Fact Check: 2022 video from Myanmar being shared as assault on Kuki girl in Manipur
The video is from 2022 and shows an incident that occurred in Myanmar’s Tamu town.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 20 Jun 2023 11:37 AM GMT
Screengrab of the Facebook post
Hyderabad: A disturbing video of a group of men, some armed and wearing combat uniforms, brutally assaulting a girl in the middle of the road, is going viral on social media. Social media users sharing the video have linked it to the ongoing conflict in Manipur. They claim the video shows armed civilians torturing and eventually shooting a ‘Kuki Christian woman.’
A Facebook user shared the video with the caption, “#Manipur has gone out of control of Modi & Shah. Videos have come to light where armed civilians are torturing and ultimately shooting to death a Kuki Christian young girl. Manipur is on fire & Modi is silent. The girl was then shot in the head in cold blood, the part of the video not shared. (sic)”
(Source: Facebook)
Several other Facebook and Twitter users also shared the video claiming the same. (Click here and here to see the posts)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the video is from 2022 and shows an incident that occurred in Myanmar’s Tamu town. On performing a reverse image search of the video’s keyframe, we found a longer version published on the website Reeleak on December 9, 2022, titled “Cruel Punishment In Myanmar.”
Taking a cue from this, we ran a keyword search and found a blurred still from the video in a report by Myanmar Now from December 6, 2022. As per the report, Naing Htoo Aung, secretary of the defence ministry of the National Unity Government (NUG), had told the news outlet that the incident happened in June 2022 in Tamu town, and the alleged crime was perpetrated by the members of the 4th Battalion of the Tamu District chapter of the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF).
It also said that two men and one woman from the battalion were detained, and the ministry is investigating the murder.
Other websites, such as DVB and Eleven Myanmar, which carried the still from the video, reported the incident with the same information.
Hence, we conclude that a video from Myanmar is being shared with the false claim that it shows armed civilians killing a Kuki Christian woman in Manipur.
