A video of a multi-storied building collapsing to the ground is going viral on social media, with the claim that it shows the Indian Army is destroying minority houses in Manipur.
The caption states, “This is Manipur, not Palestine. Indian Army is destroying Minority houses in Manipur! Man expresses grief, and anger after his house was destroyed with explosives by Indian Armed forces in Churachandpur, Manipur.”
Let’s check the truth.
Fact check:
We started our investigation with a reverse image search on Google, and the results led us to a similar video shared by NDTV’s Instagram account on 21 July 2024. The caption states that the video was from the 2023 violence in Manipur. The post noted the video was from Churachandpur, where Naorem Ibomcha Meitei’s house was destroyed by the Kuki community.
The ethnic violence in Manipur between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities broke out in May 2023 during a tribal solidarity march. This indicates that the viral video is not recent and it is unrelated to the Indian Army.
Using these hints, we conducted further searches and found many media reports regarding this incident. As per NDTV‘s report, Naorem Ibomcha Meitei and their family had fled their home when the clashes began, telling the organisation that their house had been destroyed in 2023. India Today had also shared the same video with similar details.
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When the video gained traction on social media with false claims linking it to the Indian Army, the fact-checking unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the Government of India has also refuted the viral claim. PIB tweeted that the video was old and is being shared with a misleading context.
So, based on all this evidence, we can understand that an old and unrelated video was falsely shared as the Indian Army was destroying minorities’ homes in Manipur.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo found the claim made along with the video to be Misleading. This viral video is old and unrelated to the Indian army.
Title: Old video falsely shared as Indian Army destroying minority houses in Manipur.
Fact Check By: Usha Manoj
Result: Misleading
