Fact Check: Viral image of bullet stuck in utensil is from Bangladesh-Myanmar border, not from farmers’ protest
The image is from a firing incident at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 23 Feb 2024 12:37 PM GMT
Screengrabs from posts making false claims.
Hyderabad: In light of farmers’ protest at Delhi’s borders, Shubhkaran Singh, a 21-year-old farmer from Bhatinda, was killed in clashes between security personnel and protesting farmers at the Khanauri border because of a bullet injury. According to the Hindustan Times, the type of bullet will be ascertained after postmortem.
Against this backdrop, an image of a bullet stuck between the lid and its utensil is viral suggesting that it was fired by police on farmers. “Everything will be recorded in history, Mr. Modi… #FarmersProtest2024,” wrote an X user who shared the image. Click here to view the archived post.
Another X user shared the image along with the video of a doctor with a ‘tear gas canister’ fired very close to a farmers’ health camp. Click here to view the archived post.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the image is from a firing incident at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
Upon a reverse image search, we found the image posted by a Facebook account on February 10. In the caption, the account suggested that the image is from Manipur. However, another user in the comments stated that the image is from Bangladesh, and the bullet was fired from Myanmar.
Another Facebook account from Bangladesh posted the image on February 8, stating in the caption that the bullets from Myanmar had hit people’s houses.
We also found the image in a report by the Bangladeshi news outlet Dhaka Mail published on February 7, titled ‘Riots on the Bangladesh border due to the conflict in Myanmar.’
According to the report, shelling on the Bangladesh border has increased due to intense clashes between Myanmar’s rebel groups and military rulers. It also mentioned that more than 250 citizens of Myanmar fled to Bangladesh after being injured in the conflict, including hundreds of border guards and members of the country’s army.
Another Bangladeshi news portal carried the image in a report published on February 16. It said heavy firing was heard on the border between Shahparir Dwip and St Martin in Teknaf. It also quoted a resident of Shahparir Dwip saying, “Myanmar bullets have come in the lid of the dexi (pan) of the kitchen of the locals living in the border area of Bangladesh.”
According to a Reuters report of February 5, the fighting between rebel forces in Myanmar and the junta regime has intensified. At least 95 Myanmar border guards, some of them wounded, have fled to Bangladesh over the last few days. It also mentioned that the gunfire could be heard from across the Myanmar border in Bangladesh’s southeastern tourist district of Cox’s Bazaar, where nearly one million members of the Muslim minority from Myanmar live in bamboo-and-plastic hut camps after fleeing a military crackdown there in 2017.
The farmers’ agitation and their march to Delhi began on February 13, and the viral image of a bullet stuck in a utensil could be at least traced on the internet to February 7. Hence, we conclude that the viral image is being falsely linked to ongoing farmers’ agitation.
