A photograph of Indian Army officer Major Kumud Dogra attending the funeral of her husband, Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Dushyant Vats, while holding their daughter in her arms, has surfaced with a misleading claim that the event occurred recently.
Social media users also took a jibe at the Indian media outlets for ignoring the news and focusing on the pre-wedding festivities of Anant Ambani, the son of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani with Radhika Merchant.
BOOM found that the image dates back to 2018. Multiple mainstream news outlets then reported about Major Kumud Dogra's presence at her husband's funeral, cradling their child in her arms.
Anant Ambani's recent three-day pre-wedding festivities witnessed the participation of numerous prominent figures, including Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg in Gujarat's Jamnagar. Singer Rihanna performed at the event. The Indian Air Force designated Jamnagar Airport as an international airport for 10 days to facilitate the travel of international guests.
The image is now viral with the caption, "*ACCEPT THAT YOU CANNOT CHANGE* ... SALUTE..... Major Smt Kumud Dogra... in her arms is her five days old baby and her feet marching towards the dead body of her husband Wing Cmdr D Vats... a rare epitome of courage... salute to you Major Smt Dogra. No media has covered this news on any channel. The whole country was more bothered about 3 days Jamnagar extravaganza. Sad that our service people don't even get a bit of respect from the Politicians and the citizen".
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Image from 2018
BOOM ran a keyword search as mentioned in the claim and found several news reports from 2018 about the incident.
On February 24, 2018, The Statesman published an article featuring the same photograph, reporting that the photo gained widespread attention on social media after the demise of Indian Air Force (IAF) Wing Commander Dushyant Vats in an aircraft crash.
Wing Commander Dushyant Vats from the Indian Air Force was killed in a Microlight aircraft crash in Assam's Majuli on February 15, 2018,. The article mentioned that Vats was on a routine sortie when the Virus SW80 he was piloting, encountered a technical issue, resulting in the crash.
According to The Statesman report, "Just days after the incident, a photo of his wife went viral on social media. In the photo his wife Major Kumud Dogra is seen marching to her husband’s funeral with their baby – a girl – who was just five days old on the day of the funeral."
Additionally, we also found that several other mainstream news outlets, including ABP News, The Indian Express, Zee News, and India Today, then reported on Major Kumud Dogra. The reports highlighted that Dogra paid final tributes to her late husband while donning full army uniform and cradling her newborn at that time.