#FactCheck - Virat Kohli's Ganesh Chaturthi Video Falsely Linked to Ram Mandir Inauguration

Executive Summary:

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A widely circulated claim on social media indicates that six soldiers of the Assam Rifles were killed during a retaliatory attack carried out by a Myanmar-based breakaway faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent), or ULFA (I). The post included a photograph of coffins covered in Indian flags with reference to soldiers who were part of the incident where ULFA (I) killed six soldiers. The post was widely shared, however, the fact-check confirms that the photograph is old, not related, and there are no trustworthy reports to indicate that any such incident took place. This claim is therefore false and misleading.

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Claim:

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Social media users claimed that the banned militant outfit ULFA (I) killed six Assam Rifles personnel in retaliation for an alleged drone and missile strike by Indian forces on their camp in Myanmar with captions on it “Six Indian Army Assam Rifles soldiers have reportedly been killed in a retaliatory attack by the Myanmar-based ULFA group.”. The claim was accompanied by a viral post showing coffins of Indian soldiers, which added emotional weight and perceived authenticity to the narrative. 

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Fact Check:

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We began our research with a reverse image search of the image of coffins in Indian flags, which we saw was shared with the viral claim. We found the image can be traced to August 2013. We found the traces in  The Washington Post,  which confirms the fact that the viral snap is from the Past incident where five Indian Army soldiers were killed by Pakistani intruders in Poonch, Jammu, and Kashmir, on August 6, 2013. 

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Also, The Hindu and India Today offered no confirmation of the death of six Assam Rifles personnel. However, ULFA (I) did issue a statement dated July 13, 2025, claiming that three of its leaders had been killed in a drone strike by Indian forces. 

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However, by using Shutterstock, it depicts that the coffin's image is old and not representative of any current actions by the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

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The Indian Army denied it, with Defence PRO Lt Col Mahendra Rawat telling reporters there were "no inputs" of such an operation. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also rejected that there was cross-border military action whatsoever. Therefore, the viral claim is false and misleading.

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Conclusion:

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The assertion that ULFA (I) killed six soldiers from the 6th Assam Rifles in a retaliation strike is incorrect. The viral image used in these posts is from 2013 in Jammu & Kashmir and has no relevance to the present. There have been no verified reports of any such killings, and both the Indian Army and the Assam government have categorically denied having conducted or knowing of any cross-border operation. This faulty narrative is circulating, and it looks like it is only inciting fear and misinformation therefore, please ignore it.

• Claim: Report confirms the death of six Assam Rifles personnel in an ULFA-led attack.
• Claimed On: Social Media
• Fact Check: False and Misleading

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Overview of the Advisory

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On 18 November 2025, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) published an Advisory that addresses all of the private satellite television channels in India. The advisory is one of the critical institutional interventions to the broadcast of sensitive content regarding recent security incidents concerning the blast at the Red Fort on November 10^th, 2025. This advisory came after the Ministry noticed that some news channels have been broadcasting content related to alleged persons involved in Red Fort blasts, justifying their acts of violence, as well as information/video on explosive material. Broadcasting like this at this critical situation may inadvertently encourage or incite violence, disrupt public order, and pose risks to national security. 

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Key Instructions under the Advisory

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The advisory provides certain guidelines to the TV channels to ensure strict compliance with the Programming and Advertising Code under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. The television channels are advised to exercise the highest level of discretion and sensitivity possible in reporting on issues involving alleged perpetrators of violence, and especially when reporting on matters involving the justification of acts of violence or providing instructional media on making explosive materials. The fundamental focus is to be very strict in following the Programme and Advertising Code as stipulated in the Cable Television Network Rules. In particular, broadcasters should not make programming that:

• Contain anything obscene, defamatory, deliberately false, or suggestive innuendos and half-truths.
• Likely to encourage or incite violence, contain anything against the maintenance of law and order, or promote an anti-national attitude.
• Contain anything that affects the integrity of the Nation.
• Could aid, abet or promote unlawful activities.

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Responsible Reporting Framework

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The advisory does not constitute outright censorship but instead a self-regulatory system that depends on the discretion and sensitivity of the TV channels focused on differentiating between broadcasting legitimate news and the content that crosses the threshold from information dissemination to incitement. 

