Fact Check: Pahalgam victims' families face caste discrimination in ex-gratia compensation? No, the paper clipping is old

Many families of survivors from the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 have recounted horrifying experiences, revealing that the terrorists were identifying victims’ religion before killing them. They specifically targeted non-Muslims, checking for circumcision or demanding the recitation of the Kalma (an Islamic verse), and shot those who failed the test.

In this context, a newspaper clipping, purportedly from the Kalwad Times, is circulating on social media, claiming discrimination in compensation for the victims’ families. The English translation of the Hindi headline reads: “Terror Attack Victims: ₹10 Lakh for Upper-Caste Hindus, ₹6 Lakh for Dalit Family.” The clipping also features a poster with the message, “Dalit Lives Matter.”

Sharing the paper clipping, an X user wrote, “Killed after asking religion, Compensation given after asking caste.” (Translated from Hindi) (Archive)

Fact Check

NewsMeter found the claim to be false, as no such discriminatory compensation has been announced by the government.

We searched for Kalwad Times and found that it is a local Hindi newspaper based in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The newspaper’s official Facebook account issued a clarification on April 25, stating that the viral clipping is edited and was not published by them.

The newspaper’s editor, Sharwan Kalyan, told NewsMeter that they have not published this news. He clarified, “The newspaper clipping has been edited, and its design does not match the design style of Kalwad Times.”

Furthermore, we conducted a reverse image search and found that the same newspaper clipping was shared by several X users in 2023, which confirms that even if edited, the clipping is old and unrelated to the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22. (Click here and here to see the posts.)

Moving forward, we conducted a relevant keyword search and came across reports from The Telegraph and Newsclick dated January 2023. These reports highlight allegations of caste-based discrimination in the ex-gratia compensation provided to victims' families in Jammu and Kashmir under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s administration. Citing two specific examples, the reports mention that ₹6 lakh in compensation, along with government jobs, was announced for the families of two Dalit men, Surinder Kumar and Kamal Kishore, who were killed on December 16, 2022. In contrast, for six civilians, reportedly Brahmins, killed on January 1, 2023, Sinha visited the victims' families and announced ₹10 lakh compensation and government jobs for each.

This confirms that the news is from 2023 and is related to two different incidents from the same year.

Compensation announced for the victims’ families of the Pahlgam terror attack

According to an April 23 report by NDTV, the Jammu and Kashmir government announced financial assistance for the victims' families. Each family of the deceased will receive an ex-gratia amount of ₹10 lakh, while ₹2 lakh has been allocated for those with serious injuries, and ₹1 lakh for those with minor injuries. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde extended financial assistance of ₹5 lakh to the family of Syed Adil Hussain Shah, who lost his life while attempting to save tourists, as reported by The Hindu. None of these reports mentions any discriminatory compensation based on caste.

Therefore, we conclude that the claim of discriminatory compensation based on caste for families of the Pahlgam terror attack victims is false.