Fact-check: Viral video of Indian Army's R&R falsely linked to Hyderpora encounter [details]

A video of Indian Army jawans making merry has been shared on social media with a misleading context, linking it to the recent Hyderpora encounter. The government of J&K has already ordered a probe into the incident.

But this video has been shared with its origins in Pakistan to Kashmir-based Facebook and WhatsApp groups deliberately with a motive to incite violence and fan public anger with respect to the Hyderpora encounter.

Here's the truth behind the viral video.

The recent Hyderpora encounter, in which three civilians were allegedly killed has triggered a controversy while also giving ammunition to anti-national forces to malign the Indian security forces. PAK's ISI-sponsored groups were recently exposed for spitting venom against nationalist Kashmiri Muslims, govt employees and security forces, in a move to disrupt the peace and harmony in the valley.

Now, those same groups are misleading the people of Kashmir by slandering the Indian Army using a video.

The claim

A video of Indian Army personnel consuming alcohol at an unidentified camp has been shared on social media with a misleading context that links it to the Hyderpora encounter. The video titled "Indian Army Drinking alcohol before the Killings Of Innocent Kashmiris in Hyderpora Srinagar" has been viewed over 1.6 lakh times on Facebook and sparked outrage.

Hundreds of users have expressed their discontent towards the video based on the misleading context, while some have flagged it off as fake. The video shows army jawans taking sips of rum and making merry.

Fact check

International Business Times reviewed the video and the context with which it has been shared on social media.

We dug deeper to find out the truth behind the video.

The video does not reveal the location or have a timestamp to clearly establish that it was shot before the Hyderpora encounter, which was the first red flag worth noting.

The Facebook page "Kashmir Express," where the video was shared is not verified and has largely remained inactive ever since it was created in 2018. Not more than 1,500 people follow the page, which is listed in the Product/Service category. There is an email address on the account, which is not linked to any social media account.

However speaking to sources in the armed forces, IBTimes was able to independently verify that the video is of troops of the Indian Army but from a completely unrelated location and exercise.

This video is being shared by Pakistan-based elements on Facebook and WhatsApp groups in J&K to fuel public anger and mislead them. The public in Kashmir is being fed such disinformation by using an under-inquiry encounter and the nefarious designs want to use the Hyderpora incident and ride the sympathy wave by obfuscating facts.

In this video, we were able to confirm that the troops were fatigued on de-induction after they returned from an arduous exercise. The soldiers were entirely wet and cold. Therefore, warm food and rum issue was planned for them after the debriefing by their immediate seniors.

It's a routine off-duty fun moment for the jawans who work on hectic schedules. We are not sharing the exact location of where the video due to it being a defense-related matter.

Hence, IBTimes has arrived at the conclusion that the viral video of Indian Army officials engaging in retreat is not related to the Hyderpora encounter and the controversial claim is false and misleading.

Update: Soon after IBT verified this claim and found it false, the same was raised with the Facebook page admin who uploaded this content. After seeing the IBT fact-check, the same was immediately removed by the admin, the said Page was deleted and here's their response:

I got this video from one of my friends on the day when Hyderpora encounter happened," (sic) the admin said. 

The fact that it was deleted and the person running the page revealed how he came to post it, clearly shows how Pakistan's nefarious designs work in J&K and how they take criminal advantage of public anger.