Amidst reports of India and China clash along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, an old video of an army face-off between two groups of soldiers has surfaced; social media users are falsely sharing this video as visuals of the recent retaliation of the Indian Army against the Chinese PLA.
BOOM found that the video has been available online since May 31, 2020. In fact, the same video was earlier viral in June, 2020, after an escalation of tensions between India and China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Galwan Valley in Ladakh killed 20 Indian soldiers.
In a statement to Lok Sabha on December 13, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the Indian Army bravely prevented the Chinese PLA from encroaching on Indian territory, the Yangtse area of Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang sector on December 9 and forced them to withdraw to their posts. Soldiers from both sides have reportedly been injured in the skirmish.
The 2.18 minutes video shows a face-off between a group of soldiers of two rival troops.
The video has been shared on Twitter with a caption, "Several Indian soldiers injured in clashes with Chinese PLA on December 9 in first such incident since Galwan happened. This is a sign of new India where we retaliate better than other. #IndianArmy #ProudToBeOwnArmy"
Click here to watch the video and here for an archived link.
Fact Check
While verifying the video, when it was viral in June, 2020 as attack in Galwan Valley between the Indian and Chinese PLA soldiers, BOOM was able to ascertain that it is older.
The video had been viral on social media since May 31, 2020 when rising tensions escalated between India and China were reported across news platforms.
The same video was shared on WhatsApp with a caption in Hindi on May 31, 2020, that translates to, "Indian Army finally beat up Chinese army. The man held captive in the video, is a Chinese soldier and the vehicle standing also belongs to China." (Original Hindi text -भारतीय सेना ने आखिर कर ही दी चीन की सेना की पिटाई, वीडियो मे जिसे सेना के जवानों ने दबाया हुआ है वो चीन का सैनिक है और सामने जो गाड़ी खड़ी है वो भी चीन की है|)
We had also received a verification request along with the same Hindi text in our Helpline number (+91 7700906111) in 2020.
We also found a Facebook post uploaded on May 31, 2020 with the same above mentioned Hindi text. This post was a longer version of the same incident and shows the Indian army also retaliating with stones.
This shows that the video has been present online since 2020, more than two years before the India-China clash in AP's Tawang.