A video showing a massive fire that broke out due to short circuit at a market place in Nagaland's Tuensang area has been falsely shared as protests against the death of civilians by security forces on December 5, 2021 in Mon district.
In a tragic incident 14 civilians were shot dead at Oting village of Mon district in Nagaland by para commandos on December 4 and 5 sparking protests and outrage across the state. Local union of the Naga community of Mon have demanded the identification and booking of the army personnel involved in the massacre. According to reports, the area is under night curfew, with gathering of more than five people prohibited in the public places. The district is also observing a seven-day mourning period, restricting the movement of armed forces during the period.
The video, which shows visuals of fire fighters dousing flames at a market place, is viral in this backdrop. Tuensang Police clarified on Twitter that the incident has no connection to the the Mon massacre and the fire broke out due to a suspected short circuit.
A Hindi news portal 24x7_network, tweeted the video with a caption in Hindi, "Arson in protest against killing of 13 civilians including 6 coal mine workers in #सोम district of #नगालैंड city of #तुएनसांग ! #Nagaland."
(Original text in Hindi: #नगालैंड के #तुएनसांग शहर में #सोम जिले में 6 कोयला खदान श्रमिकों सहित 13 नागरिकों की हत्या के विरोध में आगजनी! #Nagaland)
The same video was also included in two separate news bulletins by Mirror Now. The anchor can be heard saying, "In fact internet has been clamped down and curfew has been imposed and in two districts Mon and Tuensang, which are the worst affected regions." Visuals of the same viral video are played simultaneously.
Mirror Now's tweet and the same news bulletin shared by its sister concern the Economic Times on December 6, 2021 can be accessed here and here.
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Fact Check
BOOM ran a keyword search and found that the same video was uploaded by several North East news outlets, which stated that the reason for the fire outbreak was a possible short circuit and not protests against the Mon massacre.
On December 5, 2021 a Nagaland-based news outlet Nagaland Digital posted the video with the caption, "In Tuensang town. Opposite to Tuensang bazar police point. A line of shops such as bakery, accessories shops or so. Cause of fire unknown"
The same video was also reported by other outlets News 12 Assam North East and Dimapur 24x7 which did not state that the cause of the fire were protests.
According to a caption in one of the videos, "a massive fire broke out in a few shops at Main Police Point Market in Tuensang on Sunday afternoon at about 3:00 PM. Fire Brigade reached the spot within three minutes. There were no casualties."
YouTube channel 'City of Nagas' uploaded visuals from the same incident on December 5, 2021 with the description " the incident caused by a short circuit".
Below is a Facebook post by 'Fire Fighters Nagaland' with a montage of images from the incident. Fire fighters can be seen engaged in the dousing exercise.
Fire caused by short circuit
Tuensang Police clarified on Twitter that the fire broke out because of a suspected short circuit and was not related to the recent deaths in Mon.
They further clarified in a second tweet that news regarding a volatile situation in Tuensang district is baseless.
Additionally, BOOM reached out to an official of Tuensang Fire Station, who confirmed to us, "The preliminary investigation suggests that the incident happened due to a short circuit."
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