The terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, 2025 was the most fact-checked incident in April, accounting for 23 per cent of the all fact-checks BOOM published in April.
In the two weeks following the attack, social media was swamped with mis/disinformation directed at both India and Pakistan. A surge of old and out-of-context videos and images were misrepresented as recent footage of the attack, aimed to stoke emotions and polarise public sentiments. In some cases, misleading claims specifically targeted Kashmiri muslims and the larger Muslim community in the country, fueling communal tensions and amplifying Islamophobic rhetoric.
Of the 99 fact-checks BOOM published last month, 23 were related to the Pahalgam attacks. Other fact-checks included misinformation around the communal violence in Murshidabad, West Bengal following protests in parts of the country due to the implementation of the Waqf Amendment Act, 2025 in the Indian Parliament.
Of the 23 fact-checks around the terror attack, most false claims were directed at the Indian Army, Lieutenant Vinay Narwal and his wife Himanshi Narwar, Pakistani army, among others.
We found that 63% of the total published fact-checks contained old and unrelated claims, with 17% directly related to the terror attack. We also published 6 AI-related fact-checks, which included four AI images and 2 videos.
Theme Assessment
On April 22, terrorists opened fire on civilians in the Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, killing 26 tourists and one local, making it one of the deadliest civilian attacks in India in recent years.
The tragedy also triggered a wave of mis/disinformation with news outlets and social media accounts constantly pushing out unverified information claiming to be from the attacks on their platforms. BOOM verified 4 instances wherein several news outlets put out old or unrelated images and videos.
Media Misreporting around Pahalgam attacks
A viral video of a couple dancing, filmed in Pahalgam eight days before the attack, was falsely claimed to be the ‘last video’ of Navy Lieutenant Vinay Narwal and his wife Himanshi—Vinay being one of the victims killed in the attack. This video and the claim was circulated by news outlets such as Free Press Journal, News18, Times Now and Mint where it was misrepresented as true.
However, BOOM found that the couple in the clip are social media influencers Ashish Sehrawat and his wife Yashika Sharma and not the Narwals. BOOM reached out to Sehrawat who confirmed that the video was filmed eight days before the terror attack.
BJP leader targets Kashmiri Muslims
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari falsely targeted two Kashmiri men by claiming that they installed a suspicious device on the rooftop of their rented home in Baruipur, South 24 Parganas in West Bengal.
When BOOM reached out to the Baruipur police, they confirmed that the men were from Madhya Pradesh, not Kashmir. They also said that the device was an outdoor Jio unit installed for high speed internet.
Misinformation aimed at the Indian and Pakistani Army
Several old and unrelated videos were circulated online, falsely claiming that the Indian army had attacked terror suspects or carried out retaliatory strikes.
One such video, showing the Indian Army in what appeared to be retaliatory action resurfaced with a false claim that it showed the Army killing 12 Pakistani soldiers in response to the Pahalgam attack.
However, BOOM found that the video was from Poonch and showed Indian forces firing across the border following alleged ceasefire violations in April 2020, as reported by news outlets at the time.
Read similar fact-checks targeting the Indian army here and here.
BOOM also debunked false claims directed at the Pakistani Army.
Indian media outlets including The Economic Times, Zee News, Republic Bharat, among others aired a fake letter claiming that several Pakistani soldiers tendered their resignations following the terror attack. The fake letter stated that over 250 officers and 1,200 enlisted personnel had resigned due to stress and uncertainty amid rising tensions between the two countries. The letter further went on to claim responsibility for the attack.
When BOOM analysed the letter, we found several discrepancies, spelling errors, fudged signatures and incorrect designations. We also did not find any credible news source confirming mass resignations in the Pakistani army.
Forcing emotions through Generative AI
AI also contributed to the spread of misinformation around the attack. A widely shared image of Navy Lieutenant Vinay Narwal lying wounded on the ground, with his wife Himanshi sitting beside him in shock was subject to AI manipulations. Several social media users circulated realistic AI versions of the original viral photo, each adding exaggerated emotional and dramatic effects. In one fabricated image, Himanshi is seen sobbing beside her husband, with a red coloured water body behind them — suggesting a pool of blood. The caption falsely claimed the image was a real image from the attack.
Medium, Intent & Type of Deception
68.4 % of the 99 fact-checks were shared via videos containing texts, followed by images and text (26.5%).
Regarding the intent behind spreading mis/disinformation, 97% of the total fact-checks were under the “Sensationalist” category. 78.6% of the total fact-checks consisted of false content, followed by misleading content (13.3%) , fabricated content (6.1% ) and manipulated content (2%).
