviour in Pérola, a municipality in western Paraná, Brazil. During the police chase, he fell off his motorcycle and was caught by military police personnel, it adds.

"He was running away from the police and crashed into the car. When he got up, he was hit by the flying kick of the policeman," the Portuguese-language description of the video says. "The boy is underage, his father was called to answer for the situation."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in one of the false posts (left) and the video posted on YouTube by RICtv (right):

From the news report's 2:14 to 2:45 mark, an official named Carmelito Santos says: "The police officers are taught techniques of approach and self-defence.

"That approach (the one seen in the video) is not what we use on a daily basis, but we have manuals that recommend it and even with kicks or punches. Of course, we will investigate this approach, in a procedure already determined by the battalion command."

The RICtv video also includes footage from another angle showing the incident.

Moreover, a billboard that reads "Roncolato" is visible at the 41-second mark of the report.

A keyword search on Facebook found a video of the same location with a caption stating Roncolato is a famous supermarket chain in Pérola (archived link).

The location can also be found on Google Maps with the supermarket's sign (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the location on Google Street view (right) with corresponding elements highlighted by AFP:

The incident was also reported by Brazilian media outlets here and here (archived links here and here).

According to the reports, the teenager does not have a driver's licence and was brought to Pérola's military police station. The minor's father was reportedly fined for the incident.

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