Guwahati: A disturbing video showing a person, seemingly a protestor, being hit by an explosive immediately after he throws an object at someone outside the frame of the video is going viral on social media.
Users who shared the video claimed that the person being hit by the explosive is a ‘stone-pelter’ and was hit back by the Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir when he attempted to throw a stone at the soldiers.
A Twitter user @katarhinduAK47 who shares the video says, “जम्मू कश्मीर में एक पत्थरबाज ने फौजी को पत्थर मारा, फौजी ने तुरंत पत्थर का जवाब गोली से दिया.। (जोरदार शोट) दिल में कुछ शांति सी पड़ी है। ये दिल मांगे मोर।“(In Jammu and Kashmir a stone-pelter hurls a stone at the soldier, the soldier immediately replied to the stone with a bullet. (powerful shot) The heart feels some peace. This heart wants more.) (Archived link)
The video has been widely shared both on Twitter and Facebook with similar claims.
Fact-Check
We fragmented the video into keyframes using the InVID video analysing tool and performed a reverse image search on Google and Yandex. This led us to this report published in Teletica.com, a Costa Rican television broadcaster, on August 8, 2022.
We translated the report to English using Google Translator; according to the report titled, “Bolivia: Protester confuses dynamite with a cigarette and it explodes in his hand” the incident took place in Bolivia during a protest by the cocoa farmers.
“One of the coca growers was left in “critical condition” after a stick of dynamite that he was preparing to throw at the uniformed men exploded in his hand, Téllez said,” it says.
We then performed a search on YouTube using relevant keywords and found more videos linked to the incident. The Google translation of the title description of this video report published in Al Rojo Vivo on August 10, 2022, reads, “During a confrontation between coca growers and authorities, one of the coca growers tried to throw an explosive, but it exploded in his hand.”
According to a report published in africanews.com on August 9, 2022, clashes broke out between coca farmers and police in the Bolivian city of La Paz on August 8, 2022.
“In one neighbourhood of La Paz, hundreds of anti-government coca growers clashed with the police to demand the closure of a parallel market run by a supposedly pro-government union. Protesters, who accused the government of protecting the group, attempted to use dynamite to against riot police, but a grower was severely injured in the explosion,” it reported.
Also Read | West Bengal: CBI nabs seven more for ‘involvement’ in Birbhum killings