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Why This Advisory is Important in a Digital Age

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With the modern media systems, there has been an erosion of the line between the journalism of the traditional broadcasting medium and digital virality. The contents of television are no longer limited to the scheduled programs or cable channels of distribution. The contents of a single news piece, especially that of dramatic or contentious nature, can be ripped off, revised and repackaged on social media networks within minutes of airing- often without the context, editorial discretion or timing indicators.

This effect makes sensitive content have a multiplier effect. The short news item about a suspect justifying violence or containing bombs can be viewed by millions on YouTube, WhatsApp, Twitter/X, Facebook, by spreading organically and being amplified by an algorithm. Studies have shown that misinformation and sensational reporting are much faster to circulate compared to factual corrections- a fact that has been noticed in the recent past during conflicts and crisis cases in India and other parts of the world.

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Vulnerabilities of Information Ecosystems

• The advisory is created in a definite information setting that is characterised by:
• Rapid Viral Mechanism: Content spreads faster than the process of verification. 
• Algorithmic-driven amplification: Platform mechanism boosts emotionally charged content.
• Coordinated amplification networks: Organised groups are there to make these posts, videos viral, to set a narrative for the general public. 
• Deepfake and synthetic media risks: Original broadcasts can be manipulated and reposted with false attribution. 

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Interconnection with Cybersecurity and National Security

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Verified or sensationalised reporting of security incidents poses certain weaknesses:

1. Trust Erosion: Trust is broken when the masses observe broadcasters in the air giving unverified claims or emotional accounts as facts. This is even to security agencies, law enforcement and government institutions themselves. The lack of trust towards the official information gives rise to information gaps, which are occupied by rumours, conspiracy theories, and enemy tales.
2. Cognitive Fragmentation: Misinformation develops multiple versions of the truth among the people. The narratives given to citizens vary according to the sources of the media that they listen to or read. This disintegration complicates organising the collective response of the society an actual security threat because the populations can be organised around misguided stories and not the correct data.
3. Radicalisation Pipeline: People who are interested in finding ideological backgrounds to violent action might get exposed to media-created materials that have been carefully distorted to evidence justifications of terrorism as a valid political or religious stand.

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How Social Instability Is Exploited in Cyber Operations and Influence Campaigns

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Misinformation causes exploitable vulnerability in three phases. 

1. First, conflicting unverified accounts disintegrate the information environment-populations are presented with conflicting versions of events by various media sources. 
2. Second, institutional trust in media and security agencies is shaken by exposure to subsequently rectified false information, resulting in an information vacuum. 
3. Third, in such a distrusted and puzzled setting, the population would be susceptible to organised manipulation by malicious agents.
4. Sensationalised broadcasting gives opponents assets of content, narrative frameworks, and information gaps that they can use to promote destabilisation movements. These mechanisms of exploitation are directly opposed by responsible broadcasting.

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Media Literacy and Audience Responsibility

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Structural Information Vulnerabilities-

A major part of the Indian population is structurally disadvantaged in information access:

• Language barriers: Infrastructure in the field of fact-checking is still highly centralised in English and Hindi, as vernacular-language misinformation goes viral in Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi, and others.

• Digital literacy gaps: It is estimated that there are about 40 million people in India who have been trained on digital literacy, but more than 900 million Indians access digital content with different degrees of ability to critically evaluate the content.
• Divides between rural and urban people: Rural citizens and less affluent people experience more difficulty with access to verification tools and media literacy resources.
• Algorithmic capture: social media works to maximise engagement over accuracy, and actively encourages content that is emotionally inflammatory or divisive to its users, according to their history of engagement.

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Conclusion

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The advisory of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is an acknowledgment of the fact that media accountability is a part of state security in the information era. It states the principles of responsible reporting without interference in editorial autonomy, a balance that various stakeholders should uphold. Implementation of the advisory needs to be done in concert with broadcasters, platforms, civil society, government and educational institutions. Information integrity cannot be handled by just a single player. Without media literacy resources, citizens are unable to be responsible in their evaluation of information. Without open and fast communication with the media stakeholders, government agencies are unable to combat misinformation. 

The recommendations include collaborative governance, i.e., institutional forms in which media self-regulation, technological protection, user empowerment, and policy frameworks collaborate and do not compete. The successful deployment of measures will decide whether India can continue to have open and free media without compromising on information integrity that is sufficient to provide national security, democratic governance and social stability during the period of high-speed information flow, algorithmic amplification, and information warfare actions.

