No, this video shows a police drill in Jharkhand, India

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 2, 2019 at 12:25
3 min read
By AFP India

A video showing Indian police firing at a group of people from close range has been viewed thousands of times in multiple Facebook posts, alongside a claim that it shows security forces in Kashmir firing at civilians. The claim is false; the footage shows a drill conducted by police in the east Indian state of Jharkhand; it has circulated online since at least November 2017.

The one minute video was published here in a Facebook post on August 8, 2019. It was viewed more than 7,500 times before it was removed.

The video’s caption states: “Share it as much as you can, so that very soon it is played at the UN, Kashmiris shot down at point black range by the Indian Occupation Army in the Indian Occupied Kashmir!”

Tensions escalated in Kashmir after the Indian government revoked the region’s semi-autonomous status on August 5, 2019. The state was put on lockdown with heavy deployment of armed forces, as reported here by AFP.

Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:

Screenshot of misleading Facebook post

The video has also been shared on Facebook here, here, here and here with an identical claim, and on Twitter here, here and here with a similar claim.

The claims are false; the video shows police conducting a drill in Khunti town in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand.

A Hindi-language announcement by police at the end of the video translates to English as follows: “This was just a demo to show that the Khunti police is fully prepared to act against any untoward situation.”

A Google keyword search found an identical one minute video published here on YouTube on November 1, 2017.

The video's caption states: “Moke Dreal (mock drill) of Khunti Police”.

A longer video of the event from a different angle was published here on YouTube on November 3, 2017.

“In khunti rehearsal for police how we all police take charging and controlling on crowds at towns and other places. ( it's only and only rehearsal),” reads the description of the video.

Local freelance journalist Anand Dutta told AFP that the drill was conducted near the main square of Khunti town around the same time as celebrations for the Hindu festival of Diwali in 2017.

"The location seen in the video is near the main square of Khunti town," he told AFP by Whatsapp.

Dutta also sent photos of the street where the drill was conducted via WhatsApp on August 13, 2019. Below is a collage of photos sent by the journalist (L) and screenshots taken from the video posted in the misleading Facebook post (R), with similar elements highlighted in green:

Image comparing screenshots

Allahabad Bank and Jagdamba Steel can be found here on the Google map of the Khunti town.

The red shopfront photo of Jagdamba Steel can also be seen in a Google user image tagged at the location here on Google Maps, as seen in the screenshot below.

Screenshot of Google street view page

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