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References

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https://mib.gov.in/sites/default/files/2025-11/advisory-18.11.2025.pdf

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Introduction

The Government of India has initiated a cybercrime crackdown that has resulted in the blocking of 781,000 SIM cards and 208,469 IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers that are associated with digital fraud as of February 2025. This data was released as a written response by the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, with respect to a query presented in the Lok Sabha. A significant jump from the 669,000 SIM cards blocked in the past year, efforts aimed at combating digital fraud are in full swing, considering the increasing cases. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) is proactively blocking other platform accounts found suspicious, such as WhatsApp Accounts (83,668) and Skype IDs (3,962) on its part, aiding in eliminating identified threat actors.

Increasing Digital Fraud And The Current Combative Measures

According to the data tabled by the Ministry of Finance in the Rajya Sabha, the first 10 months of the Financial year 2024-2025 have recorded around 2.4 million incidents covering an amount of Rs. 4,245 crore involving cases of digital Financial Fraud cases. Apart from the evident financial loss, such incidents also take an emotional toll as people are targeted regardless of their background and age, leaving everyone equally vulnerable. To address this growing problem, various government departments have dedicated measures to combat and reduce such incidents. Some of the notable initiatives/steps are as follows:

• The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System- This includes reporting Cybercrimes through the nationwide toll-free (1930) number and registration on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. On being a victim of digital fraud, one can call the toll-free number, describing details of the incident, which would further help in the investigation. After reporting the incident, the complainant receives a generated login ID/acknowledgement number that they can use for further reference.
• International Incoming Spoofed Calls Prevention System- This is a mechanism developed to counter fraudulent calls that appear to originate from within India but are actually made from international locations. This system prevents the misuse of the Calling Line Identity (CLI), which is manipulated to deceive recipients in order to carry out financial crimes like digital arrests, among other things. Coordinating with the Department of Telecommunication (DoT), private telecommunication service providers (TSPs) are being encouraged to check with their ILD (International Long-Distance) network as a measure. Airtel has recently started categorising such numbers as International numbers on their part.
• Chakshu Facility at Sanchar Saathi platform- A citizen-centric initiative, created by the Department of Telecommunications, to empower mobile subscribers. It focuses on reporting unsolicited commercial communication (spam messages) and reporting suspected fraudulent communication. (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in/). 
• Aadhaar-based verification of SIM cards- A directive issued by the Prime Minister's Office to the Department of Telecommunications mandates an Aadhaar-based biometric verification for the issuance of new SIM cards. This has been done so in an effort to prevent fraud and cybercrime through mobile connections obtained using fake documents. Legal action against non-compliant retailers in the form of FIRs is also being taken.

On the part of the public, awareness of the following steps could encourage them on how to deal with such situations:

• Awareness regarding types of crimes and the tell-tale signs of the modus operandi of a criminal: A general awareness and a cautionary approach to how such crimes take place could help better prepare and respond to such malicious scams. Some important signs on the part of the offender include pressuring the victim into immediate action, insistence on video calls, and the threat of arrest in case of non-compliance. It is also important to note that no official authority, in any legal capacity, allows for enabling a digital/online arrest.
• Knowing the support channels: Awareness regarding reporting mechanisms and cyber safety hygiene tips can help in building cyber resilience amongst netizens. 

Conclusion

As cybercrooks continue to find new ways of duping people of their hard-earned money, both government and netizens must make efforts to combat such crimes and increase awareness on both ends (systematic and public). Increasing developments in AI, deepfakes, and other technology often render the public inept at assessing the veracity of the source, making them susceptible to such crime. A cautionary yet proactive approach is need of the hour. 

References

• https://mobileidworld.com/india-blocks-781000-sim-cards-in-major-cybercrime-crackdown/
• https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/over-83k-whatsapp-accounts-used-for-digital-arrest-blocked-home-ministry-60292.htm
• https://www.business-standard.com/finance/news/digital-financial-frauds-touch-rs-4-245-crore-in-the-apr-jan-period-of-fy25-125032001214_1.html
• https://www.business-standard.com/india-news/govt-blocked-781k-sims-3k-skype-ids-83k-whatsapp-accounts-till-feb-125032500965_1.html
• https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2042130
• https://mobileidworld.com/india-mandates-aadhaar-biometric-verification-for-new-sim-cards-to-combat-fraud/ 
• https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=2067113 

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